SigilX

Another sad bit of news from Knoebels... From WNEP (an ABC affiliated local station) - "CLEVELAND TOWNSHIP -- Four campers at Knoebels Amusement Resort were sent to the hospital after part of a tree fell on their campsite. It happened at the campground at Knoebels around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. At the time, strong winds were reported in that area. The victims are from Northampton County. Three of the four victims remain in the hospital. Police say a 41-year-old man is in serious condition, an 11-year-old girl is in critical condition, and a 4-year-old girl is in fair condition. An 8-year-old boy was treated and released. Officials at Knoebels said that section of the campground has been closed off. “The campground is open, and the area that this occurred is currently closed for an ongoing investigation into the circumstances. Our first and foremost concern right now are for the individuals involved,” said Stacy Ososkie with Knoebels. Knoebels says Locust Township police are assisting in the investigation at the park along the Northumberland and Columbia County line." *** Sad event, but being in such a wooded area like the Knoebel's campsite, accidents can happen. Hopefully the family can recover soon.

2001 Nacht already spent a season in rehab. Same with Power Surge. Other than Fying Turns, which took time to be built, there aren't any others that experienced long downtimes.

Hello all! Just got back from Knoebels yesterday. Unfortunately, my cell phone was dead, so no pictures. But here is an update to some new improvements to the park: The old Galleon has been removed and in its place is a newer smaller Zamperla Galleon. The ride is in place, but they're working on the loading platform. The sign says "next month" for it to open, so guess we'll have to find out. The Haunted Mansion has some updates. In the first room you'll see three images of a man moving further away from view before seeing an actual head in the wall. Really cool scare for that area. The former "skull room" is a crazy place that is an upside down room resembling a lounge complete with skeletons. Look for a surprise at the end! The "Optical Illusion/ Tunnel room" has more illusions and a now dark tunnel. Now if only they can update the Jungle room as I consider it kind of anticlimactic after the rest of the ride. Laser Command- Oh wow I'm impressed! Basically they tore down the Laser Runner arena and replaced it with a whole new experience. The exterior wasn't done yet, but when it is expect to see a neat futuristic theme. There's a foyer area where you can actually register your name and get a card to track your rank progress as well as a monitor displaying the arenas and scores of the players. Did I mention Arenas? Because yes, there are now two arenas! Basically you walk into a room with the suits, watch a video of how to play, then hit the arena. The suits have sensors on the front, back and shoulders. Your gun displays your Shield, which does recharge after a while. Four hits and your gun disables, but there are Recharg Stations in the arena allowing you to get back to full strength. The guns also have a Phaser mode (long range/ narrow beam) or a Blaster (wide beam, narrow blast) and there are monitors you shoot to give you either Rapid Fire to allow your gun to shoot faster or Max Shield which allows you to take an extra hit before having to recharge your shield. You can either do Free for All or now Teams! In all it is a marked improvement from the old Laser Runner.

I spoke to some DAFE members at a convention, and they did say the Haunted Mansion had a Vortex/ Barrel room, but for some reason it was deactivated. I'd love to see this area and the Dungeon area get some TLC.

I'm surprised that the Galleon is going away. I always liked the look of the ride. Still, it was always only half filled. Guess it was one of the under-performing rides.

The website says that Impulse is open. Maybe just a quick maintenance.

It looks terrifying, but it is a fun ride actually. The side wheels help to propel the cars down the tracks and assist in making sure the car is in the center of the trough at all times.

Cessari's Pizza is definitely a great place to eat. I'd also recommend the Oasis which offers different things during the days like spaghetti or roast chicken. The Kettle Corn is also great as is the Fudge in the Stony Gables shop.

I remember Cranium Command and there are similarities. In Cranium Command the character controlled the thoughts of a teenager through a day. There were characters like the Heart (played by Hans and Franz) and the Left Brain and Right Brain. The show was unique as it had animatronics, live action video, and animation. Pretty good considering that the show started in 1989. Inside Out will feature the five basic emotions and how they control a teenager's mind. So maybe Cranium Command was an inspiration to it.

I definitely see Marvel Superhero Island becoming a Nintendo themed area, maybe even combining with Toon Lagoon to create a big island.

So in reading a news site online, Knoebels is trying to open Impulse this weekend which depends on how fast they finish the station. It looks like a fourth train has been added to Flying Turns, 2001 Nacht (flying carpet) will be open, Power Surge will be open later in the summer, and the Giant Wheel will be open but its new LED lighting will be finished later on. Also there will be terminals for buying tickets using debit or credit cards. Source: www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/04/knoebels_pushing_to_have_new_r.html

I take the usual wallet, sunglasses, and cell phone for pictures. For Knoebels since it's pay-as-you-go I keep my book of tickets in a Ziplock bag as well as my arcade tickets in another bag. But one thing I definitely take: sunscreen. I don't tan, I Kentucky Fried Ckicken!

Knoebels certainly has some unique rides there. I'd recommend the Flume, Haunted Mansion, Whipper, Cosmotron (an indoor Himalaya with lights and music), all roller coasters, the trains, and the XD theater. Food wise everything is great, but I always go to Ceaseri's in the center of the park. It does get busy in the evening though. All the museums are cool too and are nice to check out. There are also some interesting shops near the kids area like The Lost Logger and the Blacksmith shop.

Most of the concrete was used looking at other pictures to fill in the Bumper Boats Pool/ create the footers. Knowing how Knoebels did a nice job with the other coaster I'm sure they will add gravel to cover the footers or add planters and such. Also not sure how the station will be, but given what they did with Twister and Flying Turns I wouldn't be surprised of they wrapped the line under the coaster to avoid congestion. So you''ll see nice walkways there too.

Holy ride fetish Batman! I must now lobotomize myself with a power drill to prevent seeing flashbacks of that film every time I go to my home park.

The flying carpet ride 2001 Nacht was down for maintenance last year with a sign saying "Waiting for parts from Europe. Much of the paint on the main arm was removed in certain sections and the motor covering was removed. It might have been a hydraulic issue as I smelled hydraulic fluid in the area, more than normal.

Local news reported on the construction of Impulse yesterday. Nothing really new from what we know here, but they showed the parking lot now filled with track and support pieces. http://wnep.com/2015/02/03/new-coaster-under-construction-at-knobels/

Glad to see that they have a new home. It would have been a bad ending to the park to find that these were put in storage or worse scrapped.

My home park is Knoebels. I'd say it hasn't lost its luster but is getting better with the addition of Black Diamond and Flying Turns and soon with Impulse.

It was a pretty big wasteland when I went, before Hard Rock came in. I was surprised Medieval Times chose a place so far away from the beach area, although I heard that the shopping area once was a nice place to visit before it closed.

Yeah, considering that Myrtle Beach is a good golf and beach place but definitely not a place to have theme parks and consider that where Hard Rock was located was about a mile away from the beach it's no wonder why it closed. Myrtle beach is definitely not the place to create a big amusement park of attraction let alone a theme park.

In response to other comments, yes I knew that Family Kingdom was there and it is a nice park but you hear little about it other than while staying there. Maybe that's all it needs to keep open, especially now it has no competition. As for lumping together Pavilion and Freestyle, the reason I did wasn't to say that the circumstances were similar but that the fact that two big magnets to attract people to Myrtle Beach are gone. Yes the financial times and lucrative real estate of ocean front property contributed to it in a major way and for Freestyle it was poor planning. I really don't think though that there should be anymore attempts of making a major amusement park or theme park there, not when Myrtle Beach is trying to figure out their next stage in how they offer tourism and not when it seems that it is not a destination like California or Orlando is for amusement parks.

Thus brings the end of yet another Myrtle Beach amusement park (Pavilion being the first and also Nascar Speed Park) I have to say part of the problem of Hard Rock/ Freestyle for me was that looking at Myrtle Beach I don't know what the city is trying to be. First it claims to be a summer destination then it claims to be year round. Meanwhile there are closed malls and places where amusement parks once were now vacant lots. Not a big fan either of hos Borroughs and Chapman who operated parks like Pavilion handled things. I really think the Myrtle Beach council needs to reconsider their plan for the city and what they want. Having said this, I doubt these rides will hit the scrapyard, Iron Horse will make a good family coaster, Maximum RPM will be a novel coaster for a park(perhaps expanding it would make it better), and Time Machine would be a nice coaster for a park. As for Soak'd, I never understood the idea of a water coaster and I don't really see the draw. Hershey Park had one but compared to the other coasters there it was meh.

Have to go with the new ride for my home park, Knoebels, and their new ride Impulse. This will be the return of a thrilling steel coaster and hopefully pave the way for awesome fun with the new generation of Knoebels.

The Maelstrom ride for me was ok. I preferred The River of Time (Rio del Tiempo) in the Mexico pavilion. Still the Norway area was great especially as a kid. And the Puffin's Roost (I think that was the name of the shop) had something that was irresistible to me when I was 8 and first went to Disney: Legos! So if Disney truly wants to convert EPCOT from its original plan in the 1990s when I first visited it, let's add more rides to each world pavilion based on the corresponding character. Let's have a Mulan themed ride in China, a Ratatouille ride in France, maybe an Alice in Wonderland ride in England. As a fan of Japanese culture it's a shame that the Japan area doesn't have an attraction there.