Well we finally came to our last day in California, and what better place to end than one of America’s first theme parks? In our short little trip on Friday, we had indeed found out that Xcelerator was down for scheduled maintenance until the middle of June, so that was somewhat disappointing, but to be honest, I am very surprised we didn’t run into more of that during the trip.

Another surprise was that Ghostrider was still closed, as it had gone down on Thursday evening and was intended to remain closed to be fixed for the entire weekend. That is, until it was realized that Silver Bullet would be closed for at least the entire day. From speaking to an operator, he told me what the issue was (I will not disclose that information since I am a Cedar Fair employee and was only told what was wrong due to that fact), and it was not something that was a quick fix. Thankfully, I had ridden it Friday, so I wasn’t completely missing out, just missing chances to re-ride.

With that, the park work diligently to get Ghostrider opened to have at least one of the three marquee coasters opened. Until then, we decided to ride Pony Express a few times to start, since the park was fairly empty. Pony Express is a neat little ride, but after the launch it consists of two turns and three hills. I think Knott’s could have turned it into something awesome, but it’s just too short to be a great ride.

From there we moved to Boomerang, a ride that has received much criticism from coaster fans for being one of the roughest models ever built. Maybe I just like the “Boomerang” coasters better than most, but I did not think that this ride was bad at all. There was hardly any head banging for me at all. It was certainly a pleasant surprise. From there, I hopped on Jaguar!, a ride I rode when I was young, but did not remember much of. It is a fun ride, and gives a very long ride for rides of its size.

Next up was Windseeker, the first one that I have been on. I have to say that the view was amazing, and the ride itself was actually pretty fun. The wind in your face feels great, and the music that plays along is nice as well. At night, the light package really displays itself well, I just wish they would keep you at the top a little longer, but otherwise, a good ride. We then rode Montezooma’s Revenge once more, another example that some older rides can still deliver good rides. This time I sampled a seat towards the front, and both ends give fun rides.

Timberline Twister, the parks smallest coaster was next in the coaster department, and even though I rode it years ago, I didn’t remember much about it, and it is actually a fun little ride that even has a few moments of air. We opted to skip Sierra Sidewinder because of a very long line that had built up due to the main coasters being down. So instead, we headed out to lunch just outside the gates. What trip to Knott’s would be complete without a world famous chicken dinner?

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, lemonade, all topped off with boysenberry pie for dessert made this final meal in California one of the best. My dad even took a few extra boysenberry jam packets to take home to my grandmother, who is quite fond of the Knott’s products back home.

We went back to the park around 3PM after a short nap in the car to find Ghostrider still closed. The maintenance crew was hard at work trying to get the ride opened for at least a few hours. We wandered over to the famous Calico Mine Ride, something that I had been looking forward to. The ride is quite long time wise, and the theme and detail is somewhat reminiscent of that of a Disney attraction. Like the chicken, no trip to Knott’s should be considered complete without at least one go on this ride.

As our 10:20PM flight time home grew nearer, Ghostrider had yet to show signs of life at 5PM. Being a Cedar Fair employee, I chatted with a few of the operators at the ride, telling them about our trip and how anxious we were to get on. Judging by where the workers were, I think it may have been a lift motor issue or something similar, which typically can be a multiple day fix. Ghostrider is a ride I did ride years ago, but like many others that I had only been on as a lad, I have little memory of what it was like.

Around 6PM the train that had spent nearly three days stuck on the lift hill finally had moved. Since it was there for a lengthy amount of time, the work crew had no way to perform daily inspection on it, so it was moved to the storage area for the day and the ride opened just after 6:30PM with one train. We opted to wait for the front seat, and were on the second train out.

Now for the moment of truth. Many ask about how rough the ride has gotten over the years. Some will say it still lives up to the “Best In The West” tagline, and others say it has become virtually unridable. Now I am a guy who likes when a wooden coaster throws you around a bit. In my mind a great wooden coaster has airtime, lateral forces, and gives you an out-of-control feeling without feeling painful. I feel that Ghostrider still performs very well in all said categories. It has a great first drop, awesome airtime, and those signature Custom Coasters International turnarounds that throw you side-to-side. Are there a few spots where it bangs you a bit? Sure. But I don’t think the ride was painful by any means. I am very glad the ride opened because I can now confidently place the ride in my top ten wooden coaster list.

And so ended a wonderful week where we visited eight parks in six days, and rode nearly fifty roller coasters, almost all of which were completely new experiences. My dad and I got to enjoy a week together doing things we can enjoy doing together. My only regret is that the rest of my family was unable to tag along. All in all, I give the trip a giant two thumbs-up, five stars, and a perfect ten. Here’s to making it back out to California in the near future for a bunch more fun and a bunch more thrills!