To whom it may concern,

We just got back from our holiday to California. Myself my wife and two children aged 4 and 7 stayed at the paradise pier hotel and took in all the spots around Disneyland including knots berry farm. I have included our tickets for your reference .the children were quite excided to go to knots as was I, as I haven’t been since my childhood. What I found when we got in the park greatly disappointed me. I found the park to be woefully understaffed with only the minimal amount of workers for each ride and startling lack of security. Our knots ‘experience’ started in a 45min line up for the rapid tubes, we witnessed a large group of young males enter the line and proceed to the front of the line, when a woman complained to one of the two girls operating the ride the operator told the group that security had been called and they would be ejected from the park. The group went on the ride, got off and did the exact same thing again! . After the ride I went to the guest services at the front of the park to complain and was told that they know it’s a problem and they send out security whenever it is needed, she was pleasant, said she was sorry and gave me a self addressed envelope for knots. I went back with my family to go on a few more rides and everywhere we went we experienced unruly kids in line spitting and swearing and carving their names in the paint. I did see two security personal, but they were carrying a box somewhere and seemed oblivious to what I was seeing, perhaps it was due to the fact they looked no older than the kids or they see it all the time. I spent a considerable amount of my hard earned money to get into the park as well a $34 bus transfer to get there and after four hours I called a taxi and left.
The new side of the park looks quite impressive and I’m sure will be allot of fun for anyone over 48 inches, but I’m not sure who you want in the park. Perhaps you just want the local school kids and factor in a percentage of tourists who leave disappointed. Considering the prices are similar and Disneyland is not far away it struck me that I didn’t witness similar experiences at Disneyland, my only conclusion is that Disney wants me to come back, and that behavior is not tolerated! . We had planned to go to the water park on the weekend of our trip, but after knots we decided to stay at Disneyland and spend our money there.






Sincerely
Jason Fisher

It's a shame that you had a bad experience at Knott's, but you should send your letter in as a real letter to Knott's. It's informative for you to post it here, but since MP isn't associated with Knott's, you're more likely to get results if you contacted Knott's directly.

Since he said he's "included the tickets for your refrence", I assume this is just a copy of the real letter he sent to Knott's.

Jason,
I am a big Knotts fan but have not been there since Cedar Faire bought them from the Knott family. I have been going there for many years and some of my best theme park memories have been with their park. That's why it makes me sad when I hear things like this. Also, this isn't the first time I've heard something bad about the new Knotts. I strongly think you should send this letter to them if you haven't already and please post whatever reply you get here on the boards, I'd like to see what they have to say.

Personally, I'm not sure I can even remember going to Knotts since I got my first DL pass (back in the days when the pass pictures were Polaroids!), and I certainly haven't been there more than once or twice in the past 20 years, mainly because I've been a bit irritated with how they run things.

Consider:

Disneyland, recognizing that locals, especially Magic Kingdom Club members, might want to spread a single ticket book across several visits, or perhaps share two books among a family of three, continued to offer general admission up to the very day they went to all-unlimited-use, and even after that, allowed people with a cache of old tickets to turn them in for credit on admission (something I did with about half my own stock; even though I kept the rest, I never expected them to actually have value to Disneyana collectors).

Knotts, on the other hand, discontinued general admission long before they discontinued ticket books, leaving most of the locals who came for the ice shows, game arcades, shops, dioramas, blacksmith's shop, and one or two rides, stuck having to pay for more ride tickets than they could possibly use.

I liked Knotts a lot better back in the days before it became a big thrill ride park. Back when it was just a small-time amusement park where locals went as often as once a month, sometimes not (especially if the children were small) even going into the gated part of the park, but just going on the "lagoon area" rides. Fortunately, about the time Knotts started thumbing their corporate nose at locals, Disneyland started actively courting them.

*** Knott's Berry Farm ***

---- the Orange County version of SFMM ---

i have sent this to knott's ( correct spelling ) . i posted this here (first on the wrong board ...sorry ) as we are from canada and try to go to disneyland once a year and include some other attraction mid visit , legoland , sea world .... whatever . there must be other "tourists" doing the same and just wanted to give them a 'heads up' on knotts . also knots is the only place i've seen the sign stating that it is a criminal offence to jump lines for a ride ( or something to that effect ) ...maybe someone has a picture of this to post . it must be a standard problem for them to make up signs .there were other things that i didn't like about knotts , like the snoppys treehouse that the kids go in past an atendant and play ...you think that that's where they are ,but when you go in you find out that the end of the treehouse opens to the entire park ...thats safe !?. i'll post knott's repy when i get it . but take notice ... if you are going to california save your money DON'T GO TO KNOTT'S !!!

jason

"disneyland is the greatest place on earth !"

Originally posted by jason
if you are going to california save your money DON'T GO TO KNOTT'S !!!

jason

"disneyland is the greatest place on earth !"

I will agree, Knott's has been getting bad.

Sure Disneyland is Great, but I would say it's the "Happiest Place On Earth"! ;)

I went to Knott's on 06/07. I think the problem with people getting in line from the exit is that Knott's advertises it. On each ride there is a sign that says you can enter the ride through the exit to see if you fit in the restraints properly. Once people do this, they probably just stay on the ride and cut in front of people. It seems like a good scam.

In terms of the employees, they were wonderful. There were 2 employees around one of the eateries in ghost town that were cussing. I made note of this to guest relations.

Just one question? What were they thinking when they linked the cars together in the Kingdom of the Dinosaurs? A ride you used to walk on with no wait had a wait of 15 minutes. When I was in line, one of the presidents of Cedar Fair rode the ride. They sent a 'train' ahead of him empty and one behind him empty so he could ride it uninterrupted. I found this gentleman in the park later (I forget his name) and let him know that the ride now "sucks" because of what Knott's did to it and that he was given special treatment with the ride not stopping. He told me he would look into it. I doubt anything will happen.

Originally posted by Thomas
I found this gentleman in the park later (I forget his name) and let him know that the ride now "sucks" because of what Knott's did to it and that he was given special treatment with the ride not stopping. He told me he would look into it. I doubt anything will happen.

You go, Thomas!!!

That's EXACTLY why I don't go to Knott's anymore, only for the Halloween Haunt. :cool:

to update everyone : i still haven't recieved a reply from knotts .

no appology .
no refund .
nothing .

they care even less about someone who takes the time to write a letter and mail it than me complaining at the park .

i spent close to $3500 for this last vacation and now can state :
I WILL NEVER EVER EVER GO TO KNOTTS AGAIN !

if you are going to disneyland DO NOT GO TO KNOTTS ! you WILL regret it and count the minutes till the bus picks you up .

i'll post the reply if i ever get one !

jason fisher

well ... i just recieved this letter from knotts :

dear jason:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us concerning your recent visit to Knott's Berry Farm. we allways appreciate hearing from our guests as it helps us to know when things are not as they should be and to help us improve on our services .

I apologize for the experience you encountered with the rude behavior from some of our youth guests in the park on the day of your visit . during the months of may and june we offer a school spectacular event to the surrounding school districts. the large response to the promotion this year became a challenge for us in assuring that the schools represented provide appropriate chaperone coverage and ensure students are well aware of our park rules .

we certainly do not condone line jumping at any of our attractions and in an effort to discourage this behavior we do post our policy in our park map and throughout our park in an effort to dicourage this conduct .

since your visit , we have taken stronger action in controlling the problems caused by the youth from the visiting schools . our group sales department , who books the school spectacular events, is ensuring that beter communication of our rules is disbursed to the schools , students and chaperones prior to them exiting the busses . in addition , all of our management staff is being disseminated into the park wearing bright yellow Knott's staff shirts in an effort to assist our security and ride operators with control and hindrance of any line jumping activities .

again i am sorry that your family's day at knott's berry farm was spoiled . in the interest of guest service , a knotts berry farm food basket is being sent to your home as our way of apologizing for your dissapointing experience .

knotts berry farm and the cedar fair company appreciates your interest in our park and we hope you will visit us again the next time you are in the southern california area .

sincerely ,
Jess Rivera , vice president
park opperations

Aw... I think it is a nice gesture.

I think their basic plan is good~ it is too bad that by offering such good prices people don't appreciate what they are getting. {The trouble makers}.

I love the history of Knott's and it is very disheartening to hear of it being pulled down by hooligans.

Do you feel like they have done right? In your eyes? I know it is a big difference, you spent a lot of money getting there and I never have spent that much up there at all. I go a lot and take the good and the bad and when it is bad I just leave.

Thanks for sharing.

yes i do think it's a nice gesture , considering i don't live in SoCal and my money may have been a one shot deal . i did notice in his letter that thay know there's a problem , so this was not one day things were bad . i still go back in my mind that you just don't see that type of behavior at disneyland , as well i never saw one sign at DL stating that it's a criminal offence to lime jump .

in the end i won't be back to Knott's for a long time .

jason

There is a very big difference between the two. I didn't notice it in the beginning {taking the kids starting about '91 or '92} but then I don't know what happened. {I don't know when they sold, I should, we did a report on it :o }.

The major difference would be after 4 p.m. When the ticket prices dropped. Then, you can see a difference on a day when they give free tickets, say for Toys For Tots.

I just noticed now that they have a season pass that is good for both the water park and the theme park. I wonder if that will bring more problems? I hope not, I actually think the biggest trouble makers are not the ones who will put out the money to buy a pass.

I haven't noticed any faltering with the quality at Disneyland {okay, no elaboration here about the upgrades needed or ride rehabs going on} and the CM's to me seem to love their job and it shows.

Anywho, I am glad that they have done something to make amends to you. Makes me feel a little better. :)

My .02 on Knotts, I had been in '92 and had a blast, then in 2001 I decided that my brother and his family needed the experience, we had 9 days so one for Knotts was planned, we went on a sunday morning, opened the park, got their SAPs and off we went, service sucked, majorly understaffed almost everywhere we went, the one ride the kids were anxious to ride, the Ghost Rider, broke down several times and in the end we decided they couldn't ride because the thought of them having to walk down was not pleasant .. we had watched two groups have to be evacuated that way. the rides that were operational...well lets just say that we got there at 9 by 11 all 4 kids were actually begging us to go back to the hotel so we could go to Disneyland, they were majorly disappointed and we have no plans to go back to Knotts again. Rude employees, rude guests, lousy service, not my idea of a fun day...

Originally posted by Thomas
*** Knott's Berry Farm ***

---- the Orange County version of SFMM ---

Just repeating myself after everything I have read.

Couple of comments:

(1) I would have expected free tickets rather than just a food basket - you took the time and energy to give a detailed description to Knott's and one would expect that they should reward that level of important customer feedback with something appropriate to prove to you that your impression of the park was incorrect.

(2) Going in early June does bring one into the "local schools field trips" zone and having chaperoned some kids on one of those days at Knott's before, it can be a real mess. Yes, some kids venture off and/or take advantage of things like jumping lines and since they are there in such huge numbers the staff can have trouble controlling them. So good suggestion would be avoid those days in early June at Knott's.

(3) I'm taking my 14-year old son and some of his friends over there this next week - it will be interesting to see what the place is like since I haven't been there in a year ............ but last year things seemed fine at the Farm. I will say this: since many of Knott's attractions have long and slow lines (lots of shuttle coasters and/or limited capacity rides), linewaiting there can be a drag, so Disney fans used to Fastpass and/or fast moving lines will be annoyed by the wait part of Knott's.

If I didn't say it, I do love Knott's!!

I prefer to take the kids during the week, though. I am actually hoping to get a group of my kids and their friends together and head up there soon.

I like to stay at the Radisson, so that we can walk back and forth alright, so close. Pick up some Mrs. Knott's chicken and we're set!!

I think they didn't send him tickets because he lives too far.

to be honest , even if they did send tickets ( short of having a personal escort and line bypass ) i wouldn't return to the park . i just had that bad of a time .

it just feels and looks like a cheap local amusement park . perhaps when the new section is complete it will improve the feel , but then they will have to start employing people who care , you know someone with something to loose , someone with a mortgage and kids to support , not some kid fresh out of school who really dosent care .

my point being in the first place is that for a tourist to come ( which they do aim the ads at ) it's not cheap , and i just expected more , they need to figure out who they want in the park , if they want my hard earned tourist dollars they have to show me they want it , not just throw some rides down and try to tie it together with snoopy to attract my kids .

if you want to be in the same price point as DL you'd better be able to back it up .

jason

On 6/21 my family and I ran into simular problems at Knotts. In addition to the line jumping monsters, we also had this fun experience. My mom-in-law had knee surgery recently, so we had he in a wheelchair. We received the wheelchair pass from guest services (limit-wheelchair and three extra guests. . .we were one over). The day went fairly well until we went to ride Ghostrider. First, try to find the handicapped entrance - it's hidden. Next, try to get on the ride. They have it posted that you must wait for a ride attendant to escort you on. We waited. . .and Waited. . .AND WAITED. . .over 45 minutes and no attendant. So I went off in search of some help.

First I went to the photo booth at the exit and asked them to call someone. We waited 10 more minutes, while the line grew, I went back again and asked them to page someone again. Meanwhile, the mob of roudy kids on the levels above had discovered a new game - bomb the handicapped. They threw (not dropped) coins, toys, empty and full drink cups, and spit on those waiting below! I finally went to the Security office across the way and insisted that they get an agent over to the ride and help out. Ten more minutes and one finally arrived, only to tell us there was nothing he could do since he didn't see anything happen. He did call central op's to get help for the now VERY long line at the handicap entrance, then went up into the que to see if he could stop the bombing.

Finally, an out of breath, VERY PLEASANT, older lady in an Xcelerator jacket arrived and let us into the ride. She was the ONLY breath of fresh air we had in well over an hour and a half.

What a day! When I got back home to Florida, I took the time and wrote a compaint letter to Knotts, c/o PlanetFeedback.com. I received a reply letter two weeks later that is almost word for word identical to Jason's letter with one glaring exception. We are being offered comp admissions next time we are in Calif.

Jason, push your complaint. Our letter came from J. T. Falfas, VP of West Coast Operations @ Cedar Faire. The only way we can make our point as consumers is in their pocket books. If everyone who has a bad experience speaks out, maybe we can make a difference.

It is so sad to hear that Knotts is coming to this. I have such wonderful memories of being a child and going there with my parents. We haven't been in about 18 months or so and listening to the experiences the two of you had I'm not sure if we will be going.:(

i as well had memories of knotts that i wanted to re-live with my children , this was not what i had in mind.

whats the old saying.....a happy costomer tells one person......an un-happy customer tells ten !! . i think with the internet that number should be revised .

i really don't care what i get , the gift basket is a nice gesture , but in reality it doesn't really matter, of the 500+ view's of this post , if i can prevent just one tourist from wasting thier money at knotts it will be worth it .

the sad thing is , they have no idea !!

Good job for writing a letter to them and being very honest about your experience. I think they responded well and I am sorry you had such a bad time, but I have one question.

Was the food good?? (can ya tell I like food?)