CedarFlags

Same here... although, Knott's Marketing had a lot of other stuff to focus on with the brand new Peanuts season and Boysenberry Festival just around the corner. Maybe they didn't want to overload their marketing and steal the thunder from the other events that are happening first?

Can an LIM/LSM system even provide the necessary acceleration to achieve 82 mph, given the length of track? Possibly, but I think the trains would have to be much lighter than the ones used on Xcel. The launch track on YOLO at SFMM is pretty darn short, and that manages to get up to 70 mph.

One thing Knott's keeps doing (which I LOVE) is finding ways to compete by not competing. The park is turning inward to capitalize on what makes it unique and creating its own experience, rather than trying to copy the Disney/Universal experience. In the last few years, we've been seeing a lot of really positive investment in the park and in keeping its legacy and charm alive and I think that's great. Peanuts Celebration, Boysenberry Festival, new coaster, Ghost Town Alive, Haunt, and Merry Farm... gonna be a jam packed (pun intended) year.

I honestly can't believe that it takes more than 6 months to machine the steel for a new catch car. That's absurd. Intamin built this ride, it's not like they have to reverse engineer someone else's design first. They just need to make another copy of the thing they already made. Gerstlaur fabricated and fully installed the track for a brand new ride in less time that it has taken Intamin to fabricate one part. If I were on the KBF executive staff, I'd be livid. It's one of the marquee attractions of the park and it missed half of summer, all of Haunt, and all of Christmas. I'd be really curious to know if there's some kind of extended service agreement in the original contract for the ride, and what the terms are. Obviously, the terms were better for one than the other.

My bet for that is the immelman

With all the talk of the Overbank/Cutback.... can someone please tell me what this one is classified as? It's kind of goofy and I love it. It's like a corkscrew that got stretched vertically... could be a new kind of sensation while riding

Tighten the seatbelt as much as you can. You won't slam your thighs into the lap bar as much. I think the ride is great either way, but if you want less "pain", do the seatbelt trick. In addition to the seatbelt trick, I figured out another one, using a wallet. I put my wallet in my front pocket and positioned it in such a way that the lap bar rested right on top of it. It helped to spread out the force of the bar to a wider area of my thigh and definitely helped a bit with the discomfort. I kind of came up with it on the spot, otherwise I would have brought something for my other pocket as well, which would have been even better.

Is there any way to find out what rides are ACTUALLY operating on a given day? The app and the website don't currently match up. Also, they use the phrase "temporarily closed" for everything, so there's no way to know if they mean... "open today, but currently down" or "closed for rehab". It's really frustrating to not be able to know before I go.

If only SFMM has waited a couple more years, we could have gotten a S&S Freefly instead of a Zacspin.... =/

The Hangtime construction has been getting a lot of attention, but don't forget that the brand new Peanuts Celebration season opens this weekend. There's so much new stuff happening for it, I think it's gonna be really really fun. Looks very entertainment / show driven, but I'm sure the Grand Sierra Railroad theme will be cute also. I loved what they did for it during Spooky Farm last year. https://www.knotts.com/blog/2018/january/1-3-18-knotts-peanuts-celebration

Kind of makes sense... static force vs. dynamic force. Doesn't need as much support if it's just standing there without any trains moving.

That's honestly a really good point. When 2018 passes were purchased, there were specific benefits being advertised as included with the pass. I don't remember specifically if the early entry was listed back during the flash sale, but if it was... that's what you paid for, and you should get it.

My 2-cents on the parking situation.... that parking lot is for the Marketplace. If you are using it for the Marketplace, it will still be (effectively) free. Too many pass holders tried to circumvent the cost (or the walk) of parking in the lots for the theme park, and the park responded by making it harder to game the system. They don't want that lot to fill up, because that hinders the income potential for the restaurants and shops if folks wont come because the pass holders took up all the parking.

Stopped by the park about 2 weeks ago, and I noticed that there is either something wrong with Superman, or the park is back to its old tricks... the cars were just barely breaking into red section of the tower. They seemed to be straddling the border of the blue/red sections. It was no secret that the park cut back on the launch for several years prior to the 2011 revamp, but it's been pretty consistent since then. The new paint job makes it really easy to gauge in a more quantifiable way.

I didn't say the ride wasn't going to be fun overall. I said the drop was underwhelming. What the park announced was "150 ft dive coaster", and what we're getting is a drop that may actually be shorter than Boomerang was. I feel like I'm allowed to be underwhelmed with that. And for the record... I think an Infinity coaster was absolutely the right choice for the project, I just think this was a dumb design choice.

Hate to be the eternal naysayer, but can we talk about the drop? A lot of the photos I've seen don't capture the proportions of it, and I was really underwhelmed seeing it in person. #1 #2 In picture #1, we see that the lift hill/drop support structure has 4 roughly equal segments (marked by horizontal bars). We also see that the drop bottoms out noticeably above the construction wall, which would be about 10 feet off the ground. In picture #2, we see that the holding break pre-drop has a really significant elevation change. It's one entire segment of the support structure. We see that the drop goes vertical for one more segment before leveling out. So, the drop on this 150 ft tall coaster is going to be WAY less than 150 feet. 1 out of 4 segments is taken up by the holding break, 1 more segment is the vertical track, and then about 1.5 segments are used to level off. 150 feet divided by 4 segments, puts each one at 37.5 feet. So, if you deduct the holding break (37-ish ft) and the 10 feet off the ground from the end of the drop... this 150 foot tall coaster has a drop that's just barely over 100 feet.

I love how riding it twice, ten years apart, makes your opinion rock solid and irrefutable. I've had good rides on X2 and bad rides. And so-so rides. That said, it's a unique, one of a kind experience that I think most locals take for granted. You're right on that. I happen to find the ride extremely uncomfortable, so I almost always skip it. But it does deserve credit for being the most radically unique concept to come out of the coaster wars.

After a really fabulous visit in 2016, I'm not sold on HHN this year... The downside of Universal using films/TV for all of their mazes is that they picked a bunch of movies I don't care about. On top of that: American Horror Story, the Chucky Tram, and Titans of Terror are all re-boots from last year (that I wasn't super impressed with). And even The Purge stuff got recycled for the Blumhouse maze. Universal's execution is always top notch. They will always be #1 at that, but the creative side of this year feels uninspired. Krampus was a movie maze... but it was a kooky and really unique movie that translated into a DELIGHTFUL maze. Lets have more of that. Add to that the insanely long lines and steep ticket price... maybe I'll split my money up on some more independent haunts this year.

For those visiting Scary Farm this year... check out the atmosphere show in The Hollow (camp snoopy). A friend of mine is in the cast, and it's pretty cool. Kind of a Ghost Town Alive vibe... characters living out a storyline for the area in a series of vignettes during the evening, and then there's a big finale at midnight.

Wow, interesting that Zoom was able to reopen before Xcel.

The statement says it's a franchise Universal owns themselves. I'm betting on Secret Life of Pets. Secret Life Of Pets would be a decent addition but I don't think it will happen, but I am personally betting more money on that it will somehow be Fast and the Furious franchise! It's their most bankable franchise in history! I've been hearing based around the Bourne franchise That would be the perfect way to debut the first installation of the Dynamic Motion Theater that debuted at IAAPA last year. A similar kind of show-based experience, but modernized and thrilling.

Xcel is still closed, but there was a train back in the station yesterday, so that's got to be a good sign.

I remember when Terminator was fairly new at USH and thinking it was really a lot of fun. When I went to UOR for the first time in February of this year, Terminator stuck out to me as being very retro in comparison with the rest of the park. I remember thinking to myself "wow, they either need to do a major refurb on this or replace it, cuz it does not vibe well with everything else." I'm glad they at least made the decision. The other attraction that stuck out to me was E.T. I really hope that one sticks around for a while, because it's so charming, but it also needs a lot of work to rise up to the standard of the newer attractions.

Knobels' Saturday hours really threw a wrench in my options because it doesn't open until 2:00, so it has to be an afternoon/evening visit... but then I sacrifice doing a Halloween thing that day because it's so far away from everything else. Can I just call and ask them to open at 11 instead? Lol I did some thinking and decided that I want Halloween to be the deciding factor of the trip, not coasters. I may not get to experience each park fully, but I'll get the highlights and then head on to my Halloween adventures. I think the best situation is.... Fri - Dorney Haunt with whatever rides I can squeeze in Sat - Knobels for about 5 hours, and then Pennhurst. Waste the whole first part of the day unfortunately, but I'll get to rest after my long day on Fri. Sun - Herhsey and then Field of Screams

Thanks for all the responses, everyone! Seems like Knobels is a major can't-miss. Okay, so a few more questions now with new info.... I had originally picked Saturday for Hershey because I figured it would have the most stuff to see (rides and also shows), so I wanted to give it the longest day (12 hrs). But, would it be ultimately better to go on Sunday instead and have a shorter, but possibly less crowded day? They don't appear to be offering Fast Track at all in October, and I would want to leave early on my Hershey day to make it to Field of Screams. Two possible new itineraries.... I'm leaning toward #1 because includes a Haunt every night, but I don't know if it's too busy to be realistic and enjoyable. Also, which Haunt is better... Eastern State Penn, or Dorney? #1 Friday Night - Dorney Haunt with Fright & Fast Lane. Open for 6 hours, will probably be there for only 5. Focus on mazes, but also try to hit a couple of the big coasters (Hydra, Talon, Steel Force). Saturday - Herhsey for 9-10 hours, then Field of Screams. Sunday - Centralia (if I'm not exhausted), then Knobels for 5 hours, then Pennhurst Asylum. Monday - Sleep in (or Centralia), quick sightseeing in Philly, Home. #2 Friday Night - Eastern State Penn and Pennhurst Haunts Saturday - Dorney for 4 hours, then drive to Knobels for 4 hours there Sunday - Hershey for 7-ish hours, then Field of Screams. Monday - Centralia in the morning, then head back to Philly to go home Thanks again SO MUCH for everyone's advice on this. I'm super stoked for this trip.