TR: PPP 2008

[Jim S.]

3 PM, I met my girlfriend at her job and we headed to Knoebels. Since it was mid-afternoon, there were more people heading out of the craft show than into it so the traffic between Elysburg and the park, where it usually comes to a standstill, was moving at normal speed. We ended up not parking all the way at the back of the parking lot, which was surprising. It was a little after 4 when we got to the handstamp office, where there was no line either.

 

After we got our handstamps, we headed to Cesaris to get our free pizza. Along the way, we spotted a lot of people with PPP shirts and lots of insignia from other parks. This was a big step up from last year when even though there was a record crowd it was hard to tell who were enthusiasts and who weren't. Even though there wasn't much of a line yet for pizza, service was still terribly slow. And despite the wait, our pizza wasn't terribly hot. But at least it didn't burn our mouths, and at least it was well-cooked unlike some years when the PPP rush hits.

 

After the za, we went to the bumper cars to use up some leftover tickets before PPP started. There was a short line, and we got an average ride. Then we headed over to the Phlyers. There was about a 2-cycle wait. On the first cycle, somebody we couldn't see from the back of the queue got a really loud snap, and the op immediately turned the speed way down. The next ride he started out at full speed, but as soon as somebody got what I consider an average snap, he turned it down again. I've snapped with this guy running before, but obviously that wasn't going to happen today. And with the crosswind, you can't help snapping. So even though we were at the front of the line by then, we bailed out and headed back to the bumper cars. We got there just in time for the last ride before they shut down for the 5:00 break, and I got a car that had severe drive train issues if you turned it hard to the left. Of course, you've got to turn it hard to the left...

 

So with everything shut down for supper break, and our pizza already out of the way, we went to the swap meet to check out the peep contest. There were only 3 entries, and it was really no contest. We both voted for the same one. We spent a little time looking at the park memorabilia, but it's pretty much the same year after year, so we sat down to wait for Phoenix to open. 6:00, Phoenix opened, we got one ride and then went to Twister to let the Phoenix line settle down. There wasn't much of a crowd at Twister, so we took two rides in a row. There had obviously been some wood replaced recently on the helix, and it was running really smoothly. The same couldn't be said for their Halloween efforts. There were hardly any decorations and only one stunt, which was alternately failing to activate and staying stuck on as people walked by.

 

Next we went back to the Phlyers. This time they had changed ops, and everybody was phlying as good as I've ever seen them. We had such a good ride that we got right back in line for another one. After that it was back to the bumper cars for another ride. It was almost all adults this time and there were lots of hard hits. Then we went over to the High Speed Thrill Coaster for our yearly ride. It was almost all adults too, and it was running as good as ever. We rode in the back and got slammed around as good as on the rides we had just left. Nobody was keeping their hands up!

 

Finally we went back to Phoenix to finish out the night. The tunnel was well-decorated although some of their lighting effects only triggered once the whole time we were there. (Maybe too much smoke?) For those of you who have been to PPP, you know what goes on in the front-seat queue. Last year it wasn't happening as much, but this year it was back with a vengeance. Maybe it got a little too rowdy, because sometime after 9 the last op, who we had never seen before, told people to stop it. It stopped for about one train, and he never said anything again.

 

Towards the end, Backseat Bill Galvin finally showed up after hanging around the sale tables all day. He had changed into a Thor costume, complete with red hair and lightning bolts, but carrying a rocket instead of a hammer, and was carrying on with an anti-Astroland routine. "LESS COASTERS! MORE CONDOS!". I guess you had to be there. I should've shot a video.

 

10:00 comes and they're still letting people in. About 10:10 they finally close the line. After a couple of trains only seats 1-3 and 10-12 have people waiting, and the ops tell everyone to fill up the train. Cool, I thought, I finally catch the last train on Phoenix at PPP! But the ride itself was a let-down, partly because I had a faster ride earlier during a rain shower, partly because I wasn't in my preferred seat, but mostly because despite everyone cheering for a re-ride, there wasn't one.

 

So after unceremoniously getting off of Phoenix, we went to Phoenix Junction to see the winners of the costume parade (which we had skipped to take advantage of the shorter Phoenix lines) and see what Dick had to say about the state of the park, especially of course the Howard Hughes Memorial Sculpture Garden (which had been nicely lit for the evening, but wasn't displaying any movement). Surprisingly, he said that they had made some major progress in the last week since the park had closed and he was reasonably confident that the Flying Turns would be open next spring. Further unexpected news was that the haunted ride nights, the next three Saturdays from 6-10PM, were being expanded to include not just Phoenix, the Haunted House, and the Haunted Antique Cars, but the Haunted Pioneer Train, Twister, and Fandango. Why Fandango? I have no idea. We also had no idea that the train was haunted this year because it wasn't in the PPP brochure, although we wondered why it wasn't running before dark when we went for our Twister rides shortly after 6. It's also ironic that they open Twister this year with hardly any decorations vs. the years prior to last year when the station was heavily decorated.

 

The costume contest anouncements were anti-climactic. Half of the winners didn't show up for their prizes. Also there seemed to be very little intersection between the set of people who took part in the parade and the set of people we saw riding in costume. The biggest surprise of the night was that there were two attendees from Sweden, although there was no prize for that.

 

Total registrants were 1377, down from a record 1600-something last year.

[Guest]

Did anyone ask if that place plans on opening the Flying Turns coaster sometime this century?

[SharkTums]

^Did you even read his TR!!??

 

The answer is in there!

[Guest]

Sorry, was skimming/watching the White Sox game at the same time. Werent they reasonably confident it would open this year too?

[robbalvey]

^ When I started talking to Knoebels about our 2008 TPR visit back in February they told me it was unlikely it would be open for our visit.

 

--Robb

[rgb60]

That's great news about the additional attractions being open for the next 3 Saturdays. I saw also that the Fire Trucks and Moon Bounce will be open for kids too. At this rate, how much longer will it be until Knoebels stays open through October with a full-fledged Halloween event?

 

We only found out about the haunted train ride because we rode it during the afternoon and saw a bunch of tarps and miles of extension cords running through the woods. It piqued our interest enough to check it out at night. It was pretty good-- there were a few "scenes" set up along the tracks and some piped in noise and creepy music. No live actors-- at least at PPP. Maybe they'll be able to get some more folks from the other rides and attractions.

 

The haunted antique cars were great-- it keeps getting better every year. The only problem was that cars were getting bunched up because a lot of people were driving slowly to check out all the scenes.

 

I missed seeing "chainsaw guy" in the Twister queue this year. But if the coaster runs as smoothly as it did last night, I won't care if they don't decorate it at all.

[Jim S.]

We skipped the haunted cars again in hopes of getting there one of the other nights. The line ran from the queue all the way over to Phoenix's entrance for a while! You could see from the double-down that there were scenes along the entire length of the track again, even though they moved the mini-coaster out front this year.

 

Twister has really improved the last two years, hasn't it? I got tired of waiting for the first car and rode in the 2nd car, and it was smoother than the first one. It used to be that the front and back were the only sane seats on it!

[rgb60]

We didn't get into line for the cars until around 9:45 or maybe even later. We figured by the time we got through, Phoenix's line would be closed. So we kept riding Phoenix until the last possible moment.

 

I was considering going back one of the next 3 weekends. Now with the additional rides being open, it's a lot more likely. Are they still going to charge by individual rides? Or are they going to offer some kind of wristband or handstamp? Heck, I'd pay $20 for something like that. Last year, I probably paid close to that for one ride each on the cars/mansion, and 3 or 4 Phoenix rides.

[ShannonSomerville]

As usual,I couldn't go(had to work),but my boyfriend went. From what he told me,it was very decent. Hopefully,I get the chance to go next year.

[Jim S.]

I was considering going back one of the next 3 weekends. Now with the additional rides being open, it's a lot more likely. Are they still going to charge by individual rides? Or are they going to offer some kind of wristband or handstamp?

 

I wish I knew. It does get pretty expensive since Phoenix is so re-rideable and the line is usually short. But I would imagine they'd still charge by individual ride since part of the money is donated to the fire company.

[Jim S.]

I just got the ad.

 

Tickets are $2.50 each or $10 for 5.

[rgb60]

I just got the ad.

 

Tickets are $2.50 each or $10 for 5.

 

That's not bad at all. IIRC, Phoenix was $3.00 last year, and the Cars and Mansion were $2.00 each. I think I rode Phoenix 5 times, and the others 1 time each. So that was $19 for 7 rides. For one more buck, I get 3 more rides.