In August, Knott's Berry Farm announced its "A Knott's Family Reunion" celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Walter Knott's berry farm.
The news came as part of Cedar Fair's National Roller Coaster Day announcements, and for the event, Knott's promised "festive park decor, themed food items, unique entertainment, exclusive merchandise and special surprises along the way."
Well, we might have gotten our first glimpse at one of those surprises today. The annual IAAPA Expo is coming up in Orlando next month, and today the association sent members of the press a list of scheduled press conferences during the Expo. Here's what caught my eye:
Together with Knott's Berry Farm, Triotech will announce a new attraction celebrating the park's 100th anniversary.
Triotech is the interactive dark ride company behind Knott's Voyage to the Iron Reef attraction, which includes multiple Easter eggs honoring the park's history. Could Voyage to the Iron Reef be getting an retheme for the anniversary? Or is Knott's adding something elsewhere in the park?
We will find out on November 19, during the IAAPA Expo... if not before. I will be in Orlando for the Expo, so please, stay tuned.
Visiting Knott's? For discount tickets to Knott's Berry Farm, visit our officially authorized Knott's Berry Farm tickets page.
Whatever the theme, an increase in throughput (and decrease in dispatch time) needs to be part of this upgrade.
I was not terribly impressed with Iron Reef, so any sort of upgrade or reworking of the attraction would be a welcome one in my book. The graphics inside the attraction are solid, but the targeting and ride system are a huge downfall IMHO. As Robert notes, the attraction could use a big improvement in throughput, but that would probably entail a complete gutting of the existing ride system (perhaps they could simply rework the load platform similar to the way Ninjago can load 4 cars at the same time instead of the current 1).
Don't you guys honestly think upgrading a shooter darkride is a pretty piss-poor way to honor this park's centenial?
Yes - Iron Reef needs some loving but if that's the best Knott's has to offer us in celebration of this milestone I will be very disapointed.
I'm glad to hear they're upgrading this, it sorely needs it. The 3D effect is awful, so hopefully that's part of the improved technology. @Rob McCullough hopefully there's many more things in the pipeline. I heard a rumor that Mystic Lodge or whatever it's called will be replaced too.
"Don't you guys honestly think upgrading a shooter darkride is a pretty piss-poor way to honor this park's centenial?"
Agreed. I haven't been to Knotts in 10 years even though I have been to socal a bunch of times in that timespan, i'm glad they've spruced the place up but it's well past time for a major new attraction (I don't count Hangtime because eurofighters are nauseating and to me come across as carnival coasters).
They could really use a hyper coaster but are limited on space which leads me to think something like Skyrush would be a good addition. I know Montezuma's Revenge is considered classic but lets be serious no one rides it anymore...that would be a good spot for a station/lift. And whats with all that empty space on the other side of La Palma Ave? I've always assumed that was overflow parking or something, there could definitely be space there for the rest of the coaster.
I've never been a fan of Triotech's generic type of screen attractions... Probably in the very first place, because I'm not a fan of such attractions in general ! Also however, because (before ?) their handheld interactive "guns" were heavyweight "bulk" devices. Whatever the explication they tried to give me to justify (on business meeting on spot in an attraction), they were taking away the fun-to-shoot.
So... it's not because they realised 400+ projects worldwide, that I need to like their kind of attractions.
Guess it's personal !?? :-)
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Back in July, I heard from a friend who works at the park that there was a plan to overhaul Iron Reef with updated technology and a new theme. At the time I wasn't sure if that would be for 2020 or later, but since nothing was said about the project in the August announcements and there hasn't been an Iron Reef closure announcement I figured it was probably a later project. However, this sounds very much like it could be the Iron Reef overhaul. We won't know for a few weeks, but I'm really curious to hear what is in store.