Knott's Soak City
Sister water park across the car park with 23 slides.
43Rank
Knott's Berry Farm
Score6.8
🇺🇸United StatesTheme parkNorth America (USA)
Buena Park, California, United States
America's first theme park, in California, still full of roller coasters.
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Opened
1920
Size
57 acres (23 ha)
Rides
43 attractions
Avg. visit
7 hours
Ticket range
$50–$90 USD
Knott's Berry Farm overview
Knott's Berry Farm at a glance
America's first theme park, in California, still full of roller coasters.
Knott's began as a roadside berry stand whose fried chicken queues needed entertaining, and grew into the first true theme park in the United States. The Ghost Town of relocated 19th-century buildings still anchors it, surrounded by GhostRider — one of the best wooden coasters in the west — plus Xcelerator, HangTime and Silver Bullet.
Knott's Scary Farm essentially invented the theme-park Halloween event and remains its benchmark.
Our editor's recommendation
Worth a day, but build it into a wider trip rather than flying in for it. It ranks #43 of the 50 parks we score, at 6.8/10 with 43 rides and attractions and a typical visit of about 7 hours. Tickets run $50–$90 a day. The strongest reasons to go are its big-ticket thrill rides. The honest catch: tickets are expensive for what you get, and queues average around 28 minutes. Best time to visit: Fall.
Knott's Berry Farm highlights
Rides & attractions at Knott's Berry Farm
These are the top attractions at Knott's Berry Farm — 10 rides and experiences hand-picked and verified by our editorial team, including 7 signature rides you shouldn't miss. Use the filter bar below to narrow the line-up by rider height, zone, category or thrill level.
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Plan your visit to Knott's Berry Farm
- Operating hours
- Typically 10am-10pm, shorter midweek in the off-season
- Seasonal closures
- Open year-round
- Queue-skip pass
- Fast Lane wristband, priced by date and demand. From about $90 USD.
- How long to stay
- Full day
- Multi-day tickets
- Single-day tickets only.
- Season pass
- Annual or season pass from about $115 USD.
Knott's Berry Farm map
Official park mapKnott's Berry Farm events & shows
Knott's Boysenberry Festival
Spring festival celebrating the park's boysenberry heritage with themed food and entertainment.
Knott's Merry Farm
Christmas season with Ghost Town alive with carollers, a snow-covered Calico and holiday shows.
Knott's Scary Farm
The original theme park Halloween event, running since 1973, with mazes, scare zones and shows.
Knott's Berry Farm reviews & ratings
Amusement Park Ranker overall score
6.8
An aggregate of 3 public review platforms, each normalized to a 0–10 scale and weighted by review volume.
Knott's Berry Farm wait times
- Typical day
28
- Crowd & wait score
2.6
Knott's Berry Farm records & achievements
America's first theme park
1940Knott's Berry Farm's Ghost Town, built from 1940, is widely regarded as the first themed amusement area in the United States, predating Disneyland by 15 years.
Attractions near Knott's Berry Farm
Disneyland Resort
Anaheim resort with Disneyland Park and California Adventure.
Santa Ana Zoo
Compact zoo known for its monkey collection and family trails.
Aquarium of the Pacific
Long Beach aquarium with 11,000 animals across Pacific habitats.
Knott's Berry Farm is part of our index of theme parks ranked worldwide. Planning a shorter shortlist? The top 20 amusement parks in the world narrows the field to the essential stops.