Knotts or Magic Mountain

[luvgoing2disney]

We are in early stages of planning a trip to DLR in May 2011 and was considering a visit to Knotts as my son (and I as well) like thrill rides.

A guy was in my wife's office last week and said that he would recommend Magic Mountain over KBF. He said he had not lived in CA for 10 years, but he remembered KBF as more for young teens than older ones. Looking at their site, looks like KBF actually has more thrill rides than MM, but can any of you offer advice and opinions?

 

[Mugglemama]

KBF doesn't have more thrill rides than MM. MM is known for being one of the leaders in the entire country in terms of number of major coasters, actually.

I grew up going to both places regularly, but haven't been for about 9 years. We have 4 kids and neither park ever seemed to cover all our bases the way DLR does, so we just started putting our money into Disney trips.

I'm not sure which I would suggest...I'm not thrilled with either place anymore, myself. There are things that I absolutely LOVE about both parks, but MM has gotten dirty and there are a TON of gang-banger type teens hanging out (at least when we were there and according to reviews I read every year in hopes that it's gotten better so we can go back). Also, they absolutely will NOT allow you to bring in any type of food or drink (probably thanks to the morons who sneak in alcohol...), and with 4 kids, we definitely want to be able to bring in our own water and snacks. But if it's just you and an older son, none of those things may be dealbreakers. MM also doesn't do FP as far as I know (I think you might be able to pay extra for a similar type thing), so for us, waiting in 90 minute lines just isn't anything we're willing to do right now. I've ridden most of the rides in the park, though, and they are fantastic.

KBF is fun, but there isn't a ton as far as kid-rides, so we had "done" the park in less than half a day. I haven't ridden the thrill rides at KBF because the last time I was there I was prego. My husband and oldest daughter rode their big wooden coaster, but my hubby had back pain for days afterward. He said it was fun, but he'd never ride it again.

So, they both have their pros and cons. If I was going for thrill rides, though, I would go to MM. Last I checked, they're not open during the week except for Summer, which makes it hard to be there at a time when the troublemakers aren't there. Maybe they've cleaned it up (hopefully), but I just checked reviews this past Summer, and found an overabundance of negative reviews, citing the same reasons I've listed.

Good luck!

 

[ukstitch]

I did both parks in December...

If you're specifically after thrill rides, then I'd suggest going the extra distance to get to Magic Mountain as the coasters there are far larger (in number and size) and also more intense than Knott's.

If you're after a mix of rides, then Knott's may be better suited as there's more non-coasters and non-thrill rides there from my experience.

 

[HydroGuy]

I also grew up going to both but have not been for 15+ years. Be aware that Magic Mountain has developed a poor reputation for personal safety. Gangs hang out there and there have been shootings. My BIL is in law enforcement in SoCal and he will not allow his kids to go there.

 

[NStramler]

I would just spend another day at Disney. We live an hour away from MM but we do not go there. We feel that Magic Mountain is just way too unsafe for our family.

 

[L2S2C]

We were at Knotts earlier in the year, we live in so cal, we haven't been to magic mountain in ten years. Too much happens at Magic Mountain, I'll keep my thrill riding to knotts. Knotts has several thrill rides now.

 

[dizneedoll]

I'll echo the safety and cleanliness issues at MM and say if it were me I would stick with Knotts. Plus, Knotts is only about 15 min from Disney, whereas MM is closer to 2 hours, maybe 1 1/2. I live in San Diego and it takes 3 hours to get to MM from my house and 1 hour to get to DL, so that's how I'm figuring the 2 hours, and I'm not taking traffic into consideration here either. Not worth the drive time IMHO.

 

[barefootmomma]

I'm in agreement with the previous comments regarding MM. Knott's can be fun, and it's definitely possible to see and do everything in 1 day. If it were my choice, I'd spend another day at Disney.

 

[L2S2C]

the other thing about knotts is the lines are always short when we've gone LOL

 

[DLR29]

Don't let all of these negative comments deter you from going to SFMM. Everybody makes it out to be this huge gang area when in fact the place has cleaned up a bit over the past couple years. I would not go as far as to call it unsafe, it's just unfortunate that it has this negative label has stuck with the park for so long.

The park has one of THE best thrill ride collections in the country/world. I would highly recommend going to SFMM. X2, Goliath, Terminator, and Tatsu are among the best roller coasters in the country! Plus, Scream, Batman, Superman, Riddler's Revenger, Deja Vu, and Viper are also very thrilling and fun. Even the "family coasters" like Revolution, Ninja, Collossus and Gold Rusher are relatively intense and lots of fun for coaster lovers.

 

[Mom of three]

Don't let all of these negative comments deter you from going to SFMM. Everybody makes it out to be this huge gang area when in fact the place has cleaned up a bit over the past couple years. I would not go as far as to call it unsafe, it's just unfortunate that it has this negative label has stuck with the park for so long.

The park has one of THE best thrill ride collections in the country/world. I would highly recommend going to SFMM. X2, Goliath, Terminator, and Tatsu are among the best roller coasters in the country! Plus, Scream, Batman, Superman, Riddler's Revenger, Deja Vu, and Viper are also very thrilling and fun. Even the "family coasters" like Revolution, Ninja, Collossus and Gold Rusher are relatively intense and lots of fun for coaster lovers.

I whole heartedly agree with everything you just said. We were there last April and while it does not have the overall magic that Disneyland does, it was still a fun place to experience. Sure there was an entirely different crowd of people, but at no point did I feel unsafe. We enjoyed ourselves and will go back in the future. Have a great time.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Don't let all of these negative comments deter you from going to SFMM. Everybody makes it out to be this huge gang area when in fact the place has cleaned up a bit over the past couple years. I would not go as far as to call it unsafe, it's just unfortunate that it has this negative label has stuck with the park for so long.

The park has one of THE best thrill ride collections in the country/world. I would highly recommend going to SFMM. X2, Goliath, Terminator, and Tatsu are among the best roller coasters in the country! Plus, Scream, Batman, Superman, Riddler's Revenger, Deja Vu, and Viper are also very thrilling and fun. Even the "family coasters" like Revolution, Ninja, Collossus and Gold Rusher are relatively intense and lots of fun for coaster lovers.

I went to MM two years ago since I love the extreme rides and no one else in the family does. To me it still has the gang atmosphere and the most popular rides have very long wait times during the summer. My DGF does not like me going up there since I have NO patients with stupidity.
I would go to KBF with the family, MM by myself.

Jack

 

[ukstitch]

Don't let all of these negative comments deter you from going to SFMM. Everybody makes it out to be this huge gang area when in fact the place has cleaned up a bit over the past couple years. I would not go as far as to call it unsafe, it's just unfortunate that it has this negative label has stuck with the park for so long.

The park has one of THE best thrill ride collections in the country/world. I would highly recommend going to SFMM. X2, Goliath, Terminator, and Tatsu are among the best roller coasters in the country! Plus, Scream, Batman, Superman, Riddler's Revenger, Deja Vu, and Viper are also very thrilling and fun. Even the "family coasters" like Revolution, Ninja, Collossus and Gold Rusher are relatively intense and lots of fun for coaster lovers.

I whole heartedly agree with everything you just said. We were there last April and while it does not have the overall magic that Disneyland does, it was still a fun place to experience. Sure there was an entirely different crowd of people, but at no point did I feel unsafe. We enjoyed ourselves and will go back in the future. Have a great time.

Just to add a third voice to this - at no time did I feel unsafe when I was there in December and neither did I notice any "bad" behaviour, gangs etc...

The only real downside I had an MM was related to the tour company, who came early to pick me up and then suggested I was late when they had to come back for me at the time they'd told me on the phone the day before and who also had to drive around in circles as MM wouldn't let them park

Apart from this, I had an amazing time - I love thrill rides and coasters so it was an amazing opportunity to ride some stuff far larger and more intense than I can find here in the UK. While the rides at Knott's were good, I far prefered MM for thrill rides

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Moving this over to the so cal themepark board

 

[luvgoing2disney]

Thanks for these recommendations about MM. My son had already hit youtube videos of the rides and was pumped about going, then I started getting some concerns. Like most places, we'll just avoid any confrontation and ride the rides.

 

[Ecboyd]

You'll have a BLAST.
Most the bangers are there with their Girl / Boy friends and there to have fun just like anybody else.

(problem is most out of towners Don't realize that just because you have a scarf on your head and baggy jeans... doth not a banger make LOL)

Not a place I would take a Six year old... but OMG Tatsu Totally FREAKING ROCKS, X2 is Ok as long as your a smaller person (or at least have a small chest).

Go Have FUN, have a Lemon Ice have lunch at the Mooseburger Lodge and Enjoy your day!

 

[garn]

We always stop in to Knotts on our way into town the night before DLR for their Fried Chicken Dinner. YUMMY!!! Their bisuits are to die for! Haven't been to the park itself in years.