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Park Queue TimesPQT

Dorney Park
vs
Knott's Berry Farm

Dorney Park and Knott's Berry Farm queue about the same on a typical day - 20 minutes against 19 minutes across 13 and 17 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

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01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Dorney Park and Knott's Berry Farm compared on their typical recorded queue times
TypicallyDorney ParkUnited StatesKnott's Berry FarmUnited States
Average wait per ride 20 min19 min (best of the two)
Rides with recorded waits 1317 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue Thunder Canyon43 minGhostRider57 min
Shortest typical queue White Water Landing8 minSupreme Scream8 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running66%93% (best of the two)

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Dorney Park and Knott's Berry Farm compared on live queue times
Right nowDorney ParkUnited StatesKnott's Berry FarmUnited States
Average wait right now --
Rides open --
Opening hours today --
Longest queue --
Shortest queue --

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day Dorney Park and Knott's Berry Farm queue about the same on a typical day - 20 minutes against 19 minutes across 13 and 17 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Dorney Park if…

  • Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 20 minutes a ride
  • Thunder Canyon is on your list - it is Dorney Park's longest typical queue at about 43 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Dorney Park's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Knott's Berry Farm if…

  • Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 19 minutes a ride
  • You want more to do: 17 rides here have recorded wait data against 13 at Dorney Park
  • You would rather not find rides shut: Knott's Berry Farm's rides run 93% of opening hours against 66% at Dorney Park
  • GhostRider is on your list - it is Knott's Berry Farm's longest typical queue at about 57 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Knott's Berry Farm's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Dorney Park

Dorney Park sits in Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 90 minutes north of Philadelphia. It's a mid-sized theme park with a strong coaster line-up for its size: Steel Force (a 200-foot hyper coaster), Talon (an inverted coaster), Hydra the Revenge (a floorless coaster), and Possessed. A Wildwater Kingdom water park is included with park admission during the summer season.

Dorney Park's season runs May to October, with peak crowds on summer weekends and during the Halloween Haunt. Weekdays in May, September and October are dramatically quieter. Check live queue times for Steel Force and Hydra on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek visit - most of the coasters stay under 15 minutes of wait time on quieter days.

Dorney Park live queue times

Knott's Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm sits in Buena Park, Orange County, California, with a long history dating back to Walter Knott's original berry farm and boysenberry jam stand from the 1920s. It's now a full theme park famous for its coaster line-up: HangTime, Silver Bullet, Xcelerator (a hydraulic launch coaster), GhostRider (a large wooden coaster), and the classic Timber Mountain Log Ride.

Southern California locals keep Knott's busy all year round, but peak crowds align with US school holidays, the extremely popular Scary Farm Halloween event, and Knott's Merry Farm at Christmas. Check live wait times for Xcelerator and HangTime on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a weekday outside local school breaks for shorter queues.

Knott's Berry Farm live queue times

05 · Questions

Dorney Park or Knott's Berry Farm?

Which is better, Dorney Park or Knott's Berry Farm?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 19 minutes a ride on a typical day. Dorney Park has 13 rides with recorded waits against 17 at Knott's Berry Farm. Knott's Berry Farm also runs its rides more reliably - 93% of opening hours against 66%. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Dorney Park or Knott's Berry Farm?

They are level. Dorney Park averages 20 minutes a ride on a typical day and Knott's Berry Farm averages 19 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Dorney Park best time to visit and Knott's Berry Farm best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Dorney Park and Knott's Berry Farm in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Dorney Park and Knott's Berry Farm for the full ride lists.

Is Dorney Park bigger than Knott's Berry Farm?

By rides we track waits for, Knott's Berry Farm is the bigger day out: 17 rides against 13. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Dorney Park calendarKnott's Berry Farm calendarCompare other parks