New Build-A-Bear Workshop Now Open at Knott’s Berry Farm

You can find the Build-A-Bear Workshop located behind Virginia’s Gift Shop and Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Bearemy, the Build-A-Bear mascot, was on hand to cut the ceremonial ribbon for the store’s grand opening. There was a sizable crowd for the grand opening, all of them eager to be the first to take a peek inside the brand new Build-A-Bear. Plus, the first 100 guests in the store received a free cream-colored Build-A-Bear.

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Happiness Is…Knott’s Peanuts Celebration 2020

It’s that time of year again for Knott’s Peanuts Celebration! In honor of Charles Schultz’s classic Peanuts characters, Knott’s created a mini-festival that runs on the weekends from January 25th through March 1st (plus some extra dates). This is the third year for this event, and it has gotten better every time. Here’s the rundown on the Knott’s Peanuts Celebration for 2020!

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Exterior constructions starts on Return to the Fair

They are starting to dismantle but the exterior queue for Voyage of the Iron Reef at Knott's Berry Farm. #KnottsBearyTales pic.twitter.com/1BU8U6EuTF

— Hubert Wong (@Hubert_Wong2) January 16, 2020

Knott's News: I hope they reimagine the entire exterior. It was fine how it was for Knott's Bear-y Tales / Kingdom of the Dinosaurs but then they decided to turn it into a carnival knockoff of a Honda dealership. Its just soo cheap looking and ugly right now. Why remove the ramp? Why remove the theming on the buildings (windows, etc)? Why lazily cut holes for a poorly implemented interior queue? Bring on a new mural and how about a better implementation of the entrance gazebo. Just fix this concrete garbage Cedar Fair queue. A repaint and hanging new ornaments won't be enough.

Kingdom of the Dinosaurs photo op incoming

Kingdom of the Dinosaurs was a dark ride that took riders into the Pre-Historic Times! As part of the 100th Anniversary Celebration, you'll get to relive fond memories of former attractions with new elaborate photo ops, starting May 15! 📸 More to come this summer. 🎉 #Knotts100 pic.twitter.com/OeVpkW8hFb

— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) January 17, 2020

Knott’s Berry Farm: 100 Years in the Making

There are some big changes ahead for Knott’s in 2020. The park is kicking off their 100th anniversary with an upcoming family attraction, new merchandise, and expanded festivals. Let’s take a look around the Farm to see what’s been happing since the new year, and look ahead to what’s coming to celebrate 100 years at Knott’s!

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Gone from Disneyland, Build-A-Bear moves to Knott's

Build-A-Bear Workshop is coming to Knott's Berry Farm this month. The Buena Park theme park today announced the arrival of the do-it-yourself Teddy bear factory store, which will go into the California Market Place, outside the park's gates. The workshop will stand behind Virginia’s Gift Shop and Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

Read the rest at ThemeParkInsider

New Return to the Fair concept art featuring Frog Forest

ALL-NEW year, ALL-NEW ride! 😄 #KnottsBearyTales: Return to the Fair will take you on an exciting journey through dynamic show scenes that honor the classic attraction. 🎉Enjoy this and more with a 2020 Season Pass! The lowest price of the year ends soon: https://t.co/nmalcYLV33 pic.twitter.com/VJdx5UXjTY

— Knott's Berry Farm (@knotts) January 1, 2020

Returning to the Fair with Knott’s Bear-y Tales and Triotech’s Nol Van Genuchten

We’re using the same venue, we’re using the same ride system, but we’re re-configuring the ride system to give us a better journey through that space, and to better be able to tell the story that is Knott’s Bear-y tales. Yes, it will be a media-based attraction and yes, we’ll still have screens in there, but we’ll be re-configuring the riide system and the position of the screens to give us a more immersive experience, to create more space, to have better theming and a better overall environment.

Read the rest at Coaster101

All aboard the 2020 Hype Train for Knott's Bear-y Tales

The big reason that you don't see more revivals at theme parks is that parks - unlike film studios - are not constantly rotating in new productions. Popular, successful rides stick around for generations. It's the less successful attractions that get yanked in favor of new rides or shows. And who wants to bring them back?

Well, sometimes parks make mistakes. And other times, rides that fall out of fashion find new life when nostalgia brings them back into favor. Many Disney fans long for the return of Horizons. Universal fans pine for Jaws. And Knott's Berry Farm fans wish they could go back and get another ride on Knott's Bear-y Tales.

Read the rest at ThemeParkInsider

Cedar Fair Appoints Daniel J. Hanrahan Board Chairman

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and immersive entertainment, announced today it has appointed Dan Hanrahan as its independent board chairman, effective January 1, 2020. Mr. Hanrahan has served on Cedar Fair’s Board of Directors since June 2012, most recently as chair of the Compensation Committee.

Matthew A. Ouimet, executive chairman, and Debra Smithart-Oglesby, lead independent director, will serve in those roles through the end of 2019 and will continue to serve as directors under Mr. Hanrahan’s leadership.

Read the rest at SeekingAlpha

Knott's, take notes - This is how you announce a celebration!

Off Topic: The Imagineering Story (Final Thoughts)

Well that was a mess...

I don't know what I was expecting. Of course a documentary produced by Iger - one that was so honest and critical on previous administrations - would paint himself as Disney's savior. It's a shame that all the failures of the current administration are completely ignored and much of their mediocrity is glamorized (Shanghai Disneyland anyone?). Most of Imagineering's actual technological and creative achievements are glossed over in favor of pushing Iger's agenda revolving around brand integration in what seems like a desperate justification of bad decision making by management (one of which belittles any kind of genuine concerns fans have by painting it as nothing more than whining and overreaction). It really does just become an advertisement fluff piece that abandons the narrative that Iweks was crafting in earlier episodes.

If you really feel like watching this, you can stop after the first couple of episodes.

Knott’s Merry Farm Presents a Magical Down Home Christmas

It’s the merriest time of the year at Knott’s Berry Farm, where Christmas cheer is delivered boysenberry flavored. This year, Merry Farm hosts two new entertainment offerings, including an incredible stage show and a melodrama. While other parks are cutting back this holiday season, it’s merrier than ever at Knott’s. Let’s take a look around the park and see why.

Read the rest a MiceChat

The Whimsical History and Unexpected Future of Knott's Beary Tales

Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair IAAPA interview with Triotech creative

Knott's News: Interesting interview with the Triotech creative lead Nol Van Genuchten on the project. He talks about how long they've been working on the Bear-y Tales revival and even about possible expanded scenery / rearranged screens. It really is crazy the quick turnaround Knott's seems to have on all its projects, despite Cedar Fair constantly talking about their 5 year plans. Hopefully someone asks about the track layout, Art Engineering ride system, ride capacity (Triotech lists Iron Reef at 575 THRC) and reliability at some point. Really interested to know if any of that will change.

High quality version of the Knott's Bear-y Tales 2020 concept art

Knott's News: This is right off the Triotech website. The higher resolution doesn't really reveal any details you couldn't see otherwise.  What I'd really like are some high quality renders of the character standees they had at IAAPA. I really hope those renders represent the look they'll have in the attraction. I'll be disappointed if they look like the hideous character art they have attached to the logo.

Triotech IAAPA 2019 press conference

Today Triotech held their press conference for Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair at IAAPA 2019.There wasn't much new information we didn't already know, at least not presented by Triotech. 

Ernest Yale mentioned pouring over archives of Bear-y Tales production work to capture the aesthetic and be respectful to the original attraction. He also mentioned that in addition to the animation and gaming, they'd be producing the scenic theming (oh god NO).

Ken Park on the other hand mentioned the following: they consulted with Rolly Crump and his son to makes sure the new attraction is authentic to his artistic intent (this is cool but wish he would've taken on a more active role), that they're focusing on story even though there will be shooting (to me, story based attractions work better off screen where there are details surrounding you just waiting to be discovered, as opposed to the straight forward presentation a screen offers), and that the boysenberry smell will return.

Still worried about this one. Still have lots of questions that need answered. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Garner Holt Productions: Growing the legend

Calico Ghost Town is the original heart of Knott’s Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California. Comprised largely of a collection of authentic, 19th-century buildings brought to the park by founder Walter Knott beginning in the 1940s from the real ghost town of Calico in Southern California’s High Desert, Ghost Town is one of themed entertainment’s earliest and most successful immersive “lands” – it feels real because, in a major sense, it is real. When Knott connected with amusement ride impresario Wendell “Bud” Hurlbut, the attractions that would emerge from the relationship would grow the reach and legend of Ghost Town further than its narrow streets and charmingly crumbling buildings.

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Timber Mountain Log Ride 50th anniversary musical additions retooled!

I'm not sure how long ago this happened but it seems that Knott's wasn't content with their first pass at adding a musical heart to Timber Mountain Log Ride and has done a little retooling to the music added during the 50th anniversary. As you may remember, I voiced some concerns regarding the flow of the music and as to whether it was scene appropriate. It seems Knott's felt the same way and has addressed many of these concerns of mine. To me, the music flows much better after the retooling (although, I do miss the whistling in the cave). For the most part, any vocals now heard seem appropriate to the scene and no longer like they're coming out of the sky, and there is much more use of instrumental. Most rewarding of all - I feel - is that there now is now a buildup to the final scene with the hootenanny and the music is much more grand because of it. This retooling is a major plus for the attraction.

That said, I still have a couple of suggestions. I maintain that the fully finished hootenanny sign in the saw mill should be removed, the new figure advertising it is enough to convey the story point. The log ride represents the passage of time and the next scene has a hootenanny sign still being worked on, which makes no sense that one would be completed earlier in the day for such an impromptu event. Also, there are vocals outside with the hitchhiker and logger. I feel this should be all instrumental. 

I already know this last suggestion is outlandish but I feel there should be music throughout most of the attraction. To me there are too many dead spots where you just hear music from other show scenes at a distance. I know this would require a massive amount of electrical work and engineering but I feel the light peppering of instrumental score in-between scenes would keep the energy and flow better.

Like I said, those suggestions are just nitpicking. Knott's has done a wonderful job retooling Timber Mountain Log Ride and we're soo lucky they're taking such great care of their classics.

Off Topic: The Imagineering Story

This has nothing to do with Knott's but is more for theme park lovers in general. I've been watching Leslie Iwerks' The Imagineering Story docuseries on Disney+ and it is fantastic. While there isn't much in the way of new information, there is - fortunately - a lot of great behind the scenes footage being shown for the first time, so definitely worth checking out. To further persuade any of my readers who may still be on the fence; ex-Imagineers and Knott's alumni Rolly Crump (Knott's Bear-y Tales), Bob Gurr (Kingdom of the Dinosaurs) and Eddie Sotto (Wacky Soapbox Racers) are all interviewed in it. While Disney nerds like myself are disappointed at everything being left out, I do see how the tighter presentation is creating a narrative easier to grasp that may've otherwise been lost had they delved any deeper. Only one episode in and I'm hooked. 

Can't recommend it enough!