Pony Express

Do you remember the coin operated mechanical horses that were found out in front of your local grocery store or Wal-​Mart when you were a kid? You know, the ones you BEGGED your mom to put some quarters in so that you could straddle them and bounce up and down joyfully for 3 minutes pretending that you were a professional rodeo rider on the back of the champion bucking bronco? You don’t? You missed out on one of the highlights of my childhood. Here’s a picture to refresh your memory
Nowadays, the closest you can come are the spring animals at children’s playground.
Well, the Pony Express roller coaster at Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park is a souped up adult version of these childhood standards. I’m SERIOUS, not joking. Just compare this photo below to those above and i dare you to suggest that whoever designed this ride was NOT taking a walk down memory lane when they came up with this idea.
Yes, assuming that you meet the height requirements of being 48″ or taller, you will stand in a long line just to straddle your very own fiberglass horsie that doesn’t look substantially different from the ones at Walmart. Instead of the safety restraint bar being locked down over your lap, it is locked behind your back which will force you to lean forward in your best imitation of a jockey ready to ride at Hialeah Park. On the day we rode this ride the line was 28 minutes long, but they were only running one car instead of the usual two, so that may or may not be a longer wait than usual.
My riding companion (8 years old) and I gussied up to our mounts, grateful we’d left all our nonessential gear with his mother as other riders were forced to leave their purses and backpacks off to the side to await their return. There were a few moments of tense anticipations then out of nowhere an initial acceleration that went from zero to lightspeed in nanoseconds. The rest of the ride (it lasts a total of a minute, I timed the three groups in front of us start to finish) is not bad, it twists and turns, it’s just too short.
One fun note, when my companion and I reached the end of the ride, arms outstretched above us in wild abandon, it came to a sudden stop throwing us forward in a motion that felt unnervingly like the «whip» part of the Watch Me (Whip/​Nae Nae). Well, you guessed it, we finished the last slow entrance into the loading area doing a fairly decent job of the Whip Nae Nae dance complete with off-​key singing and hand motions.

(for the sake of full and complete disclosure the above gif is not ACTUALLY of my friend and I, but you get the idea)
Does it truly deserve the rating of 4 — High Thrill Attraction at Knotts Berry Farm? Not in my opinion, but the extra star is for the fact that a rider only has to be 48″ tall to ride and does not necessarily need an adult companion to do so.
My rating? 2stars for me, but 3 stars for the family with whom I was visiting the park. And the trip was for the benefit of the kids so we went with their excitement factor.

Centuries ago, we didn’t have automobiles or airplanes delivering our letters. I guess no one uses these media these days with the replacement of e-​mails. We had ponies, trains, and telegraphs to send messages. OK, I wasn’t there a long time ago, but we learned about the most infamous messenger service, the Pony Express. However, you won’t learn much when you ride the Pony Express at Knott’s Berry Farm.
OK, this review will be relatively simple. There is no theme besides Pony Express being in GhostTown portion of the park near Bigfoot Rapids. In less than a minute, the ride shoots you out on the track and ends its adventure back in the station. Is that all?! Well, you are not just riding any ordinary roller coaster car. You’ll be riding in a motorcycle type roller coaster. Ahem… I mean a Pony type roller coaster. You’ll be sitting in a horse and locked in place by restraint system that holds your back.
As I mentioned, it ends in under one minute. People can be waiting for many hours to ride and Pony Express can only be running one train. It is a bit disappointing that I foresee Pony Express heading into the archives as Knott’s exhausted rides. Using a Fast Lane Pass for this ride is useless, but if you have the money for it, Go for it! I’d say wait for Xcelerator versus because that is much more enjoyable than Pony Express. You get a great view and more hang time.
Pony Express is a good ride for the first timers, but after coming back many times, it seems wrong to have it. i would not be surprised if it disappears into history like the actual Pony Express. There was no history to read on the walls in the queue. Just television monitors playing music videos. Such a waste, but I do hope some renovation or some upgrades. Smoke and some sound effects to make your experience more enjoyable.
Unilocal…My passion is not to write my reviews, but to share my experiences with you. Take that journey and share your story.

As far as it goes over all a good ride. Just short that’s all. The take off Is fun and the bank under the wood cover is fun if you sit on the side closer to the loading gate. But because the ride time I think is well under a minute it’s not worth more than a ten minute wait.

Not worth the wait. Located in Ghost Town near the Big Foot Rapids. We waited in line for at least 30 minutes and the ride was about 30 seconds long. The appeal is that you look like you’re riding a pony and the initial burst of speed. I’ll stick with Montezooma’s Revenge or Xcelerator to get my thrills.

This ride has a surprisingly long line. The only fun part is the initial acceleration. That is a bit of a thrill. The rest of the ride is short and dull. This is more for the kiddies!
Also, the harness keeps you in from behind so it puts a lot of pressure on your back.

Ever want to know what it is like to ride a motorcycle but to scared to hit the traffic? This is the closest you will come while being uncomfortable at the same time. The ride is short and quick and will wake you up for the walk back to the main rides, but the line for it gives it a sense of being worth more than it is. 15minutes would be my limit to wait in a line for this guy. Safe for the little ones and the big ones, but if you don’t like being trapped in place by your back you might want to move along lil’pony…

Simple ride that is really short! You literally loop around in a circle and you’re done. I like the concept of sitting on a horse versus just sitting in a cart but man this is a short ride!

It is a ok coaster. The open air seating while leaning forward on a «horse» is a Great idea but the actual implementation is lacking. The ride is actually fairly mild and is well suited for coaster novices (or cowards). The BIG drawback is this ride is really really really short. Well under 1 minute.

You can seriously review individual rides at the park? That’s nuts. But whatever.
Of all the rides we tried this weekend, this one was by far the most disappointing. We had high hopes after watching it go by several times as we waited in line for the nearby Rapids ride, intrigued by the cool seated position this coaster uses. When we got in line it was nearly outside of the roped-​off area– we again took this as a good sign.
The line moved quite slowly– ride itself has two cars featuring 8 pairs of horses only allowing for 16 people at a time to go on the ride itself.
Still figured the line would move a bit faster than it actually did, easily spent over an hour in this particular line and it wasn’t as long as others are in the park.
When we finally approached the ride we understood why the line was so slow– once riders disembark from the previous round, new riders have a bit of trouble getting seated before the leg bars and back brace mechanism activate– and even after ours was turned on, staff turned it on and off a few times due to placement/​seating difficulties with people on the ride itself.
Finally, we were off! «Ready to launch!» was heard over the loudspeaker before we started moving. Tension was high, I was wondering what I’d gotten myself into.
And 45 seconds later it was over. Easily the longest line and shortest ride in the entire park. I named my pony Flash, because the ride was over in a flash. My riding partner named his Lame, for obvious reasons.
Very disappointing, would not have wasted my time on this ride had I known how short the actual experience was.

It’s like my Pa said, «If you can straddle a horse and hold on, you can definitely hold on to a gal!»
And like most if my relationships this will last longer… about 20 seconds of sheer joy.
They strap you in and hold on… so, it’s a lot like my other relationships. No leather though… any hoo.
Just hold on and have the ride of your life for 20 seconds or you can always tell the horse that you’ve been riding her sister. Then just wait!!!