Yikes! We went once and our passes wouldn't scan at the turnstile. They asked us pull up our reservation on the app and had to override the system. A friend had a 3 day pass and made it to the turnstile before realizing that their reservation was for the following day. They changed the reservation for our friend and allowed them in the park.
Nice to know sometimes they work with people. Once we mistakenly used a one lower tier ticket to reserve a date at Disneyland - which the system showed as Reserved just fine, but was stopped at the gate. We were not even told just to update that ticket by the booth person, so ended up buying a whole new ticket, and then needing to get a manager to let the one family member in since at that point they showed no reservations available. All this made so many members in the family group irritated at Disney's fuss, we had to book Knotts for the next family trip instead. We still love Disney, but frankly, Knotts was soooo much cheaper and less stress for booking. I think we got everyone a (no dates blocked) Annual Pass for nearly the same price as a one day Disney upper tier day.
Yes, Knott's is definitely easier and has some fun things. I bought an annual pass for Knott's right after Covid when they were running a special. It was incredibly cheap! I went with my friends, had afternoon tea at Mrs. Knotts, and we stayed the night at the Knott's hotel. We spent a day at the park and then took the free shuttle over to Disneyland (just went to DTD).
I don't think it has the "Disney Magic" so I can see people not traveling specifically to go to Knotts. On a positive note, the hotel and its restaurant were redone so they are beautiful. And a lot of "local" Disney Annual Passholders get an Annual Pass for Knotts JUST to go when blocked by Disney (and to eat if they get the annual dining at Knotts). I sound like a Knotts commercial, but really, it is just a Disney backup for us. While I'm tossing out commercials - Adventure City is nearby too, perfect for anyone with toddlers. It is like a VERY tiny Disneyland, with about 8 rides, food, Starbucks etc., but the selling point for AC to me was the awesome parking, free, and no further to walk than about a typical Target parking lot even if you park at the furthest spot. AC was as clean and well kept up as Disney last time I was there, but does fill with large families later in the day.
It's much further and targeted specifically at sub 10 year olds, but Legoland is also a really impressive park.
