The Prelude

Knott’s Berry Farm opened Silver Bullet, the $16 million roller coaster from the masters of engineering at Bolliger and Mabillard, Dec. 7 at high noon. The air was cool, the sky threatened rain but that wouldn’t stop the new ride from firing up for its first official day.

After a couple delays at the media check-in table, we media-type folk received our lanyards, press kits and special gift of a fanny pack complete with a carved wooden pen box and bullet-shaped pen inside. We stashed our gifts in a locker and headed over to the grand opening ceremony area. The crowds were lining up already in anticipation of the official opening. Pre-ceremony entertainment was provided by the Buena Park High School Jazz Band, and the coaster cycled a few empty trains silently overhead to tease and tantalize us. And boy do I mean silent! I’ll come back to that later.

The ceremony started off with Susan Tierney-Dust introducing the Marine color guard to present the colors while “The Star-Spangled Banner” was sung. “Survivor: Marquesas” contestant Hunter Ellis then took over, hyping the crowd up in describing the new ride. He also introduced a number of special guests including Walter Bolliger of B&M, Cedar Fair President and CEO Dick Kinzel and his wife, and various local city government officials. Knott’s General Manager Jack Falfas said some words in his own special style, and Santa Claus and Santa Snoopy officially opened the ride together. The first two official trains were filled with Santa and happy riders who all bid in a charity auction. Then the time we were waiting for finally came as they let us into the ride.

For whatever reason, Knott’s decided to leave all the queue chains up, so we had to walk the entire length of the queue. Every switch back, every turn, every straight, every zig, every zag, all of it. The crowd mostly took it in stride, though. Many, many strides. Eventually we found the stairs leading up to the station. The station is well decorated from the outside with a nice wood finish, but on the inside it’s just red steel. Knott’s may have learned their lesson from the five-mile front car line on Xcelerator, but they went too far the other direction this time, and the front seat line is barely any longer than any other row. In a first for Knott’s one of the operators has been equipped with a headset microphone to pump up the riders further while checking restraints.

The trains are the B&M inverteds we know and love, with some improvements. First off the shields above the riders are shaped differently and feature a more streamlined look. Also there is a new set of electrical contacts on the right side of the train near the top. We’re not totally sure what they do, but our best guess is that they let the computer know that all restraints are down properly.

The ride

When everything is clear the train rolls out of the station to the very quiet lift for a pretty speedy ascent to the top. The customary small dip off the lift leads to a longer than normal straight, then to a gradual turn and drop to the loop. If this drop looks rampy in all the photos you’ve seen online, you’re right. It does ride fairly rampy. Just when the train seems to get a good amount of speed (but not that near the ground) the train curves skyward for the big 105-foot loop. From there we fly to the most talked about element of the ride, the overbanked turn. This element is taken gracefully, gently rolling riders up but not over, and then back as we dive to the ground for the cobra roll. This is hands-down the smoothest cobra roll I’ve ever ridden. Flying past the on-ride cameras after the cobra roll it’s up and into the heartline roll. Again it’s smooth, gentle flying. From there the train does not head to the ground again, but rather pulls up and around a carousel turn. Now the action really picks up in what I think is the ride’s strongest sequence: a flatspin to the left followed by a highly-banked left swinging turn, then a flatspin to the right that drops directly into a forceful upward helix. From there we pass through the magnets on the final brake run and come to a gentle, smooth, controlled speed for our return to the station.

After the first rides, Knott’s put out a huge buffet filled with good food in a nearby dance hall. We were shown early morning media coverage of the ride while eating, and Santa was making the rounds. After lunch we had the rest of the park to explore and more rides on Silver Bullet to enjoy, of course.

Impressions of the Area

The first thing I noticed now that I see the finished ride in its new home is that there is a big chunk of Knott’s that’s just not the same anymore. I’ve been visiting the park since I was a child. The large lake in the middle with the church to one side, train traveling around the outside edge and paddle wheel boat touring the lake, each taking turns at the bridge crossing, and the stage coaches heading around the back with the train station and log ride behind us all made for great atmosphere. Sadly, much of that is gone now. The train station and stagecoach is still there, but the new coaster dwarfs the entire area. The lake is a mere fraction of its former size and really looks more like a swimming pool now. The train layout has been cut down, and the poor paddle wheel boat is landlocked into a tiny lagoon to do simple laps. The station was decorated nicely, and there are props lying around to suggest a mining theme, but really it’s difficult to really theme an inverted coaster into a classic setting like Knott’s. The ride does stick out and dominate.

I suppose Knott’s didn’t have much more room to use for the ride, but it is still sad to see a large chunk of the park’s former atmosphere go away forever. The newer parts of the park that have some of the newest rides are bright and colorful and do look nice, but they don’t look like the park used to. Mostly these are my sad musings. I will miss the Knott’s I grew up with and quietly mourn as more and more parts of the park are rebuilt and repainted. I am happy that Cedar Fair continues to invest in the park and is bringing in new rides and attractions at a decent rate, but I just have to enjoy the new Knott’s that is there now while remembering the Knott’s that used to be. Soap Box Racers, Parachutes, Tumbler, Gran Slammer, Haunted Shack, Whirlpool and Reflection Lake, rest in peace.

Impressions of the ride

Wow that’s a quiet coaster. If the train is empty and running around overhead you won’t know unless you look at it. The lift hill makes very muted anti-rollback sounds, and the rest is whisper quiet.

The ride is also butter smooth, and a huge welcome change from all of the Intamin, Vekoma and Arrow shuffle we’ve been getting used to. Xcelerator shuffled its opening day but not Silver Bullet. I was a tad worried since Scream! opened with a lot of vibration and roughness all through the ride, which is completely unlike B&M, but that is the anomaly in a long career of quality rides. It just does not get smoother than this. Every element is perfectly engineered with no head banging, and I’m hoping the park will realize it and drop the somewhat overkill and unnecessary no-earrings policy. The ride is best described as a terrain coaster, with the terrain being the buildings, Jaguar!, midways and other areas below. As such the ride never stays at its top speed that much. It is a ride you can easily ride all day, and it is a lot of fun but not that intense. It is an absolutely perfect match for the park. It’s a thrill ride for sure, but one that really the entire family could ride provided they meet the 54-inch height requirement. The only really strong G-forces are in the helix at the end. Personally I like the higher intensity of the Batman rides that leave me seeing stars on the final brakes, but that’s not for everyone. The ride is not a bad ride, as many online have posted in forums. You can’t call a ride that is this well built and engineered bad. It’s not meant to be a super knockout intense thrill machine, but a good, solid, fun ride that adds to the wide collection of rides at Knott’s. 8/10

Story posted by Byron