Help! I'm going to Knoebels!

The Mutter Museum

http://muttermuseum.org/

A medical museum located in Center City containing a collection of medical oddities, anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment.

 

This.

 

Mutter is one of the coolest museums that I have ever been to.

 

I can see Andrew totally getting into this - because he likes weird, cool sh%t...like Mr. Bungle.

Finally getting around to looking through their website...this is awesome, and it's going on the list.

I'm actually thinking of bringing a tent and just camping at Hershey and Knoebels. Anybody done that?

I never knew that was a problem, and I am glad I avoided that when I was there!

Yeah, you got lucky. Here https://goo.gl/maps/Xosd49w75rs and here https://goo.gl/maps/1pJS7hahPWk are where I've always run into problems.

Rental car advice: Do not go the cheap route. Cars in "economy" and "compact" classes typically are not equipped with cruise control. Enterprise / Alamo / National's "intermediate" class is reasonably-priced and you'll get something "normal" but not "basic", like a Corolla, Sentra or Elantra, that will typically have USB and Bluetooth as well. Fold the back seats down and you'll have room for all your luggage too.

Mr. Bungle.

^

 

The Mutter Museum

http://muttermuseum.org/

A medical museum located in Center City containing a collection of medical oddities, anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment.

The Mutter Museum is far and away the coolest museum ever.

Bumping my own thread....

So after taking a lot of advice from you very helpful people, I've worked out an itinerary, and I figured I'd run it by y'all to see if there are any glaring holes in my schedule.

1. Thu - Fly to PHL, arriving about 11:30. Rent a car, drive to Six Flags, get there in time for a couple hours of riding.

2. Fri - Six Flags Great Adventure, all day. Safari, El Toro, Kingda Ka, Skull Mountain. Woohoo!

3. Sat - New Jersey Shore. Seaside, Ocean City, get to Morey's hopefully late afternoon. Enjoy pizza, beer, crappy rides, awesome rides. Full Jersey Shore experience.

4. Sun - Get up early. Valley Forge, Gettysburg, get to Hersheypark by 7 for the Preview Plan. Ride the hell out of Skyrush, Storm Runner, and Fahrenheit, get rides on Triple Tower as the crowd thins out. Camp at Hershey.

5. Mon - Hersheypark all day. Early entry, ride Comet and Sooperdooperlooper, then Skyrush until other people arrive. Run to Laff Track, ride stuff back to front, have an awesome day. Camp at Hershey

6. Tue - Drive to Knoebels, spend all day at the happiest place on earth. Ride the hell out of Phoenix, Twister, and Flying Turns. Camp at Knoebels.

7. Wed - Rinse. Repeat.

8. Thu - I know nobody cares, but I'll drive to Dorney for the waterpark day of the trip. Ride the hell out of Demon Drop and the log flume, leave afternoon. Drive to Philly, see Phillies and Mets at Citizens Bank Park.

9. Fri - Philadelphia Museum of Art, all day baby!

10. Sat - Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Alexander Hamilton's bank, Ben Franklin stuff, Mutter Museum, etc. Tourist crap you gotta see.

11. Sun - Fly home.

I think I agree with #7 the best.

Thanks for everyone's contributions so far! You've come up with a couple of possibilities I hadn't thought of. And yeah, I'm definitely going to Six Flags. There's no way I'm driving right past Great Adventure and not stopping for some bullriding.

Ditto on the Franklin Institute, it's amazing, and you can spend the full day there.

and your ticket to the Art Museum also gets you into the Rodan museum (with bus between the two). . at least it used to, so try to time it so it's open on the day you're there -- they have casts of both "The Thinker" and a "Gates of Hell"

I'd also suggest a drive down to Pittsburgh for Kennywood. . well, well worth it.

You're going to be on the road a ridiculously long amount of time your Valley Forge / Gettysburg day. You leave from Wildwood and it's going to be two hours at least just to get through Philadelphia due to morning rush hour. Then it's going to be a half hour to Valley Forge. Then it's going to be at least two hours to Gettysburg. Then it's going to be at least another hour to Hershey with evening rush hour through Harrisburg. It's going to be very boring, and unless you're okay with the trip taking even longer you're also going to have to surrender to the might of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

^ Actually, on a Sunday there will be no morning rush in Philly.

You'll want to head out early as possible if its gonna be crappy weather on Sunday because anyone staying down the shore and coming back to the Philly area will just get up and leave Sunday morning (because theres nothing to do) but they'll all leave sometime before checkout time which is 11am at most places. So you have until then where traffic from the shore to Philly would be bad. If its gonna be a nice day that Sunday, take your time because the drive from the shore back up to Philly will be easy-peasy with little to no traffic to speak of until evening, so you're good especially if you are up and out really early like 7/8am. Sunday is probably the best day to do that WW to Hershey trip for traffic reasons. Also the traffic out to Gettysburg/Hershey probably won't be terrible Sunday afternoon compared to any of the weekdays.

This day is gonna be a ton of driving but maybe better to get a day like that out of the way early in your trip, and definitely a good idea to do it on a Sunday for traffic reasons.

Also I think the itinerary looks tight. Prepare to deal with crowds and likely heat @ the Philly tourist stuff Saturday. It just gets busy during the summer, especially weekends (really all the time - just get a head start in the AM), and it gets humid hot nasty hellscape in Philly in the dead of summer. You've been warned.

You're probably right about the lack of serious traffic on Sunday, but it's still going to be one slog of a drive. It's like Interstate 76 never ends.

Cool, I was hoping that Sunday would be the best day to try to get through Philly. And according to Google Maps, it's only 230 miles, which is roughly the same distance from my house to St. Louis, and I drive that several times a year. I always find it comical what you Easterners think is a significant distance. Come out west of the Mississippi sometime, it'll blow your mind.

Aa for Kennywood, early versions of this trip had Kennywood and Waldameer, as well as Coney Island. But there's only so much time, and I want to actually spend enough time at each place to really appreciate it. So it got cut down to just the Philly area. I'll get to New York later, and that's a trip by itself. I'll try to get to Kennywood and Waldameer on a future Cedar Point trip.

I'd personally try to get out of Wildwood on Saturday night. Even if you drive for an hour and get a hotel that should mean you won't have to deal with beach traffic or get up ridiculously early the next day.

^ I would, but I'm getting the vibe that enjoying Wildwood and being able to drive afterward are mutually exclusive.

Yeah you won't be able to enjoy lots of orange crushes and other fun things (+ night rides on Great White) if you leave Saturday night. You really wont have to worry about Sunday morning traffic unless its going to be a complete washout and everyone decides to go home early. If you are up and out by 7/8am Sunday you will have the road to yourself. Really as long as you leave before 10am. Trust me.

This has been a great read since I've been wanting to do a similar trip like this in the future. Thanks for pitching in, everyone.

This just came to mind. The bridge from Jersey to Philly on PA Route 276 (I think that's the right route number) is closed as it is structurally deficient. It may take longer to get around that area. I'm not sure what the suggested detour is.

The turnpike bridge is out, but that's really far north from where you'll likely be crossing so I wouldn't worry about it. There's a half dozen other bridges further south that you'll be fine taking - Walt Whitman, Ben Franklin, etc etc

^ What he said, but avoid the Burlington Bristol Bridge in the process. That thing has been a nightmare ever since the NJ-PA Turnpike bridge closed.

So yeah about that. If you do in fact wind up doing the Wildwood-to-Hershey/Gettysburg/whatever drive, and its early Sunday your best bet is going to be to just take the Garden State Parkway to the Atlantic City Expressway and take the Walt Whitman right over to 76 which takes you right to the PA Turnpike. Its the most direct way and while you are kinda gonna hit Philly it'll be at a time of day its not going to be an issue.

Like Mike said ^ avoid the Burlington/Bristol bridge as thats essentially the Turnpike detour at the moment. The Turnpike bridge will only affect you when you go from Philly to Great Adv Thurs/Fri but you can just take the Walt, Ben Franklin or Betsy Ross bridges to 295 and take that to the NJ Turnpike/195 to the park. The farmland/backroads up to the park from the Betsy Ross Bridge (closest to my house) are kinda cool too and get you there really fast. Ive gotten there from my door to the gate in 40 minutes taking that way. The whole turnpike bridge debacle may not even be going on when you are here - its a pretty major deal and they are scambling to fix it.

Jesus god I sound like a Californian.

Jesus god I sound like a Californian.

But seriously, thanks for all the discussion on the bridge closure, that was something I did not know about. It's only 5 months away, and I doubt if there are major deficiencies that it could be fixed that fast, so this will probably be something to plan around.

^^

But seriously, thanks for all the discussion on the bridge closure, that was something I did not know about. It's only 5 months away, and I doubt if there are major deficiencies that it could be fixed that fast, so this will probably be something to plan around.

Apparently work is progressing well, here's what the PTC said recently:

Work performed over the weekend went very well. The fracture section has been removed and the installation of the replacement section should be completed 2/28. Post-tensioning devices are being installed this week.

But coming from Wildwood I would take Interstate 76 over the Walt Whitman Bridge anyway.

^^

 

If you're visiting SFGAd, everyone will tell you night rides on Nitro are a must. I can't say that because I didn't attempt to ride Nitro at night, but I did snag a ride on El Toro after dark.

I had already marathoned El Toro in the magic-seat the day before, but I hadn't moved anywhere near the front.

But I took my first front row ride on that nighttime lap, and HOLY JESUS El Toro was a different animal. The night gave a sensation of speed that was out-of-control and a pacing that did NOT SLOW DOWN.

I'm not sure how much of a difference (by sensation) the night ride added to the front row expirence (because it was my fist front row lap), but I can contest that the lap became the most memorable coaster expirence ever. Nothing has ever come close to surprising me as that ungodly fast lap did, and especially not from a ride I thought I had already seen everything from.

A front row daytime lap, as I mentioned, may be no different, but IMO, most coasters are better at night, so the benefit of the doubt says that it's worh trying one lap at night to see if there's a difference, if you have the chance. I know I loved my nighttime ride and that I do not regret that I spent my last, precious minutes at the park getting that lap.