Is Six Flags buying Knott's Berry Farm?

On July 1, 2024, Cedar Fair (which owns Knott’s Berry Farm and other parks) announced a merger with Six Flags Entertainment Corp. The latter owns the parks with Six Flags in the name, and you can now buy cross-park annual passes that give you entry to parks across the new parent company.

Is Knott's cheaper than Disneyland?

Tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure (also owned by Disney) in Anaheim, California, start at $104 per day. Knott’s advertises tickets starting at $59.99, which is considerably less.

Can you bring snacks into Knott's Berry Farm?

According to the park’s policy page, you can bring unopened and empty water bottles, and there are refilling stations throughout the park. You also can enter with baby food and food for “guests with special dietary restrictions.” Beyond this, other food and beverage items aren’t permitted.

Is Knott's cash free?

Yes, the park is cashless. You cannot pay with cash at the park or with any vendors inside the park, including restaurants and snack stands.

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8 Things I Learned From My First Visit to Knott’s Berry Farm

Updated: November 21, 2024, 8:00am CST

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1. It’s Cheaper Than Big-Name Parks in the Area
2. It’s Not Just for Children
3. Kid-Friendly Activities Are Abundant
4. California’s Past and Present Are Celebrated
5. Arriving Early Pays Off
6. It’s Easily Walkable
7. The App Is Often Inaccurate
8. Vegan and Allergy-Friendly Food Options Are Impressive
Final Thoughts

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I know, I know. I’ve lived in Southern California for over 2 years and just went to Knott’s Berry Farm for the first time. In my defense, however, I’d long been misled into thinking I wouldn’t like the park.

Before I finally went, friends and neighbors laughed about my delayed visit, calling a visit to Knott’s a “rite of passage” for Californians, and I can’t say I disagree.

After a recent visit with a friend, I was pleasantly surprised by several aspects of the park.

1. It’s Cheaper Than Big-Name Parks in the Area

Admission to Knott’s Berry Farm starts at $59.99 per adult. Universal Studios Hollywood charges $109 or more per day, and Disneyland just increased its prices for anything but the cheapest dates (Tier 0). You now pay $104 or more, depending on the pricing plan in effect that day.

The only park in Los Angeles or Orange County offering a cheaper starting price is Six Flags Magic Mountain near Santa Clarita, where daily admission starts at $49.

Hot Tip:

After recent mergers, you can buy an annual pass that includes Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, and other parks around the U.S. for less than $200, covering the rest of 2024 and all of 2025. Prices increase if you buy more premium memberships with additional perks.

2. It’s Not Just for Children

The reason it took me so long to visit Knott’s Berry Farm? I heard someone refer to it as a kids park shortly after we moved to California.

It’s definitely not just for kids.

How did I realize I was wrong and wind up at Knott’s Berry Farm? A friend and I searched Google for the best roller coasters in California to plan a weekend together. Imagine my surprise when Knott’s was recommended all over the internet.

I haven’t been on every roller coaster in California, but I can say that rides at Knott’s impressed me. GhostRider, the classic wooden coaster in the featured image above, was the most popular and had the longest waits throughout the day — and it seemed deserved, due to the ride’s length and thrills.

Xcelerator The Ride was fantastic despite being an admittedly short ride. Using similar technology to that found on aircraft carriers to launch warplanes, this ride jumped from zero to 82 miles per hour in 2.3 seconds.

Silver Bullet was another winner, taking us through corkscrews and inversions as a hanging roller coaster.

Knott's Berry Farm Silver Bullet coaster — Silver Bullet, the hanging coaster at Knott’s.

There were other class rides, like a scrambler and free-fall tower, that we enjoyed. And some rides that didn’t look impressive immediately turned out to be better than expected, such as the Sierra Sidewinder. What it lacked in big drops and high speeds was overcome by the twisting motions of the cars throughout the ride. At various points, we moved along the coaster’s track facing forward, backward, and even sideways — or spinning around, trying to hold in our recent lunch.

Knott's Berry Farm Sierra Sidewinder coaster — The Sierra Sidewinder is not far from the park’s main entrance.

3. Kid-Friendly Activities Are Abundant

Even with a plethora of adult-friendly thrill rides, there’s still a lot for children to enjoy. The park’s “Peanuts” theme was fun and was a surprising contrast to the dominance of superhero themes at so many amusement parks these days.

Knott's Berry Farm Camp Snoopy entrance — Entrance to Camp Snoopy with the Sierra Sidewinder visible.

Camp Snoopy (one of the lands in the park) had a high concentration of rides and activities suitable for younger visitors who don’t meet the height requirements for more extreme rides.

Knott's Berry Farm Camp Snoopy clock — A clock above a shop in Camp Snoopy land.

But there were child-friendly rides throughout the park, including bumper cars, a splash log ride, and Los Voladores — a classic swing ride that’s fun for all ages.

Knott's Berry Farm Los Voladores swings — Los Voladores in the Fiesta Village area.

4. California’s Past and Present Are Celebrated

Rides and lands at the park honored California’s gold-mining past, numerous hot rods, and its Hispanic heritage. The latter was evident throughout Fiesta Village, which had not just Mexican restaurants but also rides with Mayan artwork, such as this waiting area at the Jaguar! roller coaster.

Knott's Berry Farm Jaguar line — Getting out of the heat while waiting for a ride on Jaguar!

Other rides had more subtle tributes to Latinx culture in Southern California, such as the artwork and name of La Revolución, a ride that swings back and forth on a mechanical arm while spinning riders in a circle. It’s a can’t-miss for park visitors.

Knott's Berry Farm La Revolucion sign — The entrance to La Revolución.

We also found alebrijes in the park — brightly colored statues that are part of Mexican folk art, showcasing fantastical creatures.

Knott's Berry Farm alebrije — A colorful alebrije along a path in the park.

5. Arriving Early Pays Off

“Get there early” is part of the advice you’ll read for most amusement parks. Being at the Knott’s Berry Farm door when it opened was massively beneficial for us.

The park opened at 9 a.m. when we went on a Saturday in early October. By 10 a.m., we’d already ridden HangTime, Silver Bullet, and walked on Xcelerator twice with no wait. And we were midway through the line for GhostRider — all within an hour of the park’s opening time. We didn’t run for any rides, either, and we rode the park’s most extreme coasters (including a second turn on the fastest ride) within 90 minutes.

Knott's Berry Farm empty park early hours — Empty walkways within the first hour after opening.

By 10:45 a.m., there was a noticeable increase in crowds. At noon, wait times for rides started to increase considerably. If you live close to Knott’s, you could honestly visit from opening time until noon to ride the best rollercoasters and then go home when the crowds show up.

6. It’s Easily Walkable

The ability to enjoy the park’s best rides quickly is thanks to its size. The park covers 57 acres (that’s 2.5 million square feet or less than 0.9 square miles).

For comparison, Disneyland covers 100 acres, while California Adventure is 72 acres. Thus, it isn’t complicated or arduous to cross the park to visit the attractions that are next on your list or advertising short wait times.

7. The App Is Often Inaccurate

Speaking of wait times, the Knott’s Berry Farm app routinely provided incorrect information. We found long lines at rides with the app saying “under 15 minutes” on multiple occasions. And we weren’t the only guests who frustratedly scoffed at the app’s wait times as we turned away to look for a different item to ride. If we had trekked across a massive park to find an unexpectedly long wait, we would’ve been frustrated.

Another annoying thing about the app? You can’t filter out rides that are closed. When checking wait times, it’s more practical to only see items that are currently operating, and we couldn’t do that.

However, we did like the fact that the mobile app allows you to filter rides by thrill level. Removing those with a 1-, 2-, or 3-star rating helped us find only the more exciting rides during our visit.

8. Vegan and Allergy-Friendly Food Options Are Impressive

The park advertises “dining options for everyone,” and we found that to be true. Multiple signs in the dining restaurants and on the snack carts offered ingredient lists and allergen labels if guests simply asked about them.

Those were also available online, and the list for each restaurant also indicated which items were vegan. Knowing in advance that I would find good vegan foods, rather than just fruit cups, made the day much more enjoyable. The Prop Shop Pizzeria and Portside Pizza had vegan pizza, for example, while the Grizzly Creek Lodge had a vegan tenders platter.

Knott's Berry Farm vegan tenders at Grizzly Creek Lodge — Vegan tenders and fries at Grizzly Creek Lodge.

Final Thoughts

My friend and I really enjoyed our first-ever visit to Knott’s Berry Farm. Its numerous rides can appeal to kids, families, and adrenaline junkies, the price to get in is lower than what Disney and Universal offer, and there were multiple positives during our visit.

The app could use a few tweaks, but this was a good first impression for us. I actually liked the park so much that I’m trying to talk my wife into us buying a season pass. It’s only 35 minutes from our apartment, after all.