California On A Shoestring - Sept 09 - day 3 Knotts Berry fm

[travelmam]

Day3 - Knotts Berry Farm
Wednesday 9th September

Cast

Me (41) - Phil - Chauffeur, Tour guide & timekeeper

DW (42) - Mandy - Trip planner, chief ironer, generally goes with the flow
DD (18) - Natalie - Vegetarian, Fussy eater, self conscious

DS (14) - Nathan - Loves to eat, never stops talking & loves all theme park rides


Woke up at 06:00, followed shortly after by DW at 06:30. DS came to life at 07:15, finally DD at 07:30.
DW ironed over a few things, washed & changed, we were ready to leave around 08:40.
Decided to take breakfast at Coco's bakery restaurant, just past the convention centre on the corner of W katella, as it was heading in the general direction of Knotts.
I ordered Oatmeal, berries & nut and a Blueberry muffin, DW, Big bite blueberry breakfast, DD, low fat blueberry muffin and DS, sausage & eggs. Total including drinks was $28.39.
As DS was classed as additions not a meal, he had agreed to share DW breakfast, as although she really fancied it, said she wouldn't be able to eat it all.
Food here was good, but waitress's were a bit miserable to say the least.
Contented with what we'd eaten, although not as bloated as yesterday, we left for Knotts at around 09:20.

Arrived at Knotts parking lot just turned 09:50, handing over the $12 for parking.
Believe you and me, there couldn't have been more than a dozen cars on the whole entire lot.
As I recall this was the case when we came in the week on our previous visit some years ago.
We strolled across to the main entrance arriving just after the 10am opening. Hard tickets in hand we headed directly to the turnstiles.





Took DW & DD photo with Snoopy, along with ritual park photographers taking there's.



Headed to the first ride of the day Silver Bullet an inverted type roller coaster. DD was reluctant to ride at first, don't know why!, as she's rode alot of the bigger coasters in Florida, such as Kraken, Hulk coaster, Duelling Dragons and a similar coaster, Montu at Busch gardens.
after some gentle persuasion, we headed up the stairs to board with no wait in line at all, just how I like it.



Next up was Sierra Sidewinder, relatively new spinning type coaster. Now I was reluctant to ride, although usually, the more extreme the coaster the better, anything that spins seriously messes with my mojo.
I decided to bite the bullet, and to be honest it was not all that bad, quite enjoyed it really.



We headed into Camp Snoopy, where most of the rides in this area are aimed at the younger generation, hence the name.



As we neared fiesta Village, we were confronted by a member of staff,
standing in front of a rope, who kindly informed us this area did not open till 11'0 clock. O'well only around 25 mins to wait, so we all rode the nearby vintage Ferris wheel, in camp Snoopy, which was quite slow loading, so by the time we came off, there was only around 5 mins to go.

Rope dropped dead on 11'0 clock, so headed to Jaguar, DW favorite ride, this a family type coaster, with a 48in height restriction.



Onto Montezooma Revenge a looping coaster, which is a bit dated & uncomfortable, as ridden before left DD & DS to ride, once bitten twice shy.
As it happened DD came off Stating , it's a bit rough.

We made our way into the Boardwalk area, where Supreme Scream stood, a 252ft high, drop tower.Again DD had to be coaxed on as she does not really like heights.





On next to the main event, Xcelerator a coaster that launches you from 0-82mph in a fraction over 2 sec's, up and over a top hat which is basically a vertical assent & decent.
Myself and DS had really being looking forward to this ride, and we were not disappointed.
There's only one word to describe it, AWSOME.



DD would not ride at first, but after coming off and explaining how awesome it was, she plucked up the courage to ride, as long as she could sit by me.
You,ve guessed it, came off and wanted to ride again.

We made our way to Boomerang, which is another old school coaster, and in my opinion has had it's day, and is not very comfortable to ride.
DD really wanted me to ride, although I was reluctant, as I said before, once bitten twice shy.
I agreed to ride, out of all fairness, I'd had to persuade her to ride some of the others she didn't want to.



Boy!, I wish I'd stuck to me guns and not gone on, so did DD.
She came of as white as a ghost & was sick, I was not to bad, my head was spinning and I felt quite nauseous.
My advice is ride at your own peril, better still don't ride at all.

We took some time out to pull ourselves back together, having a refreshment break in the shade for around 25 mins or so.
Recuperated, we moved onto Pony express, a new family coaster, (48in height restriction) with an unusual seating position, like you're actually riding a horse.
Myself & DS rode alone, DD still a little queasy, DW, unsure, although they both rode later in the day, and enjoyed it.



Who's that silly woman on that horse! Lol

We all decided to ride the Big Foot Rapids, as by now it was quite hot, and getting wet might make us feel that bit better.
Boy! did DW get wet , I mean soaked LOl.
Onto Calico Square, where we all rode the Calico Mine Train and the Log flume. DS & DD rode twice and again later in the day.



Next we walked back through Ghost Town, which is the most original part of the park, as was built to keep hungry queuing dinners occupied, while waiting to eat in the world famous, Mrs Knotts Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
This area houses Ghost rider, which when built was the largest wooden roller coaster in California. I was also looking forward to riding this, as it was closed when we last visited.
We all rode this except DW, and now that DD was feeling better.
This was an excellent woody, only wished I had rode it earlier in the day, as my head was pounding and would have loved to ride it again.
Although DS did.

By now it was around 16:00 hrs, with the park being as quite as it was, we had done most of the rides, with some ridden a couple of times.
DS & DD had a last run round, going on their most favorite rides, while DW and myself relaxed in the shade. Our final ride was on the Carousel before we exited the park at 16:50, just over an hour before park closing.











We had a look around Virginia's gift shop, before heading next door to the previously mentioned Mrs Knotts Chicken Dinner Restaurant, which is a must after a day in the park.

I ordered the Chicken dinner, DW, Pot Pie, both of these are set meals, costing $15:90 each, which include, soup, pea & ham, biscuits with Knotts famous jams including Boysenberry which is my favorite, actually brought a jar home. Next you have a salad, with a dressing of your choice, followed by your main course, where with the chicken dinner you get at least four pieces of chicken plus mash, gravy and a side of cabbage or sweetcorn. For desert a choice of pie, mine obviously being Boysenberry.
Feast or what! believe me most people take doggy bags home, we did.
It's a lovely meal, worth every penny, and can get quite busy in there, as it was when we were there , even though the park was quite.
Sorry! forgot to take some Photo's, to preoccupied with eating I guess Lol.
Forgot to mention DS did not have a set meal, but had 2 pieces of chicken & fries, DD just shared with DS, as still not feeling 100%.
Total cost with drinks was $56.50.

We made our way back to the hotel around 18:00hrs, arriving some 30mins later.
Evening was spent in the pool by DS & myself, later on relaxing in the spa pool chatting to other guests & having a beer.
DW & DD spent some time in the hotel gym, before going back to the room to go online.
Finally we all retired to bed around 22:00 - 22:15 hrs after another brilliant day.

Forgot to mention me & DW eat our pies first!.

[Guest]

Wow great photos and a fun packed day again.

Mandy - no photo of you on supreme scream - please tell me you were sensible and watched!

[purple myra]

What a fantastic day... Knotts berry looks great

[DisneyMadAng]

Great day. You certainly managed to pack loads in.

[TiggerD]

Great day, love the snoopy pic and the horse one

[woolamstiger]

What an action packed couple of days enjoying reading your trippie can't wait for more. My DH and DD would love the big rides at Knotts berry not sure i would though!

[Dizzy]

What a great day and fantastic photos
We are actually stopping at the resort so are going to make the most of our one day passes and stay in the park until the 10pm closing
Can you remember whether the Knott's chicken restaurant ONLY sells chicken?...LOL, I know it's an odd question but I would love to try this but DH dosn't eat chicken at all

[huneybunny17]

looks like you had a great day xx

[tracyh]

So glad you've posted about Knott's Berry before we go, as we are going to spend a day here aswell. I will take note about the bad rides aswell, as Iain has a problem with sickness on spinny rides! Fantastic photos aswell, I will make sure that Iain rides aswell.

[travelmam]

Originally Posted by treacle

Wow great photos and a fun packed day again.

Mandy - no photo of you on supreme scream - please tell me you were sensible and watched!

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Sure was a fun packed day, glad you like the pic's
DW was sensible, not as mad as the rest of us Lol.

Originally Posted by purple myra

What a fantastic day... Knotts berry looks great

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Yes certainly was, and Knotts is a great park to visit.

Originally Posted by DisneyMadAng

Great day. You certainly managed to pack loads in.

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Certainly did pack loads in, even after one ride did upset our Mojo's a little Lol.

Originally Posted by TiggerD

Great day, love the snoopy pic and the horse one

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Glad you like the snoopy pic & the mad woman on the Horse, Don't tell her I said that, she'll kill me.

Originally Posted by woolamstiger

What an action packed couple of days enjoying reading your trippie can't wait for more. My DH and DD would love the big rides at Knotts berry not sure i would though!

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Glad you're loving the trippies.
You're DH & DD would live Xcelerator, Awesome ride.

Originally Posted by Dizzy

What a great day and fantastic photos
We are actually stopping at the resort so are going to make the most of our one day passes and stay in the park until the 10pm closing
Can you remember whether the Knott's chicken restaurant ONLY sells chicken?...LOL, I know it's an odd question but I would love to try this but DH dosn't eat chicken at all

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Make the most of it Hun, It's a great Park, that's a little bit different from the rest.
I think Mrs Knotts Chicken Restuarant, as far as I can remember does sell a few other choices other than chicken. If you go inside and ask to look at the menu, they will gladly let you, without committing to dining, we did because of fussy DD!.

Originally Posted by huneybunny17

looks like you had a great day xx

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A greta day was Had by all thanks.

Originally Posted by tracyh

So glad you've posted about Knott's Berry before we go, as we are going to spend a day here aswell. I will take note about the bad rides aswell, as Iain has a problem with sickness on spinny rides! Fantastic photos aswell, I will make sure that Iain rides aswell.

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Like I said above Knotts is a great park to visit, we've visited everytime we been to California.
Yep if I were you avoid the two rides I mentioned, so as possibly not to spoil you're day. But if you decide to ride, hope it does not upset you like it did me & DD.