Knott's Berry Farm Wait Times

The one-minute version: be at the gate 30–45 minutes before opening and ride HangTime first. Waits peak from late morning to mid-afternoon — do shows and meals then. The final hour is often as quiet as rope drop. There is no headline evening show, so the final operating hour is usually the quietest time to ride.

Worth it on busy days: Fast Lane pays off on Scary Farm nights and summer Saturdays and almost never otherwise.

31 rides open, 30 closed · average posted wait 23 min, 15 min above typical.

Closed right now: Balloon Race, Banzai Falls, Beach House Slides, Beagle Express Railroad, Butterfield Stagecoach, Calico Railroad, Calico River Rapids, Camp Snoopy's Off-Road Rally, CarnEVIL, Carrusel de California, Charlie Brown's Kite Flyer, Coast Rider, Flying Ace, Forsaken Lake, Ghost Town Streets, Gremmie Lagoon, Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair, Laguna Storm Watch Tower, Linus Launcher, Malibu Run, Old Man Falls, Pig-Pen's Mud Buggies, Rapid River Run, Shore Break, Snoopy’s Tenderpaw Twister Coaster, Sunset River, The Gauntlet, The Gore-ing '20s, The Wedge, Tidal Wave Bay.

Posted waits as of 10:58 PM park time, refreshed every few minutes. Posted waits are the park’s own figures via Queue-Times.com. Plan around them in the app →

Knott's Berry Farm is open year-round, but its hours change by day and season and are posted on the park's official calendar. On Knott's Scary Farm nights (select nights from mid-September through October 31) the park closes early to daytime guests, typically late afternoon, and reopens in the evening as the separately ticketed Halloween event.

From the park’s published schedule. Hours change, and evening events can close the park to day guests early — check with the park before you go.

Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park on Beach Blvd in Buena Park, California, now operated by Six Flags, that grew out of the Knott family's berry farm, where the boysenberry was first grown and sold commercially, and Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant, which opened in 1934. Walter Knott built Ghost Town to entertain guests waiting for the restaurant, and today the park also includes the PEANUTS-themed Camp Snoopy and a coaster lineup led by GhostRider, Xcelerator The Ride, HangTime and Silver Bullet.

The rides people come for

Height minimums as the park publishes them; some rides also have a maximum or need a companion below a second height. Check the ride's sign on the day.

Getting there

• Address: 8039 Beach Blvd, Buena Park, CA 90620
• Parking: Paid on-site daily parking, sold online in advance or at the lot; standard daily parking is not valid for Knott's Scary Farm, metered, preferred or hotel lots.

Checked 2026-10-11 against the park’s published information.

Queues here follow a predictable daily shape. Lines are shortest in the first hour and the last, and peak 3 PM–5 PM — that is the window to spend on shows, meals or indoor attractions rather than headliners.

Typical shape of a Knott's Berry Farm day, shown as each hour's share of that day's own peak wait. Actual minutes vary by season and day of week — check today's live waits.

Be at the gate 30–45 minutes before opening and ride in this order. HangTime and Xcelerator have the slowest throughput; GhostRider's line grows steadily through the morning.

1. HangTime
2. Xcelerator the Ride
3. GhostRider
4. Silver Bullet

The first hour is the cheapest capacity of the day — no pass, no fee, and typically the shortest waits you will see.

Red = busiest, green = quietest, grey = moderate.

Busiest: July, August, September and October

Expect the year's longest waits during the summer holiday and Knott's Scary Farm, which sells out many October nights.

Quietest: January, February, May and November

The best value for short lines is January and February weekdays, early May and November outside holidays.

Knott's Scary Farm

Separate evening ticket

Selected nights with a separate ticket; the park closes to day guests before it starts.

This year: 17 September to 31 October, on selected nights.

Visiting by day on an event night? Plan to finish by late afternoon, and check which nights are event nights.

Worth it on busy days

Fast Lane pays off on Scary Farm nights and summer Saturdays and almost never otherwise. Knott's is a locals' park with a very peaky calendar — check a live wait before you buy at the gate.

Looking for a fast pass or skip-the-line pass or express pass? At Knott's Berry Farm it is called Fast Lane: A paid add-on, sold separately from park admission, that lets you bypass the regular lines on select rides and attractions such as Calico River Rapids, HangTime and GhostRider; season passes add an All Season Fast Lane option, and Scary Farm sells its own Fright & Fast Lane.

Price: roughly $50–$150 unlimited wristband. Prices change often and by date — treat this as a range, not a quote.

Maben Parks shows every wait live with a "vs typical" marker, and your magical fairy will run the numbers for your party and date — including telling you to keep your money when the answer is no.

• Rope drop: at the gate 30–45 minutes early, straight to HangTime.
• The last hour: often the day's shortest waits — if you are in line at close, you ride.
• Show windows: evening hours thin out steadily after dinner.
• Live data: a wait 15+ minutes below its typical level is a "go now" signal — Maben Parks flags these automatically.

Detected automatically from the live feed — each of these reported closed all day, every day, for at least three operating days. Observed through October 23, 2026.

Recently back

Generated from wait-feed observations, not an operator announcement: a long closure usually means refurbishment, but we report what the feed shows rather than guessing why. Always check the operator's own page before travelling for one specific ride.