I was in California this weekend and managed to talk my parents into letting me go to Knott's. We [my Dad and I] arrived at the park at about 7:00 pm. Since it was after 4:00 pm we got half price tickets. The line for the tickets was about 10 minutes because only one booth was open. I walked through the main gate at 7:15 and headed over to Ghostrider.
Ghostrider:
The wait was about 45 minutes for a front row seat. For those of you who don't know, Knott's has what I would call an express line for the front and rear cars. I was in the silver train and was on the right side in the front seat. My dad didn't ride because he doesn't really like coasters. Instead he stepped across the train and held my hat and my glasses. When I go to a park I usually bring one of those things that keeps glasses from falling off, but I forgot it. The ride was pretty fun overall. I liked the drop out of the station and on some of the hills I got some air. The covered drop was interesting. The ride was made a little more exciting because I rode it at night. I kept my hands up the whole time. [Paying homage to TCon.] What I noticed was that the helices and turns were pretty rough. I came off the ride with a very minor headache. After finishing Ghostrider, I headed over to Silver Bullet.
Silver Bullet:
This is my second B&M inverted and my second B&M. [The first being Batman at SFMM.] My wait for Silver Bullet was 25 minutes for the front. I sat in the right center seat. The beginning of Silver Bullet was a pretty traditional B&M start. There was a 90 degree turn leaving the station, then one set of breaks and kicker wheels, then the lift. The first drop is also traditional: dip after the lift and a sweeping downward turn into a loop. Following the loop though, the ride becomes pretty unorthodox. An overbank into the cobra roll is after the loop and a zero-g is after the cobra. A turn follows the zero-g and then there are two wingovers. After the wingovers there is a tight helix that I think is pretty powerful. There is no MCBR on Silver Bullet. The station is also 20ft off the ground. The ride was very smooth and there was a very short wait on the block while the other train left the station. I highly recommend that if you're in the area of Knott's you ride Silver Bullet. Next up: Xcelerator.
Xcelerator:
This was my 3rd ride of the night. I got a front seat spot with about a 15 minute wait. My wait was short because Xcelerator had broken down and it had just been fixed. The que was pretty much empty when I was walking up to the station. While waiting in line I encountered someone who asked me if I had been to SFMM. Since I had I said yes. He says, "Did you know that Goliath at SFMM goes 120 mph with no lauch assistance?" Obviously this guy was not a coaster enthusiast[lol]. I politely told him that Goliath, being about 220ft tall, only had a top speed of a little over 70 mph. I don't know if he believed me though. The launch for Xcelerator was fun for me and so was the tophat. There was a good bit of air over the top. Both overbanked turns were good as well. I agree with many people that this ride could have been better if it was longer. I rode Silver Bullet again after Xcelerator. I was in line 10 minutes before closing. I was in the front center left seat.
My time at Knott's was good. The lines weren't too long and it wasn't extremely hot. [Although it was still pretty hot.] The only things I didn't get to do but wanted to do were ride Montezooma's Revenge and eat at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. I will have some pictures up pretty soon.