This was so interesting. It appears that the purchase by Cedar Fair not only saved Knotts but also almost destroyed it. The theme parks had no choice but to create changes after Disney and Universal entered the picture. But I'm excited to see what happened after Cedar Fair . Please please let us hear the continuing story as only you can tell it!!!!
Cedar Fair still owns the park... sort of. They merged with Six Flags and adopted that branding going forward. But Matt Ouimet, who we talk about taking over as CEO at the end of the video, only left the company in September of last year. So the next (final) video will mostly be about Ouimet's time as CEO of Cedar Fair, and how the company's handling of Knott's changed under his management (spoilers, but you can guess from his background how it went).
What ya didn’t say though was that The Haunted Shack was basically going to be condemned. When they removed the three thick cables help holding it in place it fell upon itself. Plus it wasn’t ADA friendly. The Sky Jump was going to take what I’ve heard a million dollars a parachute to fix a problem with the computer system and such so just too expensive to do that. Things that Cedar Fair wasn’t responsible for. Other stuff though yes they were
Absolutely. I don't necessarily fault CF for not wanting to spend what it would've cost to renovate and restore those attractions. In the case of trying to tell the story of this period in the park's history, it was more about trying to convey how locals and longtime fans perceived these events as the new management not caring about the park's history. It's like them donating the historic materials to the OCA. I fully understand from both a business and practical side why they did that, I appreciate that it means those items are publicly available, and these videos directly benefitted from it. I would never want them But I also see where some fans viewed it as a company located 2,300 miles away just dumping off the park's history on locals to maintain, especially when you count all the other early decisions that ignored the park's history. Taken individually, many of those decisions make sense. Collectively, it wasn't great optics for a new company dealing with a customer base that had been visiting the park for literal generations.
@@ThemeParchive well I know when I worked there lots of people thought cedar fair was the wrong move but I knew if it didn’t happen Knotts would have eventually shut down. I can remember days where only 1000 people were in the park. But I do miss working there. If I got paid what I do at dland there at Knotts I wouldn’t have left lol.
There were 6 original Wind Seekers: Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Islands, Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland. Knott's was the only version painted differently than the other 5 due to placement in Fiesta Village.
Disney was one of the original contenders in the sale of Knott's. They had eyes on turning the Farm into Disney America, the park that was planned for Manassass, VA. They would have used Independence Hall as the park's entrance. The Knott family felt Disney would change the park too much and that Cedar Fair would keep its legacy. The family was wrong. Knott's has slid into disrepair over the past few years; several ride closures, construction delays, and lack of cleanliness. I am hoping with the new merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair that the park will be sold (to United Parks and Resorts, e.g. SeaWorld/Busch Gardens) or that the sale of others in the combined chain brings in the revenue to bring Knott's back to it's glory. If I could design the next phase of Knotts, I would redo the park entrance. The area to the left of the entrance with the very old rest rooms is a very conjested area and needs a redesign. With Ghost Roder as popular as it is, the park could benefit from another similar ride. Maybe a Giga, mabye not. I think an RMC similar to Zadra (a ground up coaster, not a conversion) would give guests more of what they like. Push the warehouses to the edge of Crescent Ave (a noise buffer) and expand the park's footprint into the aear made by moving the warehouses.
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Keep going keep going keepgoing i grew up in orange county born in 85 u hit perfect on all my childhood memories i love lovelove your videos
This was so interesting. It appears that the purchase by Cedar Fair not only saved Knotts but also almost destroyed it. The theme parks had no choice but to create changes after Disney and Universal entered the picture. But I'm excited to see what happened after Cedar Fair . Please please let us hear the continuing story as only you can tell it!!!!
Cedar Fair still owns the park... sort of. They merged with Six Flags and adopted that branding going forward. But Matt Ouimet, who we talk about taking over as CEO at the end of the video, only left the company in September of last year. So the next (final) video will mostly be about Ouimet's time as CEO of Cedar Fair, and how the company's handling of Knott's changed under his management (spoilers, but you can guess from his background how it went).
Yes! The series continues!!
Guys we're watching this video and it's great. Hit that like button!!
AWESOME
What ya didn’t say though was that The Haunted Shack was basically going to be condemned. When they removed the three thick cables help holding it in place it fell upon itself. Plus it wasn’t ADA friendly. The Sky Jump was going to take what I’ve heard a million dollars a parachute to fix a problem with the computer system and such so just too expensive to do that. Things that Cedar Fair wasn’t responsible for. Other stuff though yes they were
Absolutely. I don't necessarily fault CF for not wanting to spend what it would've cost to renovate and restore those attractions. In the case of trying to tell the story of this period in the park's history, it was more about trying to convey how locals and longtime fans perceived these events as the new management not caring about the park's history.
It's like them donating the historic materials to the OCA. I fully understand from both a business and practical side why they did that, I appreciate that it means those items are publicly available, and these videos directly benefitted from it. I would never want them But I also see where some fans viewed it as a company located 2,300 miles away just dumping off the park's history on locals to maintain, especially when you count all the other early decisions that ignored the park's history.
Taken individually, many of those decisions make sense. Collectively, it wasn't great optics for a new company dealing with a customer base that had been visiting the park for literal generations.
@@ThemeParchive well I know when I worked there lots of people thought cedar fair was the wrong move but I knew if it didn’t happen Knotts would have eventually shut down. I can remember days where only 1000 people were in the park.
But I do miss working there. If I got paid what I do at dland there at Knotts I wouldn’t have left lol.
There were 6 original Wind Seekers: Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Islands, Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland. Knott's was the only version painted differently than the other 5 due to placement in Fiesta Village.
Disney was one of the original contenders in the sale of Knott's. They had eyes on turning the Farm into Disney America, the park that was planned for Manassass, VA. They would have used Independence Hall as the park's entrance. The Knott family felt Disney would change the park too much and that Cedar Fair would keep its legacy. The family was wrong.
Knott's has slid into disrepair over the past few years; several ride closures, construction delays, and lack of cleanliness. I am hoping with the new merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair that the park will be sold (to United Parks and Resorts, e.g. SeaWorld/Busch Gardens) or that the sale of others in the combined chain brings in the revenue to bring Knott's back to it's glory.
If I could design the next phase of Knotts, I would redo the park entrance. The area to the left of the entrance with the very old rest rooms is a very conjested area and needs a redesign. With Ghost Roder as popular as it is, the park could benefit from another similar ride. Maybe a Giga, mabye not. I think an RMC similar to Zadra (a ground up coaster, not a conversion) would give guests more of what they like. Push the warehouses to the edge of Crescent Ave (a noise buffer) and expand the park's footprint into the aear made by moving the warehouses.