Timber Mountain Log Ride, Log flume ride at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, US.
Timber Mountain Log Ride is a log flume at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, set inside a 330-foot mountain in an eight-story building holding 24,000 gallons of water. Hollow log boats climb past a paddle wheel, pass through dark scenes with animatronic figures, and finish with a 42-foot free fall down a chute into the water.
Bud Hurlbut designed the ride after Arrow Development convinced him to use a flume system instead of a coaster, and Walter Knott approved it; the $3.5 million cost was funded by the Hurlbut Amusement Company. It opened on July 11, 1969, as the Calico Log Ride, with John Wayne and his son Ethan on the inaugural ride. A five-month renovation by Garner Holt Productions closed it from January 6, 2013, and it reopened on May 31, 2013.
The ride's name comes from its original title, the Calico Log Ride, tied to Knott's Calico Ghost Town. For years a logrolling contest staged by lumberjacks took place on the pond between the final plunge and the double-platform boarding station. Since 2019 the logs carry a soundtrack by Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies.
The log boats seat three or four riders in individual seats fitted in 2019, so parties are split across rows. The final drop is a 42-foot free fall; riders in the front rows take the most spray. The queue and station sit beside the pond between the drop and the double-platform loading station.
The mountain is not real rock but an eight-story structure holding 24,000 gallons of water, and the park's own staff added roughly 100 sequoia trees to it during the 2013 renovation. The second and fourth forest scenes carry a pinecone smell. The final drop is a 42-foot free fall.
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