So, WOW.Okay, so five years or so ago, we went to Knott’s Berry Farm for a day right before...

So, WOW.

Okay, so five years or so ago, we went to Knott’s Berry Farm for a day right before SDCC, myself, hubby, our son, and his girlfriend. We hadn’t been for a while, and our son’s gf had never been to a theme park, ever, and we raved about what a fun, pretty park it was.

Then we got there, and it was very disappointing. The staff was sparse and not friendly, the food was not great, the famous Mrs. Knott’s restaurant was not clean, the park look neglected, and the Knott’s hotel was very run down looking…our room actually flooded, they moved us to another room without even an apology. It was messy, I was not happy. I had great memories of Knott’s and was very disappointed.

When we were deciding what to do on the way down to SDCC this year, I mentioned Knott’s as one of the options. In less than a minute, someone from the park contacted us and offered us complimentary passes and Fast Lane passes (that allow you to skip the line on some rides all day). We thought that was a nice gesture, and we booked a room, a little worried, for four days at the Knott’s Berry Farm hotel.

HOLY MOLEY. Has this park changed for the better!

Apparently, the person managing the park used to run Disneyland, and has made sweeping changes to the park over the last four years. Everything was immaculate, the park was as clean as Disneyland. Many of the best rides have been renovated, lots of our old favorites look almost brand new. Everywhere we went, people were cleaning, even on the 4th of July weekend, the park was spotless.

 The entertainment was a huge jump up as well. They even got popular, long-time act Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, who have been at Disneyland for two decades. But they had new stuff, and some really appealing swing and salsa bands, and a great stunt and acrobatic show.

They’ve added a dark ride similar to Toy Story Midway Mania, called Journey To Iron Reef, that is an a-list ride, we loved it. It’s got a great design and look, it’s a ‘4-d’ shooting ride where the park is taken over and flooded, and it’s so fun we rode it four times.

The hotel has been improved, it’s vastly cleaner and more pleasant, the staff were uniformly excellent and helpful, the park was the same, every worker we talked to was smiling and nice.

Finally, even the food has improved. We found the food to be at least on par with Disneyland (better, in some cases, we think the food has taken a dip at Disneyland the past couple years).

If you’ve followed me for a while, you might be aware that I am a big fan of a couple things…I love theme parks, and I love Charles M. Schulz. So Knott’s is a park I am very fond of, and seeing it fall a bit into disrepair was very sad for me. I didn’t want Snoopy’s home to become some generic upgraded carnival.

I have to say, they have really, really made a great turnaround. It made me very, very happy to see. We spent two great days there and still didn’t see everything, it was nice just to walk around and hear all the excellent musicians and see the improved landscaping.

Great fun, highly recommended. If you haven’t been in a while, come back and check it out, Snoopy’s home looks great now!