Taylor Finn

Couple quick questions for a visit we’re planning the weekend of May 5-6. My girlfriend and I are bringing two friends for bring a buddy days. Any details I need to know about using them? Specifically: 1. They can’t use early entry with us on Saturday, right? 2. I read they can’t upgrade to a season pass with a discount. Same logic for paying the difference for a two day ticket? Also, has anyone seen anything around about the after 3 promotion? And as far as which day to go, I know they’re open two hours more on Saturday but do ya’ll think it better to go on Sunday crowd wise even still? Thanks!

It certainly is impressive. It really looks like they're fitting a lot of stuff into that area. It will be interesting to see where they move Laffin' Sal and the Floral Clock. The fountain will be missed, for sure. The drop tower is 45 ft tall they say.

Noah's Ark is an absolute classic, Ghostwood Estate is a quality shooter with fun effects, and Garfield's Nightmare is a trip (not necessarily a good one). The ride system is unique and a classic, the theme is just off. Auto Race isn't necessarily thrilling since they slowed it way down a few years back, but another classic ride (neat just to watch). If you hit Exterminator early or late, you can avoid a line usually. Some good food to check out... Golden Nugget dip cone, Potato Patch (some are not fans, but it's worth investigating the hype). The Parkside Cafeteria is your other best bet for food, as they have the most variety. Thanksgiving dinner all day every day comes with mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, roll, cranberry sauce, and turkey for like $11.

That's a neat little ride! Makes much more sense than a River Battle given the name.

So the four new rides are kid and adult friendly, apparently. Cranky's Drop Tower: watched a video on Facebook page that seemed to indicate it will be somewhere between the frog hopper in Kiddieland and the old Pit Fall in terms of height. So that'll be nice. Harold's Helicopter Tour and Diesel Drivers: should be self-explanatory. My guess is these two will go where the fountain/floral clock were. Flynn's Fire Training: from website... Junior firefighters shoot water to extinguish flames on this unique, interactive ride. Is this going to be a Splash Battle ride? Or something different? The video also said they are just changing the shell of the trains to be Thomas themed, so they'll still be the same locomotives. They also said for this year, one of the trains will be the original and one will be Thomas themed. Which seems like a nice nod.

Seems like the existing Kiddieland will be unchanged. Seems like a frog hopper will be going into Thomas Town, so they'll likely move the existing one.

I guess there's nothing wrong with a licensed area for the park, it just always seems out of place to me for an old, old park to do something like this. Will be interested to see how they place the rides. Some concept art would add to the release a lot.

^^I don't disagree with you there. The free parking and reasonable food are just critical. I just like tracking things like this out of curiosity. It is probably of concern to some people just not to me. Yeah, ski lift was running ($4/ride). We rode it and witnessed a skeleton as the guest on one of the chairs as we descended. A nice spooky touch.

When I went to Knoebels for PPP, out of curiosity, I had jotted down rides/prices to track if we got our money's worth on the wristband (we did pretty well after riding Phoenix 5 or 6 times)... I then checked the website and noticed they had updated the ride prices for 2018, so I compared them to see what changed. Seems like some kiddie rides jumped to $1.50, and any remaining $1 kiddie rides are now $1.25. As for family rides, any remaining $1.50 rides (except carousel) moved to $1.75 and a few thrill rides jumped to $2. Coasters stayed the same at $3. In all, about 1/3 the rides that I had ridden and jotted down a price for in October increased in price by 25 cents. So that's not too bad at all! Figured some Knoebels nerd might care to know. I do wonder if there is a threshold they're hesitant to cross. Personally, coasters going above $3 and flat rides going above $2 would make the park look a little less affordable (obviously if you go to Weiss it looks a lot better). Any thoughts? I'm sure people felt that way when coasters jumped over $2 and recognize times change and prices adjust.

Hail to Pitt indeed! And that's from the legendary Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride in Pigeon Forge from the 2012 TPR New Hotness Tour. They have these awful mannequins out front of the ride including some that look like guests in line to deceive people who drive by into thinking it is a popular attraction. They also have a permanent "Now Open!" sign that would lead you to believe it is somehow a new ride.

This is always a ton of fun to look through and some day aspire to travel even a fraction of what you guys do! Thanks for posting.

I enjoy using tickets. I dunno, it feels old fashioned and different. I've used a wristband once and did come out ahead, but only because I marathoned Phoenix. It basically comes down to that. If you stay at the park until close, you can always get a bunch of coaster rides in. If you do tickets, gotta go to Weiss Market as mentioned to get 20% off. I also have leftover from my last visit which gives me incentive to return.

Parks visited this year: Knoebels, Kennywood, Kings Dominion, Six Flags America, Dollywood, Canada's Wonderland, Waldameer, Conneaut, Delgrosso's, Adventureland. Don't think I'm forgetting any. Top 10 1a. Phoenix 1b. Lightning Rod 3. i305 4. Ravine Flyer 5. Thunderhead 6. Phantom's Revenge 7. Leviathan 8. Twister 9. Superman 10. Dominator I think that looks like a decent little list. It certainly tails off a bit at the bottom, but all are coasters I enjoyed. I can't really pick between Phoenix or Lightning Rod. Phoenix is the most re-ridable coaster I've ever been on and I end up smiling every time the ride ends. Lightning Rod is a marvel of engineering and such an intense ride, made all the better at night. The world would suck without either of them. Phoenix gets 1a. because of seniority. Superman is interesting, because it certainly rattles and loses a lot of steam during the second helix, but the airtime at the end makes for a nice finale. Leviathan is just speed, but I like it. I certainly favor wooden coasters it seems.

What is access going to be like to this area? Ie- where would you enter it from? I was riding Thunderhead last week and was kinda baffled myself at how large the area is.

My only advice would be to maybe consider scaling this back a bit. I think it's really ambitious to do Dorney and Knoebels the same day. Even one full day isn't enough to experience Knoebels the ways it's intended. This would be a pretty ambitious schedule even if you could teleport from hotel to hotel. Taking into account the traveling you'll be doing, this is a trip that would be better spread out to at least 9 days, but likely 10 or 11. While nice to be able to check off a bunch of parks in one trip, ultimately it is possible you would wear yourself thin on a trip like this.

Oh, just to clarify, the ride was incredible regardless of what happens going up the hill. I'm not quite sure how much more intense the ride could really be. And it was one train ops because there was no one there. If they can run two trains, that obviously helps quite a bit.

Visited the park Tuesday and Wednesday and had a great, great time. I think only once or twice did we ride on a full train. In two days and 12 hours at the park, our scorecard was: Lightning Rod (on our 5th trip to the park to ride, no less): 10x Wild Eagle: 3x Tennessee Tornado: 3x Thunderhead: 3x Mystery Mine: 3x Firechaser: 2x Blazing Fury: 2x Drop Line: 2x Whistlepunk Chaser: 1x (yeah, no one around, so we went for it) That other lumberjack eque ride in the area (didn't know if it was a kid or adult thing, saw some adults, rode, and had a bit of fun): 1x Train: 1x Now for some thoughts: Lightning Rod is great, great fun. The only bump on the whole ride (not too noticeable until you move to the back of the train) is at the bottom of the big drop. Also, are there some trims after the launch ends before cresting the first hill? The ride flies. It really just has one speed: fast. The airtime is remarkable and seeing the park lit up as you descend the mountain is pretty amazing. My only complaint are the operations. They were real anal about having your lapbar absolutely slammed down. That and the ride being a bit finicky (stopping on the brake run for an extra moment, having to 're-park' the train in the station because it stopped too soon, etc, etc). It's just a temperamental ride and honestly with one train operations, I fear the lines on busy, busy days and was so grateful to be able to get a good number of front row rides in. Wild Eagle: A solid ride, just hate the vests. Mystery Mine: Found it to be much smoother in the back than the front? Is this a consensus, or...? Tennessee Tornado: Still running really well. Enjoyed the second to last seat a lot and the front was solid. Drop Line: Got the short cycle for the first day and the long cycle the second day. It's real nice to hang out up there all that time and take in the view. Firechaser: Such a great ride for the park and clever how they used the towers from the ropes course. Thunderhead: I thought it was running especially well for the end of the season. What's going on behind Thunderhead in terms of construction? Shows were all great and were all filled almost to capacity in sharp contrast to the rides. The religious stuff was laid on pretty thick in Smoky Mountain Christmas (it shifted halfway through from your typical Christmas songs to the more religious ones). The other two big shows, It's a Wonderful Life and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas weren't quite as noticeable. Really adds value to the Season Pass to be able to experience brand new entertainment like this. Had some solid food (Thanksgiving Feast sandwich with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce served with sweet potato tots, and two loves of cinnamon bread). That stage back by all the coasters will certainly be out of place but I would prefer that to River Battle, though another kind of ride could've been nice. All in all, I am glad I got a season pass and know that we'll back 2-3 times between now and the end of the season to get our money's worth!

^It should say a little bit about how much I love that bread that I live 8 hours away and purchased a season pass. And that for whatever reason I've never even purchased a season pass for Kennywood, my home park which is 20 minutes away.

Last minute deciding to visit Dollywood today and Wednesday (bought season passes for use all next year as well)! Crossing my fingers that on my fifth and sixth visits to the park since LR opened, we'll get a ride in. Also looking forward to the lights, shows, and cinnamon bread.

Yeah, I mean believe me... I don't necessarily think it's an enjoyable ride. It is just unique and kinda different in that it is portable but not necessarily a kiddie coaster by design. I guess the park will be left with the Train, Antique Cars, Leap the Dips, Skyliner, and that's about it. Maybe Go karts and Paddle Boats? I guess we'll see what ends up all of this.

Lakemont posted a lot of the rides for sale. Some pretty cheap prices, really. Get one of only a few Chance Toboggans for $25,000. Just the price of a sedan and lots of TLC and probably lots more money to get it running alright. Oh and the Little Dipper is for sale for $12,500. Aren't those some of the oldest steel coasters around. It's half tempting..

Ditto to everyone's comments so far. It was neat to read up about a significant number of the major attractions and also the quirky ones that make Europa special.

Gotcha gotcha. Thanks guys! That makes a lot more sense. I saw last year one of the date ranges was like April 22-May 22, but couldn't find another range so assumed you could use both friend passes then.

With the 'bring a friend' promotion... Can each pass holder use both on one day? Ie- four friends come in to the park?

Great pictures, man! So many detailed costumes, it's almost unreal. Those twins from The Shining were absolutely spot on.