HangTime

Knott's Boardwalk area had gone years without a genuine new steel thrill coaster when the park announced HangTime in August 2017, choosing the dive-coaster format — trains that pause riders face-down at the crest of a drop before releasing — for its first appearance anywhere in California.

Gerstlauer built the ride on a compact footprint, climbing 150 feet before the signature hang-and-drop moment, then routing 2,200 feet of track through a raven turn, a Negative-G stall, and additional inversions at up to 57 mph. The layout was engineered specifically to fit the tight Boardwalk plaza, with elements crossing directly over guest walkways rather than requiring a sprawling footprint.

HangTime opened May 19, 2018, giving Knott's a dive coaster years before most other Southern California parks added one, and immediately became one of the most Instagrammed rides in the park thanks to its ocean-view first drop and nighttime lighting package.

The ride remains the Boardwalk's most prominent steel thrill coaster, its silhouette visible from much of the surrounding plaza and its beyond-vertical first drop still one of the more distinctive moments in Knott's modern coaster lineup.