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Iron Reef for Knotts Berry Farm

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The one-of-a-kind Voyage to the Iron Reef interactive dark ride coming to Knott's Berry Farm in 2015 will drop visitors into the middle of an underwater battle brimming with steampunk-inspired sea creatures determined to destroy the Buena Park theme park.
The new 4-D shoot 'em up attraction will take over a long-neglected location in the Boardwalk section of the park that was once home to two beloved dark rides: Knott's Bear-y Tales and Kingdom of the Dinosaurs.
Demonstrating a renewed commitment to storytelling, Knott's has invested heavily in themed dark rides over the past few years with animatronic updates and extensive overhauls to Timber Mountain Log Ride in 2013 and Calico Mine Ride this year.
The Voyage to the Iron Reef presents riders with a simple mission: Save Knott's from a school of mechanized sea creatures feeding on the steel rides in the park. Along the way, riders armed with freeze rays will battle steampunk stingrays, puffer fish, crabs, giant shrimp and whales before encountering the Kraken octopus queen in her lair.
Drawing heavily on the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, steampunk reimagines a retro-futuristic world that combines everyday objects with steam-powered machinery inspired by the Industrial Revolution. In recent years, steampunk has crept from the fandom fringe into popular culture, showing up with greater frequency in literature, film, television, music, video games, fashion and even theme parks.

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A steampunk theme park in northwest France features a sea monster carousel inspired by Verne’s "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and a 40-foot-tall steam-powered steel elephant that ambles about the grounds. The Efteling theme park in the Netherlands plans to add the steampunk-influenced Baron 1898 dive coaster in 2015.
In the fantastical world of the new Knott's ride, the steampunk-inspired sea creatures have developed rust-free mechanized exoskeletons after years of secretly feeding on the steel rides in the park.
Voyage to the Iron Reef will be built by the same team that created the Wonder Mountain Guardian 4-D interactive dark ride at Canada’s Wonderland, the Toronto-area sister park of Knott's. Canada-based Triotech will handle the video animation and gaming aspects while German-based Art Engineering will install the track and build the ride vehicles.
Initial concept art for the Voyage to the Iron Reef ride building depicts rooftop signage entwined with octopus tentacles. After ascending to the second story, riders wearing 3-D glasses will board four-seat vehicles armed with individual freeze ray guns used to shoot targets on a series of enormous video screens.

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Developed by Knott’s Creative Director Lara Hanneman and her team, the new ride travels through six scenes depicted on 11 curving video screens ranging from 20 to 70 feet wide. The ride vehicles will rotate, change speed and even briefly pause as they move between video screens separated by three-dimensional themed sets.
After entering a submarine, riders will be launched on a four-minute underwater journey through the murky waters beneath Knott’s Berry Farm, where they immediately encounter the Kraken queen’s evil minions. Ray guns will fire blasts that instantly freeze and then break apart the mechanical sea creatures.
Traveling through a simulated underwater environment, riders will battle mechanized scavenger crabs disassembling a forest of old rides, face off against an ink-squirting octopus military general and descend into a whirlpool leading to a standoff with a sea creature army. The finale takes place in the queen's lair, where the villainous Kraken defends a castle constructed from salvaged coaster track and thrill rides.

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Along the way, riders encounter a series of special effects that include bubbles, heat, fog and air blasts. Each player's score is displayed in the ride vehicle and on LED screens stationed at the exit to the attraction.
Voyage to the Iron Reef will pay tribute to Knott's rides past and present that will be familiar to attentive fans searching for "Easter eggs" hidden throughout the attraction. In one scene, the Roaring 20s sign that stood for years atop the ride building will be visible at the bottom of the ocean. Shooting the park icon with a ray gun will cause the neon sign to light up and register bonus points.
The attraction replaces two former Knott's dark rides equally beloved and mourned by longtime fans of the park: Knott's Bear-y Tales (1975-1986) and Kingdom of the Dinosaurs (1987-2004).
Knott's Bear-y Tales was designed by Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump, who worked on the Enchanted Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World at Disneyland. Set in the Roaring '20s, the whimsical and inventive dark ride followed a bear family on a trip to the county fair, traveling through a frog forest, gypsy camp, thunder cave and the weird woods along the way. To this day, fans still talk about the boysenberry smell pumped in the bakery scene.
Kingdom of the Dinosaurs took riders on a time-traveling journey from 1920s Los Angeles to the prehistoric era. Filled with animatronic figures, the realistic and majestic dark ride included a Tyrannosaurus rex, brontosaurus, triceratops, stegosaurus and a 32-foot-long apatosaurus.
Knott's considered reviving the former dark rides during brainstorming sessions for the new attraction, as well as pondering (and ultimately rejecting) back stories that focused on a Halloween Haunt theme, a Wild West motif and a storybook fairy tale.

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Of course, the challenge for Knott's is introducing a themed dark ride in a Southern California marketplace dominated by Disney and Universal Studios. Knott's has been careful not to boast or overreach with Voyage to the Iron Reef, seeking to manage expectations in hopes the ride will be judged against the park’s other attractions rather than its deep-pocketed rivals.
While Knott's has not revealed a cost for Voyage to the Iron Reef, it is expected to be budgeted at a fraction of what Disney spent on Radiator Springs Racers and Indiana Jones Adventure or Universal allocated for Transformers 3-D and the upcoming Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
But ultimately, comparisons will be made and most Southern Californians will likely liken Knott's new ride to the video screen-centric Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney California Adventure and the shoot ‘em up Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters at Disneyland.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/travel/theme...m-voyage-iron-reef-20141113-story.html#page=1

Edit - Updated with more info and better source as well as artwork. - ECG
 
Re: iron reef for knotts

I'm intrigued by this. I think it's hilarious that they think this will compete against Disney and Universal in terms of quality. The ride type just doesn't look fantastic from what I've seen in pictures but then I've not ridden one yet. Cali is on my plans for next year so I just hope it's open when I'm there.
 
Re: iron reef for knotts

They dont though. Theyve stated that the ride will only cost a fraction of what was used for Cars Land, and that they hope people will judge it against their current line-up, and not on a Disney Standard.
 
Re: Iron Reef for Knotts

At first I thought this was going to be another Port Aventura Sea Odyssey but then realised it's a shooter, meaning it might actually be pretty decent. It should be a good addition to the park since from what I remember they don't have many (if any) interactive or dark rides.
 
Re: Iron Reef for Knotts

It's being built by the same people who built Wonder Mountain's Guardian, which is obviously not up to the standard of Disney but it's still a fantastic and fun addition to the park. I can imagine this will be fairly similar in terms of everything to Wonder Mountain's Guardian apart from the theme (and Steampunk sound like kind of a cool theme), and with that being said, will be something probably everybody will enjoy.
 
Knott's | Iron Reef | TrioTech

So we're only 2 weeks away from the opening of Voyage To the Iron Reef at Knott's Berry Farm. I've seen a couple teaser pictures from friends working on the scenery and it looks like it will be neat. Obviously, it wasn't built with the same budget as Toy Story Mania, so I hope people don't judge it with the same expectations.
 
Re: Knott's | Iron Reef | TrioTech

I'll be there probably the week after opening. Or opening day, depending on how I feel. Interested to see what it's like.
 
Re: Knott's | Iron Reef | TrioTech

I work at Knott's and there's going to be an employee preview on the 13th. I'll try to take some pictures of what I can without getting in trouble.
 
GuyWithAStick said:
It doesn't look too steampunk-ey, but it looks good nonetheless.

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I think they wanted the exterior to be part of the Boardwalk atmosphere and save the steampunk for the ride itself.
 
It has hints of Steampunk, but due to the lighter colour shade of gold and not a darker, more bronze shade, it doesn't feel overbearing. They're cleverly integrated a 'normal' setting with Steampunk and hit it perfectly.
 
Got to ride today, here's my mostly unbiased review

Pros: Lots of physical scenery that is GORGEOUSLY done. Projections are well done and very intricately detailed. The screens are huge and very immersive. Decent ride time (about 5 minutes).

Cons: Wished that the ride vehicles moved around a bit more. Operations are a little rough and slow still. Guns aren't very accurate.

For the shoestring budget Knott's operates on compared to Disney and Universal, and considering that TrioTech is still very new to the amusement ride business, I was quite impressed.
 
Saw a POV of this and it actually looks really fun! The queue line is pretty dire but the physical theming (as said above) is neat and the Steampunky-ness of the videos/textures is lovely!

Nice music too.
 
Sucks it isn't a cred like WMG :p That being said, it does look a lot more well done and more immersive than its Canadian counterpart! I didn't see it having a drop track element thing though, or does it?

Anyway yah, looks like a good addition.
 
I went yesterday with my niece and nephew, and I honestly found it to be fantastic. I was expecting crap Cedar Fair, but this was much, much better than I imagined. Very immersive, fun, only issue I have is the operations. It is KBF though, so what can you expect. This is the same park that has had an Xcelerator train in pieces for seemingly five years. The queue does have an indoor portion with no AC/fans/ventilation that will be absolutely disgusting in the summer.

A new must ride for the park.
 
The POV looks really cool. I love the whole story of mechanical steam-punk octopuses took over the park. The animations are really cool. I also love all the things in the gift shop.

If you haven't noticed, Steampunk <3
 
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