A New Adventure Unfolds as Calico River Rapids Opens at Knott's Berry Farm

© Knott's Berry Farm

The highly anticipated renovation of Knott's Berry Farm's Bigfoot Rapids into the all-new Calico River Rapids has opened to the public!  The attraction has been changed head to toe to create an all new storyline that links the ride to the other themed sections of the park.

Bigfoot Rapids opened in 1987, so the existing attraction had been a staple of the park's roster and already had some fans, but I have a feeling the dramatic retheming of the ride will see it garner long lines once again this summer.

© Knott's Berry Farm

Calico River Rapids features all new scenes along the ride path, including 20 or so animatronic people an wildlife creatures.  Above is a bear that just caught its dinner with a raft passing right by it.  The Calico River is said to have been a location that many settlers explored and eventually made their home, of course making peace with all the animals in the area as well.

As a special treat, the park's designers included an actual Bigfoot animatronic hiding in the ride's finale cave scene, a fitting nod to the ride's former name.

© Knott's Berry Farm

Calico River Rapids has so many detailed scenes (the above photo is just one small part of a much larger scene) that it appears that you'll need several rides to take it all in.  The park did a wonderful job with the ride and from videos it doesn't appear to totally soak riders, which is a great thing to me because it will make it even more repeatable that way.

Here is one video of the ride experience from SoCal Attractions 360, showing all the different scenes: