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Knott's HangTime Grand Opening Event!


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Cowabunga! Knott’s Berry Farm’s brand new roller coaster, HangTime, is now open - and we’re amped! This custom Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster shreds through 2,198 ft of track, 5 inversions, and a beyond-vertical 96 degree drop - making it the first dive coaster in Cali! HangTime completes a multi-year renovation of the boardwalk area, where it fits beautifully into Boomerang and Riptide’s former locations. Brah, the fact that Boomerang finally got replaced with something much less painful and way more fun is just dank! The T-bar harnesses on Hangtime are extremely comfortable, even in rough surf, and are among the best harnesses I’ve ever encountered on a looping coaster. Hangtime also has a far-out color-changing lighting package with lights placed along the entire length of the track. The lighting illuminates the night sky, giving a cool, modern glow to the entire area. Overall, Hangtime is a bodacious addition to Knott’s. It’s the right scale for the park, it looks great, it anchors the boardwalk area, and it’s a blast to ride! We dropped in for the grand opening festivities, so check out our full report below to join in on the fun and see everything this new coaster has to offer!

 

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Aloha! Grab your hula hoops and surf boards because we’re at Knott’s to check out the grand opening of HangTime!

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The Charleston Circle Fountain was filled with HangTime beach balls.

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Get brain-freeze with the HangTime milkshake made with blue soft serve ice cream! You can get your hands on these at Coasters Diner.

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Waiters were carrying around all sorts of hors d’oeuvres (and I’ve never written the words “hors d’oeuvres” before, so hopefully that’s spelled right!).

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Tables were set up all throughout the boardwalk. Here’s one of the awesome beach-themed centerpieces.

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In typical Knott’s fashion, there was no shortage of food.

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Or drinks!

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Boysenberry Wine has become our go-to drink of choice at Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s delicious!

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Surf’s up!

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Check out those surfing themed cupcakes! Definitely go with a blue one to pretend you’re riding the waves!

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There it is! HangTime! We can’t wait to ride!

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New seating areas have been added with a perfect view of HangTime. So if you’re a sissy, this is where you can sit and sulk while your friends go ride the coaster and become cooler than you’ll ever be.

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Check out the HangTime sign!

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We LOVE the sign! The surfer, the cool font, the vintage looking surfboard behind it all - Bro, it’s totally tubular!

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But not as tubular as that first drop is going to be!

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It looks so rad!

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But alas, HangTime isn’t quite open yet. There’ll be a grand opening ceremony later once the sun sets and the surf picks up.

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So in the meantime, lets enjoy some tunes from the live band, Ride The Tide!

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Brittney is kind of excited! It’s not every day you get to ride an awesome new roller coaster!

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When is that pesky sun going to set already!? Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to head over to the Boardwalk BBQ and pig out while we wait - it’s a tough life, I know.

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Brittney is asking the chef, “Can you please put less meat in my meat?”

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After copious amounts of food, drink, and merriment with friends we headed over to Xcelerator!

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There’s nothing like waiting for the sun to set with some awesome Xcelerator ERT! HangTime may be opening right next door, but that doesn’t make Xcelerator any less dope!

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As the last hints of sunlight faded away, we paddled out to the HangTime stage to catch the opening ceremony.

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Snoopy popped on stage with some of his buds to perform a preview number from the upcoming summer show, “Beach Blanket Beagle.”

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The preview looked great, and we can’t wait to see the show this summer in the Charles M. Schulz Theatre!

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Knott’s VP and General Manager, Jon Storbeck, then came on stage and introduced the big kahuna, HangTime, to the crowd.

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He then announced that HangTime was officially open! The lights came to life, the ride car crested the top of the lift hill, and fireworks burst into the sky as surf music filled the air!

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Awesome!

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Radical!

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Gnarly!

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Sick, bro!

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Forget HangTime, it’s confetti time!

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It’s OFFICIALLY OPEN! Yay!

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We grabbed our neoprene and headed towards the entrance.

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One more quick photo before going in.

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Check out the sign at night! The lighting is great.

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The station has a California beach shack vibe to it.

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Here are the brand spankin’ new trains, or should I say surfboards?

The surf leash, err, harness is super comfy, whether you rail grab or hang loose!

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A view of the train from behind.

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They waxed up the boards and sent them on their way!

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There’s a ground swell, and at 150ft this giant wave is a tow-in!

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The lift hill is every bit as fun as the rest of the ride. If you’ve never been on a vertical lift hill before it’s an awesome experience.

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Cresting the wave!

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And then you get to just hang out up there and contemplate whether you’ve made the right decisions in life!

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But before you know it, the wave breaks and you drop in!

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And then it’s all loops and twisty fun!

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Get pitted!

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Once you’re tubed in the loops you’ll notice that they’re taken nice and slow so you really do get hang time in them!

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Carve a clean line through the outside break, then drop into the airtime hill! Careful not to wipeout!

 

Photos never do a coaster justice as much as videos do, so check out our videos from HangTime! First up, here are our day and night reverse POVs:

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Now for the forward POVs! Looks great, right?:

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Wait a minute, is that Tony Hawk riding in the front row?

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It IS Tony Hawk, and Brittney got to meet him too! He's a legend, so that's pretty epic!

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Over by the HangTime stage a hula hoop dance party had gotten under way.

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The live band kept the tunes flowing.

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Since I can’t hula hoop for the life of me, here are some photos of the babelicious Knott’s dancers showing how it’s done!

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Can YOU hula hoop?

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Brittney can! Shaka!

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Neck hula hooping? Ok, now she’s just showing off!

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But enough with the hula hoops, lets get back to what we’re all here for!

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It’s about to drop!

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HangTime is so pretty at night!

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Up into the Sky Cabin we go to get a view from above!

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Look how bright HangTime is and how the track all lights up! It’s so neat! I feel like this could become a standard in the industry.

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To compare, here’s Xcelerator at night. See what I mean? Those lights on HangTime really make it pop! Who would love to see some track lighting on Xcelerator too?

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It’s fun in the day, but this is definitely a coaster you’ll want to ride at night.

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Look at all the happy people! Everyone seemed to be having an awesome time.

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So much better than Boomerang! SOOOOOOOO much better!

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Here’s a nice overview shot where you can really get a feel for how neat it all looks.

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It’s definitely an eye catching ride!

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Up it goes!

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And down it comes!

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HangTime is NOW OPEN at Knott’s Berry Farm, and we’re stoked! Be sure to take a safari to Knott’s this summer to check it out!

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Mahalo to Knott’s for throwing such a gnarly party, and Mahalo to all you surf bunnies and broskis for checking out our report! Aloha Spirit to all!

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Great coverage of the event! And the night lighting package on HangTime is really amazing!

I just love what they've done with night lighting for coasters nowadays. Keeps getting better and better.

 

Thanks for sharing your time and photos of HangTime's Grand Opening.

Great way to spend an evening!

 

P.S. Love love LOVE that milkshake!

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Great report! HangTime really looks amazing at night.

 

If I'd replaced a wretched old Boomerang with a great new Gerstlauer, I'd throw a big party, too! Looks like a perfect addition to the park.

 

I hope more parks follow suit.

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Great report, I admire your commitment to the surf-speak all the way til the end. It almost felt
guy wrote the report.

 

No joke, he was the inspiration for the report! I'm glad it came through!

 

I've been telling Brittney since they announced the ride that "Get Pitted" guy should be involved in the marketing of the coaster. I really think Knott's missed a great opportunity to do that!

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Great report, I admire your commitment to the surf-speak all the way til the end. It almost felt
guy wrote the report.

 

No joke, he was the inspiration for the report! I'm glad it came through!

 

I've been telling Brittney since they announced the ride that "Get Pitted" guy should be involved in the marketing of the coaster. I really think Knott's missed a great opportunity to do that!

 

Totally!

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