Knott's Berry Farm and its partner Triotech this afternoon at the IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando offered more detail for their new Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair interactive dark ride.
Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair revives one of the park's classic dark rides, just in time for the farm's 100th anniversary. According to the Knott's announcement, "the story takes place 34 years after the original adventure and will follow Boysen Bear and Girlsen Bear as they travel to the Country Fair to earn the blue ribbon prize for their famous boysenberry pies, but Crafty Coyote is back along with his mischievous pups intent on stealing all the pies for themselves."
That means it's up to riders to use their "jelly blasters" to recover the stolen pies and stop Crafty Coyote.
"Triotech is thrilled to work with the amazing team at Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Fair on this high-profile project. For this unique attraction, the Knott’s team gave us access to a wealth of archive materials that have been key in understanding the original Knott’s Bear-y Tales," Ernest Yale, Triotech’s Founder, President and CEO, said.
Knott's and Triotech consulted with Rolly Crump, the Disney Legend and former Imagineer who designed the original Knott's Bear-y Tales ride, on the revival. Hear more from today's press conference:
"Knott's Bear-y Tales carries a great significance and evokes an intense sense of nostalgia for those who first experienced the ride as children in the ‘70s and ‘80s," Nol Van Genuchten, Vice President Creative at Triotech, said. "It's our goal to capture the spirit, creativity and originality that made this dark ride such a success and thus honoring the cherished memories of the original attraction."
Knott's announced Monday that the final rides on Voyage to the Iron Reef will happen on January 5, 2020, as the park clears the way for the return of Bear-y Tales. 
Knott's Berry Farm tickets
I assume that if Iron Reef is not going down until January 5, 2020, and the new attraction will open sometime prior to the busy summer season, there would not be enough time to perform any substantial upgrades to the ride system. You might think they could install new ride vehicles given that timeline, but the concept drawings of the new attraction appear to show the same 4-across/single row cars. It definitely looks like this is a cosmetic refurbishment only.
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Robert, I didn't watch the full video of the press conference posted here, but were you able to get an answer to this question from Russell Meyer in your post from early November when this was originally announced by Knott's?
"BTW, did Knott's make any indication whether they would upgrade the actual ride system here, or is it just a re-skinning of the video to present the new/old IP? This ride needs a serious improvement to its throughput, especially if they're going to market this as a "new" attraction, naturally increasing the popularity/demand to ride."