Knott’s Berry Farm One Day Itinerary (2024)
Want to make the most of just one day at Knott’s Berry Farm? We’ve got you covered with all the best tips and tricks for seeing it all during your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary!
Knott’s Berry Farm One Day Itinerary
Did you know Knott’s Berry Farm was America’s 1st Theme Park?
It says so right on the entrance sign!
This Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary will tell you just about everything you need to know to make the most of just one day at this park.
There are plenty of links throughout this post to lead you to even more in-depth info not covered in this post.
Don’t worry, Knott’s isn’t a huge park, so with a little planning, you can see and do it all.
Getting There
Being centrally located in Buena Park, California, there are plenty of transportation options to get you started on your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary.
If you’re driving, you can enter the address: 8039 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, CA 90620 into your GPS or if you type in Knott’s Berry Farm, the GPS should send you to the main parking lot.
As a frame of reference, depending on the traffic, Knott’s Berry Farm is about 30 minutes outside of Downtown LA and maybe 15 minutes or so from Disneyland.
✅ Anaheim Resort Transit (ART)
The Anaheim Resort Transit bus, or the “ART” bus, is a great way to get to Knott’s if you’re staying in the local resort area.
The ART bus runs to major visitor destinations like Disneyland, the Amtrak Station (ARTIC), Angel Stadium, the Honda Center, and many area hotels.
Check out the schedule, pricing, and hours on the ART website before you go.
✅ Lyft/Uber or Taxi
A more flexible option is using a service like Uber or Lyft to take you directly to Knott’s Berry Farm on your own schedule.
In this area, you usually don’t have to wait more than 10-15 minutes for a ride, so it’s pretty reliable.
✅ Karmel Shuttle
Karmel Shuttle Service has an exclusive deal with Knott’s Berry Farm where you get $10 off your ride from your home or hotel to Knott’s. Just use the promo code KNOTTS14.
With Karmel, you reserve the time you’d like to be picked up and they’ll schedule it for you. They also offer airport shuttle services.
The main airports nearby are LAX (Los Angeles), SNA (Orange County/Santa Ana), and LGB (Long Beach).
Parking at Knott’s Berry Farm
You can also choose to drive yourself to Knott’s, which is probably the most common method of transportation here.
Standard parking for cars and motorcycles is $25. Standard parking for buses and RVs is $30. Prices may change for special events, but for your average park day, those are the prices.
The parking lots open approximately one hour prior to park opening.
To be completely transparent, this area of Orange County is not the safest. The crime rates are pretty scary and just like most other destinations, tourists can be easy targets.
So do not leave anything valuable in your car while you are here and be sure to lock your car before you leave. I recommend the same for Disneyland and any other theme park you might visit!
Knott’s Berry Farm’s California Marketplace
Knott’s Berry Farm’s California Marketplace is a shopping and dining center just outside the main entrance of Knott’s Berry Farm. Think Downtown Disney at Disneyland or City Walk at Universal, but on a much smaller scale.
On your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary, you should have time to hit up this area on your way out in the evening depending on how you plan your day.
Parking at California Marketplace
There is a separate parking lot if you’re just going here and not into the theme park for the day. In the Shopping and Dining Lot at the California Marketplace, parking is complimentary for up to 1 hour.
Each additional half hour is $10 each, with a maximum daily rate of $35. If you lose your parking ticket, you’ll be charged the full $35.
An additional 2 hours of free parking is available with a validated ticket and receipt showing a $25 or more minimum purchase from any shop or restaurant in the Marketplace.
Also, if you have a disabled placard for your vehicle, you can use this parking lot all day during your visit to Knott’s Berry Farm for the regular parking rate ($25 for cars and motorcycles, $30 for buses and RVs).
Dining and Shopping at California Marketplace
Though California Marketplace is much smaller than some other theme park entertainment districts, there is quite a bit packed in here.
All your souvenir shopping can be done here and there are some great dining and snack options here too for your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary.
☑️ Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant
This restaurant has been thriving since the 1930s and is known for its family style dining. You’ll want to try the classic fried chicken dinner, handmade biscuits, and boysenberry pie.
☑️ Chicken To Go
Get your fried chicken and sides to go! Think KFC type foods and buckets of chicken.
☑️ Berry Market
This is the world’s largest selection of exclusive Knott’s Berry Farm jams, jellies, and other treats. If you didn’t know, boysenberry is a big deal here and you can get just about anything boysenberry at this market.
☑️ PEANUTS Headquarters
The Peanuts gang, aka Charlie Brown and friends, are very prevalent in Knott’s Berry Farm. So much so, that they have their own store with all things Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and other iconic Peanuts characters.
☑️ Farm Bakery
This is a great place to hit up on your way out to take home some treats. They have pretty much all the sweets you’d expect at a bakery, but of course many are themed to Knott’s.
☑️ Build-A-Bear
What better way to commemorate your one day visit to Knott’s Berry Farm than with a themed furry friend?! Knott’s Berry Farm has strong Western theming throughout and you can find that same theming here at Build-A-Bear.
☑️ Candy Parlour
Every kid’s dream! All the candies you can imagine – even the old fashioned ones you might have forgotten about.
☑️ Marketplace Emporium
The emporium is like the main gift shop where you can find just about everything. They also have a Christmas Corner with Christmas items available all year round!
☑️ Virginia’s Gift Shop
This little boutique shop offers jewelry, apparel, Knott’s memorabilia, and even some foods! You’ll find all the most unique theme park treasures here.
☑️ Starbucks
No shopping and dining district is complete without Starbucks, am I right? Lol.
☑️ Cable Car Kitchen
This little food stand offers funnel cakes and ice cream! I highly recommend topping your funnel cake with boysenberry, but you can also choose from apple, cinnamon, or strawberry.
For ice cream options, I recommend Knott’s signature boysenberry sherbet. You can never have too much boysenberry here!
☑️ T.G.I. Friday’s
You don’t see too many of these anymore, but Knott’s Berry Farm’s California Marketplace has a recently remodeled one.
☑️ Knott’s California Shop
This shop offers all things California brands. Think Vans, which was started not too far away from Knott’s.
☑️ DoughKNOTT’s
Last but not least, you can also stop at this food and drink stand for a variety of treats, not just doughnuts! I recommend trying the boysenberry boba tea or the fresh brewed boysenberry coffee.
How Much Does It Cost To Go For One Day?
Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary tickets start as low as $65. When you purchase a ticket, you have to choose which day you want to go and that will determine the price of your ticket.
You can save money by purchasing your ticket online before you go.
For example, if I were to go today after I publish this blog post, my ticket at the gate would cost me $99 + taxes and fees. But if I purchase it online before I go, my ticket is only $74 + taxes and fees.
When choosing ticket options, the “regular” ticket is for anyone ages 12-61. The “junior/senior” ticket is for anyone ages 3-11 & 62+. Under 3 is free, just like most other theme parks.
Like most theme parks now, admission prices depend on expected attendance rates. So if you want to go on Christmas Eve, it’s going to cost you a bit more than a random Tuesday in January.
Weekend prices are generally a little bit higher as well. So if you’re wanting to save money, try to visit on a week day that isn’t in the Summer or around Christmas/Thanksgiving.
What If I Am An Active/Retired Military Member?
Discounted park admission is available to any active, inactive, or retired US military members with a valid military ID.
I’m not sure on the exact price difference or if it changes depending on the day, but it looks to be anywhere from about $5-$10 off your admission, or around 10%, which is pretty standard.
What Is A Fast Lane Ticket?
Fast Lane is priority boarding for attractions during your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary. Just like Disney’s Lightning Lane or Fastpass service for those more familiar with that system.
You can choose to add Fast Lane to your ticket at any time. What’s nice about Fast Lane is that you can use it on as many rides as you’d like, as many times as you’d like throughout the day.
If you add Fast Lane to your ticket online when you buy your ticket in advance you save $5. These services tend to be on the pricier side – $94 per person, per day ($89 if you buy online in advance).
BUT if you only have 1 day to visit and see it all, then it’s a worthwhile splurge to ensure you get to go on every ride you want (unless it breaks down or something, which is a regular occurrence at all theme parks).
All Day Drinks and Dining Plans
When you purchase your ticket online in advance, some other add-ons it may ask you about are the souvenir bottle (aka unlimited refills all day), and an all day dining pass.
The souvenir bottle add-on is $16.99. Essentially, you get a souvenir bottle (or you can just opt for a regular cup). Then every 15 minutes you’re eligible for a refill.
With the all day dining add-on, it’s $31.99. With this add-on you can get an entree and a side every 90 minutes. Most dining locations are included on this dining plan, but not all.
Additionally, there is also the option for the single meal deal, which is a single meal, side, and a drink for $16.99 that you can redeem at any participating location.
FunPix
For additional price of $29.99, you can get unlimited digital downloads of your ride photos, and other photos from throughout your visit on your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary.
This is comparable to Disney’s Photopass service.
In addition to ride photos, you can also get photos taken at the front entrance of the park, and meet and greet photos with a variety of characters throughout the park.
What to Eat at Knott’s Berry Farm
Okay, now that we’ve planned out how to get here and what kind of tickets we’re getting, let’s get into what you’ll actually do while you’re in the park.
We’re going to start with where to eat on your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary!
✔️ Amber Waves
Amber Waves is a full-service restaurant. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and specialize in All-American food. I recommend the Boysenberry Chicken Pizza which is topped with Knott’s Berry Farm’s Boysenberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce.
✔️ Boardwalk BBQ
Boardwalk BBQ features all your smokehouse favorites – sausage, pulled pork, chicken, mac n cheese, baked beans, cornbread, and more! You can even use your dining plan here.
✔️ Calico Saloon
This saloon has been putting on Old Wester shows since it opened in the 1940s! I recommend heading up to the bar at least for a cold sarsaparilla or boysenberry punch.
But if you’re really in the spirit, try the Calico Soda. It’s a handcrafted, secret recipe, boysenberry cream soda.
✔️ Calico Tater Bites
At Calico Tater Bites, you can get tater tots piled high with all kinds of toppings. They have BBQ Pulled Pork Tots with cheese and crispy fried jalapeno strips or Chili Cheese Tota, Buffalo Chicken Tender Tots, Mac & Cheese Tots, and even Pastrami Tots.
✔️ Cantina
The Cantina has all your Mexican food favorites – burritos, nachos, tacos, and more!
✔️ Cave Inn Snacks
At Cave Inn Snacks, you can get all your favorite theme park treats like soft pretzels, churros, ice cream, ICEEs, and more.
✔️ Charleston Circle Coffee
Proudly serving Starbucks Coffee!
✔️ Coasters Diner
This classic 50s diner has all your favorite classic foods – burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, fries, and milkshakes! Try Xcelerator The Burger. It’s a 12 inch patty piled high with bacon, cheese, and fries.
✔️ Dippin’ Dots
A familiar favorite!
✔️ Fiesta Dogs
These are not your average hot dogs. Here they offer the Mexican Dog topped with bacon and peppers, an Elote Dog, and even a footlong hot dog.
✔️ Fireman’s BBQ
One of my personal favorites that you can smell a mile away. Here you can get barbecued chicken, ribs, flank steak sandwiches, giant turkey legs, baked potatoes, jalapeno bread, and fire roasted corn on the cob.
✔️ Ghost Town Bakery
You can get pretty much anything at this bakery. Hot and cold drinks, and baked goods made fresh daily. They even serve Knott’s Famous Chili in a sourdough bread bowl.
You can also get some boysenberry treats here too.
✔️ Ghost Town Grill
This is a full service restaurant that offers Western favorites. You’ll want to try the Sarsaparilla float since you can’t get it anywhere else in the park!
✔️ Ghost Town Grub
This is where you can enjoy a fully loaded funnel cake topped with ice cream and a topping of your choice. Seasonal options may be available during your visit, like the deep-fried PB&J!
✔️ Gourmet Churro Factory
These are not your typical churros. Here, you can get them stuffed with boysenberry, strawberry, or Bavarian cream. Maybe even enjoy a churro sundae!
✔️ Grizzly Creek Lodge
Being in the Camp Snoopy area, which is the “kiddie area”, you’ll find all the foods that picky eaters will love. Hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, chicken tenders, and more.
✔️ Johnny Rockets
This classic diner is in a handful of touristy areas still and can be enjoyed right inside Knott’s Berry Farm.
✔️ Log Ride Funnel Cake
Another food stand where you can enjoy a funnel cake!
✔️ Log Ride ICEE Mix-It-Up
The perfect opportunity to try a boysenberry ICEE! Add ice cream to make it a float.
✔️ Longboard’s Grill
At Longboard’s Grill, you can get some unique finds like fish and chips, chicken sandwiches, and wraps. They also offer theme park favorites like burgers and hot dogs. It’s been recently remodeled too!
✔️ Mix-It-Up Ice Cream Shop
Enjoy a cookiewich with boysenberry ice cream smushed between 2 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. You can also get 1/2 Yard and Full Yard sizes of ICEEs here.
✔️ Panda Express
This quick service Chinese restaurant has all your favorites like orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp.
✔️ Pemmican Pickle
This snack stand offers pickles, churros, pretzels, ICEEs, drinks, and beer.
✔️ Portside Pizza
Here you can get all kinds of pizzas, salads, and even churros!
✔️ Prop Shop Pizzeria
This Italian kitchen offers brick oven pizzas, pastas, salads, garlic “Knott’s”, and even a wine selection.
✔️ Strictly-On-A-Stick
Here you can get hand-dipped corn dogs on a stick and fried cheese on a stick. Of course you’ll want to try the specialty Boysenberry Corn Dog which is made with a boysenberry cornbread.
✔️ Sutter’s Funnel Cake
Another great spot for a good old-fashioned funnel cake!
✔️ Sutter’s Grill
This Western style quick service restaurant has a lot of great options. Try the BBQ Burger, Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, or BBQ Chicken Salad.
✔️ Sutter’s Pizza
Sutter’s Pizza offers all the traditional favorite pizzas, plus some seasonal specialty pizza options.
✔️ Wagon Wheel Pizza
Here you can get slices of pepperoni and cheese pizza, seasonally.
✔️ Wilderness Broiler
This quick service restaurants has a few hidden gems you can’t get anywhere else in the park like Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Loaded French Fries or BBQ Brisket Loaded French Fries.
What to Ride at Knott’s Berry Farm
Let’s break this up by each “land” of the park, since there are 4 distinct areas.
➡️ Ghost Town Attractions
Ghost Town is old Western themed, so all attractions fit this era of American History. Some unique experiences include a real stagecoach ride, a mine ride, and the railroad.
Additionally there are a few water rides and rollercoasters for the thrill seekers. There are also some educational and immersive experiences authentic to the area like the blacksmith, old schoolhouse, and museum.
- Butterfield Stagecoach
- Calico Mine Ride
- Calico Railroad
- Calico River Rapids (water ride)
- Ghost Town Blacksmith (experience)
- Ghostrider (rollercoaster)
- Pony Express (rollercoaster)
- Silver Bullet (rollercoaster)
- The Old Schoolhouse (experience)
- Timber Mountain Log Ride (water ride)
- Western Trails Museum (experience)
➡️ Camp Snoopy Attractions
Camp Snoopy is the “kiddie” area, so the vast majority of these rides are on the smaller side, but many still have height requirements.
- Balloon Race (36″)
- Camp Bus (36″)
- Charlie Brown’s Kite Flyer (36″)
- Grand Sierra Railroad (46″)
- High Sierra Ferris Wheel (54″)
- Huff and Puff (no height requirement)
- Linus Launcher (42″)
- Pig Pen’s Mud Buddies (36″)
- Rapid River Run (42″)
- Rocky Mountain Trucking Company (36″)
- Sierra Sidewinder (48″)
- Timberline Twister (36″)
- Woodstock’s Airmail (36″)
➡️ Fiesta Village Attractions
Fiesta Village has a lot of carnival style rides and classic theme park rides. Here you’ll find lots of swinging rides and spinning rides plus a couple roller coasters.
- Dragon Swing
- Hat Dance (like Teacups at Disney)
- Jaguar! (rollercoaster)
- La Revolucion
- Merry Go Round
- Montezooma’s Revenge (rollercoaster)
- Sol Spin
- WaveSwinger
➡️ Boardwalk Attractions
The Boardwalk is reminiscent of classic boardwalk amusement parks like Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It’s very California/Surf themed. There are a mix of classic amusement park style rides and roller coasters.
- Coast Rider (rollercoaster)
- HangTime (rollercoaster)
- Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair
- Pacific Scrambler
- Sky Cabin
- Supreme Scream
- Surfside Gliders
- Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars
- Xcelerator The Ride (rollercoaster)
Knott’s Berry Farm Season Passes
There are 3 tiers to the Season Passes at Knott’s Berry Farm – Regular, Gold, and Platinum.
All 3 tiers offer these benefits: unlimited visits to Knott’s Berry Farm, renewing passholders get 1 Free Bring-A-Friend Ticket, a payment plan, 10% discount on food and merchandise, and Bring-A-Friend Discount Tickets.
✅ Regular Season Pass
The Regular Pass is only $130. With the payment plan, you pay $53 down, then $7 a month for 11 months.
✅ Gold Season Pass
With the Gold Pass, your added benefit is unlimited visits to Knott’s Soak City Waterpark. The Gold Pass is only $170. With the payment plan, you pay $60 down, then $10 a month for 11 month.
✅ Platinum Season Pass
Now for the best pass that is probably the greatest theme park deal in the world. The added benefits of the Platinum Pass are free general parking PLUS unlimited visits to ALL Cedar Fair Parks:
- California’s Great America (Santa Clara, California)
- Canada’s Wonderland (Vaughan, Ontario, Canada)
- Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina)
- Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)
- Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
- Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia)
- Kings Island (Mason, Ohio)
- Michigan’s Adventure (Muskegon, Michigan)
- Valleyfair (Shakopee, Minnesota)
- Worlds of Fun + Oceans of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri)
- Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort (New Braunfels, Texas)
- Schlitterbahn Waterpark (Galveston, Texas)
The Platinum Pass is only $250! With the payment plan, you can also purchase the pass for a $63 down payment, plus 11 monthly payments of $17.
We have personally gotten a ton of great use out of the platinum pass. Just last year we visited Knott’s Berry Farm, California’s Great America, and Kings Island.
As a side note, All Season Parking can be added to a Season Pass for as low as $80 for the lower tier passes that don’t include parking.
Seasonal Experiences at Knott’s Berry Farm
Seasonal experiences are a HUGE deal at Knott’s Berry Farm. You have to go to each one at least once in your lifetime.
☑️ Knott’s Scary Farm
On select nights from about mid-September through Halloween, Knott’s Berry Farm transforms into Knott’s Scary Farm for a seasonal special event.
It’s more similar to Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights than Disney’s Mickey’s Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party. Children under 13 years old are not recommended to attend this event.
There are haunted mazes and attractions + costumed haunted characters roaming about the park in the fog effects.
☑️ Knott’s Merry Farm
Another great event and way more family friendly, is Knott’s Merry Farm. From about mid-November to early January, this even takes place throughout the park.
Knott’s is transformed into a Winter Wonderland with special attractions, shows, and experiences.
☑️ Food Festivals
Various food festivals started to pop up during the last couple years, especially when the parks were not allowed to re-open.
So we don’t know if food festivals will stay around or if they were a temporary thing, but if they stick around, be sure to visit during a festival season to sample some foods you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to find in the park.
Know Before You Go
The next two things I’m about to share with you are SO important to your visit, so take note.
➡️ New Chaperone Policy
Knott’s Berry Farm is now enforcing a stricter chaperone policy due to recent events unfolding with unaccompanied minors in the park.
The new policy is that on Saturdays, Knott’s Berry Farm and Soak City requires that if you are 17 or younger, you must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older to be admitted into the park.
This chaperone must stay with the party for the entirety of their visit. Additionally, this chaperone can accompany up to 4 guests 17 years of age or younger. This policy is also being enforced for all event nights for Knott’s Scary Farm.
As the policy plays out, some adjustments may be made over time, so be sure to check the website before your visit if this may impact your day. Since the implementation of this policy mid-2022, there have already been adjustments made!
➡️ Cashless
Knott’s Berry Farm is now cashless! What they do to accommodate this is that there are Cash-to-Card kiosks where you can transfer cash to a card at no cost.
You can transfer anywhere from $1-$500 onto the card at any point. This card is good everywhere cards are accepted, not just inside the park.
The only catch is that a $3.95 per month fee will be charged to any remaining balance on the card after 92 days of no transaction activity.
Soak City Waterpark
Soak City is a waterpark that is part of the Knott’s Berry Farm property. It is located directly across the street and requires separate admission, unless you have the season passes where admission to both parks is included.
If you’re visiting in the Summer, it’s a great way to cool off, but don’t feel like you have to visit both if you’re only visiting for a day.
Final Thoughts on Knott’s Berry Farm One Day Itinerary
As you can see, there are so many great experiences to enjoy on your Knott’s Berry Farm one day itinerary. Depending on the time of year you visit there are great seasonal events to add in to your time at the park.
There’s enough to keep you busy all day, but not too much where it’s overwhelming and you spend your whole day in a panic.
If you’ve got the time, consider some other local theme parks like Universal Studios Hollywood. I’ve got a great one day itinerary for visiting the park and the shopping and dining district, City Walk.
