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The Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) Discussion Thread

P. 651: Montezooma's Revenge project terminated?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Knott's Berry Farm has sent us a press release announcing the debut of a new free-roaming, virtual reality experience in the park's Boardwalk Arcade!

 

Knott's Berry Farm and VRstudios Unveil Details of "VR Showdown In Ghost Town" - The First Permanent Free-Roaming, Virtual Reality Experience at a U.S. Theme Park

 

Knott’s Berry Farm, its parent company Cedar Fair Entertainment and VRstudios announced today the details of the first permanent installation of a free-roaming, multi-player VR experience in a U.S. theme park, which will be located inside the Knott’s Berry Farm Boardwalk Arcade. A new custom and industry first virtual reality (VR) experience, “VR Showdown in Ghost Town” will make its debut in April, and is exclusively available at Knott’s Berry Farm.

 

The immersive and interactive VR attraction will invite guests to embark on a time travel adventure, which will transport them to a futuristic version of Knott’s western town of Calico. Players will be met by robotic creations and embark on a daring mission with other groups of players to defend the town.

 

The one-of-a-kind immersive experience perfectly combines virtual reality and a competitive gaming realm that will captivate guests. Armed with state-of-the-art wireless virtual reality headsets and futuristic blasters, multiple players will compete against one another for the highest score and bragging rights, as part of this immersive adventure, while striving toward shared team goals. At the end of the VR competition, guests will be able to view and compare scores with their fellow opponents.

“We are always looking for new and exciting ways to entertain our guests,” said Christian Dieckmann, Cedar Fair’s Vice President of Strategic Growth. “By using a free-roaming system, we can take full advantage of the capabilities of VR and let our guests be the stars of the show. A majority of people have not yet experienced VR, and we anticipate there will be a lot of interest from guests to have their first taste at our park.”

 

“VR Showdown in Ghost Town” is one of the many exciting new experiences coming to Knott’s in 2017 and will be available to guests at an introductory price of $6.00, in addition to park admission.

 

For further updates and park information please visit knotts.com or download the Knott’s Berry Farm app for your smartphone. Join the conversation about the new virtual reality experience using the hashtag #VRShowdownInGhostTown on the Knott’s Facebook or Twitter page.

1625762208_VRShowdownInGhostTownatKnottsBerryFarmPosterHigh-Res.thumb.jpg.b790034c5301f6ce0c90dd31e312b61b.jpg

Edited by jedimaster1227
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So am I correct in assuming that by "free-roaming" there will now be people with phones strapped to their faces running around main guest midways in Ghost Town shooting invisible robots and dodging invisible bullets?

 

I can honestly appreciate this technology and it sounds like fun, but I'd never play it because of the knowledge that everyone who participates in this is guaranteed to look like a complete douche tool in the eyes of all the other people in Ghost Town.

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I would be more likely to try this inside a building/arena than laser tag.

 

I agree completely. While I'm not a gamer and don't follow this type of thing very closely, I love the concept of augmented reality. This sounds amazing if it's done in the right environment.

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Knott's Berry Farm, its parent company Cedar Fair Entertainment and VRstudios announced today the details of the first permanent installation of a free-roaming, multi-player VR experience in a U.S. theme park, which will be located inside the Knott's Berry Farm Boardwalk Arcade.

 

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that that indicates that the VR room will replace the Lazer Tag room (just to clear it up for some people).

 

I still think its a weird idea though. I know that it's probably going to be a large space, but running into people and walls seems very plausible.

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Here are all of the items in the Knott's Memorabilia Auction at the end of the month. It looks like you can bid on the items online.

 

www.pe.com/articles/knott-827084-farm-items.html

 

https://comics.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=52+793+794+791+1893+792+2088+4294944574&ic5=CatalogHome-ActionArea-BrowseAll-071515

 

Some of the larger items and artwork will be available for viewing two days before the live auction. Viewing times are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. March 29 for Knott’s season ticketholders; and the same times on March 30, free, for the general public.

 

Viewings will take place at the barn that once housed Bud Hurlbut’s Amusement Company near the farm. (Hurlbut designed and built many of the famous rides at Knott’s.) There will be free parking for the viewing in the Knott’s north parking lot, 7621 La Palma Ave., in Buena Park. Then follow the signs for a short walk to the barn.

 

Details on the live auction, including photos and descriptions of all lots available for bidding, can be found on Heritage’s website at ha.com; type “Knott’s” in the search function.

 

Anyone interested in bidding can register in advance at the Heritage Auctions website, though registration also will take place the day of the auction at Knott’s. In addition, proxy bidding on all items will take place in the 24 hours before the start of the live auction.

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I still think its a weird idea though. I know that it's probably going to be a large space, but running into people and walls seems very plausible.

Maps can be created in multiple game engines that could match the room's dimensions, pretty much every online game can render other player's positions, and if everyone is on one local connection, rendering the environment and other players' positions can be done in almost real time.

 

It basically sounds like a VR LAN party. Done right, could be a really fun and interesting take on a rather old concept.

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Does anybody here think VR is really ever going to take off?

 

I know the parks dig it because it's a cheap attraction they can play off as something cool, but does anyone actually really like it?

 

All this VR crap is making me sick, not only because it's such a stupid gimmick, but also because I don't care for it at all. It's not needed and I don't recall anyone complaining that there's not enough VR in the world. It seems like some cool 80's or 90's concept that companies keep trying to push but always falls short. It is all just a major inconvenience that for some reason the parks are believing is increasing attendance, but I just can't believe that is the case.

 

Instead of throwing VR on a coaster to screw up ride times, Knott's went with this.

 

It seems so stupid to me.

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So am I correct in assuming that by "free-roaming" there will now be people with phones strapped to their faces running around main guest midways in Ghost Town shooting invisible robots and dodging invisible bullets?

Hilarious.

 

Does anybody here think VR is really ever going to take off?

Depends on what you mean by "take off". If you mean are multiple major park chains going to implement it in at least a few (or in some cases almost all) of their parks? Or that its spread now to international parks? Because that has already happened. In that sense I'd say its taken off. If you mean are guests going to eventually go gaga for it? I don't think that will ever happen with VR, at least not the same way a giant shiny new coaster would.

 

I think what we're seeing now is parks responding to guest complaints about wait times since it seems like with this (or SFOG doing it on a drop tower, or CP doing it only at certain times/with reservation) parks are at least trying to find the balance of adding this "cheap new attraction" without mucking up too much of the guest experience.

 

I completely understand the appeal of adding this from a parks perspective - its a super cheap and very *now* way to market something new to get people through the gates. And as long as its not on major coasters or rides that might normally have greater wait times, I have no problem with it. For instance with it on Skull Mountain @ GreatAdv last year, it seemed like a good fit. Ride never has major lines, its pretty high capacity to begin with, and its a completely pitch black ride perfect for adding graphics to. I think its a great, cheap way to get ridership up on older, not-so-popular-anymore rides, but when you're adding it to star attractions of the park like the hyper @ SFNE you're just gonna piss a lot of people off.

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Does anybody here think VR is really ever going to take off?

 

I know the parks dig it because it's a cheap attraction they can play off as something cool, but does anyone actually really like it?

 

All this VR crap is making me sick, not only because it's such a stupid gimmick, but also because I don't care for it at all. It's not needed and I don't recall anyone complaining that there's not enough VR in the world. It seems like some cool 80's or 90's concept that companies keep trying to push but always falls short. It is all just a major inconvenience that for some reason the parks are believing is increasing attendance, but I just can't believe that is the case.

 

Instead of throwing VR on a coaster to screw up ride times, Knott's went with this.

 

It seems so stupid to me.

 

Many people like VR. It's huge among the younger demos, gamers, etc... It's like Justice League, I don't come to a amusement park to wait an hour or more to play a video game. But, many people do and the JL line is mostly kids. It will be interesting to see how JL's popularity holds up 5 to 10+ years down the line. They cost 10-12M so SF surely view them as a longer term investment, while VR is cheap so if it doesn't work out you have lost very little.

 

I think VR on drop towers could be better than coasters on a operations basis. Most drop rides don't have long lines so slower dispatch isn't a line clogger like if you put it on an even less popular coaster at the park. VR should never be done on a already popular coaster IMO. VR is typically been done on the less popular coasters at a park as an inexpensive way to revitalize it.

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Does anybody here think VR is really ever going to take off?

 

 

I still have yet to try a VR ride in the park but I am interested and looking forward to trying it whenever I have the opportunity.

 

 

With that being said I am getting kind of tired of all of the VR advertising in everyday media, seems like "the man" is trying to shove this technology into your brain every chance it gets. Chik-Fil-A had a commercial teasing some kind of Chik-Fil-A Cow VR for goodness sake, Chik-Fil A! I don't want it, I give you $4 and change, you give me a spicy chicken plain no pickles add pepper jack cheese, end of transaction, no VR necessary!

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Interesting. Knott's really has a lot of stuff coming this year.

 

Virtual reality is not really my thing after trying it on a few coasters, but at least they didn't throw it on a coaster. This will definitely take place in the laser tag/arcade arena, not actual Ghost Town. That's the last thing the park would want to do after emphasizing its historical significance with Ghost Town Alive and all that this summer.

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It is nice to see these VR "experiences" being moved off of rides. Hopefully other parks will follow suit and will quarantine the tech into storage sheds, backlots, and walled-in areas and whatnot. I still think parks should implement VR in rest rooms, as that makes about as much sense as ruining the fundamental experience of a coaster in addition to decimating its capacity.

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Some coasters can benefit from VR (the two family coasters as Europa come to mind), but I like it that Knott's is going for more of an "arcade" style attraction. They could adapt it for Haunt, too.

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It is nice to see these VR "experiences" being moved off of rides. Hopefully other parks will follow suit and will quarantine the tech into storage sheds, backlots, and walled-in areas and whatnot. I still think parks should implement VR in rest rooms, as that makes about as much sense as ruining the fundamental experience of a coaster in addition to decimating its capacity.

 

You get extra point for keeping the stream in the toilet and not on the floor.

 

Either that or we could all line up at the urinal at the same time and wait for bathroom attendant to tell us to start peeing. Whomever keeps their stream on target the fastest and longest; pops a balloon and wins a prize. But not a stuffed animal as that would be gross in a bathroom. Should be a prize a bathroom attendant would give out like a stick of gum, spray of cologne or shoe shine.

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Knott's has posted all of the Boysenberry Festival food options on their website and there are a bunch of new offerings for 2017. They have also changed up the $25 tasting card and added a few of the new items. I'm really glad that they extended the festival to 3 weeks long, so I'll be able to hit it at least twice this year. If you've never been during the Boysenberry Festival, then you should definitely check it out!

IMG_4470.thumb.PNG.255b832b4b6ebfc45bbedb2e4c6be7d0.PNG

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^ Ohhhhhhhhh stop teasing us!

 

Besides any future (?) West Coast Bash weekends, I must get to this, at least once.

 

I also read at the site...

 

Wine and Craft Brew Garden*

 

As part of the festival, the Wine and Craft Brew Garden, located inside of Ghost Town’s Wilderness Dance Hall, offers 4 craft brews and over 50 different wines from 36 producers including boysenberry beer and boysenberry wine. The wine selections represent 27 renowned wine regions from 8 countries. The wine program was curated to offer a little of everything, from the latest trends in blends and small production wines, to adventurous selections from up & coming wine regions, as well as bold domestic & import classics for the more discerning wine aficionado. Just outside of the Dance Hall, towering sculpted topiaries provide shade during warm spring days and twinkle brighter than stars at night. A convenient tasting card is available for only $25, which includes 6 tastings paired with snacks.

Boysenberry-Festival.jpg.986972aea1415bdc67998e5ceb766ff2.jpg

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^ After knowing about this from previous years, I figure it won't be (for myself) until 2019, where

I can do both events down that way, in one year - West Coast Bash (I hope still going?) and this.

 

But it will be worth the wait! Once again. Yum.

 

Not to mention experiencing Star Wars Land... just before it officially (soft?) opens.... and later on, after it does.

 

 

(Note to self. Bring the huz-bear to the BoysenBerry Fest. Then later, do WCB and SWL solo.)

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