Early yesterday morning, I had the privilege of being able to check out the Calico Mine Ride for the media preview. Although it was a preview, the ride was open for the rest of the day and most presumably tomorrow. Everything is done and ready to go!
The Calico Mine Ride restoration was amazing! Like the Timber Mountain Log Ride, Garner Holt did an amazing job with the animatronics and the new lighting. A lot of the animatronics look so life-like and great, whlle everything else still maintain the "creepy" old-fashioned vibe. The ending did blow me away with its special effects and upgrades they put in....yes there was a pun in there. It did remind me a lot of the new scene from Big Thunder Mountain. Actually, it was probably directly taken from it. Overall, please go check out the Mine Ride. It's amazing and you will love the updates Garner Holt put in there. I also loved what they did with Camp Snoopy. It looks beautiful again! The new figures on the Sierra Train were very cute and the Linus Launcher was quite fun!
Oh, one more thing. During the dedication of Camp Snoopy's reopening, Raffi hinted at the new dark ride opening next year. "we are turning our attention to the boardwalk for interactive family fun for 2015."
I really love the direction Knott's is headed. It becoming a great park.