Knotts Berry Farm is a great day trip for the whole family. My favorite is the bumper cars, but my granddaughter loved the semi truck cars in snoopyland. They have wild west shows and lots of old west themed areas like a saloon and panning for gold. The haunted shack is interesting too. Mrs Knotts chicken dinner restaurant is the best but it has one drawback... It is not stroller friendly! Don't forget to take home some Jelly!

The Camp Snoopy-themed area for children is rather large, so your kids will find lots to enjoy there. Another ride is the Flying Ace Balloon Race, a colorful ride using "helium balloons" for the ride cars. These lift up into the air as they circle a central hub. A favorite attraction of my grandson's is Snoopy's Bounce House. A GIANT inflated Snoopy adorns the top of this soft structure.

You'll begin in the waiting area, where the kids must take off their shoes to enter. Once the kids are all ready, an attendent lets them into the Bounce House one by one, and the playing begins. They get to bounce around for about 5 minutes, and you can watch through the clear, soft-but-thick plastic windows. When it's over, you'll help your children replace their shoes, and you're on your way. Parents can't go into the Bounce House, but at the Rocky Road Truckin' Company, the parents get chauffeured! The kids sit in the truck's cab and "drive," while the parents sit outside the cab and just enjoy the view. (How's THAT for a foreshadowing of "things to come!") Remember the Peanuts character, Woodstock? He's a little yellow bird who's Snoopy's friend. Well, he has his own ride at Camp Snoopy, too--called "Woodstock's Airmail." On this ride, the kids are lifted straight into the air, then dropped down suddenly, and then they get in a few smaller bounces before the ride is over. It's a miniature version of the adult ride "Supreme Scream" found in the Boardwalk section of the park.

So far, I've mentioned plenty of rides, but there are still more! There's the Charlie Brown Speedway, which offers tiny cars for your kids to drive along a tiny roadway. Then there's the Log Peeler, which is a mini-scrambler. The Huff and Puff is a good ride for active youngsters--they "kid-power" their own little mining cars by pushing and pumping a handle to make themselves go around on the track. There's the High Sierra Ferris Wheel, which--like many of Camp Snoopy's rides--is fun for the whole family, and not just the children. Plus, there's the walk-through play house, which features Peanuts-themed gadgets for the kids to explore within it. Live shows are performed several times a day at the Camp Snoopy Theater, featuring the Peanuts charactures, naturally.

Knott's Berry Farm has a large, attractive children's area called "Camp Snoopy." Knott's teamed up with Charles Schulz a number of years ago to use his "Peanuts" cartoon characters here in the park. Camp Snoopy's scenario is that the Peanuts gang have gone off to a summer camp in California's High Sierras. On one hand, then, you'll see tall trees and woodsy decor to represent the "High Sierras" part of the equation. And also, you'll see the Peanuts characters--Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, etc.--strolling the park in costumes to greet the guests, putting on a play at the Camp Snoopy theater, or their pictures adorning gift shops and restaurants. Ride attendants are dressed in "park ranger" style outfits in this section. I'm including photos of some of the rides below. You'll see a ride called the "Camp Bus," a yellow bus that circles around from the ground to the air and back. You'll see the "Timberline Twister," a miniature roller coaster.

A unique ride called "Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8" (that's "great skate"), has the scenario that Snoopy has become a cool dude and now wears sunglasses and rides a skateboard! The ride itself is shaped like a giant skateboard, which rolls backwards and forewards as the platform underneath it raises and lowers. It's a kiddie favorite, and a fair sized line backs up for this slow-loading ride. Next to Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8 are the Red Baron airplanes, which circle around a central hub while the riders raise and lower their planes via their individual controller. The Red Baron is one of only several rides in the kid's area that parent's can't ride alongside their children. Not far from these attractions is a little, man-made lake around which several activities happen. There's the Walter K. Steamboat, which makes a circle cruise of the lake. Then, there's the Grand Sierra Scenic Railroad, which choo-choo's its way around the lake's perimeter. There are also little remote-control boats which, for a small fee, you can pilot around on their own small lake.

The Wild Water Wilderness themed area at Knott's Berry Farm features two rides and one attraction. The major ride is Bigfoot Rapids, Knott's enjoyable version of the traditional river rafting ride. To get to the ride, you must first walk through a very LONG entrance queue, which is generally fairly empty, because most of the crowds are waiting for the "wilder" rides. The queue area is shaded by tall, leafy trees, and "footprints" of Bigfoot can be spotted in the cement. Once you board your raft, you'll head into the mildly-churning rapids of a river looping through an attractive, woodsy area. Yes, there's plenty of splashing, and just PLAN on getting wet! If you'd like to ride a second time, you must first exit, but then you can "hop the fence" to get back in line without wandering back through the long, empty queuing area.

The other ride in Wild Water Wilderness is the Wilderness Scrambler, an old-fashioned ride that is still fun, but doesn't draw a big crowd. That means that you can enjoy it without investing much of your time standing in line! (You'll see it in a photo below.)

The one non-ride attraction in Wild Water Wilderness is the Mystery Lodge, an attractively decorated building that hosts a multimedia Native American story-telling show. After the show, if you wish to enjoy more Native American culture, you can go to the "Indian Trails" themed area. It's a small area with no rides, but it does have a museum-quality exhibit of Native American dwellings---tipis, hogans, and Big Houses. There are periodic shows of Native American music and dancing as well. Another attractive exhibit at "Indian Trails" is a large totem pole; in fact, seeing the tall totem pole will lead you right into this area.

On your way into Knott's Berry Farm, you may have noticed the sea of California license plates on cars in the parking lot. You may have wondered to yourself, "Now, WHY would people who have Disneyland---a world-wide tourist draw---in their backyards, choose to visit Knott's instead?" Well, actually, many Orange County residents are big theme-park buffs, and they go to BOTH places regularly. The reason they go to Knott's is for the more thrilling rides, and comparing the Boardwalk section of Knott's with that of Disney's California Adventure will give you an example.

The California Adventure area, Paradise Pier, is themed after the boardwalks of California beaches, and it's done up lavishly in a VISUAL sense. The area is colorful and architecturally detailed---pure eye candy. The rides, though, are, for the most part, ones you can enjoy with your kids, and some of them, even with your toddlers! Knott's Berry Farm's Boardwalk area features wilder, faster, taller rides, attractions more popular with the teen and adult crowds. There are two rides in the Boardwalk that I haven't even worked up enough courage to try yet! One is the VERY SCARY-LOOKING Xcelerator. The ride looks like a bobby-pin set on end---you go straight up into the air and then head straight back down, your face headed directly towards the concrete below! My stepdaughter tried it and loved it! Take a look at the photo below---doesn't it make you cringe just to LOOK at it? Another one I haven't tried is the "Supreme Scream," which looks similar to California Adventure's Maliboomer, but taller. I enjoyed the Maliboomer, but the Knott's version is 254 feet tall! You get zoomed up to the top and then fall back to earth in a mere 3 seconds, going over 50MPH! (Once again, my stepdaughter tried it, while I waited below with my grandson. She loved it!)

Next, all three of us went on the tall--but slow--ride, the Sky Cabin. We slowly ascended a tall pole in a rotating cabin and caught a good view of the park and the surrounding cityscape. Then we slowly came down again. Next, Josie went on the Boomerang, a looping roller coaster, and the Rip Tide, a ride that takes you up into the air and then turns you upside down over and over again. (Those two rides aren't too scary for me, but I had to tend my grandson.) Gabriel then found another ride in this area that he'd try--the Wipe Out, which I can't describe very well, but you'll see it in a photo below. Lastly, we all enjoyed driving the Wheeler Dealer bumper cars.