Knott's Berry Farm is a year-round themed
amusement park acquired by
Cedar Fair L.P. in 1997 and which serves a total market area of 20 million people in the Southern California region. Along with Knott's Berry Farm,
Cedar Fair L.P. gained the license to
Peanuts characters and the management contract for Knott's
Camp Snoopy in
the Mall of America.
Knott's Berry Farm has six themed areas: Ghost Town, Fiesta Village, The Boardwalk, Camp Snoopy, Indian Trails and Wild Water Wildnerness. Knott's Berry Farm opened as an amusement park in 1940 and has been operating since.
Within these six themed areas the following rides and attractions can be found:
Knott's Berry Farm featured the first Corkscrew rollercoaster ever which was built by Arrow Dynamics in 1975. GhostRider is considered one of the best wooden roller coasters in the United States. Before the construction of Xcelerator in 2002, Windjammer previously occupied that space. Windjammer was demolished for scrap metal in 2001 and had only operated for two years before its demise.
Perilous Plunge currently holds the record for the tallest and steepest Shoot-the-Chutes type ride. However, it also holds the history of a fatality which occured when a lady was not safely secured within the lap bar restraint and back-up seat belt on the ride and thus fell out of the boat. It is reported that she was not of correct stature to be held within the lap bar restraint. It has also been rumored that she had not been sitting properly which may also have caused the ejection.
Another fatality occured when a young woman suffered a brain aneurysm on Montezooma's Revenge.
While it has previously been known as Knott's Berry Farm, the website currently lists the theme park as Knott's Theme Park. It also lists the Knott's Soak City properties of Southern California along with Knott's Theme Park underneath the umbrella term Knott's Southern California Resort.