Knotts Berry Farm
vs
Universal Islands Of Adventure

Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Islands Of Adventure queue about the same on a typical day - 24 minutes against 25 minutes across 16 and 18 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.

Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Islands Of Adventure compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Knotts Berry FarmUnited States	Universal Islands Of AdventureUnited States
Average wait per ride	24 min (best of the two)	25 min
Rides with recorded waits	16	18 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	GhostRider64 min	Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure™68 min
Shortest typical queue	Los Voladores7 min	Storm Force Accelatron®6 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	90% (best of the two)	89%

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.

Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Islands Of Adventure compared on live queue times
Right now	Knotts Berry FarmUnited States	Universal Islands Of AdventureUnited 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 Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Islands Of Adventure queue about the same on a typical day - 24 minutes against 25 minutes across 16 and 18 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 Knotts Berry Farm if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 24 minutes a ride
GhostRider is on your list - it is Knotts Berry Farm's longest typical queue at about 64 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Knotts Berry Farm's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Universal Islands Of Adventure if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 25 minutes a ride
You want more to do: 18 rides here have recorded wait data against 16 at Knotts Berry Farm
Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure™ is on your list - it is Universal Islands Of Adventure's longest typical queue at about 68 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Universal Islands Of Adventure's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Knotts 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.

Knotts Berry Farm live queue times

Universal Islands Of Adventure

Universal's Islands of Adventure is widely regarded as one of the best theme parks in the world. Its line-up blends record-breaking coasters with detailed themed lands: Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, VelociCoaster, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Pteranodon Flyers, and the classic Jurassic Park River Adventure. The Wizarding World's Hogsmeade is the park's most iconic area.

Like its sister Studios park, Islands of Adventure stays busy year-round, with Hagrid's and VelociCoaster consistently posting the longest queues. Peak periods are US school holidays, Halloween Horror Nights and Christmas. Check live wait times immediately on arrival and head to Hagrid's first. Use our crowd calendar to pick the quietest possible date for your trip.

Universal Islands Of Adventure live queue times

05 · Questions

Knotts Berry Farm or Universal Islands Of Adventure?

Which is better, Knotts Berry Farm or Universal Islands Of Adventure?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 24 minutes a ride on a typical day. Knotts Berry Farm has 16 rides with recorded waits against 18 at Universal Islands Of Adventure. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Knotts Berry Farm or Universal Islands Of Adventure?

They are level. Knotts Berry Farm averages 24 minutes a ride on a typical day and Universal Islands Of Adventure averages 25 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Knotts Berry Farm best time to visit and Universal Islands Of Adventure best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Islands Of Adventure 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 Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Islands Of Adventure for the full ride lists.

Is Knotts Berry Farm bigger than Universal Islands Of Adventure?

By rides we track waits for, Universal Islands Of Adventure is the bigger day out: 18 rides against 16. 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.

Knotts Berry Farm calendar Universal Islands Of Adventure calendar Compare other parks