Jim S.

I was there last night and the Flyer op was slowing it down whenever anyone started snapping, but he did NOT ever say a single word to anyone about it, turned it back up later, and gave decently long rides. This seems like a good compromise solution and I hope it continues.

Did anyone notice the bunch of old woodie cars behind one of the buildings on the way into the park? They definitely weren't from Knoebels, they were the wrong colors and two of them had "Left Twix" and "Right Twix" painted on the back. What park/coaster did they come from?

Long time no post. I was there last Wednesday and wanted to share some ride updates. The Good: Fandango was back up. The Bad: 1001 Nacht, Italian Trapeze, and Over The Top were still down. The Ugly: Some of the ops are now making adults use the seatbelts on the bumper cars...

They've fixed it now. I think whoever gave the bumper cars an intensity rating of "1" hasn't been on them enough. I'm disappointed that they jumped straight to $3 for Phoenix and Twister this year.

"Look at the lift hill on this thing... it's not even straight, it's not even close to being straight... look at the track, it comes off the wood over here... oh Jesus Christ, this is just not cool..."

I rode Stinger last year and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it DIDN'T live up to the horror stories that people tell about Invertigos. It was a very intense ride, but I've had more headbanging on a non-inverted Boomerang. Hydra, I just don't know what its problem is. For years now, it's had this terrible rattle throughout the course, like the wheels are running on gravel! On a hot day when I'm not properly hydrated, it's given me more of a headache than anything I've ever been on except for Mantis. On a good day though, I love the way it's constantly twisting and following the terrain. I like to ride the back row so I can watch the train in front of me. And the JoJo roll performs the vital function of emptying loose items out of the train before it gets up to speed! (Look underneath it sometime.) Thunderhawk has one moment of violent ejector airtime that makes it worthwhile despite the complete suckiness of the rest of the ride! You just have to know it's coming so you don't crack your ribs...

The only times I remember ever encountering inept patrons at Knoebels have all been at the bumper cars. Sometimes it's been because they didn't speak English, but generally it's kids that are too young to be driving even though they're over the height limit.

I never seem to be able to make opening weekend anymore. I always make it to Phunfest, but they never seem to be there lately.

I saw a few construction markers around the area last night, but nothing major. Also had the worst Flyer operator I've ever seen, and it wasn't even one I had seen before. Is it just me, or are there no good Flyer operators left?

It wouldn't be spring without Knoebels waiting on parts for something from Zamperla! Luckily, I don't ride any of them.

There's always an empty fold-up wheelchair sitting on a scale plate on the unloading side. I assume that it's so they can get the weight of the passenger for balancing the train, since they're not going to know how much weight to subtract for a wheelchair that someone brings with them.

So what's next, banning the Rocky Horror Picture Show because it depicts negative stereotypes of gays? Funny how it's been around for decades and I've never heard anybody suggest that. Quite the contrary, gays love it. In fact, the gay rights organization at the local university even sponsors a showing of it every year! (But I guess the difference between Pennsylvania and California is that our liberals aren't so dogmatic as to be incapable of rational thought.)

They shouldn't cave to people who use the word "homophobic" without even knowing what it means...

For as long as I can remember, they've had a similar sign at Twister (and I think Phoenix) about having to be able to walk up the ramp if they're running more than 1 train. The only thing I can think of for a reason is that if the exit ramp gets obstructed, the station might end up over capacity. (However, I've never seen any capacity signs in either station. Contrast this with Dorney, where on my last visit there was a sign in Hydra's station saying 36 people, which is ridiculous since the train seats 32!)

Yeah that's basically it -- it's even quieter off-ride though, you can barely hear it sometimes over the noise of the crowd and whatnot. The only thing that's not as depicted is that with three trains running, often lift chain #3 isn't running when you come up on it, so the train goes halfway up the lift and then rolls back and catches it with a mighty thud. I'm not sure whether that's something that can be eliminated as they gain experience or not, because the dispatches were already going at a reasonable pace.

It's surprisingly quiet. And yes, there is still a bonfire at the end of PPP.

That's cool that they decided to try FT in the rain. I was getting my last Phoenix ride in the rain, right at 10:00. Oddly enough, they didn't make everyone (who were obviously in the first and last seat queues only) fill out the trains, so the last few trains went out with only a few riders. On the other hand, I don't think they gave double rides like they usually do. When I was in the FT queue from about 5:15 to 6:30, Dick was hanging out watching everything constantly, either at the bottom of the second lift or in the electronics shack. One of the maintenance guys was there with him, and there was also another person, I think in a rides uniform instead of maintenance, sitting in the shack watching the monitors.

It's not going to valley, there's nowhere for it to valley. The weight limit is obviously to keep the center of gravity below the rider so that the trains don't fall over. (When you're watching it from the queue or wherever, it really doesn't look like it's going very fast [but don't worry, it seems much faster when you're riding it.]) Another item of note: below the station floor is a system of ducts to blow air on the wheels. I don't know whether it's to keep the grease warmed up in cold weather, or to keep the wheels dry. (Reportedly, they announced that they had no intentions of running it in the rain.) They handle the transitions very well. As you may be able to see from the pictures, there's an absolutely ridiculous number of articulation points. At times it seems like a car is almost 90 degrees from the one in front or back of it. With that kind of maneuverability, I'm surprised that they had to shorten it to three cars from the planned five.

3 to 6, depending on size and weight.

I had to look and see how late they announced Black Diamond (since they haven't actually announced Flying Turns yet!) and it appears that Black Diamond was announced sometime around 6 PM the day before PPP. So there's still a chance they'll announce Flying Turns. The other possibility I've been thinking of is that, since the line is bound to be outrageous with the capacity being so low, they might not announce it, but make it a PPP-only ride.

Everything except the water rides is open during the afternoon. At night, only certain rides are open. Official schedule at www.knoebels.com/images/pdf/MediaDownloads/Phunfest2013.pdf

Although I'm sure they do want to preserve the persona of their park, I think they're limited in how much they can expand by how much land they own. According to everything I've ever heard, nobody surrounding the park wants to sell anything. In fact, people say they don't even own their parking lot, they lease it.

A bad day on an antique Flyer is better than a good day on a new one. A good day on the Flyer has to be seen to be believed.

Different layout than a bobsled. Not that all bobsleds have the same layout, of course, but they don't do this:

The layout of a Flying Turns looks nothing like the layout of a bobsled. Presumably, this affects the maneuverability of the cars. What I'd like to know is, what was "unsafe" about the original Flying Turn car design? You'd think that if there were ever actually any problems with it, someone would know something. But I've never heard of any. It sounds like it's really going to be 3 cars per train instead of 5 now. That's sure a hit to the throughput! Hopefully they're still going with their original plan of 3 trains.