Knott's Berry Farm announced plans Thursday for a new interactive 4-D attraction for 2015 that has guests saving the theme park from mysterious creatures emerging from the seas beneath the Boardwalk. Which must mean the Big One or a killer tsunami just hit because I'm next to positive the seas didn't used to extend to Buena Park.
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Voyage to the Iron Reef, opening in spring 2015, has the Queen of the Kraken and her aquatic army surfacing to feed on the steel of any attraction within their grasps. Guests in four-person, submarine-inspired vehicles embark on a four-minute gaming adventure into the Iron Reef, equipped with an interactive freeze ray to blast away at ballooning puffer fish, an iron clad octopus and other 3-D creatures as they attempt to “save Knott's from a watery doom,” according to the park (which, no, was not tripping on L at the time).
Montreal-based multi-sensory attraction developer Triotech is creating the “groundbreaking” gaming system and animation for Voyage to the Iron Reef, says Knott's, which promises “enchanting underwater forests, disorienting ocean current tunnels and mysterious mechanical wreckage” viewed from high definition 3-D animation surrounding the guests.
The subs will navigate 600 feet of track and 11 scenes featuring hundreds of media-based creatures and live action special effects that react to each guest's actions while aboard, says the park, which notes 2015 will mark the third straight year that a new or “reintroduced” ride has been opened, following the Timber Mountain Log Ride and Calico Mine Ride that “underwent extensive technological and special effect upgrades.”
The future home of Voyage to the Iron Reef is the original site of Knott's Bear-y Tales, which opened in 1975 and in 1987 was transformed into Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. “The same commitment to storytelling and dedication to incorporating the most cutting edge ride technologies that made Knott's Bear-y Tales and Kingdom of the Dinosaurs so popular is what has driven the Iron Reef creative process,” says Raffi Kaprelyan, vice president and general manager of Knott's Berry Farm, in the new attraction announcement. “The technology showcased in Iron Reef will honor the legacy of the attractions that preceded it, and propel the on-ride experience into the 21st century.”
Learn more about Voyage to the Iron Reef and other Knott's Berry Farm updates and park information at knotts.com or download the Knott's Berry Farm app for your smartphone.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.