Knott's Berry Farm is suspending its Saturday-night chaperone policy, effective immediately. Put in place after an incident last summer, the policy required that guests ages 17 and younger be accompanied by a chaperone at least 21 years old to be admitted to the park at certain times.
In a post on its social media, the park announced: "Knott's Berry Farm's chaperone policy will no longer be in effect on Saturdays. We are always evaluating our safety policies and will continue to make modifications based on the needs and behaviors we are seeing in the park. Safety is and always will be our top priority."
Last July, Knott's closed the park early on a Saturday night after a series of what appeared to be staged fights led to a mass panic. [See Fights Force Early Closure at Knott's Berry Farm.] Knott's implemented the chaperone policy for Friday and Saturday nights the following weekend, leading several other regional parks around the country to enact their own chaperone requirements.
Knott's kept the policy in place for its Scary Farm Halloween event last fall, but sweetened the deal for chaperones by offering them free admission when accompanying five paid guests under age 18.
As alluded in the park's social media statement, policies can change, so we will have to wait to see if Knott's reinstates its chaperone policy in some form during the summer or other school vacation periods. The policy remains on Knott's Code of Conduct page, even if it is no longer being implemented.
For more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, including Knott's Berry Farm, please follow the ticket icon links our Theme Park listings page.
It is. But if kids' behavior effects the safety of other park patrons, then measures need to be taken.
Curious as if this policy was hurting Cedar Fair's profits by having this policy in place at KBF, and that is the real reason for the change.
They will never share this but I'd be interested in seeing their attendance records comparing to before the pandemic. I'm sure their attendance went way down after this was introduced.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Having to be 18 to be in a theme park without a chaperone is extreme to the umpteenth degree.