Knott's History: Dreger Clock

I was recently contacted by Mr. Glenn Frank about a very interesting historical project going on that directly relates to Knott's Berry Farm, an obvious interest of this blog - and with my love of amusement park history, well even better.

Mr. Frank is working on the Dreger Clock Restoration Project. What is the Dreger Clock you ask? I'll let Mr. Frank explain:

"The "Dreger Clock" was built by my great-grandfather Andrew Dreger Sr. ... He was a watchmaker in his later years and built this amazing clock for the enjoyment of his community.

After His death the clock made its way to Knott's Berry Farm where it was enjoyed by thousands of visitors to Buena Park for over 50 years. But in the past year ... it was missing from its home in front of the ticket booths. It fell into disrepair and was removed, hidden from the public in a warehouse.

The Buena Park Historical Society wants to return it to the public view. We want to put it back in front of the eyes of the community! The clock has been purchased and awaits restoration cleaning and a new home.

Our dream is to see the clock restored, running and being enjoyed by visitors to the City again. We hope to place it along Beach Blvd in the city's historical park, across from the Buena Park City Hall."

It's a pretty cool historical project, if I say so myself. They're raising money to help with their efforts, you can check out that aspect and more by browsing the Dreger Clock website.

Thanks for the heads up, Glenn, glad to help get the word out!

Spongebob Going Up

Last night vertical construction on Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge began. I would expect the ride to go up rather quickly, so keep watching that webcam each night to check out their progress!

Former Paramount Park Name Changes

Kings Dominion already changed two of their ride's names on their webpage, Tomb Raider has become The Crypt:
And Italian Job has become Backlot Stunt Coaster:
But now Carowinds has updated their rides page with a couple changes.

Borg Assimilator will now be called Nighthawk, and Top Gun will be called Flight Deck.

The Crypt is fine with me, Backlot Stunt Coaster is generic but works, Nighthawk is taking the whole -hawk ride thing a teensy bit too far (Thunderhawk, Firehawk, Skyhawk) - but Flight Deck is straight up stoopid sounding.

For an inverted coaster themed (somewhat) to Jets - Flight Deck would probably be at the bottom of anyone's creative list of new names. Oooh well.

Dorney Park 2008 Ticket Prices

Dorney Park updated their ticket prices for 2008 on their website.

The big news of this is that all the Halloweekends dates are listed as "Haunt." I'm guessing from this that the park's event will change names like they did at all the other parks this past season, and, gasp!, perhaps we'll even get a new haunted house or something.

Regular ticked prices are up to $38.99, from $37.95 last year, Junior tickets are up to $18 from $15.95 last year. Two day tickets are $62 up from $58.95, and Starlight tickets are now $19.50. "Haunt" starlight tickets are up to$20.50, however, while regular "Haunt" tickets are up to $30.99 during the day.

I'm very excited at the possibility of the "Haunt" being expanded this year!

CP 2008 ... Leaked

The above image was on Cedar Point's website for a while today. Hopefully the announcement will be soon, like tomorrow.

December Poll Results

First task of 2008 - to look at the results of NewsPlusNotes' December poll results. The poll asked what the best Cedar Fair B&M Inverted coaster is.

We had 276 votes in December's poll. Not our highest amount, but considerable nonetheless.

So as for the results, Raptor at Cedar Point came in 1st place, with 107 votes. 2nd place was strongly held by Talon at Dorney Park, and Top Gun: The Jet Coaster at Carowinds came in 3rd.

Silver Bullet at Knott's Berry Farm came in 4th, with Patriot at Worlds of Fun scoring a 5th place finish. Last, in 6th place, we have Top Gun at California's Great America.

I'm not surprised about the top 5, to be perfectly honest. I am surprised that Top Gun at California's Great America came in last though. While I haven't been on it, I've heard that it's a great ride. NewsPlusNotes doesn't have a huge West coast readership, maybe that's why?

New poll coming soon!