Knott's Berry Farm Tickets in Buena Park, CA

Nice start - Free parking (temporary I’m sure) to visit shops. We enjoyed seeing some Knotts history and memorabilia, like most retailers the offerings are reduced. The Peanuts shop was very nice and freshly stocked for the upcoming holidays. Virginia’s gift shop is nice but not the beautiful gift shop including collectibles it once was. Only one set of restrooms (behind the furthest building ) open. The staff were nice. Learned they only make (reduced flavors) fudge once a week. We tried the purple boysenberry cookie - it’s just a purple sugar cookie; good but not worth the calories. We purchased the half dozen biscuits to share which came with napkins, two small containers of jam, no butter, and no silverware to spread the jam. They were a disappointment compared to the delicious biscuits from the days of Knotts ownership. I’m glad they seem to be holding on and sure hope they can hold on until the state lets businesses reopen.

Our visit was Saturday 22 August. Event times are 12 to 9 I believe and tickets are $30 for five food or beverage tastings, however each ticket is limited to two alcoholic drinks. We arrived 11 to walk through the outside stores. We were allowed through security and entrance at 11:45. Once in we headed to Judge Roy Beans where we sampled the white bean chicken chili on jasmine rice. This came with a boysenberry muffin. Good start, nothing fancy, hearty food. We paired this with a boysenberry beer. We purchased the beer separately since the card usage only grants you a small pour. We next headed to Coaster Diner. Here we had a chicken strip in waffle. Spicy honey sauce was amazing and we'll be making this at home. This was paired with a frozen boysenberry margarita. We are more of on the rocks margarita people so probably will try a different drink next time. At this point my wife was tapping out on the food. I forged ahead, our next stop being Boardwalk BBQ booths #1 and #2. Here I got the brisket sandwich which I was told sells out quickly. We both enjoyed the sangria (you guessed it, boysenberry). Sangria was very smooth with more of what I guess is brandy than red wine. A bit on the sweet side but hit the spot for us. Brisket was a fair amount, not smokey like I make it but good enough to finish it all. At this time I was hitting the food wall. But we powered on determined to use up the total worth of our cards. We sought out the infamous boysenberry pie Stout at the Calico saloon. We used our cards and received the small pour witch was quite enough for a 10% beer and boy was it good. It alone is a meal and we were full but we drank them down. 1 more spot left on my wife's card, and I love desert so we moseyed over to Ghost town Grub where we decided on a very mighty serving of deep fried boysenberry pie bites. Mighty because I thought a serving came with 2 bites but no, there are 4!! My wife pecked at 1. I had a hard time with 2+. Fried and dense. Would likely sample the funnel cake fries next time. All in all a great experience and with the heat of the day we were in at noon and out by 2:30 compliments of the very small crowd during these hours. We will likely be back with friends and family during the evening hours, eating less and conversing more.

Friday night , July 24, Taste of Calico food event. The other attractions were not open, just the food and the shops. For $25.00 you get a food tasting ticket that will give you five different boysenberry related food items. There food was good, not as good as last year's Boysenberry Festival but way less crowded. There were seventeen food stations in contrast to the previous weekend which had only eight. This appears to be a good improvement, because the lines were practically non-existent. I recommend the Steak Chili with Boysenberry Cornbread Muffin. The chili was good, nothing special, similar to Stagg Steakhouse. There were no beans. However, the boysenberry cornbread muffin was wonderful. The pastrami sandwich was good, again nothing special, there was boysenberry mustard but its flavor was lost. The pretzel bun was very good and made the sandwich. It came with fresh fried potato chips. I am not a potato chip lover, but these were pretty good. Pulled Pork Sliders and chicken wings were good but nothing special. The Boysenberry Hand Scooped Ice Cream Sandwich was good, a little light on the boysenberry flavor,maybe some people prefer that, and it was huge, definitely good for sharing. By this time I was getting full, so my view of the last item might not be accurate. The Mrs. Knotts Biscuit Bights w/ Boysenberry Butter Dipping Sauce, were okay. They were deep fried, kind of like doughnut holes with out glaze. The dipping sauce was actually boysenberry butter, which added more rich fatty flavor without the sweetness. I would have preferred jam for dipping.

My 20's son and I visited Knott's Berry Farm on a Monday in early March. This was both of our first times here, being from out of state. We were thrilled to find it practically deserted (pre-covid) , probably due to students being in school. We were able to tour the entire park and go on any ride we wanted with minimal wait. Our only disappointment was that the wooden roller coaster was closed for repairs. I purchased tickets through AAA online prior to my vacation and it was open ended as long as we used it between January and March. Driving, we circled the entire park looking for the parking entrance which did not seem well marked. It was annoying that the parking is quite far away and quite expensive (about $20). We would have done better to park on a side street or shopping center and walking over. There is a great walkway once you get close to the entrance with a few shops. One of these was worth a stop - on the walls was the history of Knott's Berry as pertains to its origins as a Farm. There were also ads and photos depicting all the decades it has existed as an amusement park. There were also some delicious boysenberry products for sale ( this berry is the farm's claim to fame). Once inside the gate, there are several themed areas to experience - Camp Snoopy (there is a Snoopy Meet and Greet here and child themed rides), Fiesta Village, the Boardwalk and the Ghost Town. Our favorite was the ghost town which had authentic buildings and souvenirs and the BBQ was good for lunch. There are a few performances through out the park that were fun to catch - some geared towards the younger crowd like the magician. We enjoyed the thrill coasters. They seemed to be challenging enough to please most folks. We recommend this themed amusement park to others.

Last weekend my wife and I travel to Ontario California for an early birthday celebration for our granddaughter. This was her first trip since January and everyone had been given the all clear for the visit to happen. Usually by this time a year we learned made two trips to the area for conventions and have upcoming ones for San Diego Comic Con and the bi-annual D23 Expo. Since none of them are able to happen due to the current world situation and not knowing when we will be able to travel in area again; my wife and I decided to visit Buena Park for some shopping which included a visit to Knott's Berry Farm. While the park remains closed; the shopping and dining options outside the park are available to guests and we made sure to visit the numerous shops, bakery, and enjoy the available amenities during our visit. Currently free parking is available and we were greeted by Rufus shortly after leaving the parking lot as he was going about his business in the shadow of the Ghost Rider. After taking a few pictures we learned that certain shops were not open until 11 and some dining options had an even later time which varies upon the day of the week in which you are visiting. Making her way into the core shops we were able to purchase various food items such as boysenberry dressing, seasonings, barbecue sauce, and more during our first stop. Checks out was entirely user driven as we had to scan and bag our items and then use a touchless payment system. The cashier was available behind a protective Plexiglas barrier to answer questions and assist should issues arise. Making away from shop to shop and purchased stuffed animals, a T-shirt, and other items while making sure to take some photos and enjoy the visit. The smell from Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner was strong and appealing even through our masks and people were already lined up to purchase some from the to go location or enter the restaurant when we arrived. Various managers greeted us outside stores and one in particular was very gracious and thanking us for coming out and enjoying what the park was able to offer at this time. Rufus made another appearance as he followed a group from the parking lot and was strutting his way down towards the main gate for the part. Our stop also included a visit to the bakery as well as a look around the house wares and collectibles and candy stores before we completed our purchases and headed to our family commitment. While it is not the same as being able to enjoy the theme park; being able to take in many of the sights and smells of Knott's as well is the very friendly and helpful staff made this an enjoyable visit that lifted the spirits and made us look forward to better days ahead when we can once again enjoy the full offerings of the park.