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The Ghost Rider Rollercoaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 42 at Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California

We are going to take a break from the story of how Walter and Cordella turned their berry stand into a theme park for a couple of pages because I do need to get into Ghostrider a little bit.  Don't worry though with as much history that is at Knott's Berry Farm we are going to get back into the amazing story of this park throughout this Trip Report.

The Ghost Rider Rollercoaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 42 at Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California

The Knott family for years wanted a large wooden coaster as a cornerstone for the Ghost Town section of the park.  If you have never been to Knott's the park is seriously landlocked as the once rural town of Buena Park, California now has over 82,000 people.

The Ghost Rider Rollercoaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 42 at Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California

With the parks hotel, Ghost Town, Mrs. Knott's Chicken Diner, the parking lot and a small shopping area there was really very little room within the park proper for a wooden coaster.

The Ghost Rider Rollercoaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 42 at Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California

As a result Knott's had to build half the coaster on the other side of Grand Avenue.  This resulted in four thousand five hundred and thirty-three feet of track being squeezed into a small L shaped plot of land.  Ghostrider was designed by Custom Coasters International and opened six months ahead of schedule in December on 1998. 

The Ghost Rider Rollercoaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 42 at Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California

After seventeen years of almost daily operation Ghostrider was closed down for a massive renovation.  As Custom Coasters was long gone by this point Knott's brought in Great Coasters International to take a look at Ghostrider in order to keep this coaster running year round into the future.  GCI completely retracked the ride, tweaked it where they saw issues, removed the mid course brake and replaced the old Philadelphia Toboggan Company trains with their own Millennium Flyers.

As a result of the changes what was my impression about the new and improved Ghostrider?  Wow!  Ghostrider was flying around the course and its legendary "The Drop" out of what was the mid course is even better. 

The only thing I have to say bad about Ghostrider is I really didn't get enough rides on it.



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Paul B. Drabek