CenturyFlyer

Thanks for setting me straight! That's a really good idea. Is it possible that it could cross over the Lazy River there?

Nrthwnd, I signed up for email notifications for this post, so I did see your original comment. The Haunted Mansion uses a suspended track system, which I certainly should've said in the original post. I've edited it accordingly. And that bench does look a lot like something you could find at Knott's!

Assuming the coaster would be about 2,000 sq. ft, it could possibly end up behind the Wacky Shack and Spider, here: Waldameer is such a great park, so I would hate for them to get rid of anything. Also, I would say not to think of this as a new roller coaster as much as a new spinning ride. It's just an economical choice for a park crunched for space like Waldameer. I'd say that there's not too much of a difference from this if the park added a new family flat that was mainly a spinner, for example. Assuming this new ride is true, this and Chaos are two semi-large additions in the ride park during back-to-back years, which is certainly not the norm for Waldamer.

I know this has turned into a mammoth trip report, but I appreciate the kind comments thus far! Rehoboth Beach’s small Funland amusement park was a place I really wanted to check out, especially after reading a book about it and hearing people rave about its excellent Haunted Mansion darkride. The park is small, covering just about an acre or so, but boy do they pack a lot of punch into what space they have! There are no roller coasters here, but a Paratrooper, Sea Dragon, Zamperla Discovery, an arcade, and a good amount of kiddie rides round the place out nicely. The park is a real, all-American family institution, (90+-year-old family patriarch Al Fasnacht still operates kiddie rides most nights.) and that fact really shows in the place’s pricing: from what I saw, midway games are all $1, and tickets are just $0.40, with the most expensive rides costing only 6 tickets. Two kiddie rides even cost 1 ticket! This seems like a welcome change of pace from most boardwalk parks. This is the main reason I came here. I hadn't watched any videos of the ride beforehand, so I was going in spoiler-free. Waiting in the lengthy line for Haunted Mansion, we can see some of Funland's other rides. Bumper cars... with a floor pick-up system. How about a Paratrooper sunset shot? This slideshow of terrified riders builds perfect suspense. The ride was spectacular, with tons of top-notch, in-house designed stunts, all in full operating condition. These cars use a really cool suspended track that allows them to navigate steep inclines to the building's second floor. One of my favorite moments involved a supposed set of doors on one of the two balconies onto which the ride emerges to provide a brief respite. It's a very cool "fake-out:" you think you're going to go one way, but instead you turn left and burst through what looks to be a wall. Brilliant, and I totally fell for it! Being a darkride fan, I noticed some similarities from one ride in particular: the skull room and snake-in-the-clock were both very similar to Knoebels’ Haunted Mansion. We even got spritzed with water a couple of times! Another one of my favorite stunts was a skeleton spraying a hose… right across the path of the car. Of course, before you’re soaked, the lights shut off, and you escape unscathed. If you're ever remotely in the area, come check this ride out. You will not be disappointed. I think this is a Discovery; it's called "SuperFlip 360" here. This Paratrooper runs backwards, which I had heard of but never seen in person before. Hampton ride - In the background, you can see Al Fasnacht, the owner of the park, who is 90 years old and still works the kiddie rides for an hour or so every night during the summer. What a retirement! Small parks like Funland get even smaller (in a good way) when you know about things like this. These kiddie fire engines - here since 1962, and perhaps longer - cost only $0.40 a ride! This carousel is an older model with a newer, Chance-designed rounding board. The mermaid in the middle of these kiddie boats rocks. Here's one of two instances during which the Haunted Mansion exits the darkness. This one overlooks the boardwalk. The Giant Skull looks like a Bill Tracy mold, which is certainly probable, as this ride was designed by the company formed by one of the people who worked for him. Classic Herschell helicopters Those ticket prices are for real! I hope you've enjoyed this look around the parks in the area surrounding Ocean City, Maryland. It's certainly a hotbed of activity and thrills that I've been privileged to enjoy throughout my childhood. I hope you enjoyed my second trip report, and if you stuck with me the whole way through, thank you! Andrew M.

On the way to Frontier Town, I convinced my dad to stop for a cheap coaster credit – the Wacky Worm at Baja Amusements. Isn’t it awesome that Ocean City has THREE Wacky Worms? From the parking lot, the Worm looked pretty desolate, so I was glad when the ticket booth attendant assured us it was running. To my utter shock, this Wacky Worm went around four times, the most of the three in Ocean City. There I am. Do I look wacky? Mini carousel.. ...bumper boats... ...go-karts... ...and we're out of here! Right down the road from Baja, Frontier Town is a cool little park themed to the old west that’s celebrating 60 years in 2019. I guess it’s kind of like Knott’s Berry Farm before they started adding all the rides – as far as rides here go, there's not much more than a train and stagecoach. But the real reason people come to Frontier Town is for the western style shows, and there are all kinds of those, with everything from gunfights to the can-can playing out at some point during the day. In fact, when one show ends, another one begins shortly, so that’s the real appeal of Frontier Town. Entrance - a character greeted us upon arrival. Admission is $14. A dusty old main street is the location for a lot of the happenings during the day... ...like this cattle drive! The horse-drawn stagecoach paraded down the boulevard, and Frontier Town was opened. The park has a nice little train that's probably been here for a long time. It's authentically steam powered. Check out this horse-driven carousel. This must be the world’s hardest shooting gallery. Most of the targets flashed on and off in split-second increments, so I assumed that you were only able to hit them when lit. In the end, I was only able to hit the targets that remained on the entire time. [insert your own caption here.] The "Great Western Stampede" was a nice demonstration that culminated with this buckboard race. Here's the park's "saloon," which also serves as its main food counter. The can-can show hear later in the day was long and loud, but I found it to be pretty funny. Native American Dancing - they did a good job of identifying what's "fact and fiction" when it comes to native culture. "The Old Mine" is a very, very small tilt house. This guy stands just outside the parking lot. And that's pretty much it for Frontier Town. It was a nice trip back in time when small, roadside attractions like this existed. Sure, they’ve added a waterpark and other attractions since then, but I’m glad that they see value in keeping the western town around. It’s all fueled by extremely corny humor, but if you can get yourself to enjoy that, (and we really all can if we try…) you’ll like Frontier Town. There's that little waterpark, which understandably gets most of the attention nowadays.

Jolly Roger at the Pier is a small, underwhelming collection of rides on, well, a pier that juts into the ocean. On this visit, I would just be taking a quick look around the park to take a few pictures, as Trimper's is clearly the winner when it comes to the best-quality park in Ocean City. However, this place deserves some exposure. You enter the park by walking through a building that houses a Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum on the 2nd floor. SlingShot - I will do one of these someday! Ferris Wheel - I've never been on this before, so I might have to take it for a spin next time. I can imagine that the views are quite scenic. This was one of the worst darkrides ever four years ago, but I had heard that it had somewhat been improved since then, so I decided to give it a second chance. It was certainly better than it used to be, with a fair number of operating tricks and good lighting. Still nowhere near the level of Trimper's Haunted House, but I'd say it's worth a go (if not the price). The way the track winds through the building on multiple levels is reminiscent of a thrill ride. Pinfari Looping Star - I have the credit, thank you very much, so not for me today! Looking at the park from the beach, we can see a Power Surge. There's the Ripley's museum, shark-busting-out-of-wall included! This was a short installment. Frontier Town, an old roadside attraction, is coming next.

Enjoy the continuation of the Trimper's pictures! Nice looking Rock-N-Roll - didn't ride this one. There are all kind of artistic details if you take the time to look. Surrounding the carousel is a large collection of kiddie rides, with a couple of Hampton rides (without the umbrellas). There are some really great vintage Mangels kiddie rides in the building as well. This Ferris Wheel appears as if the building had been built around it. Take these photo-op benches, for example. Gotta love these Snoopy-themed Sky Fighters. I wonder if Cedar Fair knows about this? This is a true menagerie carousel, with everything from frogs to storks to lots of horses. It's the heartbeat of Ocean City, and I hope Trimper's keeps it going for generations to come. Here's a very cool detail, with a meaning that has practically been lost to time. POV Kiddie Merry-Go-Round - just as elaborately painted as the big version! This ticket booth is just for show, but it's really a pleasure to look at. Above the bumper car ride, Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters are manning the wheel! Very old shooting gallery - the targets are still the type that are activated by beams of light, so Trimper's of course has a sign that reads "no flash photography." (A flash of lights will set ALL the targets off at once.) No one was around, so I did try with my camera, but it was too bright outside for me to get the flash to work. This train ride is amazing - it has a waterfall, its own music, and animatronic animals. I give Trimper's five stars for this recent addition. There's a good collection of iron rides, with ones like the Tilt-A-Whirl seen here, a Freak Out, and a newer Endeavour (which I did ride and find to be just okay), but the real star of the show is the ride at the left in this picture. The Zipper! A rare, hand-carved sea dragon jumps out at passerby. I had been on one of these before, and I really enjoy them. The flipping is so out-of-control, yet it somehow still feels like there's always a method to the madness. 'Z' is for... Bonus: In the nearby Ocean City Life Saving Museum, there's the old Laffin' Sal that was once in the funhouse on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Very cool in itself, and the rest of the museum, though small, is certainly worth a look in itself. A brief look at Jolly Roger at the Pier is next on our list! Rock-O-Plane One of those every-present SBF spinning coasters - this had been moved since my last visit. This was indirectly one of the results of the removal of the other old funhouse at Trimper's, a small walkthrough called Aladdin's Lamp that was done away with in 2017. I miss it a lot. ...my current favorite flat ride. The immaculate 1900s carousel - this armored horse is the lead (most elaborately decorated) horse on this machine. I wonder how old these super-practical "ticket-mailboxes" are?

Enjoy the continuation of the Trimper's pictures!

Enjoy the continuation of the Trimper's pictures!

Trimper’s was founded in 1893 as a simple seaside hotel and has grown into a very interesting boardwalk park over the years. (Fun fact: it’s still owned by people with the Trimper name, making it the “oldest family-owned amusement park in America.” Pretty cool!) After getting off the bus that runs down OC’s Coastal Highway for my quickie visit to Jolly Roger, I got back on to ride to the end of the boardwalk and do the afternoon Trimper's wristband. At $28, it’s not cheap or overly expensive. It’s a good value for what it is, though; individual tickets cost $0.75 each normally, which sounds cheap… until you realize that rides cost 5 or 6 tickets on average, with the Boomerang taking 10. Not the best, not the worst. (For “best” pricing, we’ll be visiting Funland in Rehoboth Beach later…) Walking up - It was before 3 at this time, which is when the outdoor rides open. I really like these colored stripes on the building that fronts the boardwalk. Inside the carousel building. (We'll be returning here in part two of Trimper's photos.) It was nice to be here again, but this ride would have to wait because I purchased a wristband and walked back on to the boardwalk to ride my favorite Trimper's attraction... I remember not liking this one at all on my first ride four years ago, but I decided I’d give it a second chance. Leaving the station, we began our backward climb. Spoiler alert - this was the best part of the ride. From the moment we started flying down the first hill to when we glided back into the station, the train was rattling over the entire track, creating a very rough ride. I literally can’t say much more than that; it was really that bad. Tidal Wave now ranks below the majority of the kiddie coasters I have been on. It is of note that this is the only Boomerang I have ridden to date. Okay, but on the plus side, Trimper's has this cool, old-school Himalaya! Yes, I did ride this. And no, I'm not that ashamed. Since this was my first amusement park back when I was two, I might've rode it then, so this was just an opportunity to "make sure." Wait, but what's that in the background? Yes, it's none other than the park's own Vekoma Boomerang. Skipping over to the other side of the park, we have this Mirror Maze... "Adult R" - whatever the heck that means, come and get it! (This used to say "Adult - Rides - Kiddie," but there have been renovations here recently, and I guess they just haven't put the letters back up. This was another new credit for me. It went around three times, and the pre-recorded safety spiel was totally awesome: "Welcome to the Wacky Worm!" Crooked corridor, like the Haunted House... and with fresh paint! This room is tilted. We still have a bit of the outdoor section of the Trimper rides to see, as well as the inside of the building with the historic carousel, so stay tuned for that! I apologize about the two random posts below; I got an error message, yet these two entries somehow still posted. But when I click "edit," the whole posts shows, which I am unwilling to mess with. "Crooked Corridor" "Old Mill" - the lady moves down the table, into the rotating saw! Pretty macabre... and this has been here since 1964. Watch out! The slats of wood create a bumpy sensation as you go over them, appropriate to railroad ties. This sign is pretty iconic. ...the famous Haunted House. The cars are equally as impressive. For those who don't know, the Trimper's Haunted House was designed by Bill Tracy, who built tons of legendary darkrides at lots of amusement parks. This is one of only a handful left today. This is one WACKY picture. Interesting graphics on the backdrop ...and right next to it, a world-class funhouse, Pirate's Cove. A lot of people are likely familiar with the Waldameer version of this attraction, and this one has a lot of similarities to that. Like the Haunted House, this is a darkride that was designed by Bill Tracy. Awesome facade; who doesn't think this bat is cool? Here's a fun one of the front. At almost 5 minutes in length, this ride is very long. At a ride its size, it's to be expected that not everything is going to be working inside, but I did notice significantly more non-operational stunts than I had seen on my last rides four years ago. Among other things, the rotating barrel wasn't spinning. However, I did take a second ride-thru later in the week and found some things to be improved upon, most notably brighter, LED blacklights throughout. I guess the condition of this thing just depends on the day. Regardless, Trimper's Haunted House remains one of the best classic darkrides around and is a must during any trip in Ocean City. Here's an example of one of the whimsical tableaus in this walkthorugh. I really like this one!

I’ve always loved the Ocean City, Maryland amusement parks. Childhood memories probably have a lot to do with that, but I’ve come to appreciate the stellar collection of Wacky Worms in a whole different way as a coaster enthusiast over the years. I haven’t been to any other boardwalk parks, so I have nothing to really compare to, but the Ocean City parks seem to be pretty good for what they are. I mean, there’s no major roller coasters that are actually any good, but there’s different stuff to enjoy here, like the excellent darkrides and carousel at Trimper’s Rides…. but I’m getting ahead of myself. This will be a multiple part series covering the following parks: Jolly Roger (at 30th St.) Trimper’s Rides Jolly Roger at the Pier Frontier Town Funland (Rehoboth Beach) Enjoy the pictures and comments! Ocean City, Maryland is a pretty family-oriented vacation spot, so there’s a lot of amusements (kooky mini-golf, etc.) to appeal to everyone. But the real fun for me has long been in the amusement parks. I’ve never really been a “beach person,” so I would always look forward to the one or two nights when my family would hit up the parks. One that we would always spend a good chunk of time at was the Jolly Roger park at 30th Street, which is a park with mostly temporary rides that has been around for about a half-century. The highlights are a Schwarzkopf Wildcat that has been to both Cedar Point and Valleyfair, as well as the Flitzer that used to be on Jenkinson’s Boardwalk. There’s also a train ride and two kiddie coasters. Adjacent is a water park and a whole separate go-kart park, too. On one of the first days of my family vacation, however, I just wanted to get in, get the new Flitzer credit, and get out, as I wasn’t sure how much park time I had; I would rather be at Trimper’s, anyway. Later in the week, I did get a chance to back and take some pictures, though. At the end of the boardwalk, there’s another park named Jolly Roger that sits out on a pier. I’ll be showing some pics of it later, but there’s another, better park at the boardwalk's end, Trimper’s Rides, which will be part two of this report. I hadn't been here in four years, but the overall feel of the place has remained the same. Going in! That pirate statue is one of those "Muffler Man" sculptures that you see all over the place, holding all kinds of objects. In this case, it's appropriately a sword. Here's where you buy your "Passport to Fun." You can purchase individual points for the rides, but Jolly Roger really touts their POP band, which is probably pretty expensive. The train is an old Herschell model; one of the few still around that I know of. I didn't take a ride, but I was glad to see that it was still in operation. Himalaya, Spider, Ferris Wheel - a funny story about this Spider is that I rode it when I was about six years old not having any idea what I was getting in to. My parents didn't either... I still can remember how crazy whirling through the air on this ride felt back then! Here's the Wildcat. It's been newly painted since my last visit. That sign on the lift was also new; it was sitting on the ground last time. I don't remember this station covering, and the sick logo is included. First drop Nice Ferris Wheel here I was surprised to see this interesting water-based kiddie whip. Himalaya But now the reason I came here: the new Flitzer, Barracuda! Running through its paces - These types of coasters are lots of fun, but I didn't feel the need to spend the money on a ride since I'd been on it before. I had never been on one of these before, and it was pretty fun and slightly frightening, as the small cars wound through the head-chopper-filled structure at what felt like high speeds. These sweeping turns out front are by far the highlight. The ride operator was talking our ears off about his credit card troubles; hey, at least they're friendly! Wacky Worm chain trouble! Wait... are you telling me that there's ANOTHER one of these spectacular places?! More to come... There's another kiddie coaster, this Miler model.

Here's hoping for a quick reopening. I had the perfect day to go there over a month ago, but alas, Leap the Dips was closed. If TTD at Cedar Point doesn't reopen before next week, LtD could very well end up as my 100th coaster. That would be cool.

Woo-hoo! Can't wait to go in two days to ride it for the first time! Now I just need Top Thrill Dragster to reopen at Cedar Point for my first ever visit next week.

I've never been on a Chance Toboggan before, and I kind of have a fascination with them after gazing at the one in Conneaut Lake's parking lot for years. It's a long shot of me getting here, so the best chance I have of riding one would probably at a fair somewhere. I love the missing handrail on Meteor! I wonder if a coaster train has ever had a "near-miss" with a Roll-O-Plane cage. Thanks for the report; it gave a good overall feel of the place.

Does the final scene and the showing of modern landmarks feel disjointed, since the queue and backstory carry on such a different theme? Thanks for the TR and pictures!

Story Land looks like it remains pretty nice. I'd never heard of the tilt house before! I had heard of the safari ride, though, and it looks like Palace Entertainment has struck again! I was hoping to maybe do "Coasting for Kids" at Six Flags America this year, but it's not to be. Oh well, it'll happen someday. Thanks for the report and pictures.

Thanks for the fun pictures and comments! GeForce looks unreal.

I love me some sketchy fair goodness. I'll be riding my first Flitzer in about a week in Ocean City, MD. I have EXTREMELY high hopes. Those fun houses don't even try to avoid copyright like some do with airbrush designs - I mean, the Frozen characters look like they were copied and pasted!

Looks like a fun park! I'm hoping to hit #100 this season, as well! Thanks for the report.

That actually sounds like a slow dispatch for Knoebels from my experience. I didn't time the Twister dispatches, but this seemed to be pretty consistent for Phoenix. It's those durn air gates, I tell ya! I'm glad you enjoyed the report.

Thank you all so much for the compliments!

Here we go - I'm finishing up Knoebels pictures in this postI! My dad and I walked back over to Flying Turns and noticed that that the line was around the 30-minute sign, so we figured heck it, and got in line. We lucked out, as only about halfway through, the ops asked for a group of two riders. Somehow, there weren’t any other groups of two in front of us, so score! Assigned to the back car, I thought it was extremely nice how a station attendant provided “baggage service” – a color-coded bin for your train was literally brought to you. Anyway, we started out on one of the most all-around fun rides out there. The beginning helix was a cool start, and then at the top of the second lift, we began our descent through the ride’s Figure-8 section of curves. It was all a lot more forceful than I remembered it being, as well. Left, right, left, right… weeeeee! A truly unique ride, it was a shame we only got one ride on it that day. Next up for me was Looper, one of the last-of-its-kind rides in the park. Since single riders aren’t allowed, I was paired up with a pretty nice kid who wanted to spin as much as possible. This ride was very fun, but I can see why it’s not popular with older people. We probably went upside down at least 20 times! You can flip as much or as little as you want to using a foot pedal, though. Of course, it’s all gut energy and teamwork with your partner to get you over the top the first time, but once you get going, the craziness of the flipping really runs wild! The Knoebels drop tower, Stratos-Fear, is the same ARM model as the one at Waldameer. It provides a really awesome overview of Flying Turns. The drop gives you zero time to anticipate the fall and is always a laugh. Yet another first-time experience for me was the Giant Flume. There's two drops and a nice wooded setting. Our boat didn't even get hit by the water cannons; don't those things ruin the purpose of flumes? You're not supposed to get drenched! Another all-around fun ride, it makes me miss Kennywood's Log Jammer. The Carousel Museum is always a treat, especially since it's located in air-conditioned comfort. Why can’t all parks have a museum of some type? The Carousel Museum is quite expansive, despite it being in only a small room. There’s everything from classic carousel horses to antique rounding boards. Derby racer alert! I'm excited that I'll be able to ride one of these for the first time at Cedar Point this summer. Two trains were running. This might be my favorite amusement park train. Exhibit A: awesome Twister photo opportunities! Look at all those cross-overs. Exhibit B: the turnaround... why, you ask? ...well, there's corn that sometimes attracts squirrels! Here's your blurry squirrel picture cred for the day. On the spur of the moment, my dad and I decided to take a ride on Impulse. (Get it?) After about a 15 minute wait, we got in the front row of this Zierer creation. As said earlier, this ride looks great, but as for the experience itself, it really wasn’t all that fun. It felt like the train was constantly rattling all through the course, which made it hard to enjoy the fun inversions. Another issue is the stapling of your lap bar into your waist at the bottom of the first drop, making the remainder of the ride very hard to enjoy; I remembered this happening three years ago. It’s great that Knoebels has a thrilling steel coaster, but one ride was certainly enough on this for me. Another ride on the carousel didn't improve my ring skills much. This is the "lead horse" - the morst ornately carved one. The pioneer train is another Knoebels original that's always a joy. I think we made it on the day before the wreck that occured recently... whew! A look into the structure of one of the weird, rotating refreshment stands that sit near the Haunted Mansion. Yes, this one actually spins! Fun fact… these three structures are actually old carousel frames. They were purchased by a struggling park looking to add a carousel that was close to Knoebels. That dream never came to be, but when the park’s contents were auctioned off, Knoebels stepped in, and the rest is history! I won't bore you with descriptions of my re-rides on the park's attractions, but I will give you this nice picture of the Roto-Jet. Love the headlights! Twister night ride time! I also got some of my first night rides in on Phoenix; one was in the front seat, and they were all absolutely amazing. Climbing, climbing, up my list of favorite coasters. Time to head out. Can you guess where this picture was taken? The Giant Wheel has a nice LED light package. Thanks for reading. If you read the whole thing (and even if you didn't), I really appreciate it! I didn't want to post pictures of all of the flat rides here, but there's much more at Knoebels than what I showed in this report. My best advice would be to come out and see the park for yourself! It’s a warp back to a time when parks were places where you could go to spontaneously have fun without planning every minute of your day out ahead of time. Some people have a hard time slowing down when visiting parks like this, but if you just give the slower pace a chance, you’ll find yourself really enjoying it. Andrew M. (CenturyFlyer)

On with the Knoebels pictures! Hope this isn't too much for you all. //// By this time I was again beginning to really grasp why Knoebels is such a great park. The amount of charm it has is unmatched. This fact would be further reaffirmed by our next ride – the park’s carousel, which of course is one of only two left in the country with an operating “brass ring” machine. When the gates are opened, everyone makes a mad dash for the outside horses, and I was just able to get one on this ride, thanks to my dad letting me have his. My ring-grabbing skills need honing, but I was still able to grab an average of about six rings on my two turns on the machine; terrible, I know. It’s beyond me how people can grab more than one ring at once on this. I guess the reason Knoebels can still treat their guests to this amenity is because of the good behavior of the clientele that visits. I mean, at what other park can you pretty much count on for someone to hold every ride's exit gate for you? Rings aside, the machine itself is wonderfully detailed with lots of little lattice work and murals. Not to be sappy, but when the organ is playing and everyone around you is having a good time, you really realize what an amusement park is all about. (There’re two other organs near the ride in addition to this one; I wonder if they ever play?) The American flag on Twister is a nice touch. Things are going to be getting twisty! But first, let's take a look in one of the observation areas for Flying Turns. In the area was this car in a box; was is either a prototype that didn’t work out or a car from an old ride? Here they come! The relative lack of noise that these trains make as they go through the trough is quite remarkable. The awesome marquee I think Six Flags should get a load of this; hello originality! This is very cool. Here we go! Unlike Phoenix, Twister does not yet have air gates in its station. On my last visit, Twister was my favorite coaster at Knoebels, but it couldn’t top the awesomeness of Phoenix on this trip. But once again, I think it’s so awesome that the park would pour so much time and money into a recreation of an old ride. Twister’s two lift hills build anticipation, and this is certainly the wood coaster in the park for people into huge drops. After these two drops, though, is when the ride truly comes alive; the huge double helix and twisty turns were fun and a thing that I hadn’t memorized. The only noticeable detraction was some jackhammering around the turn underneath the turn after the first big drop, but besides that, Twister was running great and is still very high on my list of favorite coasters. As you're walking down the exit ramp, you get a nice view of the helix. Oh yeah, the ride is 20 years old this year, too! I got a cool T-shirt stating the fact. Knoebels as a whole has a huge selection of merchandise, especially when it comes to apparel. There’s lots of stuff that everyone (and especially the park fan) can enjoy. Okay, my next ride was a first for me – Flyer. How the heck did I not do this on my first visit to this place? I had been preparing for this opportunity for a while, trying to practice my “snapping” skills on other Scooter rides. While waiting in line, it looked like the operator wasn’t really minding what the riders were doing, so that’s that. Once in my car, I noticed how the “sails” were just that – material spread over a framework. I’ve been on flyers at Kings Dominion, Idlewild, and Conneaut, and I’m almost sure that this wasn’t the case at those parks. I could be wrong about that, though. Anyway, this ride completely blew all of those other rides out of the water! It seemed like you could barely move the sail and the tub would start flying all over the place. Again, like Phoenix, I should’ve been expecting this, but the amount of awesomeness Flyer provides was such a surprise to me. The engine that creates the iconic whirring sound of Flyer The combination of soaring inches away from tree branches and the thought of “Am I supposed to be doing this?” when my car did a huge jolt really made this a thrilling ride… and I had no idea what the operator thought of me. I would end up taking a second ride later in the night and tried to convince my dad to ride with me, but apparently, he doesn’t ‘do’ spinny rides anymore. What a shame… With Fascination being adjacent, we walked in and used $5.00 worth of tokens. We didn’t win any games, so no lamps or crock pots would be coming home with us on this trip. I took a ride on Power Surge, which I found to be just okay. I mean, you’re whirling in all kinds of different directions, but there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to the movement. All around the park are cool, old vintage touches like this. Nothing too dazzling, but everything has a lot of charm. Here's another favorite of mine at Knoebels – Satellite, a Roll-O-Plane. These rides are really fun, and I was even legitimately scared a bit of how my cage was making really weird noises and rocking to beyond 90 degrees. The operator also executed a wicked “hold”, in which I was looking straight down at the ground. What else can I say? The park's Whip has a very nice shelter. No. 1 park rule right here, folks. Taking a step back... where's the Trapeze? Anyway, Whipper (a first time ride for me) was good but not as fun as Kennywood's, which is larger. Since we were right next to it, I figured we’d take a journey up and down the mountain on the Scenic Skyway, a must while at Knoebels. At $4 a pop, I think it’s also the park’s most expensive ride. The views on the way back down are really quite incredible. I love wooden coasters in such a lush setting like this! Back on ground, we took note of this nice monument. You might be thinking, "When is this going to end?", but I've still got one, maybe two more installments of pictures comin' your way.

Let's continue our day at Knoebels! I appreciate the feedback, too. Rawr While my dad was finishing up his lunch, I walked around for a bit in the Mining and Knoebels History Museums. It’s really nice the park has these; there could be gift shops here, but Knoebels is a park that knows how to honor both their own history as well as local heritage. Hey, is that a Vekoma? I have no idea what this is. But it's very intriguing. There's a part of an old Ferris Wheel and even an old cage from one of those "Flying Cages" rides. These old animatronics are fascinating. Hmm… ever heard of a park in Orlando, Knoebels? Black Diamond is right next to the museum building, and I was very excited to take a ride. After waiting in just a bit of a line, we boarded a “mine cart” to take a journey through the coal mine theming of this darkride/coaster hyrbrid. It was even better than I remembered it being three years ago! I certainly noticed things that I didn’t see back then – the level of detail throughout the whole attraction is beyond small park level. I honestly think that this ride might be superior to the park’s classic dark attraction, Haunted Mansion, as Black Diamond has a wonderful theme as well as the added fun of the little drops. It’s so, so awesome that Knoebels would see value in resurrecting such an old ride, and in the 2010s, nonetheless! Knoebels has some band organs, and this one isn't even on a carousel. Sitting right across from Phoenix, it was built in 1907 and plays all day, every day the park is open. This is probably why it didn't sound the greatest. Hopefully, it can be tuned soon. However, the two organs on the park's two carousels sounded very nice. This pic is out of order, but it shows off Knoebels' well-kept-up Paratrooper nicely. My dad and I decided to keep the darkride fun going with a ride on what may be my favorite attraction at Knoebels, the Haunted Mansion. After paying the $2.50 up charge (which is apparently to prevent vandalism to the stunts - not really that high of a price, especially considering the quality of this ride), we began our trip. The Haunted Mansion may be one of the best if not the best classic darkride in the country. The stunts are all impeccably timed, with the lights often going out just as something flies out at you, and the use of diversion is also used to an incredible advantage. I’ve been watching videos of the ride for years, so I wasn’t startled, but instead was just able to soak it in and enjoy the style at work here. This ride is a true classic and is not to be missed! "The World's Largest Baseball Bat?" You be the judge! Here's the smaller of the two Knoebels carousels. Carved in 1912, it was installed at Knoebels in 1976. The rounding board features lots of murals of local towns and landmarks. Yep, I'm certainly in agreement with this fact! There's still more Knoebels to come! Impulse from a distance... but what's that building in the foreground? Yes, it's Knoebels' extremely well-known Skooter bumper cars! This is one of my dad’s favorites. After a wait of a cycle or two, we boarded our classic Lusse Auto Skooters. Major props go to Knoebels for keeping yet another old ride operating in such good condition and with a decent number of operating cars. Heck, a lot of parks with newer bumper cars have half the number of operable cars that Knoebels has! It was certainly a fun ride, but nothing will beat my first experience on this ride when a completely renegade rider decided to drive the opposite direction with plenty of wooing and waving of fists. Good times. An example of the artistry that these cars posses. They all hit so hard and are really heads and shoulders above any other bumper car ride out there. I was also able to take some nice flash pictures (frowned upon?) of the stunts inside. "Welll-come!" The upside down room, one of the newer tricks. You can't see this much in the dark. It's fun to see the amount of detail that some of the scenes have! Watch out for what "lives" in that box straight-ahead. This design on the barrel is new for 2019. It apparently used to rotate, but that was apparently discontinued long ago. The memorable conclusion: "Oo-ga!" Right after this is one of those water curtains, which shuts off right before the car hits it. The very cool and effective vortex tunnel

Okay, thanks! I think it's mostly "fixed" now.