Knott's Berry Farm

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knott's Berry Farm
Entrance to the park

Entrance to the park

place Buena Park , California , USA
opening 1940
Visitors 4,014,000 (2016)
surface 65 hectares
staff about 10,000
Website www.knotts.com
Knott's Berry Farm (USA)
Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm
Location of the park

Coordinates: 33 ° 50 ′ 42 "  N , 118 ° 0 ′ 4"  W.

Knott's Berry Farm is an amusement park in Buena Park , California and a manufacturer of specialty foods. In addition, Knott's operates three Soak City USA water parks and was the founder of Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America . The theme park is now operated by Cedar Fair LP and the grocery division is part of The JM Smucker Company . With around 4 million visitors (12th place), the park was one of the 20 most-visited amusement parks in North America in 2016. There are around 35 attractions in the park, including roller coasters, family attractions, children's rides, and historical attractions.

history

origin

In the 1920s , Walter Knott and his family were selling berries , jams, and cakes at a street stall along California State Route 39 . In the 1930s, Knott cultivated the first boysenberry . His wife Cordelia began selling fried chicken and boysenberry cakes in 1934, and after a few years the wait at the restaurant was often hours. The location made the farm a popular stop on the way from Los Angeles and Orange County's beaches. To entertain those waiting, Walter Knott first built a few shops and other attractions before building a ghost town in 1940 from buildings from real western towns. In 1968 the family fenced in the farm , charged a $ 1 entry fee for the first time, and Knott's Berry Farm officially became an amusement park.

In 1969 one of the first white water rides opened in the United States, the Calico Logging Co.

The John Wayne Theater opened on June 19, 1971, with a media impact. In addition to John Wayne himself, Ronald Reagan, as governor at the time , also opened the newly built, 2,100-seat theater. Two years later, in 1973, Knott's Berry Farm hosted the world's first Halloween festival. When his wife Cordelia died on April 12, 1974, Walter Knott devoted himself to political issues. In 1975 the park was expanded to include a new themed area. The Roaring 20's area included the park's first roller coaster, The Corkscrew. Three years later, Montezooma's Revenge opened the park's second roller coaster. After Walter Knott died in 1981, his children took over the amusement park.

To keep up with the growing competition from amusement parks in Southern California , two major attractions were built in the 1980s: With Kingdom of the Dinosaurs , an entire area of ​​the park was converted into a dinosaur park in 1987. In 1988 the theme area Wild Water Wilderness and its main attraction, Bigfoot Rapids , a rapid river, were opened .

New management

In the 1990s, Walter and Cordelia Knott's children decided to sell the amusement park and all of the family's other businesses:

  • The Buena Park Hotel was sold to Cedar Fair LP in the late 1990s . The hotel was rebuilt to meet the standards of the Radisson chain and opened as a Radisson Resort Hotel in a franchise process . In 2004 the hotel was renamed Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel .
  • In 1995, the grocery store to the US company ConAgra Foods, Inc. sold. In 2008 it was sold to The JM Smucker Company .
  • The theme park was sold in 1997 to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, which also operates Cedar Point in Ohio . Originally, the theme park was to be sold to the Walt Disney Company . The plan was to convert Knott's Berry Farm into Disney's America Park, a park dedicated to the history of the United States. However, the family decided against a sale to the Walt Disney Company, as it was feared that the memory of Walter Knott would be destroyed.

today

Since the park has been run by Cedar Fair , there has been a noticeable change towards fast-paced rides. Since then, several roller coasters and other rides have been built. In 2013, the park's most popular attraction, the Timber Mountain Log Ride, closed for a 5 month renovation.

On May 25, 2013, three new family attractions opened in the park: a wild mouse (Coast Rider), a breakdancer (Pacific Scrambler) and the Surfside Gliders. All three attractions were modeled on a beach promenade.

The park is divided into the themed areas Boardwalk, Camp Snoopy , Ghost Town, Wild Water Wilderness and Wild West. In October (in the Halloween month) the park is re-themed every year and opens as "Knott's Scary Farm" (roughly translated: Knott's Scary Farm).

This long history is used to justify the claim to the title of "America's First Theme Park". There are, however, doubts about this title, as today's Holiday World was opened as a theme park as early as 1946, over 20 years before the farm was converted into an enclosed area. The title therefore depends on the definition of the term “theme park”.

roller coaster

Former roller coasters

Food

The JM Smucker Company still sells jams and jams made famous by the Knott family. Other, original products, such as syrup , were no longer manufactured and sold due to a lack of demand.

Since November 2013 you can buy "Berry Market" jam in the amusement park. These jams are made according to the original recipe of the Knott family, but may not be named after this, as the JM Smucker Company owns the naming rights.

Web links

Commons : Knott's Berry Farm  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Knott's Berry Farm. In: linkedin.com. Accessed November 23, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Global Attractions Attendance Report 2016. (PDF) TEA, accessed on November 23, 2017 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c Knott's Berry Farm Media Center | Knott's Berry Farm. Accessed November 23, 2017 .
  4. ^ Christiane Salts: Cordelia Knott: Pioneering Business Woman . Ed .: Dennis Salts, Tracy Salts. The Literature Connection Books, Buena Park, CA 2009, ISBN 0-9842250-0-5 , pp. 102 .
  5. ↑ Knott's Berry Farms® | Products. Accessed November 23, 2017 .