As the fog of Ghost Town fades, the snow and colorful lights take over. Knott’s makes its transformation to Knott’s Merry Farm. From November 19th – January 2nd, you can experience Knott’s largest Christmas celebration with winter wonderland-inspired décor transforming the entire park into a classic holiday festival, featuring a landscape of thousands of twinkling lights, miles of themed garland, jumbo snowflakes, and a variety of picturesque seasonal settings. Knott’s Merry Farm offers Christmas activities for families and joyful experiences inspired by the spirit of the holidays.

As much as we love Halloween, theres something so honest and genuine about the Christmas celebrations at the Farm. From the tree lighting ceremony, the Snow and Glow show in Ghost Town, and even the Snoopy Ice Show; Merry Farm delivers in spades with its all encompassing Christmas warmth.

FOOD & TREATS

Along side wonderful decorations and music, Merry Farm is known for its food! As usual, there is so much food and treats for this years Merry Farm that it’ll take multiple visits to eat it all. One of our favorite offerings that’s returned from previous years is the Turkey Balls. These are deep fried stuffing balls with turkey and cranberry in the center, smothered in gravy. We could eat so many of these! Other favorites of ours were the Pickle Pizza and the Waffle Tacos!

It wouldn’t be the holidays without an over abundance of holiday treats! With this wide variety of treats, it’s sure to satisfy anyone with a major sweet tooth! The items that really stood out for us were the Belgian Waffles (which you can get multiple ways) and the classic Cookies and Milk.

Last, but certainly not least, for all the adults out there this is the item you should get. You can get a hot coco or coffee with extra shots of “merry” inside. If you’re not catching my drift, “merry” is alcohol and it puts the pep in your step.

All these food offerings can be found throughout Knott’s during the Holidays.

MERCHANDISE

Each and every event brings new and exciting items to purchase while at the Farm. This year, the Bears of Bear-y Tales have their very own Christmas shirt, there’s a Merry Farm spirit Jersey (which Nikki couldn’t pass up), and a ton more.

What we love about the merchandise Knott’s kicks out for each season is how unique and specific they all are. It would be easy for Cedar Fair to just create a line of generic Knott’s Berry Farm merchandise and change the color based on the season. But Knott’s takes the time to create fun unique offerings like Santawampas! Which you can only find at Knott’s Berry Farm for the holidays.

We also mention this every season, but of course they have the affordable shirt pin combo package for guests. You can find this advertised at one of the first stands inside Ghost Town.

Next time you visit for Merry Farm, take some time to check out the 2021 merch because it’s guaranteed you’ll find something you’ll love.

ENTERTAINMENT

As with every celebration at the Farm, there is an abundance of entertainment offerings for every age range. From Merry Christmas Snoopy (the ice show), to an abridged version of A Christmas Carol, and A Peanut’s Guide to Christmas in Camp Snoopy. Knott’s has always done a fantastic job at creating numerous entertainment offerings that keep guests entertained and busy during their visit. For us, we didn’t ride any rides and found ourselves so busy just watching all the holiday shows.

Back again is K-NOT Radio, situated on The Boardwalk. We absolutely love this duo because (as with every other season) they add so much energy to the entire area. We also love the fact that K-NOT is able to transcend seasonal theming and comes back each and every season with a whole new script. We hope this becomes a Knott’s staple for years to come. Some of the other highlights have to be A Christmas Carol inside the Birdcage Theater in Ghost Town, Merry Christmas Snoopy inside the Walter Knott Theater, the Carolers around the park, and the Snow and Glow in Ghost Town. Of course there are so many other wonderful offerings, these just happen to be our favorites.

Of course, you can’t make a trip to Knott’s Merry Farm without getting a photo with the Peanuts characters themselves. The most popular being Snoopy, because he’s Snoopy! We were lucky because we went inside Santa’s Workshop and saw Santa Snoopy sitting in the Big Man’s seat!

New this year is a street performance called Christmas Clatter! While we were making our way to the Water Knott Theater for the Snoopy Ice Show, we saw two gentlemen pushing their tools on a trolly and settled near the entrance of the Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars. At first glance, they just look like Knott’s employees making their way to their next stop. But slowly but surely, you realize the racket they’re making actually has a nice beat and rhythm.

We really like the addition of the Christmas Clatter show. While it’s not really Christmas themed other than by name, it nice to have entertainment offerings that seek out people instead of having to seek it out.

Lastly, one of the major portions of Merry Farm would be the Christmas Crafts Village. Relax and unwind in Knott’s Christmas Crafts Village, as Ghost Town transforms into a shopping wonderland filled with dozens of local artisans selling their unique gifts. Can’t-miss highlights of the Village include artist demonstrations of chainsaw wood carving and elegant glass blowing.

It’s rather easy to get sucked into this part of the park because you can find some amazing holiday gifts for everyone in the family. We often like finding the food stands because they offer things you can’t find at the park.

Knott’s actually offers the Christmas Craft Village (and select Knott’s retail locations in Ghost Town) for FREE…that’s right…for Free on select dates. (General park admission or Season Pass is required for all other days.)

• Monday, Nov. 29 – Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021
• Monday, Dec. 6 – Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021

This is a really cool offer that you won’t find at many other theme parks in SoCal. So if you need a small Knott’s fix but can’t purchase a ticket, you can do so on these select dates!

AMBIANCE & NIGHT TIME TRANSFORMATION

As mentioned earlier, Knott’s Merry Farm really delivers the warmth of Christmas that many people know and love. From the wonderfully decorated areas, to the subtle music, and smell of holiday treats; everywhere you go the park is transformed.

While daytime at Knott’s Merry Farm is great, nothing competes with its transformation as nightfall approaches. When the twinkling lights along the buildings illuminate, it truly feels like Christmas. It’s really hard to put into words because the moment is really about how it makes you feel. An almost childish joy as the lights glimmer and the holiday music swells. It really is a moving moment.

You’d think that would be enough, but Knott’s really pushes it over the edge with the Snow and Glow show in Ghost Town. Every night during Merry Farm, when the sun sets on the Farm, the buildings and paths in Ghost Town’s Main Street and School House Road are filled with glow and snow! Thousands of sparkling lights dance to the beat of Christmas music while snow gently falls in this spectacular one-of-a-kind moment.

This hits all the right notes and is a perfect “kiss goodnight” after a full day of holiday fun at Knott’s Merry Farm.

OVERALL

It’s not lost on anyone that Knott’s is always fighting an uphill battle when it comes to getting peoples sights off Disneyland, and that fight is so hard during the holidays. Everyone talks about Disneyland during the holidays, but for us it’s always missed something. The warmth and heart that is synonymous with the season was missing and in its place was Mickey Mouse.

Knott’s was able to capture not only the magic, warmth, and heart of the season; but also while creating entertainment that showcases all the wonderful characters that we know and love. From Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and all the Bear’s from Bear-y Tales; these characters are utilized to the fullest without losing the genuine nature of the event. If there was anything we would like to see changed or adjusted is the inclusion of other cultural and religious celebrations of the seasons. With such a diverse group of people visiting the park, incorporating other stories, celebrations, and iconography is important to creating a more well rounded event.

Knott’s truly continues to improve upon its proven formula for its events. Along with the other season events, Merry Farm establishes itself as a multi-day type of event that will pack your day full of holiday goodness.

For a more in depth conversation about the offerings at Knott’s Merry Farm and our complete thoughts, tune into The Theme Park Duo Podcast! We release episode bi-weekly!

IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KNOTT’S MERRY FARM OR PURCHASE TICKETS, CLICK HERE!