Knott's Berry Farm Update: Sol Spin, Around the Park, and R.I.P. Boomerang

Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA

We've got a busy week ahead of us, with plenty of local parks content.  Today, we're going to actually start things with a trek over to Knott's Berry Farm, which, this past weekend, saw the quiet debut of their 2017 capital improvement, Sol Spin, plus the last weekend of the tasty Boysenberry Festival, and the final operating day ever for the legendary and notorious Boomerang roller coaster.  Plus, since I was around the parks, I decided to take some nice golden hour photos to showcase more of the beauty of America's first theme park!

Sol Spin

On Friday, Knott's quietly announced that their 2017 addition, Sol Spin, was officially open to the public!  Sitting on the grave of Windseeker, this Tango-type thrill ride seats up to 36 riders and lifts them six stories in the air, rotating around multiple axes in a twisted, turning, flipping flight. 

For those who've been on these types of rides at fairgrounds, the Knott's version is noticeably less intense.  Having seemingly been placed on high efficiency mode to cycle as many passengers as possible, the ride duration only lasts about four full spins around, with the individual ride arm rotations reigned back a little compared to fairground iterations.  The attraction is still considered an "extreme" thrill and has a height limit of 54 inches minimum, but it's certainly not an ultra intense ride.  Still, for most people, it will probably be intense enough!

Look, it's a thing!

A spinny thing!

The spinny thing is similar to a fairground thing.

But this spinny thing's experience is not quite as intense as fairground thing.

Spinny thing is now open for general public thing.

Lines did not seem that major for the first weekend of spinny thing.

Amusingly, the base of the ride shares its foundation and location with that of the old, cursed Windseeker.

Hopefully, that is not a bad portent for Sol Spin!

The ride looks great, though.

Even though the back half of the plot is pretty much wasted because they reused ride footprint sections (and the queue).

But it certainly looks great, so if you like spinny things, get yourselves out to this thing!

Boardwalk Barbecue Restaurant Construction

Seemingly slow-moving construction (mostly because of the heavy winter rains that stalled progress on grading and foundation work) continues over at the Boardwalk Barbecue Restaurant.  Located next to the Sky Cabin, this will be a new dining experience coming this... summer?  That's the plan, anyway, though right now, they still have a little whiles to go before doors open. 

These walls have been up for a while.

But the Boardwalk Barbecue Restaurant has been under construction for a while.

Considerately, the construction walls have random holes to allow guests to peek in.

We can see that the diner's foundation has been poured, with utilities stubbed in.

It's no "Star Wars" Land, but it's still something cool coming to the park this year.

Looking at it from the Boomerang side.

There is still definitely several months' worth of work left, unless they decide to pull some overtime to get things open before the summer.

Around the Park

This past weekend was also the end of the Boysenberry Festival.  The event has proven to be an even bigger smash success this year, to the point where issues with crowds were on full display Saturday.  From exhausting traffic congestion just getting into parking to food running out at multiple stations, the guest experience certainly was trying at times.  But the popularity is certainly promising for the future of what is still a great event.  Hopefully, with the evidence of the event's acclaim and attraction, next year's event will be better backed up to ensure snafus that occurred over the weekend do not rear their heads again.

In other news, Montezooma's Revenge got a new paint scheme, Coast Rider go shin guards, and Fiesta Village and the Boardwalk look absolutely lovely during golden hour!

The Boysenberry Festival ended yesterday.  Did you get a chance to visit next year?  If not, you'll have to wait till next year for many of the delightful boysenberry inspired treats in the park!

Montezooma's Revenge got a new paint job.

This was probably already the case last update, but I just didn't notice.

Not quite pictured are the dull green supports, which presumably have been painted that way to sort of blend in with the foliage in the area?

Now, lets take an eye candy tour around the park.

Silver Bullet continues to thrill riders of all ages.

So is Supreme Scream.

Fun fact: operating this ride was my first "real" job.

I worked this for a summer after my freshman year of college.

It was actually pretty fun.  Interacting with guests displaying a diverse range of fear and excitement in anticipation of riding was quite entertaining.

Plus, the park gave us a bit of flexibility with spieling, as long as we hit the required points.

Xcelerator is here too.

The world's first Intamin rocket coaster is still popular and thrilling.

It's short and sweet and oh so fun.

The track can technically probably use a new paint job.

But Xcelerator still looks and rides great.

Zoom zoom!

I didn't ride Coast Rider to take actual photos of the change...

...but the ride has very recently received shin guards to prevent guests from sticking their feet out of the ride vehicle until their restraints are released.

This is likely in response to a recent lawsuit filed by the family of a boy reportedly injured on the ride.

Allegedly, claims the parents, the child got up to get out of the ride when the car returned to the station, but the car suddenly lurched forward and trapped his leg between the platform and car, causing painful injuries.

Roller coaster ride safety features should inherently prevent this, as the restraints should not have been able to open before the car was fully stopped, so the truth of what happened may be more complicated.  But we have this change as a result.

In happier news, the Sky Cabin hasn't stranded anyone in a while!

We'll close out with a couple more shots around the Boardwalk as the sun sets.

Lovely, isn't it?

Goodbye, Boomerang

Yesterday was the final operating day of Boomerang.  The long-running Vekoma roller coaster will be demolished to make way for the next big thing at Knott's Berry Farm.  What will that be?  A new major roller coaster?  Sprawling dark ride?  Return of the Pacific Pavilion and its dolphin show?  The rumors will certainly ramp up.  But for anyone who cared to take one last ride this weekend, yesterday was the day to do it.  We'll mark the occasion with a photo spread that shows the ride in much nicer and more beautiful light than its actual, concussion-causing experience ever actually provided.  Because, hey, people don't care about an attraction until it's about to leave--or is that just Disney?

Boomerang: delivering headaches since 1990!

Through multiple paint schemes, this classic roller coaster has continued to thrill riders...

...and also caused possible head trauma with its rough motions and over-the-shoulder harnesses.

But it was a prolific coaster prototype, packing six inversions in a relatively small footprint.

This was a key ride in putting Vekoma on the map, back in the day.

But also a key ride in giving Vekoma a legend for producing rough rides.

Vekomas are much better today, but back in the day, Vekoma and Arrow were synonymous with head bangers.

Not overly enthusiastic rock fans, but rather more literal.

Didn't help that they both shared the same track aesthetic.

Still, for many, Boomerang has been a fixture at Knott's Berry Farm for most or all of their lives.

It will be odd to see this gone.

Then again, it was probably odd for park old timers to see Corkscrew--Boomerang's predecessor and the first looping steel roller coaster in the world--removed nearly three decades ago.

The train being pulled up its first lift hill.

Hustling through the "boomerang" roller coaster element.

And also a vertical loop.

Look at those faces of pain and discomfort... =P

Here is a Boomerang footing.  You think they'll salvage this and auction it in the near future?  And how much might it fetch?

Although Knott's fans might want a roller coaster car instead.

The second lift hill, leading to the reverse portion of the ride.

Looping around a palm tree.

And flipping by the Sky Cabin.

This scene will look quite different next year, that's for certain!

That wraps things up from the Farm.  Hope you enjoyed the eye candy.  Later this week, we'll have another edition in our never-ending Disneyland Resort construction coverage, plus a look at this year's Spring Dapper Day, which took place this past Sunday and saw a delightful assortment of dressed up guests and Disney Bounding enthusiasts converge for a fun and very stylish day at the parks.

In the mean time, be good to each other!