It was quite a day, and describing this park as mediocre would be accurate or even generous. That's not to say there weren't fun things to do, or good moments, but we have a long list of complaints.
1. Parking: The parking experience was confusing to say the least. We spent a solid half hour circling the park while a handful of attendants randomly waved us in different directions. We even rolled down the windows to ask a couple of them where we were supposed to go, and while they offered directions, ultimately they didn't help us find where we were supposed to go at all. Luckily we eventually wandered over to the right lot. We literally drove through the main Knott's entrance three times before finally getting there. Better signage is needed!
2. Ride lines: The wait times on the day we visited (a Monday) were insane. At least three of the main rides had 90+ minute waits all day, and without a lot of other options of things to do, we pretty much just had to wait. For everything. Ride line wait estimates were rarely accurate. Once it was shorter than anticipated, but every other ride we waited for was 30-60 minutes longer than stated.
3. Food lines: Basically the same problem as the rides. Took an hour to get food from a counter service restaurant. Very little line direction or organization, so everyone we saw was confused about where the line started.
4. Food: The quality of the food was pretty mediocre in general, especially for the price. Generally bland, and low quality. Nothing seemed very fresh. There was even a point that we decided to throw half of a meal out, we were so disappointed. Vegetarian options were few and far between; despite claims on apps and the park website, posted menus in restaurants did not show any vegetarian options. There were some things that we really enjoyed: frozen lemonade, boysenberry cookies, and pie were all delicious, so it wasn't a total wash, but when the best meal you've had all day is from Panda Express, that's kind of sad for a place with Berry Farm right in its name.
5. All Day Dining Pass: Don't do it! Between ride and restaurant wait times, it was difficult-to-impossible for us to squeeze in enough dining experiences to just break even on the cost of the pass. And that's not even speaking of the incredibly limited options of what actual food items are included. To begin with, figuring out which restaurants and which menu options are dining-pass-included was difficult. The app, menus, and website are all frustratingly vague about the offerings. There were many restaurants we were interested in trying, but ultimately avoided because they did not offer anything in the dining plan. In hindsight, we wish we'd skipped the dining pass and just ordered whatever we wanted as we explored the park instead. It sounds like the seasonal dining pass offers much better value, but since based on our overall experience we don't plan on coming back anytime soon, we will be giving that a miss.
6. Line etiquette/management: Knott's employees do very little to manage the line flow and organization of any of the attractions we visited. That led to us being cut in front of by people line skipping to "join their friends/group" countless times. Once a pair of teens sped past the line, all the way to the front (we'd been waiting for an hour), and then they were let on board the ride in front of everyone who'd been waiting, even though their group were clearly not there. This delayed our ride time by a full ten minutes, because they edged us off of the next coaster, and the one following was filled by fast-pass riders. It would take more staffing, but someone needs to be at the front and back of the queues to manage crowd control. And this is something I previously observed the last time I visited, years ago, so this is not just a post-pandemic staffing issue. It seems like it is just the way Knott's runs things.
7. Ride loading: Incredibly slow and inefficient. This seemed to be one of the central drivers of long wait times. It could take 5+ minutes to exchange incoming/outgoing passengers of a single coaster for some rides.
8. Cleanliness: Park was pretty unkempt. Lots of litter, consistently around the park. Bathrooms in particular were messy.
There are a few things to praise. The rides themselves, once boarded, were generally really enjoyable. The staff were generally nice and helpful around the park (shoutout to Chuck in the gun shop of all places). The bakery is fantastic. But these things alone don't make a theme park worth visiting. The experience overall left a lot to be desired. We were really hoping for more. In summary: We're very excited for our next trip to Disneyland.