Opinions, please, for Knotts' Boysenberry Festival

We visited Knott's this weekend and enjoyed the Boysenberry Festival very much. We booked a Festival Package at the Knott's Hotel, staying for two nights. The package included two nights at the hotel, 1 day tickets for each of us (family of 3), hotel parking, and an 8 tab tasting card for select Festival booth items. We drove up to Anaheim from San Diego on Friday the 29th to attend WonderCon (a cousin to the more popular ComicCon), afterwards having dinner in Downtown Disney, and then driving up to Buena Park to check in at the hotel. Since early admission didn't start until 9am, we got up a bit early and drove from the hotel over to the very close Porto's Bakery for breakfast. Back in plenty of time, we queued up with Knott's AP holders who also had early entry that Saturday. Having pre-purchased a second tasting card online ahead of time, once we got into the park, I hit an awaiting booth to exchange my voucher. With 16 total tasting tabs for the three of us, we planned to break them up to essentially cover lunch, dinner, and some desserts throughout the day. That said, there were some Festival items that were not on the tasting menu that we wanted to try as well, so we paid for those few items out of pocket.

What did we think of the Festival? Overall, the food that we tried was awesome! The Boysenberry Jerk Chicken Wings were by far and away the best of show! We also very much liked the Boysenberry Pot Roast over Boysenberry Mashed Potatoes (the roast more than the potatoes), the Boysenberry Pulled Pork Tostada, the Boysenberry BBQ Chicken Skewers with a Boysenberry Aioli, and the Boysenberry Dry Rubbed Flank Steak with a Boysenberry Cream Cheese Topping. Honorable mention for the Boysenberry Glazed Salmon over mixed Greens and topped with a Boysenberry Vinaigrette and the Boysenberry and Lemon Hummus with Pita Bread; these were good, but not great. For dessert, the Boysenberry Waffle with Maple Boysenberry Cream Cheese Syrup was sublime...we used 3 tasting tabs for 3 orders of this! The Boysenberry Elote (grilled corn) was more Instagram worthy than tasty and the Boysenberry Cinnamon Sugar Flour Tortilla Chips with Boysenberry Ice Cream left a lot to be desired.

Items we tried that were not on the tasting menu were the Boysenberry Key Lime Tart, which my wife enjoyed very much, the Boysenberry Boba (weak flavor and the bobas were overly chewy and grainy), and the Boysenberry ICEE (like a Slurpee and full of great flavor).

The booths were strewn mostly throughout the Ghost Town area, but there were a few located in other areas of the park. There was some confusion from guests on how to obtain an item it appeared, especially if they didn't have a tasting card. Apparently, you had to pre-purchase the item(s) you wanted at a nearby cash register, which wasn't clearly marked, nor referenced at the booth or in line. We saw several folks get in line, wait in line, and then get told they couldn't have the item without a receipt or tasting tab. It created a lot of frustration and people angrily leaving a line, only to return with receipt in hand, cutting up to the front of the line since they claimed they were there before. This part really could have been managed and communicated better.

Overall, it was nice experience. Since we were there on the first Saturday of the Festival, the park grew rather crowded, not Disneyland crowded, but we managed to move around very easily through the walking spaces with very little congestion. Beyond the food booths, there were a scattering of other booths selling various things. We are very glad that we came up for this, but we will probably not do it again for another couple of years.
 



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