Back to the Trip Report Archive
Back to Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page.
"This is against the rules!"
It took us about 40 minutes to get to Knott's Berry Farm. We arrived in Buena Park right around 11:00, and en-route we made the decision NOT to go directly to Knott's. Instead, we drove on down the street to Adventure City.
What we knew was that Adventure City is home to an early Miler Wild Mouse type coaster, and that there is talk of the park ceasing operations...although it seems that decision is not yet final. What we learned is that Adventure City is a delightful little kiddie park, and we were not welcome there at all. Admission is $13 for adults, but when we tried to pay our admission, we were denied entry.
"Are you meeting someone inside?" asked the attendant.
"No," we replied.
"We don't usually allow adults..."
"That can't be right," April interrupted. "We're coaster nuts here to ride the coaster!" I started digging through my wallet and produced membership cards from NAPHA, ACE, and for good measure, NAARSO.
"Oh, that's different!" replied the attendant. "In fact," she said, pointing at my ACE card, "that one gets you a discount. $6.00 each, please!
Remember, we were prepared to pay $13 each. We happily forked over the $12 for the two of us, and strolled through the entrance turnstile. Just inside the gate is a miniature railroad track. While the park does have a couple of kiddie rides (a Sun-Moon Wheel, a set of hand-cars, and a Zamperla Mini-Jet), most of the rides can accommodate adults as well (the tracked cars, the Crazy Bus and the Miler junior coaster) or are in fact adult rides that can easily accommodate children (the carousel, Balloon Race, Spring Ride, miniature train, and Tree Top Racers).
We wandered the compact and almost desserted park. Our first stop was the Freeway Coaster which is a Miler junior coaster. It is probably most similar to either Zoooooom at Oaks Park, or Bear Trax at Seabreeze. The ride was clearly built around existing landscaping, and of particular interest is a hill that was carefully positioned to straddle a tree branch. It's a neat little ride, and I think it is the only Miler coaster I've ridden that includes a trim brake.
Circling the coaster, past the Balloon Race and the Carousel and a small petting farm, an almost-hidden path leads to the road-side of the park. There we encountered first a Moser Spring Ride. The only other time I've ridden this particular model was at the IAAPA trade show a few years ago, and I found this ride to be instructive: both of the ergonomic issues I noticed on the prototype have been fixed on this particular production model. The Spring Ride is not a freefall ride, though it kind of looks like one. Instead, it is a hydraulic ride which lifts and drops passengers, think in terms of an S&S Frog Hopper but with shoulder bars and all seats sized for adults or children. The ride isn't huge, but it's tall enough, though the view across Beach Blvd. of the junkyard isn't exactly inspiring. But the bouncing action gives repeated out-of-your-seat airtime through the ride cycle. This ride is a lot of fun.
Around the corner from the tower ride is the primary reason for our visit: the Tree Top Racers. The ride is a refurbished-but-ancient Miler Wild Mouse coaster installed at Adventure City back in 1999. The ride runs like it is brand new, and seems to be nearly identical to the Wild Chipmunk at Lakeside Park in Denver. It's a classic Wild Mouse layout, with a series of switchbacks and a number of quick, steep drops. The cars are designed for inline tandem seating, and are equipped with individual seat belts, much like the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, only a lot smaller. Getting into and out of the car can be a little challenging, but the car is generously padded...and after the first couple of curves it's easy to really appreciate that. The ride's most dramatic moment comes near the end of the ride, when there is a lower-level drop directly below another drop, which produces an especially dramatic head-chopper effect. Yikes!
We each took a couple of rides on the Tree Top Racers and another trip on the tower. We circled back through the park and noticed that the train on the Freeway Coaster was parked on the lift hill instead of in the station. We rode the miniature train, which basically circles the park, including a trip through the birthday party room, then headed out to go to Knott's Berry Farm.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Next: Knott's Berry Farm (#2)
Back to Trip Reports 2006
Back to the Trip Report Archive
Back to Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page.
