Tales of the Flowers: Knott's Berry Farm Visit, visiting California friends, and heading home

We're wrapping up our time in California but we've got one more full day of fun! Theresa is not working today and ready to join us at a theme park! She's done Magic Mountain with us on a previous trip and there's not a ton of things for her to do. Today, let's go to Knott's Berry Farm and do all the rides Theresa can do!

It was an easy drive on the freeways getting to the entrance to Knott's.

It still hurts my heart a little to pay $40 for parking.

We made it through the security check, into the gates as soon as they opened, and headed off to our first ride. While everyone else is running to the top coaster Ghost Rider, we're going to a coaster that is a little more tame but Theresa is sure to love. Pony Express!

Three of us have Fast Lane, but Theresa does not, so we're aiming to go in short lines when we can. Pony Express had zero line at the beginning of the day.

Meaning Theresa can get the front row seat and better see the track in front of her.

Theresa loved the Pony Express since it was so much like Tron at Disney World, but the track was all outside. The ride was just the right length too, ending before she got sick.

There's another ride we can all do together. When the kids and I went earlier this week no one got very wet. Regardless, we made Ian sit in the front seat just in case since he's the one who likes these sorts of rides. The wait in line wasn't very long at all, but the indoor portions were just a bit too dark for T, not knowing where the boat was going. Unfortunately the photo during the drop wasn't working, so we don't have a family picture there.

How about some bumper cars?

It was fun bumping around into everyone as we drove around.

We decided to grab an earlier lunch at the pasta and pizza place. The food was fine, but the drinks were weird. We used the Coke Freestyle machine and it's a good thing we tasted everything before walking off. Every single diet/zero sugar drink we tried had no sweetness to it. Normally there's some fake sugar with 0 calories that makes the diet drink sweet still, but these did not! Eww.

Over to the Knott's Beary tales where we'd head to a boysenberry pie factory then follow the pie thieves Crafty Coyote and his pups as they steal the pies.

We'll use our jelly blasters to slow them down.

The screens were still weird to our eyes, and it seems the scores were off too. The final screen showed that I got the high score, but inside our cart, Ian showed the highest score.

Saying hi to Boysen at the exit.

Another fun ride that Theresa can do is the 180 foot tall Sky Cabin. It takes you up to the top and rotates you 360 degrees, giving you views of the entire park. I remember going on this years and years ago as a kid when there were parachutes attached to a ring that would pull you up 150 feet and drop you down.

Another unique ride that you don't see too many other places is a real horse drawn carriage! This might have been our longest wait of the day. hovering around 45 minutes.

Playing games in the queue.

Finally it was time to board. There were announcements saying you couldn't pick your seats, because of course everyone would want to ride shotgun.

We got to ride inside, which was still fine with us.

The funnest part was when the horses picked up some speed to get us over a hill.

Thanks horses!

Grabbing a few family photos.

The kids and I jumped in a quick line at Silver Bullet. Theresa took photos from the ground as we flew by.

Then it was over to a mouse coaster Theresa could handle.

Wooo!

One of the coasters we were really looking forward to riding this week called Hangtime was closed when we came on Tuesday. We hoped it would be back up today but walking by earlier this morning it wasn't. A worker was there though and suggested trying around 2:30pm. When we came back, sure enough, a long line of people had formed outside the entrance.

We hopped in the Fast Lane line and after a very short wait, we got let in! Yay!

The Fast Lane was so great! We were the first to ride once it reopened! We requested and received the very back row.

Hangtime brings you up a 150 foot lift, then lowers you over the other side. It stops and holds you over the edge before dropping you down.

So fun!

Theresa caught us going through many of the inversions. They were slow inversions too so you really felt like you were hanging upside down, instead of being pinned to your seat by the centripetal force. Getting a good look at that sky tower in the background.

It was so fun, and the Fast Lane line was so short, we hopped right back in line to do it again! My timestamps show only 13 minutes between the previous picture and this one, meaning we were able to got off, go around in line, request the front row, board, and launch all in that time! So good to have Fast Lane for it!

The front row, hanging over the edge, was so much fun!

Yeah!

So T was able to do the Pony Express, Log Ride, and Mouse Coaster, but the one that did her in was Snoopy's Tenderpaw Express in the kiddie land. The first loop around the track was okay, but the "one more time" was too much.

Time to grab a quick snack before dinner. Yikes, some of these prices are outrageous! $10 for a hot pretzel, not including cheese! $8 for a churro! These were $5.75 at Disneyland yesterday!

Thank goodness for the drink plan where we can get a $9 Icee for free every 15 minutes.

One of the things Theresa found that turned out to be really good was at Papas Mexicanas. Fresh french fries with Carnitas, pico de gallo and sour cream.

The carne asada fries were also very tasty.

We'd been waiting for the Calico Mine Ride to open all week. The worker we talked to earlier this morning said in a couple hours, but it's nearing the end of the day and it wasn't open yet. I saw in the app it was boarding and so we hustled over. Being a ride in the dark, Theresa decided to sit this one out.

It was a slow ride, but interesting.

One more ride that Ian requested before we go. A wild ride called Wipeout.

It's been fun Knott's! But we've got to get across town for one more meeting before we fly out tomorrow.

We're meeting Ruston, Charlotte and Curt in Burbank for dinner!

Afterwards we headed back to Curt and Charlotte's house. Ruston picked up s'mores fixins. Curt got the ladder out and let the kids pick fresh oranges.