Knott’s Update: New Signs of Life – Fried Chicken, Funnel Cakes, and Super K

It’s been a few months since I’ve been to Knott’s Berry Farm and it sure feels good to be back. A few weeks ago Dusty checked out the reopening of the Chicken to Go Window, and while the crowds have subsided from that, even more of the Knott’s Marketplace has now reopened. Let’s take a look at what’s been happening on the Farm.

Welcome to the Marketplace!

Cedar Faire, Knott’s parent company, has announced their home park Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio will be reopening in the coming weeks. While Knott’s hasn’t been given a reopening date yet, it appears that Cedar Faire may have been testing new social distancing and safety policies at Knott’s California Marketplace. Here are a few of the updates.

STOP!

When entering the Marketplace, you’ll be greeted/alerted by a safety warning stating that by visiting Knott’s, you are taking a voluntary assumption of potential risks and exposure to COVID-19. The sandwich board also indicates the safety guidelines guests are asked to follow, like wearing a face covering, practice social distancing, and to enjoy available attractions only with immediate household members.

The main entryway to the Marketplace on Beach Boulevard remains closed but has gained the recent addition of new picnic tables in the street (which is apparently called Paper Street! We didn’t know it had a name of its own until this week!) so people can enjoy some fried chicken and boysenberry pie outside. Parking for the Marketplace lot is open by the hotel-side of the resort off of Crescent Avenue. Parking is free and not metered, so guests can take their time and enjoy a fried chicken dinner and peruse all the reopened shops.

On the day of our visit, the umbrellas were closed as Santa Ana Winds were blowing through the area.

The Main Gate to the theme park has been completely fenced off.

Oh, the irony: “All Attractions Are Open EXCEPT Park Closed”

Every five minutes there’s an announcement broadcast throughout the Marketplace that reminds guests that face masks are required and social distancing is strongly recommended.

Knott’s Dining

Knott’s California Marketplace is home to an array of delicious foods and treats. Here’s an overview of what’s open and some of the goodies that are offered.

Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant

While the Chicken-To-Go takeout storefront has been open since Mother’s Day, the famous Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant is now open as well for inside dining! One of the largest noticeable changes is that guests need to enter through the rear patio of the restaurant (over by the Build-A-Bear shop). Signs posted at the normal entrance and along the path point towards the new entry. The front doors are being used as Exit only at the moment.

Inside the restaurant, some tables are marked unavailable in order to practice social distancing.

Once we sit down, you’ll notice that no menus are being handed out. Instead, there are stickers placed on the tables with a QR code (or website URL listed in a really tiny font) scan the code with the camera of your phone and it will open a webpage with the menu. 

URL: www.knotts.com/mrsknottsmenu. It’s strange that there’s no mention or instructions on how to scan the QR code on the sticker. Since many of this restaurant’s most loyal customers are seniors, we do find it odd. Hopefully, the servers are doing a good job helping the guests overcome this hurdle.

Socially distanced seating and single-use or touchless menus is how most theme parks plan to handle dining for the time being. 

We experienced nothing but excellent service from the entire staff. Actually, all the employees we encountered provided the best level of customer service I’d ever experienced from a Knott’s visit!

Mrs. Knott’s Chicken To Go and Farm Bakery

Chicken-To-Go and the Bakery have been open for over a month now, but there are still some evolving operations. 

It’s a bit confusing, but the line for Mobile Order pickup begins at the entrance of Chicken-To-Go. But there are also some socially distanced ground markers signifying the Mobile Order line in the event the indoor portion fills up.

We wanted to try ordering from the Knott’s app when we visited, but we found the customizability of our order to be lacking. Listed on each product page is a text box for customizations like switching side options; we wanted to add a side of gravy but that option wasn’t available. After a bit of frustration, we just decided it was easier for us to order in person at the counter. 

We’re very curious about the implementation of mobile ordering on a larger scale. It will be the preferred method of ordering food inside the theme park once it reopens. We’re hoping that Knott’s tech team will refine the system to make it more intuitive. At the very least, add a “Notes” box so the customer can explain what they want if they don’t find the right options in the app. 

Plexiglass panels hang above the registers in both the Chicken-To-Go and Bakery (which are side by side). 

Knott’s has a cookbook which contains some of their treasured recipes from over the years. It’s definitely worth checking out. Also, the Bakery doesn’t just sell cute Snoopy cookies, they can also make custom cakes. This ocean-themed mermaid cake sure makes me wish I was at the beach. 

With my prize of fried chicken to go in hand, we’re ready to keep moving through the Marketplace!

Starbucks

We also stopped by the Starbucks and found the location fully stocked and ready to serve its location-specific Boysenberry Frappuccino. As at Chicken-To-Go, there’s plexiglass in use at the register here as well.

 

This summer was supposed to have been the big 100th-anniversary celebration of Knott’s Berry Farm, but that’s been pushed back to next year so more guests can participate.

Cable Car Kitchen & DoughKnotts

Cable Car Kitchen reopened June 12 with limited hours. Starting today, and going forward (until further notice) you can get your fill of funnel cakes from Friday-Monday from 2pm to 7pm. There’s a special Funnel Cake Happy Hour from 2pm to 5pm for a buy-one-get-one-free offer on any funnel cakes. It sounds like a trip to Cable Car Kitchen is in order!

DoughKNOTT’S, Knott’s specialty doughnut shop, currently doesn’t have any operating hours listed. However, Knott’s has stated that all its food locations should be open by June 20. I’m looking forward to seeing what creative doughnuts they’ll have once they reopen. This has become a favorite spot for a festive treat. 

T.G.I. Friday’s

The other full-service restaurant at the Marketplace reopened in a limited capacity over the weekend. Its operating schedule for now is just Friday through Monday from 11am to 7pm.

Shopping at the Marketplace

Now that California’s guidelines for retail spaces have been relaxed, you’re free to shop to your heart’s content at Knott’s Marketplace. Let’s take a look at the kitschy fun.

Virginia’s Gift Shop

On all the doors are the standard safety reminders for face coverings and social distancing.

Knott’s has also added signage in the stores that guests should only handle merchandise that they intend to purchase and that fitting rooms are closed. Additionally, all sales are final and cannot be returned or exchanged for the time being.

Inside Virginia’s Gift Shop, you’ll notice that the giant bear is now sporting a face mask adorned with boysenberries! It’s very polite of the bear to be following the rules (and it’s also a fun photo op!).

Lurking behind the giant bear is the Big Foot statue that used to be featured in the Mystery Lodge Gift Shop. (Off-topic: we’d REALLY like to know what’s happening to Mystery Lodge since the theater has been closed for almost two years now and Knott’s has not made any announcements about their plans for the building.)

Around the gift shop, we can find what looks like Boysenberry Festival merchandise scattered all over the place.

One note of interest around all the gift shops in the Marketplace is the floor markings. In some areas there are the nice social distancing floor markings, but in others, there are just simple Xs made from blue painters tape. It looks like each shop only a small number of official markers and had to mark the rest out in tape.

Peanuts Headquarters

Over at Peanuts Headquarters, more of the Boysenberry Festival merch makes the rounds.  

One of the interesting items we came across were these collector’s edition golden Snoopy dolls with the Knott’s 100th Anniversary Logos stamped on their feet.

The other merchandise that piqued my interest in the shop was the “Snoopy for President 2020” merchandise. If you don’t think he has the chops for the job, remember that Snoopy first ran for President way back in 1968. Amazing that he’s still such a spry candidate. 

Here is some other merch that stood out to us as new.

Transactions at all of the shops have been switched primarily to self-checkout guided by an employee behind a plexiglass screen. Guests scan and bag their own products, scan their season pass (if applicable), pay via card reader or place their cash in a tray to avoid hand-to-hand contact, and finally grab their own receipt. 

Berry Market

We also stopped in the Berry Market to see some of the boysenberry consumables to take home.

One thing we found interesting about this shop was the rope queue line at the register, as it seems unnecessary with the few number of guests we found in the Marketplace. But it’s possible we came on a light-traffic day.

If they have it, try the Boysenberry Toffee. 

Got to get that Boysenberry BBQ Sauce! I use it on everything. It’s a great dip for chicken nuggets, wonderful on baked chicken, try it on top of meatloaf (with a little brown sugar thrown in), and it’s an essential for grilling!

The jungle restrooms at the back of this shop continue to remain closed.

Candy Parlour

Next door, in the Candy Parlour, all the of the self-service candy shoots have been removed from the walls.

Just the displays remain above. Many other stores have begun pre-bagging candies. Perhaps they should do that here as well. 

The prewrapped candy remains available for purchase along the outer wall.

The Emporium

Surprisingly, there’s not much to remark on about The Emporium. It had its windows blacked out all of last month, but now that it has reopened it has remained largely the same as before the shutdown.

Although…the flooring markings don’t seem to be laid out correctly with marker placed haphazardly and through merchandise displays. It’s probably a good idea to reconfigure the store a bit to have rows that can be navigated in a one-way traffic flow, with arrows pointing which direction to go.

Shops Not Open Yet

Only two shops remain closed in the Marketplace. The first one is the new Build-A-Bear Workshop, which is expected to reopen by June 20. The other is the Knott’s California Shop which is the closest shop to the park entrance. This particular store may or may not reopen until the park is ready to reopen as well.

Around The Farm

New Super K

While the park remains closed, Knott’s has confirmed that they are continuing to work on their newest attraction, Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. Meanwhile, Knott’s pulled out the big guns this week as they replaced the giant K logo on top of the Sky Cabin with an almost identical sign. The old sign was installed when Knott’s first created the airfield theme to that portion of the park just over 44 years ago. The old neon sign has been replaced with a modern LED one. Below, you can see an image from Crane Rental Service, who did the heavy lifting, with both the old and new signs in the same shot. (Photo credit: @cranerentalservice)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBQ6yX7FYvc/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

And here is a clear shot of the new sign that now sits high above Orange County.

 

Other Knott’s Construction

 

Some other construction noticeable inside the park is the refreshed paint job on the Charles M. Schulz Theatre. We can expect a refreshed Charleston Circle area for the Bear-y Tales opening. A few weeks ago we featured some aerial imagery featuring lots of construction happening in this section of the park, be sure to check it out HERE.

Out in the Marketplace, new little sidewalk paths have been installed to help guests cross onto the street from the sidewalk.  The transitional bridges are nice but are temporary measures to provide ease of access while the street is closed. These pathways feature two brightly highlighted steps and are not ADA accessible, but they’re certainly convenient right now.

On our way out for the day, we passed by the closed Berry Stand that Knott’s uses in the park during its festivals. Right now they are using it as a location to sell  Boysenberry Bushes at $20 apiece. What stood out to us was that the stand was closed during our visit, but all the merchandise was just laid out in the open with no employees to actually sell the plants or keep an eye on them.

That’s it for now. It feels very weird walking around a theme park with no sounds coming from the attractions. I hope that the sounds of roller coasters and crowds will soon return to this little corner of Orange County, soon. With Disneyland planning a reopening on July 17th, and many other attractions shooting for a July 1st reopening, we don’t expect Knott’s to delay too much longer. We should be hearing something official soon.

 

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Let’s Hear From You

Now that there’s more open to see at Knott’s California Marketplace, will you be making a trip to check it out? What has been your experience with mobile ordering Chicken-To-Go? Are you going to feast on Cable Car Kitchen’s BOGO funnel cake deal? Let us know in the comments below!