Knott's Berry Farm, Amusement park in Buena Park, California.
Knott's Berry Farm is a 57-acre (23 ha) amusement park in Buena Park, California, with more than 40 rides and attractions, including ten roller coasters. It grew out of Walter Knott's roadside berry stand and the replica Ghost Town he built in 1940–41, and it has averaged over 4 million visitors a year since 2016.
Walter and Cordelia Knott started a berry farm here in 1920 and began adding a recreated Old West town in the 1940s to entertain customers waiting for their restaurant. The site gradually evolved into California's first theme park, originally free to enter, before admission fees were introduced in 1968.
The park's name comes from the Knott family, whose berry stand grew into the attraction. Ghost Town, opened in 1941, was Walter Knott's tribute to pioneers including his own grandparents, who reached California from Texas by covered wagon in 1868. Its buildings were designed by staff artist Paul von Klieben, who traveled western ghost towns for research; his Old West murals still hang on several structures. The park has been the official home of Peanuts and Snoopy since a 1983 contract with Charles M. Schulz, and Camp Snoopy opened that year for children 12 and under.
The 57-acre park is split into zones; Ghost Town sits at its centre, with Camp Snoopy, Fiesta Village and The Boardwalk around it. A 10-foot brick wall with barbed wire on top was built around Ghost Town in the late 1960s, and since 1968 entry to that section has required a ticket. The Timber Mountain Log Ride, opened in 1969 as the Calico Log Ride, is in Ghost Town.
GhostRider, a wooden roller coaster measuring 4,533 feet (1,382 m) in length, reaches speeds of 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) and holds the title of the longest wooden coaster in the western United States. It received a complete renovation in 2016, with large sections of track and supports replaced.
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