Off Topic: Disney further sanitizing Pirates of the Caribbean

Disney has announced that they are further sanitizing their Pirates of the Caribbean attractions as to not offend anyone by having their pirates act like despicable pirates.

Sorry, I know this isn't Knott's related but I'm NOT happy about this. Why empower people who are offended by something? Anyone can be offended by anything, its the easiest thing in the world to be. You don't even have to have a reason at all for being offended, just claiming you are is enough to get attention.

Being offended is a state of mind one puts themselves in. Instead of seeking self improvement and not allowing themselves to be offended, they shit on everyone else's parade. They'll rewrite history, censor humor, and neuter great storytelling in a selfish effort to avoid dealing with THEIR problem of being offended. Won't be long before Splash Mountain is removed to avoid offending someone.

This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

EDIT: Gotta say, upon revisiting this I was tempted to delete it. The childish rant just seems soo cringy in hindsight but then Disney decided to replace Splash Mountain...IDK, just something about spending millions of dollars to update one of your most popular attractions in your parks to just be an equally popular attraction - when they have plenty of other unpopular attractions that need replaced or updated to ease the burden of crowding - that screams corporate virtue signaling. Thank god for Tokyo Disneyland!

Knott’s Berry Farm: Ghost Town Alive and Circus of Wonders

Howdy Partner, welcome to Calico. Ghost Town has come alive again this summer, as cowboys and townsfolk add a rich tapestry of story development to the heart of Knott’s Berry Farm. We also stop by the new Circus of Wonders, which lives up to its name . . .

Read the rest at MiceChat

Is the Church of Reflections on its way out?

"21. DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION REGARDING THE CHURCH OF THE REFLECTIONS LOCATED AT KNOTT'S BERRY FARM

Present for the discussion was Jim Vanderpool, City Manager

City Manager Vanderpool reported that Knott's Berry Farm is desiring to relocate its Church of Reflections in anticipation of future park expansion. Knott's is proposing to donate the church to

the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Buena Park on Crescent Avenue. The Good Shepherd

Lutheran Church is desirous of taking ownership of the Church of Reflections and keeping it availableforpublicenjoymentaswellasprivateevents. Aneffortisunderwaytoraisefundsto relocate the Church of Reflections using the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Committee (a 501( c)3 non -profit) as the entity to accept the donated funds.

Michael Schneider, pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church spoke about the history of the Church of the Reflections and Good Shepherd' s commitment to create a suitable, natural

environment for the building, including a reflection pond.

Baron Night, Treasurer of the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Committee, spoke in opposition to the manner in which the fundraising efforts are structured.

Following discussion, the City Council directed there be no official City involvement in relocating

Knott' s Berry Farm' s Church of Reflections to a private location; however, in sentiment, the City Council supported the efforts of private entities to do so. Mayor Pro Tem Vaughn and Mayor

Swift dissented, favoring non -monetary support by the City to preserve the historical building for the benefit of the public."

05/09/2017 5PM City Council meeting minutes can be found at CityofBuenaPark

Experience Ghost Town Alive! In 360°

What’s new at Knott’s Berry Farm this summer

Last year, Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park launched “Ghost Town Alive!” — an immersive and interactive experience that visitors raved about. So much so, it’s back with new characters, stories and adventures through Sept. 4.

You can become part of the action or simply observe the fun as you walk the streets in the 1800s town of Calico, where Sheriff Wheeler is dealing with the Mayfield Gang.
You can become an official citizen of Calico and participate in an election or become a deputy, drawing wanted posters and locking bandits in prison. Plus, if you want to become more engaged, make up your own character and name and help out the various townspeople with their daily routines, delivering messages and packages and making decisions that will affect the town.

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REVIEW: Knott’s Soak City is a refreshing water park alternative to Orange County’s other themed attractions

Not everyone is into water parks. Even in the fervent theme park fan community, water parks tend to take a back seat to the more heavily-themed, attraction-centric mothership parks at their respective resorts. A recent exception has been Universal’s high-profile Volcano Bay, which opened to rave reviews in Orlando despite some growing pains and first-week technical hiccups.

In Southern California, water park fans looking to alleviate the heat have a few options. Among others, there’s Raging Waters in San Dimas (made famous as “Waterloo” in the movie “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”), Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Valencia, SeaWorld’s Aquatica down in San Diego, the new all-indoor Great Wolf Lodge in Garden Grove, and Knott’s Soak City, located just across the street from “America’s First Theme Park” Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, just a short hop up the 5 freeway from Disneyland.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend a day at Soak City, after having visited last month for a guided construction tour of its new attractions, and I took note of the park’s positives and negatives while enjoying my time there.

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The Catawampus has gone missing!

The #Catawampus has gone missing! If you know anything, please report it Calico Town Hall #MissingTheMoo https://t.co/ybUmhQkSwF pic.twitter.com/BhbmH8yunv

— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) June 17, 2017

New magic show with Snoopy and return of ‘Ghost Town Alive’ highlight Knott’s Berry Farm’s summer 2017 season

The Peanuts comic strip character Snoopy is appearing in a new magic show at Knott’s Berry Farm for the summer 2017 season.

The show, called “Snoopy’s Magnificent Magical Revue,” was conceived by the Farm’s entertainment division with the help of magician Greg Wilson, who developed the illusions.

Wilson, who also appears in the show on stage in the Charles M. Schulz Theatre, said the illusions he performs with the characters were picked fit their size.

“It’s an entirely different size magic illusion. We had to design everything so that Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Sally and Lucy could fit and be a part of,” he said.

The magic show runs six days a week, with no show on Wednesdays.

Read the rest on the OCRegister

Ghost Town Alive! – How Knott’s Berry Farm beat Disney to the immersive punch

At Star Wars Celebration 2017 in Orlando this past April, Disney revealed that the upcoming Star Wars expansions currently being added to its resorts on both coasts would be deeply immersive experiences, meaning that guests won’t just be riding Star Wars rides and buying Star Wars merchandise– they’ll be living Star Wars.

The immersive theater form, as we’ve explored in great detail here at Inside the Magic, offers participants the opportunity to interact with characters and stories in a way that far exceeds what fans are used to. Instead of watching a show unfold in front of you, the audience has the opportunity to become a part of the show. Of course there have been plenty of small-scale examples of this technique through the years in theme parks around the world (yes, including Disneyland’s 2014 game Legends of Frontierland), but none even approaching as in-depth as what Disney has planned for Star Wars– or what Knott’s Berry Farm is already doing with Ghost Town Alive!

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More walls have gone up at Boardwalk

Nice new sign for Calico Mine Stage

Knott's Soak City Waterpark Expansion With 7 New Water Slides

Can a Six Flags dark ride measure up to Disney and Universal?

For 46 years, Six Flags Magic Mountain has been afraid to build an immersive dark ride attraction for fear of inviting unflattering comparisons to Southern California theme park rivals Disney and Universal — until now.

The Justice League: Battle for Metropolis 3-D dark ride set to debut this spring at the Valencia amusement park will combine motion-platform ride vehicles with a shoot-’em-up video game.

I visited Magic Mountain this week to tour the 24,000-square-foot building with officials from Florida-based ride-maker Sally Corp. Forklifts and cranes were busy as crews on cherry-pickers worked in the rafters of the warehouse-like building in advance of the arrival of scenic show materials and ride vehicles.

Read the rest at the LATimes

Knott's News: Better than Spider-Man? NOT EVEN CLOSE!!! Still, it's nice when someone sets that bar. Hopefully it does well and convinces Cedar Fair to make this kind of investment. Can't wait to see what the new scenes are.

Boardwalk BBQ opens this summer and will add delicious new smokehouse BBQ options

The All Season Dining Plan is about to get even better when Boardwalk BBQ opens this summer and adds delicious new smokehouse BBQ options. pic.twitter.com/IWcJbIJxrJ

— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) June 4, 2017

Video-game-loving millennials, theme parks are making these attractions just for you

Such attractions aim to entice the burgeoning population of young gamers, and designers say the challenge is to create a superior experience to what the players might get on their home gaming setup.

Fullerton student Emiliano Perez played VR Showdown at Knott’s Berry Farm recently and said it outmatches the virtual soccer games he plays on his home Xbox system. “It’s like you are part of the game,” the 13-year-old said.

The virtual reality attraction at Knott’s even includes little-known strategies — or “cheats” — to boost a player’s score, said Christian Diekmann, corporate vice president for strategic growth at Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which owns 13 theme parks and water parks, including Knott’s Berry Farm.

“We can deliver now the kind of attraction we couldn’t do 10 years ago,” he said.

Diekmann declined to disclose the price of the new Ghost Town addition but industry experts say such gaming attractions can be built for less than $15 million.

Read the rest at LATimes

Knott's News: I'm sure this kind of stuff appeals to non-gamers more then it does actual gamers, which is fine. If they're actually trying to compete with the multi-billion dollar video game industry - where AAA games can cost upwards of $200 million to make - they're out of their minds.