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Between Cedar Fair's legacy thrill parks (Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Valleyfair, Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair, and Michigan's Adventure) and purchased Paramount Parks (Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, and Great America), it's easy to forget that Cedar Fair also owns one of the most famous theme parks on Earth – Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California (literally just a few blocks from Disneyland).

Image: Cedar Fair

To be sure, Cedar Fair's ownership of Knott's hasn't come without controversy. Before Cedar Fair's purchase of the park in 1997, the Knott's family operated the park as a charmingly-historic theme park focused on California's history. True to form, Cedar Fair spent most of the late '90s and 2000s pumping the park full of bare, steel coasters that detracted from the park's historic origin at best, and fundamentally misunderstood what made Knott's special at worst.

The park has 10 coasters (which is a lot for most parks, but not for a Cedar Fair park) including a few significant stand-outs: 1998's iconic GhostRider woodie, 2002's Intamin Xcelerator (somewhat like a mini Top Thrill Dragster), 2004's B&M inverted Silver Bullet dominating the park's entry, and 2018's Boardwalk-set HangTime. But at least for the last decade, the park's coaster count took second place to a refreshingly retro priority...

Image: Cedar Fair

Under the guidance of then-Cedar-Fair-CEO Matt Ouimet (formerly President of Disneyland), Knott's spent the 2010s in clean-up mode. That included a complete rebirth of two of the park's historic dark rides – the Calico Mine Train and the Timber Mountain Log Flume – as well as a new dark ride serving as an homage to another – Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair.

Still, in the "bigger picture" of Knott's unique positioning as a hybrid of thrills and theme, there's no doubt whatsoever what's missing. For literally decades, rumors have swirled that one day – some day – Knott's would finally receive a B&M hyper of its own – a sleek, stylish, quality, and crowd-pleasing coaster that'll officially put the park on the Southern California thrill park map. 

Turns out those waiting for a hyper will need to wait a little longer... but if you're thinking a ilittle bigger, Knott's may have something great in store...

7. ??? (2023?)

Image: DrunkRiders, Twitter

According to reportedly leaked documents, Knott's Berry Farm may have something very, very big on the horizon. The supposed but unconfirmed site plans (which would have to be filed with local authorities prior to a construction permit being issued) display Cedar Fair's filing for not just a hypercoaster, but a giga – reportedly, with a 325-foot height and an incredible 347-foot drop (which, if true, would make Knott's ride the tallest giga on Earth, and the third tallest coaster, period). 

Like Disney California Adventure, Knott's is an urban, landlocked park that largely fills its square-block. According to the supposedly-filed plans, the massive coaster would depart from near Knott's historic Ghost Town, tearing along the park's perimeter and diving into at least one tunnel along the course.

Enterprising fans have even interpretated the plans into a 3D model, hazarding what's likely a fairly good guess at the coaster's actual size, elements, and statistics based on the filing. If the B&M giga lives up to the implied stats, it would easily be among the most spectacular coasters on Earth... a "lucky number seven" for gigacoasters, and hopefully an embodiment of all that B&M has learned across Leviathan, Fury, and Orion.

Knott's hasn't officially confirmed that anything is on the horizon for 2023 or beyond, and certainly, plans can and do change. But if everything lines up the way these filing suggest, we may not just get the world's seventh gigacoaster, but potentially, its most ambitious... 

The Giga Effect

Image: Joel A Rogers, CoasterGallery.com (Used with permission)

Beginning with 2000's Millennium Force, the idea of a gigacoaster was revolutionary. Shattering the once-unthinkable 300-foot height barrier and embodied in Millennium, "gigacoaster" came to mean the best of the best; the most sensational, perfectly-paced, and incredibly forceful coasters on Earth. (They've only been bested by two 400-foot "stratocoasters," both of which come in at less than 30 seconds from start to stop, making "gigacoasters" the best balance of stats and experience.)

Even still, it wasn't for a full decade post-Millennium that the gigacoaster entered the coaster catalogue, spreading beyond its once-limited installations in Ohio and Japan. Today – more than two decades after the 300-foot record was broken – Intamin, Morgan, and B&M have each thrown their hat in the ring of 300-foot thrill machines, adding their extreme, classic, and comfortable personalities.

Six "gigas" exist across the globe – five at North American Cedar Fair parks. So as the era of the gigacoaster continues and these record-breaking rides spread, we've got to wonder: does the continued spread of gigas lessen their individual impact and "specialness"? Which manufacturer takes the genre in the best direction? And where do you hope a giga pops up next?

 
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