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KNOTT’S BERRY FARM
Buena Park, California
Cedar Fair Entertainment
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(12/12/2024) Knott's Berry Farm Presents List of 2025 Special Events Dates
(12/6/2024) What's Going On With Montezooma's Revenge Anyway?
(11/20/2024) Riders Stuck In Air for 2 Hours at Knott's Berry Farm
(11/14/2024) Knott's Berry Farm To Focus on Water Park Improvements in 2026
(11/8/2024) Knott's Merry Farm To Begin Soon
Ride Rehabs - These dates are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as refurbishments are subject to change.
Montezooma’s Revenge - NOW CLOSED through 2025
Wipeout - NOW CLOSED through TBD
Sol Spin - NOW CLOSED through TBD
Screamscape has posted our official review of Knott's Scary Farm 2021. Click here to see all the details.
See the official review of 2019’s new Calico River Rapids - Click here
Screamscape has posted our official review of Knott's Scary Farm 2017 this week. Click here to see all the details.
Screamscape has posted our official review of Knott's Scary Farm 2016 this week. Click here to see all the details.
You can read Screamscape’s full review of the Knott’s Scary Farm 2015 Halloween Haunt. Check it out here.
 Park News - (12/12/2024) Knott’s Berry Farm has posted a rundown of the dates for the park’s major special events set to take place in 2025. The list includes:
Knott’s PEANUTS Celebration - Feb. 8 to Mar. 9
Knott’s Boysenberry Festival - Mar. 28 to Apr. 27
Summer at Knott’s & Ghost Town Alive! - June 13 to Sept. 1
Knott’s Soak City 2025 Season - May 17 to Sept. 7
Knott’s Scary Farm - Select Nights from Sept. 18 to Nov. 1
Knott’s Spooky Farm - Select Dates from Sept. 25 to Oct. 31
Knott’s Merry Farm - Nov. 21 to Jan. 4, 2026
(11/20/2024) The Sol Spin ride at Knott’s Berry Farm got stuck on Monday afternoon, trapping 22 passengers for up to 2 hours in the air. In the ride-trades the Sol Spin is known as a Top Scan ride from Mondial Rides, but due to the nature and timing of the stoppage, some of the riders were stalled out in some awkward positions. Park staff were able to finally lower the entire ride back down to the ground and unload the passengers, but two were sent to a nearby hospital for further examination once released out of caution due to how they were feeling. No further reports of injuries have been reported at this time.
(11/8/2024) Knott’s Merry Farm will return to the park starting on November 22 through to January 5, 2025. This year’s Knott’s Merry Farm “promises to be merry and bright as the park debuts the new ‘Tis the Season Tree Lighting Ceremony. The event in Calico Park invites everyone to kick off the evening’s holiday celebration with dancers, singers, and, of course, Snoopy. Also this year, guest favorites return along with new food offerings and new merchandise as the park transforms into a dazzling winter wonderland featuring a landscape of thousands of twinkling lights and miles of beautiful garland.”
Visit the official website for all the details!
(7/25/2024) Good news for Knott’s Berry Farm fans as I’m told that after a lengthy wait, GhostRider has finally been able to return to two train operations. According to reports the park has unexpectedly had two of the ride’s three trains down for maintenance for months now, awaiting parts needed to make repairs.
(7/5/2024) Knott’s Berry Farm is celebrating National Fried Chicken Day on July 6th by inviting you to check out their world famous Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
“Guests on this day will have the opportunity to experience special restaurant photo-ops, a collectible menu that pays tribute to the past and the opportunity to win prizes that include items such as complimentary appetizers, brunch passes and special discounts. (*While supplies last.) Guests who share the same birth year as the restaurant (with valid ID) will receive a complimentary meal! “
(5/31/2024) Who knew it could be so easy to sneak into Knott’s Berry Farm in the middle of the day? Apparently a couple of teens not only did it on May 20th, but they foolishly posted a TikTok video of how they got into the park, along with footage of them riding the rides, and even traveling through the Camp Snoopy construction site in the process right by the new coaster.
You can see their viral video here, and Knott’s says that they and the Buena Park Police Department are looking for help to identify the teens. Meanwhile, I’m also assuming Knott’s is going to take some action to block further access into the park ground from the point of entry they used in the video.
In other news, it looks like Knott’s is not only cracking down on line jumpers, but has also banned the practice of “Holding Spots” in line for others. New signs posted at the park now state that your entire party must enter the line together, along with a phone number for guests to call if they see anyone line jumping that will bring security out.
(5/21/2024) While the tale of Knott’s Berry Farm may have started with the farm itself that made the Boysenberry famous, the evolution of Knott’s from a farm into an actual attraction people would come to visit started with Chicken Dinners. The now famous Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant opened in 1934, serving hungry diners for just 65-cents each and is turning 90 years old this year. As the need arose to entertain the crowds waiting to get into the restaurant become a necessity, Walter Knott created the park’s Ghost Town area and in effect, created Southern California’s first theme park in the process.
In celebration of 90 years, the popular restaurant will have a number of special offerings and celebrations throughout the rest of the year. This includes the ‘Berry Family Breakfast’ on select mornings from May 22 through to Sept. 2, the actual 90th anniversary celebration on June 13th, National Fried Chicken Day on July 6 and more fun to come.
(3/16/2024) A reader dropped into Knott’s Berry farm this past monday and sent in a couple of photos of the track missing from the spikes on Montezooma’s Revenge. Also of interest, they sent in a couple of screen captures showing off the pricing for those new Single Use Fast Lane cut to the front of the line passes that Knott’s was selling. As you can see, they’ve jumped well and above the initial $7.50 a ride cost mentioned in the news to achieve Disney level pricing. The prices shown were $12.50 for small rides like Pony Express and Bear-Y-Tales, $15 for the Log Ride, Silver Bullet, Xcelerator and Jaguar, and a whopping $20 to ride GhostRider.
(3/2/2024) According to the OC Register, Knott’s Berry Farm is now borrowing a page out of the Disney and Six Flags playbook. The park has quietly rolled out a new individual ride “Fast Lane” pass that will be affected by dynamic surge-pricing rates, starting at $7.50 per ride and up. You can find the new Fast Lane option in the updated Knott’s Berry Farm mobile app, which requires you to actually be in the park to make the purchase. Currently these special Pay-Per-Ride skip-the-line passes are only being offered after 2pm and is currently only offered on eight rides:
GhostRider, HangTime, Silver Bullet, Jaguar, Pony Express, Timber Mountain Log Ride, Xcelerator and Bear-Y Tales.
According to the article, you can look for this program to expand to several other Cedar Fair theme parks as they open for the 2024 season. The list includes Carowinds, Canada’s Wonderland, Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Kings Island as well as their Schlitterbahn waterpark in Texas. They report that Cedar Fair had previously tested a non-mobile kiosk version of the concept last season at Cedar Point and Kings Island for a limited time.
I believe Disney may have pioneered the concept back in 2021 when they replaced the former free FastPass systems with the upcharge Genie+ system, which gave them the ability to include upcharge single-attraction Lightning Lane ticket purchase options, and Six Flags followed suit by beginning to test out similar skip the line passes for select attraction at several parks a year later in 2022.
Based on basic human psychology, parks have seen huge success rates where launching these individual-ride style ticket programs. The cost of full day line-cutting passes has long reached the point of impacting their sales due to sticker shock pricing, as in some cases the price of a line-cutting pass is more than what a guest is paying for general admission. By contract, offering a lower-cost single-ride option, especially to guests already in the park looking straight at a very long line for something they really want to ride, helps to trigger an on-the-spot and emotional “impulse purchase” reaction in order to skip the line. Think of it as the theme park equivalent of how the grocery store puts drinks and candy within easy reach as you approach the register to check-out. You didn’t plan on buying it, but the instant gratification of skipping a 90-minute line with a quick $10-15 mobile purchase can be a tough one to resist, especially if you are just paying for yourself or for a couple.
(2/14/2024) Remember a bit ago some fans created an incredible looking animated Giga Coaster creation for Knott’s Berry Farm called Gold Rush? Now they’re back with the full 23 minute long video that showcases not only the concept of adding Gold Rush to Knott’s Berry Farm, but also proposals to revamp the Front Gate, the Shopping Plaza area, and how the park’s backstage Storage areas. All together the proposal is a plan to update Knott’s Berry Farm for the future while still keeping much of the charm of the original park.
While we would all love to see a Giga Coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm, I’ve got to admit that the rest of their proposals to improve the entry experienc einto the park is quite appealing, especially the new main gate area. Of course the latest improvements to the Gold Rush coaster concept is probably everything coaster fans on the West coast could want from a Giga Coaster, with plenty of nods to popular elements borrowed from Fury 325 at Carowinds.
 Knott’s Scary Farm 2024 - (9/8/2024) Knott’s Scary Farm returns this year on select nights from Sept. 19 through to Nov. 2, and the park held a special presentation late last month to reveal all the details for this year’s Haunt, with details about all the new and returning haunts and scare zones. Consider this a preview of the things to come…
Knott's Scary Farm: Nightmares Revealed
Knott's Scary Farm returns once again with a mix of old and new. Two new mazes debut this season, along with the "return" of Elvira, The Hanging and the final bow for a pair of longstanding mazes.
New this year, Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeymann lures visitors into a slice of Americana you may not want to remember. The creature design for this maze is admirable. This one is likely to be a sleeper hit:
"Become immersed in a living fairy tale in an 18th century colonial township that's under siege by an inhuman monster who has a sick penchant for eating fingers . As night descends, Eight Fingers Nine emerges from the shadows in search of fresh meat. His vicious bite penetrates deep, causing sleep paralysis which holds his victim in sway while he slowly consumes their flesh. Step lightly and beware the dark, or you may be the main course at his next meal!"
Widows has the potential to be an all time great. Spiders always reside in just about every maze, but populating an entire maze with a colony honestly seems to be the ideal situation. Hoping this one has the "legs" to stick around for a while:
"The night of the arachnid is upon us! Enter a web-covered nursing home where demonic, eight-legged black widows emerge from their silken tunnels to possess the withered bodies of the elderly residence. Their sole purpose is to secure a mate and hatch a clutch of eggs before sunrise. Will you climb into their web and succumb to their dark desires?"
You just couldn't say goodbye, could you? Although she won't be physically present every night, Elvira is getting a tribute show of sorts, Yours Cruelly, Elvira EXXperience, with a look back at her four decade Scary Farm tenure. Elvira will also be making three live appearances this year for signing and Q+A sessions:
"Through the years of Knott’s Scary Farm, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, graced the stage of the “Ghoul TimeTheatre” with her electrifying shows for 20 astounding haunted seasons.Take a journey back to every single show with video highlights, behind-the-scenes footage and memorabilia celebrating the illustrious career of the undisputed Queen of Halloween."
Returning mazes include the following:
Room 13
Cinema Slasher
Chilling Chambers
Bloodline 1842 (Final Year)
The Grimoire
Mesmer: Sideshow of the Mind
Wax Works (Final Year)
Origins: The Curse of Calico
No new scare zones this year, but all the old favorites will be back, for good reason.
Ghost Town Streets
Gore-ing 20's
CARNEVIL
Forsaken Lake
The Gauntlet
The Hanging: The Errors Tour returns to the Wagon Camp this year for all your sophomoric humor needs. Conjurers, staged at the Bird Cage Theatre, brings another year of astounding illusionists for those wanting to rest their feet, but not their brains. Featured magicians have not been announced at this time. Halloween Hootenanny will be resurrected at the Timber Mountain Log Ride, a guaranteed great time for all ages. Always a treat, Into the Fog: A Scary Farm Tribute Art Show, will be installed in the Factory Store. Lots of talent is always represented in this gallery. The Calico Mine Stage will host Le Magnifique Carnaval du Grotesque, an excellent variety show with feats of daring and some comedy thrown in for good measure.
All this, along with dozens of seasonal food and drink selections will be available this year. A variety of admission options, plus the Boo-fet character dining event return as well. Additionally, a chaperone and bag policy will be in effect during operating hours to curtail rampant beasties from overtaking innocent victims, er, guests...
(7/28/2024) Theme Park Insider reports that Knott’s Scary Farm will feature the iconic ELVIRA once again this fall in a show called, “Yours Cruelly, Elvira XXperience”. HOWEVER… and this is a big caveat, Cassandra Peterson will not be present to play Elvira at this show. Instead they will use “remastered video highlights” from past Knott’s Scary Farm performances instead, so I guess Elivra’s presence will be limited to that of an on-screen character.
2024 - Camp Snoopy Update - (6/29/2024) Knott’s Berry Farm has now opened their scaled-back Camp Snoopy expansion for the summer, including the new Snoopy’s Tenderpaw Twister Coaster. You can see a POV video of the new kiddie coaster ride below as it sends riders around the course twice.
While the new coaster is open, along with Snoopy’s Off-Road Rally ride, the previously announced swing ride and plans to remodeled the train ride are not yet finished. There were also plans to move and reinstall the Woodstock’s Airmail ride, but those plans seem to have vanished due to budget cuts, along with plans to build a new performance theater.
It was said that the old theater was demolished and has now been replaced by an area filled with picnic tables sitting on artificial turf, which seems a little odd for the Camp Snoopy area, so it does have me wonder if perhaps those theater plans and some other unfinished work for the Camp Snoopy area might be pushed back as a possible Phase-2 addition for next year, along with the planned reopening of the former Montezooma’s Revenge coaster.
(5/11/2024) Uh oh… construction delays strike again! According to the OC Register, Knott’s has postponed the planned opening of the “reiminagined” Camp Snoopy area from Memorial Day until sometime between late June and early July. As mentioned, the pushback is due to “construction delays”
Meanwhile, the latest construction pics posted on Twitter showing off the site for Snoopy’s Tenderpaw Coaster are showing off some impressive looking work taking place for the new addition. So while it may take a little longer, it looks like it will be well worth it!
(4/9/2024) The new Snoopy’s Tenderpaw Twisted Coaster has started vertical construction this week. You can check it out in a new video post from ACN embedded below. Later on in the video they go for a ride on the Stagecoach and get up-close views of all the construction taking place throughout the Camp Snoopy area.
(2/14/2024) Coaster Empire has posted a look at the current progress on the Camp Snoopy on Twitter, here and here. (Sorry, they seem to have blocked embedding…)
(1/25/2024) According to the latest Camp Snoopy construction tweets, bathroom building near the former Timberline Twister coaster has now been demolished, which would indicate that a new bathroom is coming. More land clearing is also said to have begun and the old Ferris Wheel is coming down.
(1/12/2024) A ton of new progress pictures of Camp Snoopy at Knott’s Berry Farm have been posted to Twitter by Coaster Empire. Embedding appears to be turned off, but you can follow this link and scroll down to see them. Essetinally, there are now construction walls up all over the place as the project enters the main phase of construction throughout the land.
(1/5/2024) Ok folks… your last chance to ride the Camp Snoopy “Huff and Huff” self-powered ride is this Sunday, January 7th. According to a post from Knott’s, you can commemorate the event by earning a “Huff and Puff Last Ride merit badge.”
According to Knott’s, this is just the first in a series of “limited-edition merit badges” that guests can earn between now and the opening day of the reimagined Camp Snoopy. Keep an eye on Knott’s social media for the future announcements just ahead of the release date for the next badges as they are released. As they say, “Collect them all while supplies last!”
Oh… one important thing to keep in mind, the Huff and Puff has a MAXIMUM HEIGHT LIMIT of just 52 inches. So if you grew up riding it as a kid, your last ride was probably many moons ago, but if you’ve got kids, small cousins, or a niece/nephew, etc… they’ll still enjoy taking it for a final spin.
(12/10/2023) New details about Knott’s Berry Farm’s upgraded Camp Snoopy project for 2024 have been posted on Blooloop this weekend, revealing that the new attractions are being supplied by Zamperla and will allow parents and their children to “ride and play together” alongside the Peanuts Gang.
Snoopy’s Tenderpaw Twister - is a Zamperla “Family Coaster 155” model, which will be a themed clone of popular Daddy Pig’s Roller Coaster built for the Peppa Pig Theme Park at Legoland Florida that features a Tire Propelled booster launch mid-ride with large trains able to comfortably hold 20 riders at a time (adults and children), along with a cute themed zero car featuring Snoopy at the wheel. If it runs the same cycle as the Daddy Pig coaster, the train should cycle around the layout twice before coming to a stop.
Sally’s Swing Along - is a Super Happy Swing 16
Snoopy’s Off-Road Rally - will be a custom themed Convey Dino Jeeps attraction.
(12/9/2023) As we promised, Knott’s Berry Farm has announced an update to Camp Snoopy for the 2024 season. The six-acre kids land revision is expected to be ready in time for Memorial Day Weekend 2024 will feature a new family coaster called Snoopy’s Tenderpaw Twister that features a lift hill and a launch. Other new rides include Sally’s Swing Along, an updated Barrell Bridge and waterfall area, the Camp Snoopy Theater, the transformation of the former Rocky Mountain Trucking ride into Camp Snoopy’s Off-Road Rally, and an upgraded Beagle Express train ride through Camp Snoopy.
(10/22/2023) So what’s going on at Knott’s Berry Farm these days? While we still don’t have any official news about Montezooma or Camp Snoopy, a couple of videos shot in the park online are showing off some new progress taking place worth mentioning. I’ve set the video below to start off as they walk-through Camp Snoopy to show off the latest changes to the land, having built a new pathway to open up a bigger new area for future construction. Speaking of which, later on in the video he also noticed some new land clearing has been done under a section of Silver Bullet, which appears to be heading towards Montezooma.
A second video below takes a ride on the SkyCabin and through other nearby attractions for look at what’s going on around the park as well from another point of view.
(9/22/2023) So what’s going on at Knott’s this week? Pictures posted from the Camp Snoopy area show some new concrete has been poured, but so far no obvious development for any future new attractions.
According to previous rumors, the announcement about what is coming to Camp Snoopy was not expected to take place until sometime in October, possibly later in the month as the end of Knott’s Scary Farm approaches.
If the rumors hold true, this may also be when we find out exactly what Cedar Fair has decided to do about the stalled Montezooma’s Revenge refurbishment project. So far, things are not looking good and unfortunately Knott’s may be forced to make a very tough decision that no one wants to make. Stay tuned!
(8/31/2023) A quick construction update on the status of things in Camp Snoopy has been posted to Twitter, with Coaster Empire reporting that a “large ditch” is now being formed where the former Timberline Twister coaster station was once located.
(8/19/2023) A few more rumors about what is to come for the Camp Snoopy renovations. According to a new source a couple more older attractions are expected to be removed, including the Huff & Puff kid-powered ride and possibly the small Ferris Wheel. I’m not sure what might take the place of the Wheel, but hearing that the removal of the Huff & Puff may be to allow for an expansion to the Rocky Mountain Trucking attraction, while the previous ride removals are still expected to be for a new family coaster of some kind.
Cedar Fair built an interesting Snoopy themed launched coaster at Canada’s Wonderland for the 2023 season called Snoopy’s Racing Railway and just announced Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers for Kings Island. The theme of the later ride would certainly resonate well at Knott’s Berry Farm, which of course was home to the original Wacky Soap Box Racers coaster from 1976 to 1996.
(7/15/2023) Screamscape has received word that Knott’s has now closed down their Timberline Twister kiddie coaster for good. In addition to this the park has also removed the Camp Bus ride from the website. According to the latest rumors sent in to Screamscape the two rides, which are actually located right next to each other, are being removed as part of a planned renovation / expansion to the Camp Snoopy area, likely planned to open as the main capital project for the 2024 season. Large construction walls have already been set up at the park, blocking off access to both rides. This should include the addition of a new family coaster in Camp Snoopy as a replacement for the lost Timberline Twister.
There may be either a second new ride added, or this may be a possible “move” for an existing ride. So far I’ve also heard rumors that Woodstock’s Airmail (S&S Frog Hopper) may also be moved to a new location in Camp Snoopy as part of this project. However… and this is a big one… the ongoing delays and issues with the Montezooma’s Revenge upgrade project are not over, and could have some kind of impact on the park’s plans for 2024, but for now it looks like the Camp Snoopy project is moving right along, and we can expect an announcement about it sometime in August 2023.
2025 - MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress - (12/6/2024) Since it is December, it would be nice if Knott’s Berry Farm were to issue some kind of update about the pending status of Montezooma’s Revenge. Seriously… We’ve been quiet patient since it closed in 2022 and have seen the plans to renovate and reopen the coaster pushed back, canceled, restarted with a 2025 date without any reveal of who was doing the work. This has been followed with a little work on the coaster behind tarps… but as of now all of the missing track sections are still missing, and the park hasn’t issued any kind of update in quite some time. Not even at IAAPA last month where many expected that we might finally get an update and reveal of who was working on it. (On a side note, did you see the awesome themed Vekoma train revealed at IAAPA for a new coaster project in Mexico? Something themed like this would be incredible for the new version of Monty… just saying…)
So really Knott’s… please can we have an update?
(3/14/2024) Good news this week as local enthusiasts have begun reporting that work has started on Montezuma's Revenge once again. The biggest visible change is that the track on the spikes is being removed.
With the renovation plans to turn Montezuma's Revenge into MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress by 2025 now re-confirmed by Knott’s Berry Farm, I’m not sure if they are looking to fully replace all this track, or if the new vendors have removed them in order to take measurements in order to replicate the track for the sections that will need full replacement. Either way it is nice to see progress being made on the site once again.
(3/1/2024) Knott’s berry farm released some fantastic news today, as the park has finally confirmed that their plans to update Monty into MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress is now back on track and set to reopen in 2025. As previous updates had shown, many felt that the project was entirely dead when Cedar Fair’s year-end SEC filing specifically mentioned a “loss” incurred from “a specific terminated project at Knott’s Berry Farm in the current year.”
Between that and the fact that Knott’s had gone totally silent when it came to even mentioning the project, things did not look good. Of course, one reason for most of the silence may have to do with a rumored lawsuit the company is working on with the previous vendors who failed to deliver the project for the 2023 season.
While I’m not going to name drop those particular parties at this time, I have been hearing rumors that based on how things have been going so far over at Cedar Point on Top Thrill 2, that the top brass had been engaging in conversations with Zamperla to see if they wanted to try and save it. Now that we know the project is back on-track, it probably won’t be long before we find out who is working on it this time.
In fact, according to one local report, active work on Monty is set to begin once again on March 4th.
(2/18/2024) While Knott’s Berry Farm hasn’t officially made any kind of statement yet about the fate of Montezooma’s Revenge, Park Journey pointed out on Twitter that within Cedar Fair’s year-end performance filing, there is text that says, “The loss on impairment / retirement of fixed assets for both periods included retirements of assets in the normal course of business, including a specific terminated project at Knott’s Berry Farm in the current year.”
While the project isn’t named, this does sound like a confirmation that the plan to upgrade Montezooma’s Revenge into MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress has now been canceled. With the coaster currently sitting in pieces, after being partially disassembled to begin the project, it would seem that Monte’s fate has now been sealed. I too would expect some kind of formal announcement to be issued from Knott’s before too long.
 (2/2/2024) Knott’s Berry Farm released a new mobile app this week, and according to a reader the upgrade comes with a new look to the park map that is a bit concerning. If you take a quick look at the screen capture you’ll see that the updated park map has now removed any trace of Montezooma’s Revenge, compared to the older map on the park’s website which still shows it standing.
In most cases, when park maps are updated, an artist is hired to make any needed changes, or draw a completely new map from scratch. So the fact that Monty is now missing entirely does not bode well for a future where it is saved.
(12/24/2023) Knott’s Berry Farm is rumored to be finalizing a new plan of action for Montezooma’s Revenge. According to the rumors sent my way over the past few weeks, Cedar Fair was said to have been looking over proposals for what to do with the Montezooma’s Revenge site from no less than five manufacturers. While I’m not sure if they’ve settled down on the exact one just yet, what I’m hearing is that the goal is to try and get a new plan of action in place that would see it come back to life by Summer 2025, if not maybe a little sooner.
Otherwise, in terms of construction work at the park, everything for now will be focused on the Camp Snoopy update to open in 2024.
(12/9/2023) With the Camp Snoopy 2024 announcement now out of the way, we are left to wonder just what is going on with Montezooma’s Revenge still. Coaster Empire was visiting the other just the other day and saw a small inspection crew going through the site, looking over areas like the former launch track and going through the station building.
So question is… will Knott’s be able to save it… or will they made the sad choice to demolish it in defeat?
(7/4/2023) In a small update regarding the fate of Montezooma’s Revenge, I’m now hearing that while the project may have been in danger at one point, action has been taken to address the issues and things are still expected to move forward once again. But the rumored new 2024 opening timeline seems to still be the most likely.
Maybe... to be honest, I’m still not sure about any of this, as the general feeling is that the park may be stalling for time and unwilling to commit to any one course of action just yet, even if they have to go forward with the unthinkable.
(7/2/2023) Screamscape has heard some disappointing rumors as of late regarding the status of Montezooma’s Revenge. Unfortunately the severity of these rumors go from bad to worse. On the lighter side, shortly after the confirmation from the park that the updated Montezooma’s Revenge would not be ready this summer, I had begun hearing that it probably wouldn’t be ready to reopen now until 2024. This did match up with the overall lack of any progress or new construction on the site and made sense. It also matched up with why Knott’s was suddenly talking to the press about their efforts to reopen Xcelerator next instead.
As for the “worse” news… things get oh-so-much worse…
NOW… don’t panic and keep in mind that this was just a single rumor sent my way, but the source claims that major issues have come up with the companies contracted to provide the new track and trains, and they may be unable to provide what they were contracted to do without a significant increase in funds above and beyond what was already agreed upon in the contracts. (Again...this is rumor only... nothing confirmed!)
Currently Montezooma is in pieces, with the trains and large sections of track and the flywheel launch system removed a long time ago to make way for the new parts. According to the story, this has put Knott’s in a bit of a hard spot… unable to restore the ride back to the way it was, and currently unable or unwilling to move forward with the original chosen partners in order to finish the job as intended.
You can see where I’m going with this… and it isn’t good. I’m hoping this rumor is wrong… or if true, that perhaps Cedar Fair could instead reach out to someone else instead to possibly finish the job. Cedar Fair and Knott’s management should be very aware of just how beloved and important Montezooma’s Revenge is to the Knott’s Berry Farm fans as well as the roller coaster enthusiast community out there. Any truth to the bad business dealings aside, I can only hope that they would make the right decision and take whatever steps are necessary to save Monty.
This would start with a call to Gerstlauer, as they are really the only company out there who have successfully completed a similar upgrade project on another Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop. Walibi Belgium worked with them to update their Psyke’ Underground coaster in 2013, replacing the train as well as updating that ride’s launch system with a modern magnetic launch and braking system. A year before, in 20112, Gerstlauer also provided Hersheypark with new trains for their Schwarzkopf made Soperdooperlooper coaster. Simply put, many enthusiasts who are aware of these facts have been wondering why Gerstaluer was not chosen for the Montezooma project in the first place, as the park had just worked with them to open HangTime for the 2018 season.
Regardless… it’s all just rumor at this point, but keep your eyes open when visiting the park for any sign of possible activity.
2026 - Soak City Improvements - (11/14/2024) A press release from Six Flags today confirmed that the company is planning to spend over $1 BILLION on the parks over the next two years. Some of this will come in the form of enhancements to the guest experience, such as new themed areas, dining upgrades and technology enhancements. While we’ve seen the 2025 capital projects ($500 million) already announced, they decided to post a list of teasers of what they are already confirming will come to some of the parks in 2026 as part of another $525 million capital investment plan.
For Knott’s Berry Farm, the plan seems to focus on bringing a “water park refresh and aesthetic enhancements” to the Knott’s Soak City waterpark. This is probably a good thing, as I can’t remember off the top of my head the last time they really did anything new here.
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