Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair
Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return To The Fair is a 4D themed family interactive dark ride under construction at Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California.
| Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return To The Fair | |
|---|---|
 Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair Entrance during taste of Merry Farm | |
| Knott's Berry Farm | |
| Area | The Boardwalk |
| Status | Under construction |
| Opening date | 2021 (planned) |
| Replaced by | Voyage to the Iron Reef |
| General statistics | |
| Attraction type | Interactive dark ride |
| Manufacturer | Triotech |
| Designer | Triotech, Rolly Crump |
| Theme | Fantasy |
| Music | "Welcome One and All" |
| Length | 600 ft (180 m) |
| Site area | 18,040 sq ft (1,676 m2) |
| Capacity | 800 riders per hour |
| Vehicle type | Car |
| Vehicles | 16 |
| Riders per vehicle | 4 |
| Duration | 4:00 |
The ride is a sequel to the defunct traditional dark ride, Knott's Bear-y Tales, which operated in the same space from 1975 to 1986.[1] The interactive dark ride will see riders join characters Boysenbear and Girlsenbear as they travel to the County Fair and pass through several scenes reminiscent of the original dark ride. Guests will board red colored vehicles equipped with boysenberry jelly blasters. The attraction is poised to replace Voyage to the Iron Reef, which closed January 5, 2020.[2] In contrast to Voyage to the Iron Reef, Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return To The Fair will include more practical and scenic environments while telling the beloved bear-y tales story.
Designed by Triotech in conjunction with Knott's Berry Farm's creative team, the attraction was scheduled to open to the public on May 15, 2020 as part of Knott's Berry Farm 100th anniversary, with the original Bear-y Tales designer, retired Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump, serving as a consultant.[3] However, due to the ongoing park closure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the grand opening has been delayed and will open as soon as it is safe for the park to reopen. It will become the third release in the Amusement Dark collection, a branded initiative to construct a variety of video-game-based dark rides at Cedar Fair amusement parks. Voyage to the Iron Reef was the second dark ride to open under the initiative. Moreover, the fan favorite return of the Knott's Beary Tales story will use 4D technology rather than plain scenery. During the 2019 IAAPA Triotech announcement, Knott's Berry Farm announced fan favorite features of the original ride such as the boysenberry smell and the iconic ride soundtrack: "Welcome One and All" will return in the new version of the ride in 2020. Easter eggs and the catchy theme park song will return as confirmed by Ken Parks who is vice president of entertainment at Knott's Berry Farm.[4]
History
Since the closure of Knott's Bear-y Tales in 1986, fans of the park have been wanting the ride to return to the theme park in its former glory. Knott's Bear-y Tales became a fan favorite ride due to its originality, storyline, family-friendly ride atmosphere as well as the famous boysenberry smell and catchy theme song played throughout the attraction. This ride had emotionally connected to many Knott's fans despite the ride's original closure as Ken Parks remarked.[1] In 2015, Knott's opened Voyage to the Iron Reef. The ride was initially popular with park visitors but would quickly become an unpopular ride due to the ride experience and its theming. The ride later suffered from lack of maintenance care and repairs leading that furthered a drop in visitor satisfaction. In early January 2020, Triotech reached out to Knott's as part of their initial 5-year contract. Knott's consulted with Triotech on the possible revival of Knott's Bear-y Tales using the same ride system and layout. Moreover, Knott's saw this as a winning scenario since the park could bring back one of its most beloved and iconic rides in 2020 as part of the 100th anniversary.
On November 19, 2019, Knott's Berry Farm and Triotech established a joint announcement where the park will bring back Knott's Bear-y Tales as a nostalgic return to Knott's fan in a 4D ride experience. During the joint announcement, Knott's Berry Farm and Triotech announced Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair will include more practical and scenery and physical sets than Voyage to the Iron Reef.[1] However, in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic which led to the temporary closures of many theme parks including Knott's Berry Farm. The attraction will open once the park is fully able to reopen and with the 100th Anniversary celebration being moved to 2021. [5]
Trivia
- This is the second time in history that Knott's Bear-y Tales is pushed back in production. The first time occurred when a fire broke inside the building during construction of the original ride, which delayed the completion of the ride by a month. [6]
Photo gallery
Ride sign.
Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair Boysenberry pie delivery truck.
Boysenberry pie delivery truck.
Ride sign and loading station.
loading station.
Sign.
View of the Knott's Bear-y Tales Return to the Fair dark ride building along with Hangtime and Sky Cabin in the background.
Ride trolley vehicles
References
- MacDonald, Brady (November 19, 2019). "Knott's teams up again with Iron Reef ride maker on digital remake of Bear-y Tales dark ride". Orange County Register. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
- Bulus, Robbie (November 7, 2019). "Bear-y Tales Returns for Knott's Berry Farm 100th anniversary". Micechat. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
- Niles, Robert. "Meet the team that's bringing back Knott's Bear-y Tales". Theme Park Insider. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- "Knott's Bear-Y Tales: Return to the Fair 4-D" Comes to Knott's Berry Farm in 2020 to Celebrate Park's 100th Year". Laughing Place. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.