Knotts in the summer, too busy?

[Mommyto4]

I thought we would try to get to knotts also during our August trip, but wanted to know if this was a wise idea? Is this parked packd, and is it better to go mornings or afternoons ( crowd wise) we were thinking of staying at the knotts motel and wondered if a family to come and go like one can in disneyland? ( back to the motel for naps etc.

[sir clinksalot]

I would certainly suggest a weekday, but it does get busy during the summer. Plus some of the rides at Knott's are very low capacity, and some of the operations leave ALOT to be desired.

That said, the hotel is closer to the park than the Disneyland hotels, it's probably a 5-10 minute walk from the main entrance. So that should be fine for going back to the hotel for a nap/swim.

Knott's isn't a multi-day park though, unless you want to do the waterpark as well.

Best days are probably Tue through Thu.

As for when you should get there, EARLY.

[Mommyto4]

we were there many years ago and it was pretty nice then, we did the park in one day but if they added new rides well thats nice, maybe we can stay longer in the day. But the little ones are not able to ride the big rides so still just a day there for us unless small rides were added.

[aashee]

I echo Sir Clinks. You'll want to go on a weekday. Depends on what you want to do as well, you can do everything there on a weekday.

[sir clinksalot]

Honestly, if your kids aren't over 48" and/or won't be doing the big rides, I'd HIGHLY suggest taking a day to go do Legoland instead. It's a bit further than Knott's, but MUCH more kid friendly than Knott's.

[Rex Dopey24]

weekday is always the best. weekends will probably be too crowded and there are alot of line cutters.

[tamasurvivor]

Not to mention summer lines are horrible... I went in spring 2 years ago and waited 2 hours for Ghost Rider and 70 minutes for Silver Bullet... I would hate to imagine what the wait time for Ghostrider and Silver Bullet would be in the summer!

[caesarboxfan]

Keep in mind too that it is not the same park that you visited many years ago. A lot of the "little things" that made Knott's special are long gone.

I agree with Sir Clinks, take the kids to Legoland rather than Knotts.

[vfire]

Honestly, if your kids aren't over 48" and/or won't be doing the big rides, I'd HIGHLY suggest taking a day to go do Legoland instead. It's a bit further than Knott's, but MUCH more kid friendly than Knott's.

That is very good advice.

[LLCMC]

I exclusively visit Knott's during the off-season, but I know that's not an option for people going on vacation. I went last Tuesday, and everything (I mean EVERYTHING) was a walk-on. Glorious. But I have been there on busy days and it was almost intolerable. There were tons of high school and middle school groups there (it was the beginning of summer), it was almost unbearably hot, and I waited over 30 minutes just to get a drink! Needless to say, I won't be doing that again. I know this was probably an anomaly, even for a busy day... but wow. I do highly recommend the park on slower days though. It is a lot of fun.

[DisneyIPresume]

If you have little ones who can't go on the big rides, I would go to Legoland instead.

My son, who is 10 and is able to go on the large roller coasters, still will not ride the roller coasters. So that limits us to the Calico Mine Ride, the Log Ride, the stagecoach, the train, and some assorted rides in Camp Snoopy and other areas of the park. When we go there we do have fun, but pretty much everything gets done in roughly 4 hours on a slow day.

[Mommyto4]

you know that's a wonderful idea!! I have never been there and they even have an aquarium there? How does one get there from Disneyland with out a car? Is there shuttle services that would take us? universal studio's looked so fun to ( saw that in a trip report here on this board) so many wonderful places, but how to get to them is the big question.

[Rex Dopey24]

If you have little ones who can't go on the big rides, I would go to Legoland instead.

My son, who is 10 and is able to go on the large roller coasters, still will not ride the roller coasters. So that limits us to the Calico Mine Ride, the Log Ride, the stagecoach, the train, and some assorted rides in Camp Snoopy and other areas of the park. When we go there we do have fun, but pretty much everything gets done in roughly 4 hours on a slow day.

it takes 3 hours for me to complete the whole rides on a non busy day.

[sir clinksalot]

You can use this, but at $40 per person, it'd be cheaper to rent a car.

LEGOLAND® Carlsbad California - Transportation Only (Bus) from Anaheim Disneyland Area Tours

[brand42]

you know that's a wonderful idea!! I have never been there and they even have an aquarium there? How does one get there from Disneyland with out a car? Is there shuttle services that would take us? universal studio's looked so fun to ( saw that in a trip report here on this board) so many wonderful places, but how to get to them is the big question.

Without a car, eh? From Disneyland, you could take the Metro bus #460 and it's about a 25 minute ride over there. There are probably some Orange County Transit Authority or OCTA for short, buses that could get you there as well.

For Universal Studios Hollywood, you could take either an OCTA bus or Anaheim Resort Transit (ART for short) shuttle to get to the Anaheim Metrolink/Amtrak Station whereby you would board a northbound Metrolink or Anaheim train to Los Angeles Union Station. Then you would board the Metro Redline train and get off at the Universal City stop which is right outside of Universal Studios. However, you're probably looking at close to 3 hours in transit with this option!



There are probably also shuttle tours from Disneyland to USH. There's actually a "Tickets to Universal Studios" thread that you should check out as it might have more input regarding the shuttle tours.