Could Knott’s Be Going Giga in 2013
There have been a number of rumors about Knott’s Berry Farms adding a new roller coaster for 2013. The oldest rumor (via Scream Scape) is that the Los Angeles-area theme park could be adding a giga coaster.
The rumors all point to a Giga sized coaster, possibly in the range of 325-340 feet tall. Intamin is still the rumored designer, though I have heard B&M’s name dropped as well a couple of times.
–Scream Scape
I might be way off base here as I’ve been to Knott’s, but I don’t claim to be intimately familiar with the park. That rumor surprises me from a space standpoint. Unlike most theme parks that are found in the outskirts of a major city, Knott’s is in a pretty well developed area surrounded by city streets on all sides.
Obviously a giga roller coaster or otherwise, could sit on top of and fly over the park’s attractions, the parking lot, or find some other space (backstage or maintenance areas). You’d have to imagine that a ride that went over parts of the park would mean closing certain sections and rides during construction as Knott’s doesn’t close for winter months like other parks do. I’m not saying it can’t be done, it just sounds a little odd to me.
On second thought, Kings Dominion’s Intimidator 305 doesn’t really have a huge footprint. So again, I may be off-base on the space issue. What do you think?
A New, Smaller Rumored Roller Coaster
The giga rumor recently evolved to focus on a ride that just took up the space of the removed Perilous Plunge ride. That seems a lot more likely, but I haven’t seen any other hints or clues as to what the park would place there. Rumors can change from time-to-time, and it doesn’t always mean that the information is bad. Sometimes things change behind the scenes and the park’s decide to take a different direction.
Knotts is a popular park, but it hasn’t gotten a lot of coaster attention lately. It’s last new coasters were two compact “family” coasters in 2008’s Pony Express and 2007’s Sierra Sidewinder. I think that it could benefit from a B&M airtime machine, so a hyper coaster would be my pick for the park. Maybe they could crowbar one in like Hersheypark did with Skyrush.
What kind of roller coaster would you like to see added to Knott’s Berry Farm lineup in 2013?