Knott’s Seeks OK to Build 100-Foot-High Water Ride

Knott’s Berry Farm has asked Buena Park to approve an attraction that would plunge boats of riders down a more than 100-foot-high chute, making it the nation’s tallest water ride. Knott’s general manager Jack Falfas on Friday declined to discuss details of the proposed ride. Falfas said he can’t even present it to the board of Knott’s owner Cedar Fair LP for formal approval until Buena Park gives its blessing. Cedar Fair, an amusement park chain based in Sandusky, Ohio, already has added two major rides at Knott’s since buying the park in late 1997: GhostRider, a wooden roller coaster, and Supreme Scream, which shoots riders into a free-fall from a 300-foot tower. If the water ride passes environmental muster with Buena Park, it could open for the summer of 2000. The nation’s tallest water ride now is Tidal Force at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, which lifts 20-rider boats up 100 feet, carries them around in a circle, then sends them careening down a chute at 50 mph to a splashdown.