Knott’s Berry Farm gives sneak peek for renewed dark ride

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First picture inside Knott’s Bear-y-Tales: Return to the Fair, published by Knott’s Berry Farm


During 2021, the Californian theme park Knott’s Berry Farm is hoping to open Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. This renewed dark ride was supposed to open last year, to celebrate the park’s 100th anniversary, but could unfortunately not open due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new ride is an overlay of Voyage to the Iron Reef, an interactive 3D dark ride built by Triotech and ART Engineering. This week the park published a picture taken inside the renewed dark ride.

With the new ride, the park pays tribute to the former dark ride of the park, which was called Knott’s Bear-y Tales. This ride opened in 1975 and depicted a bear family on a journey to the fair. The ride lasted until 1987, when it was rethemed to Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. This ride eventually closed in 2004, and it was not until 2015 that the ride’s building was used again. This time, the park opened the brand new interactive 3D dark ride Voyage to the Iron Reef.

For the 2020 season, the park’s 100th anniversary, Knott’s Berry Farm intended to retheme the dark ride to pay tribute to the original dark ride. The ride system of Voyage to the Iron Reef, and the shooting system by Triotech remained and were incorporated in the new ride. The newly published picture shows a family shooting targets in a County Fair setting. Together with the picture, the park announced the scenes of the new ride. Many of these are based on scenes in the original Knott’s Bear-y Tales ride, as a tribute to the original ride.

Due to the uncertainty around the COVID-19 Pandemic, the park has not announced an opening date for the new ride yet.