Silver Bullet at Knott's Berry Farm 
Basic Overview
Average Wait Time: 20 minutes As you enter Knott's Berry Farm, you have a choice: go left towards the wooden Ghostrider or go towards Silver Bullet's large cobra roll. They are both equally good rides, but Silver Bullet, with its red and yellow colors, is bright and you are drawn to it. You walk underneath its cobra roll to its queue.
You walk past the "test seat" where ride operators see if you are too large or too small to fit inside the restraints. A sign overhead says "Jacob Mining Co." and you go underneath it. That's where the line begins. Don't be afraid by the many turn-arounds in the line. You won't be waiting very long for the ride. Even if the line is past the test-seat, you may only have to wait 15-20 minutes. So, you walk through the small line and come to three stairs upward, and you go to the nicely organized loading area. Overhead, there are TV's that tell you what to do once you get to your seat. You wait about 3-5 more minutes here, and then move toward the 32-seater trains, 4 across. I recommend the front seat or the backseat, but the front is better. Also, sitting on the far-right or far-left side will have a more exhilarating feel to the ride. Finally, you pull over the restraints, fasten your seatbelt, and get ready to ride. The operators check and you go around a right turn to the lift hill. You get pulled up the 146 ft. lift very quickly, as the lift hill is fast. When you get to the top, you go through the signature B&M dip which is barely felt in the front but easily felt in the final back rows. You go through the right handed drop quickly. Although you do get a little airtime, this is not one of the rides with signature "airtime elements". Then you fly through the loop, where there is a little headbanging, and you get a small bit of hang time before you fly over and into the overbank. If you are sitting on the right side of the train, you are almost upside-down and no matter where you sit, you get a lot of airtime while going over. After the overbank, you are sent through the cobra roll: the way up, then to the right, and then back down again. This is one of the ride's most disorienting elements. After the cobra roll, there is an upward hill where you experience zero G's going through at Zero-G Roll. Then, you go into a quick left turn-around over Indian Trails, and are pushed into the first wingover (B&M's name for a corkscrew on inverted coasters). This is fun, but once you think it is over, you go down a small dip and into another corkscrew, which is equally exciting as the last. Next, you go through an extremely intense helix, where it is very hard to move your feet or arms. Soon, you go up, hit the brakes, and are pulled back into the station over onlookers sitting down, watching the ride. The line is almost always short. I've ridden it 27 times in three days (13 in one day). I suggest that if you like it, you should ride it as many times as you want. I've only ridden two inverts, and this is the best one of the two. Silver Bullet is one of the "must ride" coasters at Knott's Berry Farm.
Pros: Disorienting and the overbanked turn |
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