Disappointed with Knotts Berry Farm height requirements

[Roook22]

I recently took my daughter to Knott's on 11/22/14. She is almost 5 years old and is 44 inches tall.
We were greatly disappointed with the ride height requirements. All of the required heights are dramatically higher than other theme parks in the area. We know because we went to Disneyland, Universal Studios and SeaWorld on the same trip.
At Disneyland my daughter went on Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Grizzly River Rapids, Splash Mountain, Star Tours...etc. Basically she couldn't go on Indiana Jones and Screamin, and that's it.
Same with Universal and SeaWorld. She could go on almost everything.
However that was not the case at Knott's Berry Farm. The water rafting ride was 46 inches tall, which is outrageous. We found a small coaster that looked like the Toontown coaster and the height was 44". We measured up at the outside of the ride and her head touched the mark, but when we got to the front of the line they had another measurement and she was short on that one. I know that she is 44" without shoes because I measured her before we left for the trip.
Anyway, in short, she was able to do 2 rides, the log ride, and another spinning coaster with an hour wait line. She didn't want to do any of the Camp Snoopy rides because she said they were for babies.
So basically, in our opinion, Knott's is a waste of money for 4-5 year olds that are 40" - 45" tall, unless they want to ride the local carnival or kiddie rides like bumper cars and such.

 

[LisaT91403]

I recently took my daughter to Knott's on 11/22/14. She is almost 5 years old and is 44 inches tall.
We were greatly disappointed with the ride height requirements. All of the required heights are dramatically higher than other theme parks in the area. We know because we went to Disneyland, Universal Studios and SeaWorld on the same trip.
At Disneyland my daughter went on Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Grizzly River Rapids, Splash Mountain, Star Tours...etc. Basically she couldn't go on Indiana Jones and Screamin, and that's it.
Same with Universal and SeaWorld. She could go on almost everything.
However that was not the case at Knott's Berry Farm. The water rafting ride was 46 inches tall, which is outrageous. We found a small coaster that looked like the Toontown coaster and the height was 44". We measured up at the outside of the ride and her head touched the mark, but when we got to the front of the line they had another measurement and she was short on that one. I know that she is 44" without shoes because I measured her before we left for the trip.
Anyway, in short, she was able to do 2 rides, the log ride, and another spinning coaster with an hour wait line. She didn't want to do any of the Camp Snoopy rides because she said they were for babies.
So basically, in our opinion, Knott's is a waste of money for 4-5 year olds that are 40" - 45" tall, unless they want to ride the local carnival or kiddie rides like bumper cars and such.

I appreciate the info, as we are planning to take our 6 year old son. He is small for his age -- only 46" with shoes on (just barely made the Indy height when we went Thanksgiving week). When I looked at the Knott's site last week, it seemed similar to Busch Gardens...which we visited this past summer.

What I mean is that BG and Knott's seem to have 2 types of rides -- big roller coasters and kiddie rides. There are a few that are in between, but most fall into one category or another. And in both cases, the minimum height for the big roller coasters seems to be 48" (or more). So if your child is less than 48" and/or not a daredevil...you have to figure out if there are enough other activities to keep him/her interested. Oh, Six Flags Magic Mountain falls into this category as well (lots of big coasters with big height requirements).

Disneyland and California Adventure do not have "big roller coasters", other than California Screamin. And, not surprisingly, CA Screamin has a 48" height restriction. The other coasters at Disney are "family" coasters...much smaller and more tame than the big ones found at Knott's (except for that one you mentioned with the 44" height limit).

The other parks you mentioned (Universal, Sea World) also do not have "big roller coasters". The only coaster-type ride at Universal is The Mummy, and you guessed it...48" minimum. Sea World does not have big coasters; the closest they have is Manta, and again, 48".

I think that the theme parks fall into the "thrill" category (Knott's, Busch Gardens, Six Flags) or "family" category (Disney, Sea World, Universal). The thrill parks try to have a kiddie area so that families (with older kids who have younger siblings) can still enjoy the park together. But, really, the parks are geared at the thrill-seeking older kids.

In my opinion, Disney does the best job of having "family" coasters. Rides like Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Matterhorn have enough of a thrill to keep some of the older kids interested, but a low enough height requirement to let the younger kids ride as well. I can't think of other parks that have "family" roller coasters.

 

[starshine514]

I noticed the same thing when I looked at the Knott's website. We were thinking about meeting some friends there. My girls are 55" and 48" (and 28" lol), but their kids are about 45" and 43". There wasn't much that it looked like the shorter kids could ride (outside of Camp Snoopy). So, we ended up doing something else.

I must say that I was rather happy with the Camp Snoopy area when my kids were 3 and 5 - my youngest could ride a lot more there than she could ride at Legoland (which had a HR on pretty much every ride, even ridiculously kiddie rides that other parks don't have HR on). After Legoland, I learned to always research HR before plunking down money on admission. It's good to have a good idea of what you're getting into and what they can ride before you go.