After eating a Burger King lunch, I headed over to the park… or, rather, I followed my GPS to the park. Anaheim is weird because it's setup for its amusement parks. Disneyland has its own short highway. Knott’s… well, it just has its own road.
Once I finally found a parking place, I started looking for the main gate while staring in awe at their huge wooden rollercoaster. The atmosphere is not at all like Elitches. The parking lot and front entrance actually feel like White Fence Farm. There’re tons of little restaurants and shops outside the park… so many that I couldn’t find the park entrance, so I finally asked an employee. Turns out I was on the wrong side of the park but whatever. I’m starting to get used to being lost.
I bought a ticket… I felt kind of dumb paying tourist prices for an amusement park, but… I guess I was a tourist. I felt really dumb when Abb easily found a $10 off coupon online. On top of that, I got there late, so it was $50 for 6 hours of rides... Ouch. Turns out the lines were really short, so even though I got there late, I was ready to leave an hour before the park closed. I basically didn’t have to wait in a line for more than a few minutes.
I walked into the park and started wondering if I had actually paid for an amusement park… as in a park in which you watch skits, go shop, and be amused. Knott’s is very, very themed, and it was kind of a shock to find that most the operators had to wear costumes. The ride operators sat in a glass-enclosed room while two or more employees loaded and unloaded rides. Contrary to the way Elitches operates, the employee’s goal was to move people through, not make you wait forever while they slowly shuffle back and forth, doing their absurd safety checks, and waiting to go home. In a way, Knott's Berry Farm felt like I was at Disney Land as they spent money on stuff that really mattered. It was amazingly clean, and instead of spending money on dumb things like blasting stock-music everywhere in the park (Elitches), they spent their money improving the park… even things as simple as using exhaust mufflers on air brakes can go a long ways for improving the experience.
The first ride I went on was called “Silver Bullet.”
It’s a suspended rollercoaster with two trains, each containing 8 rows x 4 people. No wonder the lines were short. Moving 64 people through for each complete ride makes a big difference. I decided to wait for the front car since it was the first big roller coaster of my life. I was amazed how silent and smooth the coaster moved. It didn’t rattle your brain to pieces, and the breaks didn’t make your eyeballs fall out of their sockets or blow out your eardrums. Turns out the coaster tracks and supports are filled with sand. The breaks are all magnetic. Check out the video for proof: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogbZnxqwa8o) See? You can hear the people above the noise of the coaster and there are no groans when the breaks are applied. I think I’m getting too old for rides like these because I could only take it a few times.
Next, I had to try out the big wooden roller coaster.
Someone on the Silver Bullet told me they thought it was the longest wooden roller coaster in the western U.S. Wow… Talk about FUN and SMOOTH. I don’t know how Knott’s did it, but their big coasters are extremely smooth. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVKovrcmIj0) The ride was just really fun and I think I rode it about five times. The hill right after 1:50 in the video forced me to laugh every time… just too fun. (I’m normally silent and relaxed on rides.) After my first ride, I decided to try the back of the coaster. WOW! Talk about intense. You know the effect people refer to as “the back goes faster than the front?” Well… The trains on this coaster are so long that they whip you down hills at incredible speeds. REALLY fun!
Time for another coaster. The Xcelerator is AMAZING.
This movie doesn’t do it justice, but it’s hard to find "point-of-view" videos of this coaster… (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mW7cAf-uRA&feature=related) I don’t know how you’d hold a camera while riding this. The first hill is 205ft tall… You go up that at 82mph at 2.3 seconds into the ride. Then you go straight down at 90 degrees. It was SO much fun and the first coaster I’ve been scared on for a long time. Getting on that thing is as scary as getting on the tower of doom. A $13 million coaster is really fun :-)
Anyway, those were the highlights. I may post about some of the other rides if there’s enough interest.
Knott’s was really fun, but I kind of felt guilty the whole time… I was doing stuff that a lot of people I know (mainly my family) would love to do. I had a blast, but it would have been even more fun to have been there with someone.
Next up: Comments on the church I’ve visiting tomorrow, my trip to “the strip” (not all that fun and mainly just sad), and riding the “Tower of Doom” that forms the “needle” of the Stratosphere:
5 comments:
Ben, there's no need to feel guilty about going to fun amusement parks. After all, most of us can't afford to spend a weekend in LA.
:D
The Xcelerator looks FUN. The other two look like slightly longer versions of the Mind Eraser and Twister Two?
Yeah, I know, Beck, but still...
There's a big difference between these coasters and Elitches. They're smooth, they're WAY faster, and they actually take your breath away quite often in unexpected ways. On top of that, the rides were so themed that it was incredibly different... Didn't feel like a trailer park (Elitches)... It was kind of like Costa-bo-nana (Cassa Bonita) in amusement park form :-) MEH! Just go out and ride them. They're fun! :-D
Man... that looks like fun... you're making me want to go there. Not to mention it's warm.... and the amusement parks don't close in the winter. :( I guess that's why they don't put the nice coasters here. They can't keep them open all year long.)
WOW! I just realized that my space bar squeaks, it's just like a gerbil!
LOL! Well, I say the coasters could be open all year because I'm willing to ride them in snow, but whatever. There's not all that many people who approach insanity with the preciseness I tend to.
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