Knott’s Berry Farm brings back chaperone policy amid increasing unruly behavior

Knott’s Berry Farm has brought back a chaperone policy that went into effect after multiple fights broke out involving teenagers last summer following a series of incidents marred by violence and weapons at sister parks in recent weeks.

Under the updated policy, all visitors 15 years old or younger must be accompanied by a chaperone at least 21 years old after 4 p.m. daily to enter the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park or Knott’s Soak City water park.

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“Over the past two years, there have been increasing incidents of unruly and inappropriate behavior across our industry and at other major entertainment venues,” according to the Knott’s website.

A single chaperone can accompany up to 10 underage visitors per day at the Buena Park theme park. The chaperone must have a valid ID with date of birth, provide a phone number and remain with the minors throughout the entire visit. Visitors 15 years old and under found in the park without a chaperone face ejection.

The reinstituted chaperone policy at Knott’s follows incidents at other Cedar Fair amusement parks involving minors, violence and weapons. An opening day fight involving more than 100 teens erupted in early April at Worlds of Fun in Missouri. A 17-year-old arrested with a gun at Kings Island in mid-April forced the Ohio amusement park to partially halt operations on opening day.

In addition to Knott’s, parent company Cedar Fair has instituted chaperone policies at Worlds of Fun, Kings Island, Virginia’s Kings Dominion, Pennsylvania’s Dorney Park, Minnesota’s Valleyfair and California’s Great America in Santa Clara. The latest Knott’s chaperone policy went into effect on April 22.

Knott’s initially instituted a chaperone policy in July after multiple altercations involving teenagers caused the park to close early. Since then, Knott’s has expanded, scaled back, dropped and reintroduced its chaperone policy. The latest change expands the evolving chaperone policy from weekends only to a daily requirement, drops the age requiring an accompanying adult from 17 to 15 years old and allows chaperones to supervise more minors.

A nationwide outbreak of theme park fights have occurred at major players like Disney, Universal and Busch Gardens and regional parks like Kings Island, Kennywood and Waldameer.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, fights were rare in recent decades at American theme parks that bill themselves as family-friendly safe havens.