Seasonal Events at Knott’s Berry Farm

The first attraction at Knott’s Berry Farm, back in the 1940s, was a walk-through cyclorama called The Covered Wagon Show, which chronicled the Knott family’s move to the west. Today the theme park’s live shows embrace that Old West magic, while also adding in music, storytelling and even ice-skating Peanuts characters.

The first true live shows at the park were presented in 1954 at the small Bird Cage Theatre, a replica of a theatre from Tombstone, Arizona, that is located in Ghost Town. The tiny theatre originally put on melodramas - classic tales of villains, good guys and damsels in distress, and it still presents those same stories, often with cheeky, 21st-century humour. The talent is good, and there is even some impressive precedent here: this is the stage where a former local boy named Steve Martin had his first paid comedy gig.

The other shows around the park change periodically, but some themes always apply. The Old West flavour continues at the musical revues at the Calico Saloon Show, and the open-air Wagon Camp theatre presents crowd-pleasers like the Wild West Stunt Show, which combines a cowboy-fuelled showdown with Hollywood-calibre stunts. During the summer, this section of the park is the focal point of Ghost Town Alive!, with appearances by bandits, cowboys, robbers, judges and normal folks taking part in Western-style hoedowns. Nearby, take a look at the Virtual Reality Showdown, an interactive experience in Ghost Town.

In the section of the park for younger children, there is always a show (sometimes with a seasonal twist) at the Camp Snoopy Theatre, which features various members of the Peanuts gang; check times to see when the characters will be available for meet-and-greets.

The Mystery Lodge, next to Bigfoot Rapids, offers a Native American storyteller, performing against a colourful backdrop of special effects. Check the schedule at the Charles M. Schulz Theatre, outside the Boardwalk area, which often features big Peanuts-themed shows, like the impressive Snoopy on Ice, which showcases both the characters on skates as well as impressive, competitive-level figure skaters.

Just a few blocks from the rollercoasters and pies of Knott’s Berry Farm is Orange County's largest water park, Knott’s Soak City. A veritable water-fun wonderland, it also channels some of the thrills and names of the nearby SoCal beaches.

Admission is separate for Soak City, which is only open from mid-May to early September. Over its 15 acres, the water park offers 23 speed, tube and body slides; the 2.8-million-litre Tidal Wave Bay wave pool; a one-third-of-a-mile lazy river; and the three-storey Beach House, with 200 water guns, nozzles, sprayers and more.

If you want the ultimate thrill, try Shore Break, the seven-storey-high tower that has six different slides, four of which send you off using an Aqua-Launch chamber, where the floor drops out from under your feet.

Or, you can race on the six-lane Banzai Falls slide, or splash in one of the attractions named after SoCal beaches. Malibu Run features four individual inflatable-tube slides that start at a height of nearly 12 metres, while the Laguna Storm Watch Tower offers three inflatable raft tube slides for one or two riders each. Take the whole family together on the The Wedge, a raft-ride-style slide that’s a nod to the infamous wave at nearby Newport Beach.

Younger children, meanwhile, will like the Gremmie Lagoon, a water playground for families. To upgrade your day at the park, book one of the cabanas, which come with shaded loungers and a dining table, as well as four inner tube rentals and table service. As a reminder that you’re not too far from the origins of the theme park next door, the Portside Pizza eatery at Soak City offers a boysenberry-topped funnel cake (think a cross between a doughnut and churros) for dessert.