Prehistoric Ride Part of Improvement Program : Throwbacks Help Propel Knott’s Future

The past is in the future at Knott’s Berry Farm.

A herd of 23 prehistoric creatures will snap, chomp, hiss and roar their way through a jungle of 200 million years ago, in a $7-million, “Kingdom of the Dinosaurs” ride to be opened this spring.

The new ride is part of the first phase of a planned $50-million, five-year package of improvements at the Buena Park facility.

1987’s part of the additions and makeovers--all scheduled to open by the middle of the year--will include three new thrill rides; a three-dimensional, underwater-themed movie, and a splashy live-act summer show. The $13-million package is aimed at keeping Knott’s successful in the increasingly competitive outdoor-attraction business.

“They’re creating the public perception that even though you may have been to Knott’s many times before, there are new reasons to come again,” said Jim Harmon, partner at Management Resources Inc., a Tustin consulting firm for amusement parks.

Drop in Attendance

Knott’s, the privately owned, former berry farm founded 67 years ago by Walter Knott, saw attendance slip to 3.5 million last year, a 2% drop from a record 1985. While Knott’s executives readily admit that the park--fourth-largest in the nation in attendance after Anaheim’s Disneyland, Florida’s Disney World and Universal Studios in Los Angeles--may never be as big as the nearby Magic Kingdom, Knott’s president and chief operating officer, Terry E. Van Gorder, estimates that the new attractions could increase 1987 attendance in Buena Park by at least 5%.

The most visible signs this year of Knott’s make-over will be in the park’s Mexican-theme area, Fiesta Village.

The 25-year-old section will be upgraded by Memorial Day weekend to include three computer-driven, high-tech rides--at a cost of about $1-million each--spruced up to blend into Fiesta Village with custom touches such as Mexican-theme tile work and a life-size, swinging acrobat sculpture.

On the Falling Star--made by Chance Rides Inc. of Wichita--thrill-seeking guests sit on a theater row-style platform that drops six stories at the rate of 33 feet per second.

The Wave Swinger, a ride made by a West German firm, suspends patrons five-stories high in “gondolas” that move horizontally and vertically while the entire structure circles at 10 revolutions a minute.

The Fireball, also made by the West German firm, swings guests three stories off the ground while they revolve in a 70-foot circle.

“They’re throw-up rides,” Van Gorder admitted half-jokingly in an interview.

But their financial effect on Knott’s should be very healthy. Van Gorder estimates that 2,000 more guests an hour will be able to ride on Knott’s attractions than at present. By contrast, Disneyland’s new, $32-million Star Tours ride added 1,600 seats an hour.

Nearby, in Knott’s 800-seat, Cloud Nine ballroom, a three-dimension, 22-minute movie will premiere in March. Details of the film have not been released. But despite apparent similarities, Van Gorder insisted that the film is is not a reaction to Disneyland’s “Captain Eo,” a much-publicized high-tech video made by singer Michael Jackson. “It’s the most obvious entertainment medium today” and saves the cost of paying live performers, he noted.

The park will beef up its live acts with the June 20 introduction of “Spellbound,” a magic show that will run through the summer, featuring live tigers and a Toyota that disappear before guests in the 2,000-seat Goodtime Theatre.

Knott’s promotional efforts will focus on the new dinosaur ride, a prehistoric competitor of Disneyland’s futuristic Star Tours.

The studio which created the dinosaur attraction stars is also the one that created Universal Studio’s new King Kong: Sequoia Creative Inc., of Sun Valley, Calif. Sequoia also was the breeding ground for the two mechanical spiders that “attacked” Michael Jackson during his Victory Tour two years ago.