Saturday, February 25, 2017

Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival returns April 1-23

Berry Farm is bringing back their popular Boysenberry Festival for more days than ever, starting April 1 through 23, 2017.

For the first time ever, the Knott’s Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival is expanding to three weeks, with food and drinks, and festive live entertainment. The 23-day food festival features over 70 one-of-a-kind boysenberry inspired dishes, drinks and more, plus entertainment, Wine and Craft Brew Tasting Garden (featuring boysenberry and wine), and family fun.

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AttractionsMagazine

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Knott's, Susan G. Komen offering free mammograms today

Knott’s Berry Farm, partnering with Susan G. Komen Orange County, is sponsoring free mammograms at the theme park’s south parking lot from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

The event is open to Knott’s employees and those in the public who are more than 40 years old, a California resident, low income, with no or limited insurance, and not receiving the service through Medi-Cal or other government-sponsored programs.

Eligible women will receive free exams and mammograms in the Mobile Mammograms coach that will be parked in the lot.

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OCRegister

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

What's new at Knott's: Construction, renovations and more Soak City slides

The drumbeats echoed through Ghost Town on President's Day at Knott's Berry Farm.

Beating the drums was the Mountain Fifes and Drums from Lake Arrowhead, making one of their twice-a-year appearances at the farm. They also march into Knott's for the Fourth of July.

But elsewhere at America's oldest theme park, it was construction time.

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OCRegister

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Knott’s Glows Pink Through March 5th

You may have noticed Knott’s Supreme Scream and some other famous park attractions glowing a different hue this week. In support of the Susan G. Komen foundation’s efforts to find a cure for breast cancer, some of Knott’s iconic attractions have been lit in bright pink lights. In addition, Knott’s is providing free clinical mammography screenings for women in the community.

Now through March 5, guests can support the Knott’s for the Cure campaign by purchasing 2017 Knott’s Season Passes or day use “Pink Tickets” at www.knotts.com. A portion of the sale of the tickets and special “For the Cure” merchandise goes to Komen Orange County.

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MiceChat

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Cedar Fair shoots to record profits

Amusement park chain Cedar Fair LP said today that its 2016 profits rose 58 percent to a record $178 million, or $3.14 a share, on revenues of $1.29 billion.

A year earlier, the Sandusky company, which owns Cedar Point and 10 other amusement parks and three water parks, had a profit of $112 million, or $1.99 a share, on revenues of $1.24 billion.

The company attributed the performance to a 3 percent increase in attendance to a record 25.1 million customers, plus a 2 percent increase in average in-park per patron spending to $46.90, which also was a record.

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TheToledoBlade

Knott's News: For people who don't want to read the transcript, this will summarize the important stuff.

Cedar Fair's (FUN) CEO Matt Ouimet on Q4 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

It is no coincidence that the parks were set were the first to have this research completed, including that Knott’s Berry Farm Cedar Point in Canada's wonderland were the biggest contributors to our record results in 2016. We now have completed the brand positioning work for six of our 11 parks and plan to complete the remaining five in the near future.

While the brand positioning work often influences the choice as we make in terms of which new attractions and entertainment offerings to add. It also provides positive marketing leverage by ensuring the names and back stories to the attractions tap into the emotional legacy of each park. I will call out three simple examples to provide context. Knott’s Berry Farm's Boysenberry Festival is second only to our Halloween events in terms of attendance impact. It started as Knott's Spring Bloom, but it took off once we renamed it and reprogram that around the Boysenberry is historical roots in Knott’s.

Again, at Knott’s, the most innovative immersive entertainment offering at any park this year was Ghost Town Alive. Bringing to life the characters of Ghost Town grow strong demand with limited capital investment.

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SeekingAlpha


Knott's News: Looks like Knott's is continuing to lead the way for the rest of Cedar Fair. Also looks like the new VR experience will be called "VR Showdown in Ghost Town".

Friday, February 10, 2017

Speech And Language Development Center Walk At Knott’s Berry Farm Helps Children And Adults With Special Needs

On Sunday, March 12 Speech and Language Development Center (SLDC) will hold its first annual Walk at Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s a walk in the park, literally. All participants receive a coupon to purchase Knott's tickets at $38 (regularly priced at $75) that is good for up to four tickets, an event T-shirt and a slice of boysenberry pie.

All proceeds support education and therapy for children and adults with autism and other disabilities. Allison, parent of a student said, “The Center has been doing incredible things in the community for over 60 years. My daughter has grown and developed so much since she’s been there. They focus on every child’s abilities, not their disabilities. If you’re thinking about doing this walk, you should do it and rest assured that the money goes to providing immediate help to kids who need it.”

Read the rest at
prweb

Thursday, February 2, 2017

So about Knott's new VRstudios collaboration...

I previously posted an article that talks about Knott's collaboration with VRstudios for a new free-roaming VR experience. This will go in the old Laser Tag spot in the Arcade under Voyage to the Iron Reef. 

Since it's announcement, many have been wondering what to expect. Now, traditionally, VR experiences have been sit-down experiences that place you in an entirely digital world. What Knott's is adding is being labeled as "free-roaming". To me, this sound like laser tag with a Microsoft HoloLens-esque headset strapped on your head. 

What is the Microsoft HoloLens? Its VR (virtual-reality) and AR (augmented reality) all mixed into one. What is augmented reality? You've probably used it before, in a phone app or video game camera based experience. Basically, its using a camera to capture reality and then virtually projecting something digital into that reality. HoloLense uses this by having a camera placed on the VR headset to show your everyday world and then project virtual experiences into it.



Let's also consider I'm wrong about the AR part and that there is no AR elements but its entirely VR (although I worry people would be much more likely to injure themselves in this scenario). This it totally possible too, as the camera would just be used for tracking in this case, so you don't run into any walls. Infact, there is a company called THE VOID that has already made a few of these experiences:




In both scenarios they're retrofitting the old Laser Tag to transport you to another world, placing markers on the wall that the headsets will recognize as creature / environment placement. This will create a much more immersive experience.

I expect this to have lower capacity than Laser Tag - with the added safety precautions walking with a headset on will bring - and I expect added maintenance costs to come with the headsets. Those factored together and it should hopefully become clear why this is an upcharge attraction (for those actually complaining). I just hope they make it Knott's themed and not some generic alien / monster shoot-em-up.