Knott's Berry Farm
Reviews and Complaints

I've been going to knotts my entire life and have carried that tradition on with my children.

Today 8/11/2022 my son and three friends (and one parent) went to knotts. Typically we only go as a family but my son loves roller coasters and was thrilled to be invited. Because the line was longer than expected, my son hopped out to go to the restroom. When he returned, he was told he couldn't get back in line. He went to the exit to wait for his friend and chatted with another employee and said how frustrating it was that he couldn't get back in line and the employee said he could meet up with his friends when they got on the ride. So with permission, he walked up the exit and one of the employees who told him he couldn't back in line saw him, he told security that my son was a "line jumper". My son isn't a trouble maker and both he and his friends were completely confused. He realized this was a misunderstanding and tried to explain but was not believed. Security asked for my son's season pass and assured him not to worry, they just wanted id. When they handed his pass back they informed him he was being kicked out of the park and banned for six months for "line jumping". The worker lied to my son...

I am furious, they kicked out my 15 year-old in buena park for going to the bathroom. Apparently their rules are you need to inform a worker if you have to go to the bathroom. Most the time I struggle to find a worker but if they had posted this rule, my son would have followed it. I have spent hundreds of hours in line at knotts berry farm over 45 years and have left the line myself as well as my children. I have watched countless people coming and going, after all you're often in line for hours during the summer months for one ride. I am a rule follower and now that I know there is a bathroom procedure in place, it will be followed but kick someone out of the park for six months for using the restroom!?!?!? This blows my mind! I see incredibly inappropriate behavior that merits consequences at knotts (fights, stealing, disrespect, drugs,...) but my son got kicked out for something that is done on the regular.

Additionally how do you kick a minor out of a park without even attempting to contact their parents? It takes me nearly an hour to get to knotts from my house. How are the knotts attorneys okay with children being kicked out?

We were on the line 9:45am the ride line was to be 45 minutes at most. But it took 2:45 hours long. It was really horrible, the workers would load up one whole load from the line, followed by one full load the people with fast pass. This is an unfair procedure. Because the ticket was $70 or $86 for fast pass. I would have paid the additional $26 but didn’t realize that it that much unfair. The other thing is that most rides where broken and or had only one trolly car. Ghost rider had only one trolly going. The signage about how long it would take was false advertisement. You can’t over prioritize payers with fast pass. So much that you upset all playing customers. I don’t even know if they break the city law of false advertising.

On July 31st around 1:30 we entreated the north parking lot through the car. As we approached pat I handed my sister season pass (which has the parking) & with my sister in the back. Pat scanned the season pass and began to say “this isn’t you” I pointed to my sister sitting in the back and said this is her. We had previously had the same incident about a month prior to today and she made us pay the parking fee. Today we were not going to let it slide once again. I asked pat is she wanted to see my sisters iD because she began to say “that’s not her that not her”. My sister has dyed her hair a toner lighter. How is it possible that we have to come with the same hair color to get the parking pass? This was disrespectful of her part and we filed a complaint to customer service as well. Pat is unprofessional and should be removed with dealing with people because she clearly can not

I called because I wanna figure out why they charged me twice on my credit card ... from the whole beginning he was telling me that I can't hear you well and when I raised my voice so that he can hear me well he told me do not yell and told him am not yelling your telling me that you cannot hear me well and unfortunately he hang up on me... since when a representative hang up a phone call on clients ! Am so unhappy of what happened and it's nice at all. If he's inpatient then why he's working answering customers calls.

Security at the check in screening gate and supervisor were very rude and unprofessional. The guard Debby was very unprofessional directing traffic Monday June 20th 2022 at 1:51 pm.

I had to run back to my vehicle to return a inflatable. I spoke with security saying I will be right back and my wife will stay in line for me.

Upon returning, security did not allow me to be expedited in line to catch up with my family and rudely commanded I wait back in line a second time.

Their handling of the situation was a grave inconvenience to my family and our trip and their poor situational awareness, lack of professionalism, and lack of integrity is unbecoming of Knotts Berry Farms code of conduct and values. I'd like to see their are corrected and such an instance does not occur again. Or my business with Knotts and Soak city will be done.

I have been going to Knott’s Berry Farm since I was a child. Today I went to Guest Services to get a disability pass as usual. I have POTS syndrome and am unable to stand or walk for long periods of time. I used my pass for Ghostrider, then after went to Silver bullet. Silver Bullet employee EDITH and her rude friend were the worst workers I have ever had an experience with in my life. I gave them my pass to check off, and Edith just snatches it from me and tells me to wait. I say okay and I wait. Five minutes pass and I feel faint. Edith is just walking around letting other people into the ride, and ignoring me and my friends. After kindly asking her what the issue is, the only thing she says is you’re just going to have to wait. I tell her I’m feeling nauseous and she just walks away from me. FIFTEEN MINUTES PASS, and I’m still waiting and she isn’t giving me any explanation. I’ve asked her like five times what the issue is and everytime she just goes “I’m gonna have you wait here”. Later we see security come up to us, and they tell us our pass needs to be confiscated. We ask why the [censored] is this happening and they say we “tampered with it”. Not only is that not true, but rather than just asking us if we did tamper with it, she had us stand there giving no explanation. Let me remind u of my disability and the fact that it was 95 degrees. It was so unprofessional and rude. We had to go to guest services to ask for. A new one since they just took it. And they didn’t give it to us. We then left because that park is [censored] and don’t care if you are disabled. They are abalist and don’t care for their customers. I’m taking this to court.

I have been going to Knotts Berry Farm since before you had to pay an admission. Now that I am 64 years old, my husband and I enjoy going to the chicken house for dinner and then going to the Emporium to purchase something. I especially love the fact that there is a variety of the Dickens Village which I am a huge collector, and each time I generally spend $500.00 or more. When we went this past Christmas, I ended up making my normal purchase of over $500.00, but the employee who works there (middle aged, foreign accent) was extremely rude, and did everything she could not to assist us in our purchases. Today, (5/6/22) we returned again, and it was my intent to make a large purchase of Dickens Village items to give as gifts. As we walked around the store, I reached out to touch one of the items on display, and she shouted "don't touch the display!" I looked around thinking she was talking to a teenager or a small child, but my husband and I (both senior citizens) were the only ones in the store. That was enough for me. I left the store without purchasing anything, and do not plan on returning. It is a shame that Knotts Berry Farm is not as it was when I was a child. Instead, we are forced to put up with rude employees who could care less about customer service. I had planned on purchasing quite a few items at a great cost, but I will do any future purchasing online directly from the Department 56 website. If I were able to give any "stars" for this it would be less than 1 star.

On Wednesday April 6th and Thursday April 7th of the year 2022, I was at the park and noticed the Stage Coach operating during this incredibly hot, uncomfortable time. We observed the horses foaming at the mouth and one horse in particular flapping his/her tongue side to side which is a sign of distress and even worse, a nerve based condition. As someone who loves horses and enjoys Knott’s Berry Farm, I was completely disheartened and brought to tears when I saw this.

We are in 2022 and technology is constantly advancing. Isn’t it time that we phase out old practices such as “horse drawn carriages” and introduce new developments while maintaining the KBF theme?

Yes, people enjoy being pulled around on a carriage by horses and believe they are creating a relationship with them, but having a barn where the horses can partake in intrinsic, natural behaviors is an accurate depiction of who these animals are and what they do.

Horses do not deserve to pull around thousands of pounds during a hot, miserable day. Your guests’ experience matters, but so do those under your guardianship.

Ive disabled. This is why I dont get a job. Supervisor called me Dr. Strange. My other supervisor was privey and told me to report the instance to my manager so I did. My manager talks to him and makes a half baked excuse. Said it was his favorite character. He knew I had schizo effective and did that in front of two people that are above me. 2 weeks later I lost my job because they out of nowhere scheduled me during the week. Nobody told me to call food base and I've never had to. I reported at Thursday. I was working during covid busting my as at sutters grill. Seriously its dirty a really place and is not maintained. This obviously happened because they discriminated me for being disabled. I had been working weekends for 2 years.

Back in JuIy I took my 9 year old Grandson to Knotts Berry Farm. He wanted to go on the stage coach so that we did. Upon exiting the ride which I felt was very dangerous the workers offered no helping hand. They had put us on top which I thought would be fine but upon exiting I hit my left side on a bar that was below me so hard that it sent shock through my body. It was a very big step down to get off the ride and there was no one willing to help. Covid or no covid this particular ride in my belief requires a helping hand of some nature for the person/persons riding on the top. I am 65 years old and in pretty good shape but maybe they should put the younger people up they that might not require a hand. After observing the ride on board I found it to be very unsafe through out the duration of the ride but had no choice at that point but to sit back and make the best of it. I thought it would get better and it was for awhile hence the fact that I did not seek medical attention figuring at the time that it was probably just bruised however 4 months later I am in more pain than I was when it initially happened so I will now seek medical attention.

Sincerely Jerrie Streiff

I am very angry and disappointed that my vehicle was stolen in YOUR theme park behind TGI Fridays. When we go out as a family especially to Knotts berry farm, our last worry is that our truck would get stolen. May I suggest you beef up your Parking Lot security and better train your staff and Lot attendants. You need more cameras and especially when costumers are leaving the park there should be automatic picture taken just like the rides. I waited 5 hrs. with 6 kids ands 4 adults. We had to pay for an Uber just to get home. This is reckless and you are not looking out for the consumers. Was the worst day ever not only that their were 2 other cars stolen from soak city that same day. Please understand this was serious they did find my truck 2 days latter. I am not able to retrieve my truck back now since it's evidence and it was used for a shooting. Extremely Disappointed!

We were about seven people and my daughter is disabled person. We exited from the wrong exit. We parked at Beach Blvd and we did not know that we were exited from the back of the park and we couldn't re entered. Erika the security told us but we will need to go all over around the park. It was almost 1:00am on 09/19/2021. This is unacceptable. Wrong directions provided by the park. My name is Maria Higa, phone [protected]. Email [protected]@yahoo.com.
I'm very disappointed

Bathrooms. Men's. Was very very filthy

The waitress overcharged me $10. I would like that refunded and my $15 tip to her

Refund
Terminal 825. Check8467
52/1 table. Date 8/1/2021. 345 pm

Very disappointed in knotts. Tried all morning to call

Think you lost a loyal local customer for life
Won't bring visitors or relatives there anymore

Mark R. 1+[protected]

I purchased the wrong date for my tickets. Per the instructions on their website, I re-purchased for the correct dates & have been trying to get a hold of customer service via phone & e-mail to request a refund for the original tickets. You cannot get a hold of anyone via phone & cannot even leave a message. Plus they have not answered the multiple e-mails I have sent them.

This is in regards to an occurrance on July 28, 2019

The bottom line is that I have been treated rudely and have not received any apology from these employees when it was their actor who was downright rude to me. Here are the e-mails that tell what happened

The letter was sent to the General Manager of Knott's Berry Farm, a Mr. Jon Storbeck after my conversation with Ken Parks and the second e-mail I sent to him stating how dissatisfied I was with his attitude toward the situation.

Dear Mr. Storbeck,
 
I recently spoke to the Director of Entertainment, Mr. Ken Parks regarding an incident that had occurred between an actor at Ghost Town Alive and myself, and he said at the end of our conversation that if I had any further issues or anything else to add, that I should give him a call.  However, since he was unable to resolve my issue, I am bringing it to your attention.  This is regarding my unpleasant encounter with an actor during the Ghost Town Alive event on Tuesday, July 30th.
 
I would like to start by saying that I have been an annual passholder at Knotts Berry Farm for close to three decades and have been visiting the park since I was five years old. 
 
That Tuesday I had decided to visit the park and I was visiting Ghost Town Alive.  I was walking on the side of the saloon heading back to the main street, I saw a couple of attractive girls.  As I walked by the Newspaper/Post Office, I saw a group of the actors there.  I joked, referring to the girls, and said something like "Hey, those are some good lookin' girls".  At no time was any profanity was used.  The actor playing "Emery" raised his voice to me and with a hateful look said "You need to leave"'.  I offered an apology to try to smooth things over even though I do not feel I had done anything wrong.   As I was walking away, the situation bothered me. The other actors that were at the original scene didn't seem irritated or offended by my attempt to be social.  I thought maybe he was having a bad day.  I wanted to make things right since having a good time is the idea. the whole situation really bothered me.  I then saw him by city hall, having just finished with some kids.  As he walked away, I called his name and wanted to get some clarification.  I wanted to know if he was really upset with me or in character.  .  He screeched at me "Don't you ever say anything like that again."  He had a glaring, hateful mean look on his face.  I asked him not to take that tone of voice with me or act that way or I would contact Mr. Dave Bowman who had assisted me in another incident a couple of years back.  He screeched back, "Go ahead and do it" and he walked off in a huff.
 
Within a few minutes, as I just passed the train tracks, near the sign maker, I was called over by a Ghost Town Alive staff member.  This supervisor/overseer also had "Emery" with him.  He informed me that I was "Disturbing a character's performance" and I was told I wasn't allowed in Ghost Town the rest of the day.  I'm not sure how that's possible when no other guests were around, and I was simply interacting with the actors.  I thought that the interactions with the citizens of Calico was key to the event.  This situation disturbed me.  Furthermore, I was just in shock it had come to this.  While I spoke with the other staff member "Emery" just stared and glared at me with great satisfaction that he was having me removed from Ghost Town.   I was also advised that if I returned to Ghost Town that day I would be escorted out of the park. I would also like to add that many of the other Ghost Town Alive characters have enjoyed interacting with me.
 
I sent a guest comments letter to the entertainment department regarding what had occurred on that day (please see below). I was contacted by Mr. Ken Parks who asked me what had happened. As it stands after my conversation with Mr. Parks, I do not feel that the actions of your employee acting out in the manner he did were justifiable in any way or form.   When I was called regarding this incident, Mr. Parks asked me for my side of the story which I explained.  I was never told once during our conversation just what my so-called offense was in the first place.  I still stand by that I did nothing wrong by interacting with the actors in Ghost Town Alive.  I will reiterate this: "If this employee had been friendly instead of outright hostile, I would not be sending this follow-up email.  During my conversation with Mr. Parks, it was also brought up that he said he remembered me regarding an incident I had with another employee/actor a couple of years ago (In the incident that happened two years ago, that employee was reprimanded for his inappropriate behavior).  He then proceeded to ask me if maybe there was a pattern of not getting along between myself and employees at the park.  Not only was that unrelated to the current issue (considering this other incident had occurred years ago), I feel that was an attempt to place responsibility on me for the actor's words and actions.   Not acceptable. Instead, it seems to me that just maybe this actor would say other things in order to avoid getting himself reprimanded. 

Mr. Parks told me at the end of our conversation if I had any issues or anything else to say that I should give him a call. I sent a second e-mail (please see below).
 
During the initial event I was never given an opportunity to share my side of the story with that original supervisor who, along with that actor approached me.  When I spoke to Mr. Parks, he went into the conversation with obvious bias against me.  It felt like he did not take the situation seriously and was just protecting the actor.  This too disturbed me, especially as someone who has been coming to the berry farm for over 50 years.
 This whole inciden has left me feeling very angry. Angry enough to write a letter this long to you. I have not been offered any apology for this actor's nasty attitude toward me, especially when I was being friendly towards him and not offensive in any way.
It is my hope that this situation is addressed fairly.  If this actor interacted with me in this manner, I am sure I am not the only one he had outbursts with.  After this incident, and after the way I have been treated I have come to the decision that my time at Knott's Berry Farm is coming close to an end.  As of now I am not planning on renewing my annual pass with the park.  I will surely miss the ol' farm and all the good employees that are still there.  I will cherish the memories and friendships I've gained over the years. 

Sincerely,

Lew Kaplanski
[protected]

I have included the two E-mails that were sent to Mr. Parks.

This is the first E-mail sent to entertainment regarding this occurrence:

Dear Entertainment Representative:

Usually things are fine and everyone can have a good time at the park, however I had an occurrence on Tuesday July 30, with one of the "Ghost Town Alive" Actors.

What occurred was the following:

I was walking past the saloon heading back towards the main street and I saw a couple of attractive women. As I went by the newspaper post office area I joked with the characters about how good looking those girls looked. I did not use any form of profanity or act inappropriate at any time. Well the one they call Emery glared at me with a hateful look on his face and told me to go away in a cold mean voice.

I was not offensive in any form or way. I offered an apology and said I was sorry If I offended anyone to try and smooth things over, though I do not feel that I was under any obligation to do so considering I had done nothing in the wrong. His attitude created a weird nasty feeling for me. If he had been friendly everything would have been just fine. After thinking about what had occurred and feeling upset over the way he acted towards me, I thought maybe this guy is just having a bad day and I wanted to try to make things all right since having a good time is what it's supposed to be about. So I was near the town hall and I saw him. I called out his character name and asked him are you acting or are you really mad at me? He proceeded to glare at me with a hateful stare (second time) and screeched out at me don't you ever say what you did (or something to that effect). This made me agitated. Once again if he had been friendly and explained to me just what it is I had said and or done, I would have gladly told him I am sorry and it won't happen again. Now that I was feeling stressed and riled, I told him that he is not going to act that way towards me and that I could call Dave Bowman a supervisor in the entertainment department who had helped me a few years ago with an issue that occurred back then. He screeched at me to go ahead and do it and proceeded to storm off in a huff. I was thinking about getting a hold of Mr. Bowman but wanted to cool down before taking any form of action.

I headed across the train tracks and shortly after I was approached by the supervisor/overseer of the actors in Ghost Town Alive and the actor who had given me attitude. The supervisor told me I was disrespectful and interrupting the actor's performance (how that was possible since no one was around when I interacted with him is beyond me). That is not what I felt. I was feeling extremely stressed at this point and cannot remember the rest of the conversation, but I was told not to come back into the Ghost Town area for the rest of that day and if I were seen over there park security would be escorting me out of the park, and that today can be a cooling off day. (All the while the supervisor was talking to me that actor kept glaring at me with his murderous look) I was told by the supervisor that I was more than welcome to go to other areas of the park. Apparently I could not have been very disruptive or I would have been kicked out of the park for inappropriate behavior. After all this, I was feeling stressed out and did not have any desire to stay. So I left feeling very angry and upset. I do not harbor any grudge against the supervisor, but after all the hostility (a murderous glare and hostile attitude that wouldn't quit) from that actor has left me feeling very angry. And after coming to Knotts for over 50 years and having a great rapport with many employees that is saying a lot.

If you need to reach me, my phone number is [protected]

Sincerely,

Lew Kaplanski

This is the second E-mail sent to entertainment:

On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 9:48 AM Lew K wrote:
Dear Mr. Parks,
You said at the end of our conversation regarding my unpleasant encounter with that actor at Ghost Town Alive, that if I had any issues or anything else to add, that I should give you a call.

As it stands after our conversation, I do not feel that the actions of your employee acting out in the manner he did were justifiable in any way or form. First of all when you called me regarding this incident, you asked me for my side of the story which I told you. I was never told once during our conversation just what my so called offense was in the first place, considering I stated that I had done nothing wrong, and will not change that statement. Let's consider this: Why would I do or say anything to make what was a good day up till that point into a stressful angry day? I will reiterate this: "If this employee had been friendly instead of outright hostile, I would not be sending this second e-mail to you. It was also brought up that you said you remembered me regarding an incident I had with another employee/actor a couple of years ago. You then proceeded to ask me if maybe there was a pattern of not getting along between myself and employees at the park. Not only was that non related to the current issue (considering this other incident had occurred years ago), I feel that was an attempt to reverse the situation of the action of the employee whom had started this event with his attitude and an attempt to put the blame on me. Not acceptable. Did it occur to you that just maybe this actor would lie to you in order to avoid getting himself reprimanded, considering you are his supervisor? I would be willing to swear an oath to stand by my convictions anytime and anywhere. Would your Actor be willing to do that?

I recently took my family to Knotts, I purchased my tickets on line. I got (2) adults and (2) junior tickets. My 17yr old has severe Cerebral Palsy and is in a wheelchair and can't ride any of the rides offered. So I purchase a junior ticket for her. We got to the gates to go in and they ask me her DOB I told them, and they made me go to the window and made me pay the difference for an adult ticket which was $31 more. What upset me the most is I don't think it was fair to pay for an adult ticket when she can't do anything but watch everyone one else have fun. I dont't mind paying for her to go, just don't think it should be full price. We want her to enjoy herself and feel she has every right to be part of the family outing and it is great a socializing skill, but at the same time she is unable to participate in most of what Knotts offer. They didn't even acknowledge she was there. Another words they didn't even look up from the computer where the scan your ticket. I went to the window upset and commented that my daughter was severely handicapped and couldn't participate on any rides and again I felt ignored.I hope another family doesn't have to go thru this. It is already discouraging enough that most family parks aren't really set up for families with severely handicapped children, believe it or not they enjoy being part of everything like the rest of their family.

I went with my family of 6 to Knott's Berry Farm Happy to make the 15.00 donation per person to Toys for Tots on Sunday 12/12. We lined up at 4:30 at the theatre area to see the Snoopy on Ice 5:30 show. We were in line a hour before the show. The line kept moving and stopped right at us. We were not allowed to see the show because it had reached capacity. We we all incredibly shocked and saddened by this event because my 4 children, husband and I love this show. It is something we look forward to seeing every year. All of my children are very young (ages 9, 6, 3 and 2), and one of them has Down Syndrome. It was very hard explaining to them that we would not be able to see the show this year. Unfortunately, because of tough economic times I cannot afford to pay another 75.00 just to come back and see the show. I spoke with Daryl Dossett, who said he was acting as operating manager of the park for the day, regarding this issue to see if a rain check could be issued so that we may return to see the show. He was very cold, unsympathetic and uncaring to our situation. He offered no help or solution to help resolve my problem. I was surprised to find that Knott's Berry Farm would have such poor customer service when it comes to helping families who need a little extra help. I would still appreciate any help, so that we may be able to the Snoopy on Ice Show this year before Christmas.

I am writing to complain about my last 2 visits to the park in the last 2 weeks. I am a fan of your cheese sticks that are made and sold at the "STRICKTLY ON A STICK"- directly across from the Lod Ride attraction, and am curious as to when and if it is still an open attraction, if so why has it been closed recently (May 10, 2010 & May 23, 2010), and when can I expect to enjoy an item from this food venue again.