Sunday, August 31, 2014
Rumor: Knott's to replace Pink's!
Word around the park is that at the end of September, just a week before Haunt, Pink's will be replaced with a sandwich restaurant and deli. If you're a fan of Pink's, I suggest you make your way out to the farm soon for one last meal.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Thoughts on LogHeads Grizzly Creek Lodge episode
Well I recently watched the episode of LogHeads where they built the new decor for Grizzly Creek Lodge at Knott's Camp Snoopy and I gotta say, it was pretty entertaining. I find it amazing what these guys turned out in the 6 week time limit that Knott's gave them to furnish the entire restaurant, considering that it's all handmade (sandblasted grizzly/bear paw decals included). 5 designs later with no final approval and you get what you see in Knott's currently. Seek it out!
PS: Am I the only one who thinks Tommy Mitchell looks like Simon Pegg?
PS: Am I the only one who thinks Tommy Mitchell looks like Simon Pegg?
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Watch how the LogHeads created the beautiful new custom furniture for Camp Snoopy on tomorrow night's new episode on Great American Country at 6:00 PM PT.
Watch @RockyTopLogFurn create beautiful new furniture for @knotts tomorrow on @gactv at 6:00 PM PT. pic.twitter.com/Hm1YwiyDBq
— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) August 26, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Lansner: What are the most trusted brands in Orange County?
This is the fifth year of these awards – a co-production of DGWB, Cal State Fullerton and OC Metro magazine – targeting brands based in Orange County, or operating within O.C. with a large consumer presence. Winners are chosen from the results of consumer attitude surveys reviewing 235 brands.
What's clear to Weisman in the past half-decade of contests is that several outfits are breaking away from the pack, notably the multiple-year winners: In-N-Out (four times); CHOC Children's and the Automobile Club of Southern California (three times); Cal State Fullerton, Apple, Vans and Costco (twice.)
This year's first-time winners were Knott’s Berry Farm, Toyota and the Salvation Army.
Read the rest at OCRegister
Read the rest at OCRegister
Knott's newest trade-only pin features a poster of Ghost Town and Calico Railroad's Engine 41
Are you a @knotts pin trader? Our newest trade-only pin features Ghost Town and Calico Railroad's Engine 41. pic.twitter.com/1CApRqM4eI
— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) August 20, 2014Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
Knotts Berry Farm End of Summer Fun and Haunt by the Ton
Down on the farm there’s plenty a-happenin’. Knott’s is planning a big Labor Day celebration on the last day of August including fireworks! You also still have a chance to catch the Snoopy Unleashed show andBoomtown before they close. We also take some time to enjoy the Citizens of Calico Ghost Town, and take a ride on the Calico Railroad. Plus, we’ll share the rundown on Halloween Haunt 2014 with new information from this weekends ScareLA convention. All of this along with a few refurbishments and some good news.
Read the rest at MiceChat
Read the rest at MiceChat
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company Extends Partnership With Merkle Supporting CRM Strategies
Merkle, a leading technology enabled, data driven customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately held agency, announced that it has been selected by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, to build its innovative Season Pass-holder Benefits Center, adding to the multi-faceted relationship.
“We looked to Merkle to build the online functionality for our Season Pass-holder Benefits Center as they have already proved their expertise when delivering the Guest Preference Center in 2013,” said Daryle Powers, VP, CRM for Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.
Merkle’s relationship with Cedar Fair Entertainment Company began with the build-out of the company’s Connected CRM (cCRM)™ database two years ago, combining data across all 11 parks and 9 hotel properties. The database enables Cedar Fair to leverage the integrated customer data for highly tailored messaging and smarter marketing tactics. Most recently, Cedar Fair engaged Merkle to develop and launch a custom Season Pass-holder Benefits Center. The goal of the portal is to keep members engaged throughout the year by providing them with added value benefits for being a current Season Pass-holder including exclusive offers and up-to-date important park and ride information.
“Merkle is proud to partner with one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world. It is our privilege to partner with them on the Season Pass-holder Benefits Center, where we aim to personalize, optimize and mobilize positive customer experiences for their Season Pass-holders,” said Andrew Hoeberichts, SVP, Leader of Merkle’s Travel, Media and Entertainment Practice. “This relationship exemplifies our focus on serving the customer-centric needs of the entertainment industry.”
Read the rest at MarketWatch
“We looked to Merkle to build the online functionality for our Season Pass-holder Benefits Center as they have already proved their expertise when delivering the Guest Preference Center in 2013,” said Daryle Powers, VP, CRM for Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.
Merkle’s relationship with Cedar Fair Entertainment Company began with the build-out of the company’s Connected CRM (cCRM)™ database two years ago, combining data across all 11 parks and 9 hotel properties. The database enables Cedar Fair to leverage the integrated customer data for highly tailored messaging and smarter marketing tactics. Most recently, Cedar Fair engaged Merkle to develop and launch a custom Season Pass-holder Benefits Center. The goal of the portal is to keep members engaged throughout the year by providing them with added value benefits for being a current Season Pass-holder including exclusive offers and up-to-date important park and ride information.
“Merkle is proud to partner with one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world. It is our privilege to partner with them on the Season Pass-holder Benefits Center, where we aim to personalize, optimize and mobilize positive customer experiences for their Season Pass-holders,” said Andrew Hoeberichts, SVP, Leader of Merkle’s Travel, Media and Entertainment Practice. “This relationship exemplifies our focus on serving the customer-centric needs of the entertainment industry.”
Read the rest at MarketWatch
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
MiceChat Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt 2014
Event details
Join us, if you dare, in the fog-shrouded streets of Ghost Town for the MiceChat Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt 2014. Leave the real world behind and enter a dream-land of spooky fun with fellow MiceChat readers.
There are two ticket types:
MiceChat Knott's Haunt event ticket (Basic) - $119.99*
Join us, if you dare, in the fog-shrouded streets of Ghost Town for the MiceChat Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt 2014. Leave the real world behind and enter a dream-land of spooky fun with fellow MiceChat readers.
There are two ticket types:
MiceChat Knott's Haunt event ticket (Basic) - $119.99*
Admission into Knott's Scary Farm
Backstage tour of a new maze before the event
All you can eat Private Pre-scare Boofet dinner
Early entry into Haunt
Front of the line access to all mazes (excluding Trapped)
Skeleton Key access to select mazes. The Skeleton Keys will not be part of the MiceChat guided experience but are available for your private use or after the guided portion of the evening is complete.
Priority Seating for Elvira Ring-Mistress of the Park
MiceChat Knott's Haunt event ticket with TRAPPED VIP Maze - $129.99*
Backstage tour of a new maze before the event
All you can eat Private Pre-scare Boofet dinner
Early entry into Haunt
Front of the line access to all mazes (excluding Trapped)
Skeleton Key access to select mazes. The Skeleton Keys will not be part of the MiceChat guided experience but are available for your private use or after the guided portion of the evening is complete.
Priority Seating for Elvira Ring-Mistress of the Park
MiceChat Knott's Haunt event ticket with TRAPPED VIP Maze - $129.99*
ALL of the benefits of the basic package PLUS ADMISSION INTO TRAPPED: The New Experiment (special upcharge maze) (Purchasing this ticket will gain you admission into the Trapped maze with the MiceChat group. By purchasing this ticket you will be randomly assigned a return time during event check-in at the beginning of the night. If you miss the reservation time you will forfeit your ticket.)
* Plus tax and PayPal processing fees
That's right. You could buy your own ticket and wander around, aimlessly from line to line, starving to death from hunger, without a single person to hang out with. OR, you could pay one simple price and get an entire night of food, entertainment, friends, frights, and fun.
Tickets sell out quickly, get yours today at eventzilla
* Plus tax and PayPal processing fees
That's right. You could buy your own ticket and wander around, aimlessly from line to line, starving to death from hunger, without a single person to hang out with. OR, you could pay one simple price and get an entire night of food, entertainment, friends, frights, and fun.
Tickets sell out quickly, get yours today at eventzilla
Exciting Knott’s Scary Farm 2014 Haunt Announcements
Do you hear that faint noise in the distance? The sound of fog machines hissing, filling the air thick with a murky haze. The deep growl of monsters and the shrill screams of their victims. Halloween Season is coming and the grand daddy of all theme park haunt events returns in 2014 as Knott’s Scary Farm begins its 42nd year of terror.
Deep inside the mouldering depths of the 1,500 seat Charles Schultz Theatre, Knott’s Berry Farm today invited press, season pass holders, and haunt fans to be the first to hear what frightening monstrosities are in store for us this year. What was announced brought back the familiar, the loss of a few favorites, and a new, first-of-it’s kind in North America experience.
Read the rest at MiceChat
Knott's News: I wonder if Special Ops: Infected will be anything like the Biohazard the Real attraction that Universal Studios Japan introduced last summer?
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
This Animatronic Life: Finding Gold in the Calico Mine Ride Part II
Howdy—and welcome to part two of the story of Garner Holt Productions, Inc.’s (GHP) work in revitalizing Knott’s Berry Farm’s incredible Calico Mine Ride attraction. In part one, I recounted GHP’s previous involvement with the attraction and the lead-up to our work on the recent renovation. This time, we’ll take a scene-by-scene look at the attraction and the new features and stories behind it.
I think a fitting preface for all this is a note of appreciation to Knott’s Berry Farm as a client. From Matt Ouimet at the corporate level to Raffi Kaprelyan’s leadership as general manager at the park itself, the creative visionaries in Knott’s entertainment director Lara Hanneman and her team, and the exceptional maintenance and operations folks at the park, GHP is truly blessed to have Knott’s as a client. Everyone there works hard to make the park as wonderful as it is, and makes the client-vendor relationship a uniquely friendly one. They are the true heroes in making Knott’s Berry Farm the park that we love so much.
I think a fitting preface for all this is a note of appreciation to Knott’s Berry Farm as a client. From Matt Ouimet at the corporate level to Raffi Kaprelyan’s leadership as general manager at the park itself, the creative visionaries in Knott’s entertainment director Lara Hanneman and her team, and the exceptional maintenance and operations folks at the park, GHP is truly blessed to have Knott’s as a client. Everyone there works hard to make the park as wonderful as it is, and makes the client-vendor relationship a uniquely friendly one. They are the true heroes in making Knott’s Berry Farm the park that we love so much.
Read the rest at MiceChat
Knott's News: It would've been really cool to see the hydraulic miner shoot water over the heads of riders. I'm sure Garner Holt's unspecified reasons for not including this stem from what happened with the hitchhiker on the Log Ride. After seeing just how disrespectful and destructive guests can be, I'm sure they didn't want to risk someone standing up to touch the water, potentially soaking other passengers or even getting hurt in the process.
Knott's News: It would've been really cool to see the hydraulic miner shoot water over the heads of riders. I'm sure Garner Holt's unspecified reasons for not including this stem from what happened with the hitchhiker on the Log Ride. After seeing just how disrespectful and destructive guests can be, I'm sure they didn't want to risk someone standing up to touch the water, potentially soaking other passengers or even getting hurt in the process.
Knott's culinary team wins the People's Taste Choice Award at the Taste of West OC!
Congratulations to the @knotts culinary team for winning the People's Taste Choice Award at the Taste of West OC! pic.twitter.com/WEXTXwAy5J
— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) August 4, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
John Waite Loves Theme Parks!
John went to Six Flags Over Texas for several days to study the ride, then, while still at UCLA, developed a log flume concept that he planned to pitch to Knott’s. “It was a log ride concept, with a hydro-mining theme.”
John wrote to Walter Knott saying he had a ride proposal. A few days later Russell Knott, Walter’s son, called and asked John to come in for a meeting. “We met, and he told me that they didn’t do the designing of rides at Knott’s. He knew they were working on a log ride with Bud Hurlbut, but didn’t say anything.”
Russell set up an appointment for John with Bud, who designed many of Knott’s Berry Farm’s rides. John showed Bud his idea. “Bud laughed and said he wanted to show me something. He took me into his shop and showed me the models of the log ride he was building for Knott’s. I had to laugh too, but then I asked him for a job.”
Bud wasn’t hiring at the time, but offered John a job as a skipper on the steamboat that plied the lagoon at Knott’s. But John really wanted to work on the log ride construction. So John resigned from UCLA after the 1969 commencement exercises and went to work for Bud. “I worked on some of the final preparations of the ride, sealing cracks and things like that.” John became one of the Timber Mountain Log Ride’s supervisors and worked on it, and for Bud, for many years.
Read the rest at MarkEadesEnterprises
John wrote to Walter Knott saying he had a ride proposal. A few days later Russell Knott, Walter’s son, called and asked John to come in for a meeting. “We met, and he told me that they didn’t do the designing of rides at Knott’s. He knew they were working on a log ride with Bud Hurlbut, but didn’t say anything.”
Russell set up an appointment for John with Bud, who designed many of Knott’s Berry Farm’s rides. John showed Bud his idea. “Bud laughed and said he wanted to show me something. He took me into his shop and showed me the models of the log ride he was building for Knott’s. I had to laugh too, but then I asked him for a job.”
Bud wasn’t hiring at the time, but offered John a job as a skipper on the steamboat that plied the lagoon at Knott’s. But John really wanted to work on the log ride construction. So John resigned from UCLA after the 1969 commencement exercises and went to work for Bud. “I worked on some of the final preparations of the ride, sealing cracks and things like that.” John became one of the Timber Mountain Log Ride’s supervisors and worked on it, and for Bud, for many years.
Read the rest at MarkEadesEnterprises
Former Cast Member Remakes Heavenly Music
Meanwhile, he paid a few more visits to Knott’s Berry Farm and rode the Calico Mine Train Ride, where he found that the wonderful organ music in the Cavern Room had become less than heavenly over the years. “It sounded like it had been edited, and was very weak.”
Bill decided it needed improving, so he paid a visit to his friend Lonnie Lloyd, who was shop foreman for the legendary ride designer Bud Hurlbut. (Bud had designed and built the Calico Mine Train Ride. Walt Disney admired Bud’s ride designs and met with him several times.) Even though Bud had passed away, Bill was able to get a copy of the original sheet music for the Caverns Room from Lonnie and set about recreating it from scratch. “I am not an organist,” Bill said. “I’m more of a technician. But I wanted to do it as a tribute to Bud.”
The original organ music had been recorded more than 50 years before on a real organ. While Bill did not have access to the original, he did have a scratchy copy of it and started working on a new recording. Because he was not an organist, Bill took more of a technical approach, recording digital samples of organ music and matching them to the sheet music on his computer. It took several months of finding and getting organ samples, plugging them in, listening, and adjusting before he finally got it finished. “I played it for Lonnie and he thought it was a new recording of the original.”
Bill’s work didn’t end there. When he heard that Knott’s Berry Farm was going to completely refurbish the ride, he wanted them to have the new recording and offered it to them gratis.
Read the rest at MarkEadesEnterprises
Bill decided it needed improving, so he paid a visit to his friend Lonnie Lloyd, who was shop foreman for the legendary ride designer Bud Hurlbut. (Bud had designed and built the Calico Mine Train Ride. Walt Disney admired Bud’s ride designs and met with him several times.) Even though Bud had passed away, Bill was able to get a copy of the original sheet music for the Caverns Room from Lonnie and set about recreating it from scratch. “I am not an organist,” Bill said. “I’m more of a technician. But I wanted to do it as a tribute to Bud.”
The original organ music had been recorded more than 50 years before on a real organ. While Bill did not have access to the original, he did have a scratchy copy of it and started working on a new recording. Because he was not an organist, Bill took more of a technical approach, recording digital samples of organ music and matching them to the sheet music on his computer. It took several months of finding and getting organ samples, plugging them in, listening, and adjusting before he finally got it finished. “I played it for Lonnie and he thought it was a new recording of the original.”
Bill’s work didn’t end there. When he heard that Knott’s Berry Farm was going to completely refurbish the ride, he wanted them to have the new recording and offered it to them gratis.
Read the rest at MarkEadesEnterprises
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Anticipated Earnings Increase for Cedar Fair
Wall Street is high on Cedar Fair, expecting it to report earnings that are up 32% from a year ago when it reports its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, August 5, 2014. The consensus estimate is $1.12 per share, up from earnings of 85 cents per share a year ago.
The consensus estimate has fallen over the past month, from $1.17, but it’s still up from the consensus estimate of $1.11 three months ago. Analysts are projecting earnings of $2.80 per share for the fiscal year. Revenue is projected to be 3% above the year-earlier total of $361.6 million at $373.7 million for the quarter. For the year, revenue is expected to come in at $1.17 billion.
Revenue fell year-over-year in the first quarter, snapping the three-quarter streak of rising revenue.
The majority of analysts (100%) rate Cedar Fair as a buy. This compares favorably to the analyst ratings of two similar companies, which average 60% buys. All four analysts rate Cedar Fair as a buy.
Read the rest at Forbes
The consensus estimate has fallen over the past month, from $1.17, but it’s still up from the consensus estimate of $1.11 three months ago. Analysts are projecting earnings of $2.80 per share for the fiscal year. Revenue is projected to be 3% above the year-earlier total of $361.6 million at $373.7 million for the quarter. For the year, revenue is expected to come in at $1.17 billion.
Revenue fell year-over-year in the first quarter, snapping the three-quarter streak of rising revenue.
The majority of analysts (100%) rate Cedar Fair as a buy. This compares favorably to the analyst ratings of two similar companies, which average 60% buys. All four analysts rate Cedar Fair as a buy.
Read the rest at Forbes
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