Knotts Berry Farm Adding New Dark Ride in 2015: Voyage To The Iron Reef

A spectacular new interactive 4-D attraction is coming to the Boardwalk at Knott’s Berry Farm next year. Surfacing in spring 2015, Voyage to the Iron Reef adds high-tech fun for everyone!

The new 4-D shoot ’em up attraction will take over a long-neglected location in the Boardwalk section of the park that was once home to two beloved dark rides: Knott’s Bear-y Tales and Kingdom of the Dinosaurs.

Demonstrating a renewed commitment to storytelling, Knott’s has invested heavily in themed dark rides over the past few years with animatronic updates and extensive overhauls to Timber Mountain Log Ride in 2013 and Calico Mine Ride this year.

The Voyage to the Iron Reef presents riders with a simple mission: Save Knott’s from a school of mechanized sea creatures feeding on the steel rides in the park. Along the way, riders armed with freeze rays will battle steampunk stingrays, puffer fish, crabs, giant shrimp and whales before encountering the Kraken octopus queen in her lair.

Drawing heavily on the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, steampunk reimagines a retro-futuristic world that combines everyday objects with steam-powered machinery inspired by the Industrial Revolution. In recent years, steampunk has crept from the fandom fringe into popular culture, showing up with greater frequency in literature, film, television, music, video games, fashion and even theme parks.

The steampunk-inspired sea creatures have developed rust-free mechanized exoskeletons after years of secretly feeding on the steel rides in the park. The new ride travels through six scenes depicted on 11 curving video screens ranging from 20 to 70 feet wide. The ride vehicles will rotate, change speed and even briefly pause as they move between video screens separated by three-dimensional themed sets.

After entering a submarine, riders will be launched on a four-minute underwater journey through the murky waters beneath Knott’s Berry Farm, where they immediately encounter the Kraken queen’s evil minions. Ray guns will fire blasts that instantly freeze and then break apart the mechanical sea creatures.

Voyage to the Iron Reef will be built by the same team that created the Wonder Mountain Guardian 4-D interactive dark ride at Canada’s Wonderland, the Toronto-area sister park of Knott’s. Canada-based Triotech will handle the video animation and gaming aspects while German-based Art Engineering will install the track and build the ride vehicles.

Voyage to the Iron Reef will pay tribute to Knott’s rides past and present that will be familiar to attentive fans searching for “Easter eggs” hidden throughout the attraction. In one scene, the Roaring 20s sign that stood for years atop the ride building will be visible at the bottom of the ocean. Shooting the park icon with a ray gun will cause the neon sign to light up and register bonus points.

The attraction replaces two former Knott’s dark rides equally beloved and mourned by longtime fans of the park: Knott’s Bear-y Tales (1975-1986) and Kingdom of the Dinosaurs (1987-2004).

The new ride is scheduled to open in the spring of 2015.

For updates and more info, visit the official Knotts Berry Farm website here.