Patty's Disneyland Trip, March 2007--Day 2
Patty Winter
separately to ADD. Will be more careful tomorrow!]
You can see this report with photos and links at:
http://www.wintertime.com/OH/Disney/DL/DL2007/DL2007-2.html
=========================
Day 2 (Monday, March 19)
I was up by a little after 8:00 a.m., and downstairs in time
to get some food at the Candy Cane's complimentary continental
breakfast. I then returned to my room and reviewed the Knott's
Berry Farm portion of my PassPorter Disneyland Resort and Southern
California Attractions guidebook. I've had a couple of different
editions of PassPorter for Walt Disney World and found them
very helpful. So when they introduced a guide for Disneyland,
I snapped up that one, too. It's an excellent planning tool,
and because I have the loose-leaf version, it's easy for me to
carry in my knapsack just the pages I need each day.
Around 10:00 a.m. I went downstairs again, taking photos of the
abundantly blooming azaleas and other beautiful flowers at the
hotel. My shuttle bus arrived right on time at 10:20--but 15
minutes later, we were back at the intersection of Harbor and
Katella. Because the driver had an FM radio going loudly (at
least it was on a classic rock station!), I couldn't hear his
conversations with the dispatcher. But from the way he was driving
around that part of Anaheim, I got the feeling that he was trying
to find a certain hotel. Eventually, he pulled into the parking
lot for the Doubletree--which is only about two blocks from the
Candy Cane! We finally got onto I-5 about 10:50. Luckily, once
we were on the freeway, it was only a 15-minute drive to Knott's.
As mentioned in my pre-trip report, I was holding a printout
of a season pass for Great America in Santa Clara that said I
could obtain entrance to KBF prior to the time when Great America
would open for the season and start issuing official season pass
cards. I crossed my fingers as I approached the guest services
window, but all went smoothly, and within a few minutes, I had
a complimentary one-day pass to KBF in my hand. I asked whether
anyone else had used a Great America 2007 season pass yet this
year, and the attendant said that yes, a few other people had.
That potential obstacle overcome, I entered the park about 11:10
a.m. My return shuttle to Anaheim wouldn't be here until 6:15
p.m., so I had all day to explore Knott's. Given that last time
I was here, the only area that even existed was Ghost Town, I
decided to head there first and see what it looked like after all
these years.
As I left the entrance area, I was disappointed to see on an
update board that among the attractions not operating today was
the Calico Railroad--the one attraction I remembered from nearly
50 years ago! It's the Old West train ride that always runs
into train robbers, a classic Knott's experience. I had just
checked the KBF website a couple of days ago, and the railroad
was running, so it must have just gone down for refurbishment
today. :-( Oh well, maybe I can get back here some other time...
I took a hard left as I entered Ghost Town and spent several
minutes staring at GhostRider, the very tall, very steep wooden
coaster. Knott's has a rating system for their attractions,
and this one had the highest rating, a double-black-diamond
"5." I can't imagine that it's as wild as the steel coasters at
Knott's, but it must be pretty wild. I could tell from looking
at it that it was right on the edge of what I might enjoy, so
it could have gone either way. But I eventually decided that it
looked like a bit too much for me.
Returning to my meanderings through Ghost Town, I came upon a
banjo player sitting on a porch railing playing the "Ode to Joy"
from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. That was different! There was no
one else around, so when he finished, I went up to him and chatted
for a while. He said he doesn't have a bluegrass background
as one would normally expect from a banjo player, so instead,
he plays mostly pop songs, with occasional classical pieces.
He mentioned that one day when he was playing the Beethoven piece,
a little girl said, "That's Beethoven, right?" When he confirmed
that it was, she turned to her mother and said, "See, I told you
so!" :-) Evidently the little girl had recently learned the "Ode
to Joy" at a piano lesson, and was proud to be able to show off
her knowledge to her mom.
I noticed as I was walking around Ghost Town that there were
quite a few grade-school groups in attendance. I ran into one
group listening to a talk at the Geode Shop, another learning
about metalsmithing at the blacksmith's shop, and a third group
coming out of the one-room schoolhouse. The attendant at the
Ranger Station/Nature Center told me that she was expecting
some students shortly, too. Obviously it's a popular place
for nearby schools. I see from the Knott's school website
that most of the tours only run about $5-10 per student, so
that seems like a pretty good deal.
Here's a bit more about the historical buildings (or re-creations
thereof) in Ghost Town. The Bird Cage Theatre is a replica (on
the outside, anyway) of the one in Tombstone, Arizona, which
opened in 1881 and is now a museum. The theater at Knott's
originally featured melodramas; it is now used for special
events and educational presentations. The one-room schoolhouse
was built in Kansas in 1879; Walter Knott bought it and shipped
it to California in 1952. It was actually used as a school
for his grandchildren for a while. The ranger station/nature
center was also originally a school (I think in what's now the
city of Pico Rivera). It was built in 1868 and is a California
Historical Landmark.
One of the presentations listed on the park's schedule was
something called Mystery Lodge, just past Ghost Town in the Wild
Water Wilderness area. I decided to catch the 12:15 show. This
waterfall and the rock in the shape of a Native American man's
face are part of the peaceful entrance queue to the lodge.
By the way, I ran across quite a bit of lovely landscaping at
Knott's Berry Farm. The web version of this report has a couple
of photos from Ghost Town and one from Fiesta Village.
The Mystery Lodge show consists of one actor--a Native
American elder--telling a story (well, actually, lip-synching to
prerecorded audio), aided by some nicely done special effects.. I
thought the tale was leading up to an environmental moral, but
it turned out to be a touching message about elders sharing
their wisdom with younger people. The program was developed
in cooperation with some Kwakwaka'wakw people from British
Columbia. Incidentally, the show's visuals rely on the "Pepper's
Ghost" effect, which is also the basis of the ballroom scene at
Disney's Haunted Mansions.
I got out of Mystery Lodge around 12:30, picked up a large pretzel
to hold me for a while (I had big plans for a late lunch!),
browsed through the Western Trails Museum (which has historical
artifacts from KBF as well as from the old west), and then went
on the Calico Mine Train. I think this is the only dark ride at
Knott's, and it's fun. It's rated a "3" on the intensity scale,
probably for potential scariness in the caves.
After exiting the train, I walked over to the loading area for the
stagecoach. This is a good place to mention an interesting aspect
of KBF's layout. Those of you who have visited Disney's parks
have undoubtedly noticed the great lengths they go to to maintain
the atmosphere of each area. There are exceptions--especially
on the higher rides, where you can see the whole park below
you--but for the most part, if you're in Frontierland, you can't
see Tomorrowland.
Such carefully separated theming is definitely not the case at
other theme parks--if they even have area-specific theming at
all. (Last I saw, for example, employees at Great America were
wearing the same outfits in all areas of the park.) The lack of
separation is nowhere more evident at Knott's Berry Farm than
in the boarding area for the stagecoach. It's right on the edge
of Ghost Town, and the track for the brightly colored Silver
Bullet coaster (a high-speed, suspended-seating steel coaster)
goes right over it. The screams from the coaster riders don't
seem to bother the stagecoach horses, but the contrast between
the two types of attractions is certainly jarring.
The stagecoach trip itself (intensity rating "2") goes well out of
the Ghost Town area. We went past Fiesta Village and Camp Snoopy,
and as we paralleled the edge of the park, the street traffic
was easily visible. Knott's actually owns a lot of land (they
built an entire water park next to the replica of Independence
Hall across Beach Boulevard from the main park), and also opened
a large resort hotel), but I guess they want to keep the main
park restricted to that one part of the property, so they've
chosen to crunch differently themed attractions together in
some places. At least the main portion of Ghost Town is well
away from all the modern stuff.
Still holding off on a full meal for a while, after my stagecoach
ride I bought some roasted corn. While I sat at a picnic table
eating it, I planned what to do next. I decided to cut across the
front of the park to Camp Snoopy, the kids' area. I had spotted
some pink lorapetalum bushes in this area during my stagecoach
trip, so I sought out those to get some photos. They turned out
to be near a pretty little stream.
On my way to that spot, I noticed that Snoopy himself, appropriately
attired for camping in a hiking vest, was greeting visitors, so
I got my photo taken with him. I had actually met Snoopy once
before, in 2004, when the new animal shelter opened in his home
town of Santa Rosa.
After walking through Fiesta Village and deciding that no, I
wasn't going to go on Montezooma's Revenge :-), I continued on
to the Boardwalk area. Here, I took the Sky Cabin ride, which
is a rotating cabin that slowly ascends to a couple hundred feet
in the air. Up high is not my favorite place to be, but I gazed
into the distance instead of down to the tiny little people below
me, and I was okay. After my return to solid ground, I watched
a few boats go down Perilous Plunge (which has a 75-degree,
115-foot-high drop--yikes!) and sat through one round of Rip Tide
(which holds people upside down over water fountains). Oh, yes,
I mean that I sat through one round of watching Rip Tide. No
way I was getting on it!
By now, I decided that it was time to make my way out of the
park to the MarketPlace, a shopping and eating area that does
not require park admission. The most important fact about the
MarketPlace is that it's the location of Mrs. Knott's Chicken
Dinner Restaurant.
For those of you not familiar with the history of Knott's Berry
Farm, the Ghost Town area was originally built to give customers
something to do while they waited for their turn at the restaurant.
So it's been a popular dining venue for more than 70 years!
According to the Knott's website, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant
now serves more than 1.5 million people every year.
I had only a short wait before being seated in a lovely side
room of the restaurant. It was about 2:30 now, and I was told
that I could order from either the lunch or dinner menu. Both
menus, of course, feature fried chicken, but many other options
are also available. I ended up ordering a dinner meal with the
all-white-meat option, which resulted in my getting three half-
breasts. Well, there'd sure be plenty of food for later! I
started with a green salad, and chose corn and rhubarb for my
side dishes. There were also some tasty buttermilk biscuits.
For dessert, I simply had to get the boysenberry pie, since Walter
Knott was the person who made boysenberries popular. However,
by dessert time, despite having eaten only one of the chicken
breasts and not all of my side dishes, I was too full to eat
any pie. So I asked my waiter to fix it up to go. I also took
the remaining chicken and a couple of biscuits. Because I was
eating my major meal of the day so early, I figured the food
would come in handy later. (And the rooms at the Candy Cane have
little fridges, so I knew that I could store everything safely.)
After leaving the restaurant, I browsed the shops in the
MarketPlace for a while. Not surprisingly, there's a big
selection of Knott's jams and jellies. (The Knott's foodstuffs,
by the way, are now owned by ConAgra; the park itself is owned
by Cedar Fair.) There's also a big Snoopy paraphernalia store
with a huge Snoopy on the roof.
Around 4:30, I re-entered the park and tried to decide what to
do next. I tried to call the shuttle company to find out whether
there might be an earlier van than the one scheduled for 6:15,
but I got their answering machine, which was frustrating. I had
heard some other passengers inquiring this morning about the
possibility of an early return, and thought the driver had said
something about a 5:00 p.m. van. I considered going out front
to see whether that was going to happen, but eventually decided
instead to catch the 5:00 p.m. "Fool's Gold" stunt show at the
nearby Wagon Camp theater.
The stunt show was fun and well done. There were some clever
references to their neighbor parks. For instance, when one guy
was trying to come up with the money to pay a gambling debt,
he asked, "Do you take Canadian quarters? Disney dollars? No,
of course not--nobody wants those!" Later, the sergeant said,
"We'll send him where all the hardened criminals go." To which
his subordinate replied, "Six Flags?" Given the reputation of
Six Flags Magic Mountain for attracting undesirable elements,
I'll bet their PR department isn't too pleased with that jab!
The stunt show got out at 5:20. I wandered around aimlessly
for a while, then went out the front exit of the park about
5:45. I found a spot to sit and got caught up on my trip notes
while waiting for the shuttle van. I ran across that family from
this morning, who told me that they had come out front shortly
before 5:00 p.m. and waited for a while, but the van never showed
up. Luckily, the scheduled one arrived a little after 6:15.
I thought about going to California Adventure for a while,
but decided that because I expect to have a long day tomorrow,
it would be smarter to rest up this evening. So upon my return
to the Candy Cane, I took a nice hot bath, then ate some of my
leftover chicken while watching "24" and "The Riches." I also
made up some amaretto cocoa and enjoyed that with my boysenberry
pie. (I've taken to keeping packets of instant cocoa and a tiny
bottle of either amaretto or Kahlua in my cosmetic case so that
I can make myself a treat in the evenings when I travel.) I hit
the sack a little after 11:00.
gjw
>After exiting the train, I walked over to the loading area for the
>stagecoach. This is a good place to mention an interesting aspect
>of KBF's layout. Those of you who have visited Disney's parks
>have undoubtedly noticed the great lengths they go to to maintain
>the atmosphere of each area. There are exceptions--especially
>on the higher rides, where you can see the whole park below
>you--but for the most part, if you're in Frontierland, you can't
>see Tomorrowland.
>
>Such carefully separated theming is definitely not the case at
>other theme parks--if they even have area-specific theming at
>all. (Last I saw, for example, employees at Great America were
>wearing the same outfits in all areas of the park.) The lack of
>separation is nowhere more evident at Knott's Berry Farm than
>in the boarding area for the stagecoach. It's right on the edge
>of Ghost Town, and the track for the brightly colored Silver
>Bullet coaster (a high-speed, suspended-seating steel coaster)
>goes right over it. The screams from the coaster riders don't
>seem to bother the stagecoach horses, but the contrast between
>the two types of attractions is certainly jarring.
It should be noted that until just a few years ago, you would have
found Reflection Lake where the coaster is now, along with the Church
of Reflections, and Spanish arches with scale models of the California
Missions. Decades ago, there was an Indian island in the middle of the
lake. It was a very quiet, rural, tranquil environment, until they
started dropping giant coasters on top of everything in sight, and it
matched well enough (then) with the theming of Ghost Town.
>After walking through Fiesta Village and deciding that no, I
>wasn't going to go on Montezooma's Revenge :-), I continued on
>to the Boardwalk area. Here, I took the Sky Cabin ride, which
>is a rotating cabin that slowly ascends to a couple hundred feet
>in the air.
That was originally a Parachute ride. The Cabin was a second-thought
that ran up the middle of the parachute pole. They screwed that one
up too...
>Up high is not my favorite place to be, but I gazed
>into the distance instead of down to the tiny little people below
>me, and I was okay. After my return to solid ground, I watched
>a few boats go down Perilous Plunge (which has a 75-degree,
>115-foot-high drop--yikes!)
I believe someone was killed on that ride a few years ago - an
overweight woman who apparently wasn't served properly by the
restraint system and fell from the car to her death.
>By now, I decided that it was time to make my way out of the
>park to the MarketPlace, a shopping and eating area that does
>not require park admission. The most important fact about the
>MarketPlace is that it's the location of Mrs. Knott's Chicken
>Dinner Restaurant.
In case you don't remember, the (free) MarketPlace used to be a much
larger place. They tore down a large portion of it in order to build
the giant wooden roller coaster. They also recently built an
"outside" chain restaurant (TGI Fridays) next to the MarketPlace
shops.
>The stunt show was fun and well done. There were some clever
>references to their neighbor parks.
As you probably surmised by now, I started going to Knott's back in
the early 60's, and I remember that, for decades, the Wagon Camp was
home to traditional Western groups like The Wagonmasters, and the
singing of cowboy ballads (think "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and
"Tumbling Tumbleweeds") by the campfire...
Unknown
gjw <g...@example.com> wrote:
>On 24 May 2007 19:24:48 GMT, pat...@sonic.net (Patty Winter) wrote:
>
>> The lack of
>>separation is nowhere more evident at Knott's Berry Farm than
>>in the boarding area for the stagecoach. It's right on the edge
>>of Ghost Town, and the track for the brightly colored Silver
>>Bullet coaster (a high-speed, suspended-seating steel coaster)
>>goes right over it.
>
>found Reflection Lake where the coaster is now, along with the Church
>of Reflections, and Spanish arches with scale models of the California
>Missions. Decades ago, there was an Indian island in the middle of the
>lake. It was a very quiet, rural, tranquil environment, until they
>started dropping giant coasters on top of everything in sight, and it
>matched well enough (then) with the theming of Ghost Town.
Yes, it certainly would have. It sounds beautiful! I'll bet the
local schools were really unhappy to see those missions go away,
too. Knott's probably had every fourth-grade class from Orange
and L.A. counties visiting while the models were there!
>> Here, I took the Sky Cabin ride, which
>>is a rotating cabin that slowly ascends to a couple hundred feet
>>in the air.
>
>That was originally a Parachute ride. The Cabin was a second-thought
>that ran up the middle of the parachute pole.
Really? Is that the case with all the similar rides I've seen at
other parks? I always thought they were built to hold those cabins.
>In case you don't remember, the (free) MarketPlace used to be a much
>larger place.
As I mentioned in my report, I hadn't been to KBF in 50 years, so
I don't remember much about the area around the restaurant!
>They tore down a large portion of it in order to build
>the giant wooden roller coaster.
GhostRider is impressive--just a bit too exciting for my tastes. ;-)
>As you probably surmised by now, I started going to Knott's back in
>the early 60's, and I remember that, for decades, the Wagon Camp was
>home to traditional Western groups like The Wagonmasters, and the
>singing of cowboy ballads (think "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and
>"Tumbling Tumbleweeds") by the campfire...
Ah, I can imagine that happening. Maybe some day that kind of
stuff will cycle around again...
Thanks for the info!
Patty