Recently my wife and I went to Buena Park to visit Knott’s Berry Farm and enjoy another year of the famous Boysenberry Festival. We have made this annual event a regular part of our schedule and even when the world situation did not include rides and Wondercon as was the case in 2019, we still enjoyed the multitude of food, drinks, desserts, entertainment, and shopping that is on-hand.
This year we had a cruise that changed up our usual pattern of attending after a day covering Wondercon so we made sure to enjoy a couple of nights at the Knott’s Hotel before heading to the ship. During that time we visited the park to take in the festival and made sure to get our Taste cards the moment we entered the park. The cards offered six tastes for $50.00 and offered an Annual Pass discount of $45.00 a card.
Since this was our first trip to the park since December, we took our time taking in the vendors, entertainment, and decorations. The park was closing early on our first day due to heavy rain and I took advantage of a small crowd during this time to get on as many rides as I could that were still open as the lack of lines made it too good to miss even if I was dragging after an early morning and several hours of driving to make it to the park.
The weather was amazing on our second day and after a solid night of rest, we were eager to get to the park, my wife enjoyed taking pictures while I braved an early morning ride on the Calico River Rapids as the lack of a line was worth the risk of getting drenched early in the morning.
My son and our Granddaughter were joining us later in the early afternoon so we took some time to explore and eat and my wife loved the Boysenberry Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes which were a very large and tasty offering.
I decided to go with the Cowboy Chili and Macaroni and Cheese which was garnished with Fritos and Green Onions and even though I am a very infrequent drinker, it paired very well with the Boysenberry Cider.
Once our party was complete, we took in the animals in the barn as well as some of the character opportunities and the Pie Eating contest which was a delight watching the joy of the audience and the contestants as they raced to finish a pie without using their hands.
One of the great things about the park is the ability to move at your own pace and while it was crowded and many rides had long lines, we enjoyed seeing the Blacksmith work as well as visiting the various buildings in the Ghost Town area. Our Granddaughter loved seeing the animals and loved the crafts that were available in the Bottle House and we made sure to purchase a few items for her to paint when she returned home.
There was so much to enjoy from the candy shop visits to watching her light up when she won a Pokemon stuffed toy on one of the many games that were available. I enjoyed telling my son about my first visit to the park as a child and how his Great Grandparents took me around much the same way that we are taking our Granddaughter around and how it is building and connecting memories like this that makes a visit so special.
We had such an amazing time but had to get up early to drive to San Diego for our cruise so we planned to return after our cruise and a day at Wondercon for more fun and to use up our remaining tastes from our Taste Cards.
While the park was again filled with people enjoying the great weather and offerings, we had another helping of the Cowboy Chili and I tried the Boysenberry Sangria which was a great combination. We decided to give in to our sweet tooth and took in some of the amazing items in the bakery including a Boysenberry Pie Bar, a Boysenberry Brownie, and an amazing Boysenberry Mousse cake which was absolutely amazing.
While the week went by very quickly with so many things packed into our schedule, we had an amazing time at the festival and look forward to coming again next year and we are already hyped up to cover Knott’s Scary Farm in September.
The Boysenberry Festival runs daily through April 24th and you can get more details at www.knotts.com
(Photos by Gareth and Genevieve)
