Once Upon a Bear-y Tale: The Story of Knott’s Berry Farm’s Californian Classic and Its Return to the Fair

Hibernation Ends

On November 19, 2019 representatives from both Knott’s and dark ride firm Triotech hosted a joint announcement at the annual International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo in Orlando. Just five years after it had debuted, the mediocre Voyage to the Iron Reef was sunk. (A Knott’s spokesperson suggested that the ride had only been planned to last five years anyway, which seems questionable.)

In its place, the hallowed ground once home to the the Bear-y’s Boysenberry Bakery, a new adventure would soon begin…

Voyage to the Iron Reef closed forever on January 5, 2020 to make way for Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair – a concept so obvious in retrospect, it’s shocking that Knott’s hadn’t done it to begin with!

Re-using the physical ride system and layout created for the Voyage to the Iron Reef gaming ride (but replacing trigger-activated “freeze rays” with pull-popper “jelly-blasters” akin to Disney’s Toy Story Midway Mania attractions), the new attraction would see guests return to the Boysenberry Pie Factory 35 years after their first visit. Riders would revisit Frog Forest, the “Fortune Teller Camp,” Thunder Cave, and Weird Woods, culminating in a celebration at the County Fair, all while blasting Crafty Coyote and his mischievous, thieving pups as they try to steal Boysen Bear and Girlsen Bear’s blue-ribbon boysenberry pies.

“Knott’s Bear-y Tales carries a great significance and evokes an intense sense of nostalgia for those who first experienced the ride as children in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” Triotech vice president and creative director Nol Van Genuchten said as part of the ride’s announcement. “It’s our goal to capture the spirit, creativity and originality that made this dark ride such a success and thus [honor] the cherished memories of the original attraction.”

One part of honoring the original? Rolly Crump’s son, Walt Disney Imagineer Chris Crump, joined Knott’s and Triotech as consultant on the attraction. With Knott’s archive of concepts, Triotech’s easily-swappable screen-based animation, and Crump’s own know-how, there could be no more fitting an attraction to anchor Knott’s 100th Anniversary in 2020 than the reappearance of the bears and their Return to the Fair.

Except… In March 2020, just a few months into the installation of “Return to the Fair,” the COVID-19 global pandemic forced the closure of Knott’s Berry Farm and all of California’s theme parks. Given the state’s cautious approach to reopening, Knott’s missed its 100th Anniversary season almost entirely.

Unlike the fire that delayed the original ride’s opening, though, the park’s extended closure gave designers the rare chance to slow down – adding more depth to physical sets, crafting new props, and tweaking the attraction’s flow. In an in-depth feature on the new ride’s development by Blooloop’s Charlotte Coates, Knott’s VP of Rides and Maintenance Jeff Gahagan reported:

“The pandemic helped us. Although it’s weird to say that. We were on a tight deadline to turn [the ride] around. But then we had an extra year. We were able to do a lot of tweaking and adjusting, basically upgrading the attraction. A lot of times, you have a ride or an attraction that opens and you adjust after the guests’ reaction comes out. With this ride, we were able to spend that entire year making those adjustments. So that the reaction from the guests is ‘You nailed it, you got it perfect.’”

Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair (2021)

Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair held its grand opening one year late, one May 21, 2021 – its marquee adorned with very “Crumpian” propellors. Even for those of us who prefer our dark rides without laser guns, there’s so much to love about the new jelly-blasting attraction. With familiar locales so joyfully recreated to the delightful smell of boysenberry permeating the factory and its really great queue, nothing tops the list of loving odes quite like the rambling tunes of a refreshed and rerecorded “Welcome One and All” (streamable by Park Lore Members, above).

The ride beautifully redressed the vast, cold, and bland Iron Reef show space, benefitting greatly from the Bear-y Tales’ moonlit forest aesthetic. Trees cover the “seams” between screens, and the contents of any two screens become one continuous environment. Weeping willow branches lower the room’s ceiling and sound level, making Return to the Fair feel warm and personal; blacklight returns a whimsical storybook aesthetic to the attraction.

In the new Bear-y Tales, guests are whisked through glowing woods, passing significant physical sets and adorable setups. While the addition of even a single animatronic character might’ve put the ride over the top, it’s still an absolutely excellent redux and a very good ride even without the nostalgic element factored in. Take a ride through Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair below, and be sure to marvel at not just how it manages to revisit the original’s locations, but within the “Iron Reef” ride footprint!

Let’s face it – compared to its nearest siblings at Disney (Toy Story Midway Mania or Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure), the new Knott’s Bear-y Tales probably reads as the most “Disney” of the bunch! Original characters, gorgeous fantasy environments, memorable locales… Crump’s storybook world was reborn in no-less beautiful a way. At the very least, it is without a doubt a spectacularly fitting follow-up to the park’s original ride, and a perfect attraction to anchor the park’s 100th anniversary.

A Crump Classic

Despite his trepidation with Disney, Rolly returned to the “Mouse House” on and off throughout his career. Soon after the completion of Knott’s Bear-y Tales, he was called back to Imagineering by his Imagineer son Chris to contribute to the design of an EPCOT Center pavilion based on health and medicine.

Crump’s 1976 draft of a midway-themed celebration of life (a Member-exclusive piece of rare concept art, above), clearly continues the “Gypsy” styling he employed in both the “Museum of the Weird” and in Bear-y Tales… including lavish tents, Victorian embellishments, and even a palm-reading Fortune Teller! Ultimately, Disney opted for a much more modern (and much more self-dating) ’80s carnival / mall aesthetic as the Lost Legend: Wonders of Life.

After another five years with the company, Crump left once more, establishing an independent design firm. He returned to Disney for a final stint as an Executive Designer on EPCOT from 1992 to 1996 before retiring for good. His autobiography – It’s Kind of a Cute Story – is an exceptionally recommended read.

Rolly Crump, now in his 90s, still lives in Carlsbad, California – close enough to Disneyland to visit Main Street, U.S.A., where his name is forever inscribed among the park’s “opening credits” by way of the company’s highest honor: a window on Main Street, U.S.A. Crump’s window is – appropriately – Main Street’s Fargo Palm Parlor, offering “Predictions That Will Haunt You,” the “Bazaar, Whimsical & Weird” (sic), and “Designs to Die For” with Crump’s “Museum of the Weird” concept art applied to tarot cards.

As for Knott’s Bear-y Tales? One of the most missed dark rides in California didn’t live long, but it sure did make a bear of an impression. A masterwork of Crump’s tried-and-true aesthetic, the 1975 original was, for all intents and purposes, a Disney-quality dark ride just built a few blocks away. As a landmark of Knott’s Berry Farm, it was a joyful, spectacular, and downright magical mix of the kind of color, music, artistry, and environments that delighted a decade of visitors – and more to the point – permanently planted the smell of boysenberry in their minds.

And now, nearly fifty years later, a whole new generation gets to “Return to the Fair.” As far as Lost Legends go, we’d call that a happy ending.