What is: GhostRider
GhostRider is a wooden roller coaster, located at Knott’s Berry Farm, in California, USA.
But the ride you see today wasn’t the attraction that opened all those years ago.
If we travel back over 20 years ago, you’ll have found a very familiar, yet strangely
different roller coaster - but we’ll get to that part.
Towards the end of the 90s the owners of the park, the Knott’s family, were looking to
install their next big thing.
They wanted something that would rival the attractions at nearby parks - an attraction
that was unique within the area.
Opting to work with wooden roller coaster manufacturer Custom Coasters International,
the team began producing a classic CCI ride.
Not only was it set to be a long one, the Knott’s family also wanted to invest within
its design.
They set about producing a theme that fit snugly into the Ghost Town section of the park.
A few years later, and 6 months ahead of schedule, GhostRider finally saw its debut on the 8th of December 1998.
Though, by the time it did open, the park was under new management.
Knott’s Berry Farm was sold to the Cedar Fair Entertainment company in 1997, making
GhostRider the last ride in the park created by the Knott’s family themselves.
This can be seen through the theming and details within the attraction, which begins with guests
walking up to the ride’s entrance.
Here, they see the beginning of a dark mineshaft with the roller coaster’s name engraved
into the rock above.
After traversing briefly through the mine, guests enter a barren landscape, littered
with rocks, shrubbery, and several wooden structures.
At this point, they enter the mining house, which eventually leads to the station platform.
Back in the day, riders would board either a gold, silver or copper train, each representing
a different precious mined metal.
The trains themselves were manufactured by PTC, the philadelphia toboggan company, and
each featured 7 cars, seating riders in 3 rows of 2.
This led to a total of 28 guests per train.
Upon debut, GhostRider received fantastic feedback.
Many loved the quick and chaotic ride experience, often ranking it as one of the best wooden
roller coasters in the world.
Though, similar to many wooden rides built by CCI, the experience deteriorated over time.
The track was no longer as smooth, leading to guest satisfaction of the attraction falling rapidly.
This process was accelerated unintentionally by maintenance adding additional steel supports
to the attraction’s structure.
Towards the end of its original life the trains even used to stop completely on the mid-course
brake run, reducing the speed at which guests navigated the 2nd half of the layout, in the
hopes it would improve comfort and the longevity of the ride.
With the park’s 75th anniversary on the horizon, Knott’s decided something that
had to be done.
Because GhostRider was such an integral part of the park’s history they assured fans
it would not be removed, but renovated, with the aim of restoring its former glory.
Throughout this process Knott’s Berry Farm considered bids from various roller coaster
manufacturers, including Rocky Mountain Construction, a company known for modernising older wooden attractions.
Though, in the end, the park decided to have Great Coasters International, GCI, upgrade
the ride with the intention of maintaining its traditional wooden coaster feel.
Not only was this said to best fit the ghost town theme of the surrounding area, but also
meant it would continue to be considered a family ride.
GhostRider officially closed to the public on the 8th of September 2015 ready for it’s complete overhaul.
During the course of the next 10 months the entire ride, excluding the brake run and lift
hill, was re-tracked.
Some of the layout also saw reprofiling adjustments to improve transitions and enhance the attraction’s flow.
In the end, about 40% of the track was reprofiled, most of which took place within the heart of the ride.
On top of this, brand new Millennium Flyer trains, made by GCI themselves were added
to the coaster, replacing the older PTC trains.
These have been designed specifically to increase rider comfort and reduce the wear and tear on the track.
All of these changes led to GhostRiders 2nd debut in June of 2016 being a huge success
- and when looking at the layout it’s easy to understand why.
Today guests board one of the new trains, each of which feature 12 cars, seating guests
in a single row of 2.
This leads to a total of 24 riders per train.
At this point they leave the station building, undergoing a large right hand turn straight
into the base of the lift-hill.
Visitors climb 36m (118ft) high, before cresting the 33m (108ft) drop.
Here the trains plummet towards the ground, at the maximum vertical angle of 51 degrees,
through a long tunnel.
Interestingly, this tunnel was built shortly after the debut of the original ride, due
to noise complaints by nearby neighbours.
At the bottom of the first drop, riders bank left and reach the maximum speed of 90kmh (56mph).
This is immediately followed by the attractions first large airtime hill over a nearby road.
Once they’ve dived back towards the ground, the trains climb a second hill, completing
a beyond 180 degree turn in the process.
Guests then traverse another large drop, climb into a long sweeping right hand turn, and
fall towards the ground once more.
Here, visitors rise up and over the ride’s lift hill, before completing a second, flat
beyond 180 degree turn.
After passing through the mid-course brake run, the trains plummet down another drop.
They then snap to the left, completing a left hand turn, followed by another airtime hill.
A long right hand turn later, guests traverse two back to back airtime hills, straight into
a 450 degree downward helix.
The ride comes to an end one more airtime hill, leading visitors into the final brake run.
During the entire experience, guests navigate a total of 1382m (5433ft) of track in approximately
82 seconds of actual ride time.
Despite its relatively traditional wooden coaster layout, opinions of GhostRider are
overwhelmingly positive.
Many enjoy the now smooth ride, often quoting it’s unrelenting speed and long ride time.
It’s fantastic that Knott’s Berry Farm maintained the ride’s heritage by completely
revamping the entire attraction.
However, this doesn’t stop us thinking of what could have been.
Would you have liked to have seen something different replace GhostRider back in 2016?
Let us know in the comments below.
Thank you for watching and we’ll see you all next time.