"I mean, think about it. Knott's Berry Farm can't be about the movies. And we can't be about fantasy. We have to be who we are," Matt continued. "So when it comes to Knott's, we want to be that place where having fun is still fun. Or as Raffi Kaprelyan -- the Vice President and General Manager at Knott's Berry Farm -- says 'where people can still have organically grown fun.' We want to be the theme park in this market that's uncomplicated, affordable, familiar but still has a few surprises."
"So that's our goal with Knott's Berry Farm. To occupy that space in the highly competitive Southern California marketplace, to be comfortable with that space and not try and be one of those other guys. One huge advantage we have in this market is that people still have a strong affinity for what the Knott's family created," Ouimet said. "So I hope that -- with the respectful upgrades & improvements we've made to Ghost Town, the Timber Mountain Log Ride, the Calico Mine Train and Camp Snoopy over the past three years -- we wind up being known as the community park, not the corporate park. And to some degree, I think being a little smaller has probably worked to our advantage with Knott's."
It's worth noting here that all of the changes that Matt & his team have made since he came on board at the Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. in June of 2011 have had a significant impact on Knott's Berry Farm's bottom line. Just last year, this Buena Park institution had the most successful year (from both an attendance standpoint as well as a profitability point-of-view) ever. And given that Knott's is the second most profitable park in the Cedar Fair system, that's a really nice feather in Ouimet's cap.
"And the good news is we're not done with Knott's. We've got a five year plan in place for this theme park. And I'm hoping that -- with Cedar Fair's help -- I'll then have the privilege of turning that into a ten year plan," Matt enthused. "It's not exactly a closely guarded secret that -- when it comes to Knott's -- we're trying to figure out what to do with the area where Kingdom of the Dinosaurs & Knott's Bear-y Tales used to be located. Assuming that the Wonder Mountain's Guardian ride works out, there will probably be some lessons that we learned up in Canada that we can apply down here in Buena Park."
Read the rest at HuffingtonPost
Knott's News: Great read by Jim Hill. Unfortunately, a couple of things were said that give me pause, one being annoying while the other is worrisome.
Such as Matt talking about each park's unique identity and that being one of the main reasons they have different names. He goes on to say he doesn't want to put them all under the same brand. That sounds good but please explain to me why the majority of the parks share the same generic Cedar Fair font (you know, where the "i" is dotted with a flag) for their park logo with the same Cedar Fair corporate logo above it? Matt's been running the show long enough that all the parks should have unique logos by now. I won't even get started on everything else the parks share that rob them of their identities.
Such as Matt talking about each park's unique identity and that being one of the main reasons they have different names. He goes on to say he doesn't want to put them all under the same brand. That sounds good but please explain to me why the majority of the parks share the same generic Cedar Fair font (you know, where the "i" is dotted with a flag) for their park logo with the same Cedar Fair corporate logo above it? Matt's been running the show long enough that all the parks should have unique logos by now. I won't even get started on everything else the parks share that rob them of their identities.
Most worrisome is his mention of lessons learned on Guardian being applied to Knott's upcoming dark ride. This can be interpreted as them seriously considering building a TrioTech attraction there. Unfortunately this lines up with the rumors I've heard; that they're still taking bids from ride manufacturers and that it's not set in stone what's going in there. If true, please for the love of god don't put TrioTech there. What a slap in the face to the previous occupants that would be.
