Knott's Berry Farm: It's Not Disneyland

     For years we have been asked if we ever go to any other parks during our California vacation. We went to Sea World one year but had not tried any of the other parks in the Anaheim area. This year though we decided to try Knott's Berry Farm,. Our annual passes were blocked the 2,3, and 4th of July so we figured we might as well give Knott's a try. We also wanted to see Kirk and the Hillbillies who used to be at Disneyland and were one of our favorite shows.

     We were excited for this new venture. We took the Anaheim Resort Transportation so we didn't have to find a place to park. It was not a long drive and when we saw the park we were excited. The outside shopping area looked like fun.

     The entrance to the park is different than we are used to, we had our tickets already so didn't have to wait in the ticket line. They have security and scan you with a metal detector which made us feel good. When we arrived they looked in our bags but we left the park for  while during the day and when we came back they didn't check our bags which was concerning.

     We entered the park excited for this new day but we quickly realized it was not going to be what we thought it would be. We didn't expect it to be Disneyland but we did expect it to be special in its own way. The feel of the park however was more like being in an old western town which to us is not that thrilling.

     Disneyland is full of happy sounds and music. The sounds at Knotts were of birds, chickens and other sounds that were not pleasing. But we still were determined to enjoy our day.

     Our first stop was the restroom, the restrooms at Knotts are very dirty. They are old and need some severe updating. I did like how they have a sign on the door saying it is against the park rules to take pictures in the restroom. But other than that they were gross. They had an extremely nasty smell which seemed to be throughout the park.

     The bathrooms were not the only dirty part of the park. The entire park was dirty. We rode a sky ride so we could see the park from above but the view was foggy due to the dirty windows. Pretty much everything in the park was dirty.

     We rode a few rides and they were fun. Well except the stage coach. It was boring and smelly.

     For lunch we decided to try some barbecue only to find the food prices were high. People talk about Disneyland's food prices like they are horrible but we found the food at Knott's to be twice as much as what we pay at Disneyland. Our barbecue was ok, nothing great. We did get a funnel cake later on and it was delicious but again much more expensive than what we pay at Disneyland. The funnel cake had their famous boysenberries and they were fantastic.

     Kirk and the Hillbillies were a lot of fun, we loved seeing them again. we had missed their show a lot. I will write about them in a blog just about them though. We weren't impressed with their venue.

     My aunt and I rode the GhostRider and it was a blast. The wait was very long though and we had no idea how long it was when we got in line.They don't have signs telling the wait times on their rides. It looked to be about 45 minutes but took around 90. We were told by another guest that you had to download an app to know wait times which we did not want to do. We could not figure out why it was so long because there were not enough people for it to be that long however when we got to the loading station we figured out why it was so long. They don't load people up quickly. As a matter of fact it is very sluggish. They also have cubbies for people to put their things in before the ride begins. You get in the coaster, go to the other side, put your belongings in and then get back in the ride. This all takes a lot of time and makes the wait times extra long. We did love the ride though and wanted to ride again but did not want to wait in that line again. It was hot and miserable. They had us wait in a room where there was only one small fan.

We knew that it was not Disneyland and didn't expect that but we did not expect it to be so dirty consist of annoying noises. We sure did not expect the food to cost more.

     We could have stayed until 9:30 but decided to leave after the Hillbilly show. We had a fun day but were done. The western feel of most of the park is just not our thing. We enjoyed our day but will not go back. We did discover a beautiful area while we were shopping. It was the entrance area to the restrooms in one of the shops.

     Knott's Berry Farm could be a fun place, it has a lot of potential however does need some updating and lower prices, and cleaning.