Knoebels Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

Now that I think of it, Downdraft may have been down in my 2 visits in mid-June as well. Either that or I never saw it run.

[Rai Fox]

Top 5 (in no particular order):

 

I'm also headed to Knoebels in the near future and noticed Downdraft is listed as "Closed" on the website. Anybody know anything about it?

 

Don't know, but Knoebels is good at responding to questions on Facebook or Twitter. Shouldn't be hard to get an answer there.

[djcoastermark]

A few of my fave 5 foods from knoebels, in no order,

Pierogies from the good place !

fried pierogies from the rotating canopy area,

Ceasaries pizza,

And I am surprised no one mentioned the Potato Pancakes from one little obscure stand,

And,

the fresh spun Cotton Candy piled high on a stick as high as Marge Simpsons hair.

I am a sucker for fresh cotton candy at the end of the night, and theirs is great.

[coneyislandchris]

I have one singular favorite food at Knoebels that I absolutely must stop and get every single time I visit because they're so damn good. Everything else mentioned above is great as well but that stand is my first stop when my stomach gets to growling.

[boldikus]

I should not be reading this thread while waiting on dinner to finish cooking.

[Genx24]

Just had a doozy of a day at Knoebels. You can read about in detail inJCoaster's Pennsyltucky Road Trip TR, but I just wanted to pop in to say that I'm an instant fan of the park and all it has to offer.

 

And Bill, you weren't kidding about the Pierogies. I saw Jesus when I bit into them.

[I Like Theme Parks.]

I still need to try the Alamo, Nickel Plate, fries, and roasted nuts, and the Backyard BBQ place but my top 5 Knoebels foods right now would be:

 

Perogies

Cesari's pizza

Potato cakes

Bavarian ham sandwich

Apple cider slush

[alilstronger]

Best park simply based on the fact its the ONLY park I ever been to that actually has real brewed un-sweet iced tea and not that Peak, Brisk, or other name brand junk.

[coasterbill]

And Bill, you weren't kidding about the Pierogies. I saw Jesus when I bit into them.

 

That's what I like to hear.

[jimmiemac02]

Had a really great week of camping at Knoebels this week. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday the park was absolutely packed. Monday, it rained all day and stopped at about 4pm. The park was so empty Monday night, Phoenix was a walk on with one train! Once I saw that all the rides were walk ons, I sprung the sundown special. I did bargain night Wednesday and because there were so many people there, I barely rode $12 worth of rides before closing. We ate breakfast in the food court every morning, it was really good (especially the cinnamon rolls). My dad and I also tried perogies for the first time, they were interesting. We also had a dole whip, a sundae from the old mill, dinner in the Alamo, spaghetti on Wednesday night, and BBQ chicken on Sunday night. All the food was great and fairly priced (which is 1/2 the reason we drive 11 hours to Knoebels every year)! No one touched Over the Top while we were there (which I'm sure Knoebels is not happy with their purchase since it's still not working).

 

On Wednesday, since it was so crowded, we made a side trip to the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine. Our tour guide had worked in the mines for 10 years and had some really cool stories to tell. If you're vacationing at Knoebels, I highly recommend checking this place out!

[Orangeman]

Just got back from my yearly trip to Knoebels.

It was fantastic as always.

Though I noticed that this year they finally finished removing all of the classic ski-ball games with the pull handles. I made sure to play them every year for the last 23.

 

I did not know going in that a new ride was there this year, Over the Top. It was not running any of the days that I was there.

Does anyone know if there is a problem with the ride?

 

My top 5 things to eat

 

Ice Cream (Hard or Soft, both seem to be loaded with extra fat then most everywhere else)

The Alamo (The burger and chicken sandwich and the chicken+waffle. Pretty much everything on the menu is good)

Birch Beer (Sometimes I tend to drink this like water while there......)

Baked Potato

Walking Taco

That's not counting everything else, of course.

 

 

Oh and I went to the Nickle Plate!

I only had one item there so I can't fully rate it but it sure is a nice clean place with polite staff.

The Rachel was very good.

Also had a special drink they were serving for the Eclipse.

Blue Moon, Peach Schnapps and Orange Juice. I like that there is a place to get alcohol at Knoebels now lol.

Definitely will be stopping there again.

[CedarFanboy]

About Over The Top, there's another one of those rides down in Pigeon Forge, TN, that a girl fell out of over the summer. That ride is now permanently closed, and I think it's a safe bet to assume that's why Knoebels isn't running theirs yet.

[CoasterBuck]

Once again in 2017, Phoenix Phall Phunfest has expanded to TWO DAYS -- with the first evening ERT open ONLY to club members!

 

Club TPR Members are able to purchase tickets! If you're not a Club TPR Member, you can join here: http://www.clubtpr.com

 

This year’s Phoenix Phall Phunfest on October 6-7! Something you might notice as out of the ordinary for PPP is an exclusive Friday night event. Because we can’t open this event (which includes ERT on Phoenix and Flying Turns) to the general public, pre–registration is required for the Friday event. You can find more info and the registration form here: http://www.knoebels.com/phunfest.

 

Ride packages are available to the general public. However, the Phunfest package is available to only card-carrying members of pre-approved enthusiast groups (of ClubTPR is included), and add: the Friday PPPreview Exclusive Event, two slices of Cesari's Pizza, a soft drink, a game ticket and a Haunted Mansion ticket. We're excited for our PPP friends to experience a fun-filled Friday evening event in addition to the always-thrilling Saturday events.

 

2017 Schedule of Events

 

Phoenix Phall Phunfest Preview Party (Friday, October 6):

 

FREE event for card carrying enthusiasts of our approved groups, plus one guest

Online registration begins August 23rd at http://www.knoebels.com/phunfest

Check-in begins at 6:30 p.m. on October 6 near Freaky Fandango

Event runs from 7:00-10:00 p.m.

Three hours of ERT on Phoenix and Flying Turns (weather permitting)

“Light" refreshments will be provided

Live entertainment provided by the "Koaster Kats"

Knoebels Plinko game with Knoebels prizes (with donation to Give Kids the World)

PPP shirt sales so you can skip the line on Saturday!

BEWARE! Secret surprises and special announcements are lurking in the shadows!!!

 

 

Phoenix Phall Phunfest Saturday event (Saturday, October 7):

 

10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Covered Bridge Festival

11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Rides Open

12 noon - 4:00 p.m. Souvenir Swap Meet at Phoenix Courtyard

7:00 p.m. - Costume Parade registration at Food Court

8:00 p.m. - Costume Parade (prizes awarded)

10:30 p.m. - Rally & Bonfire in the Campground

Phunfest Coupon Packs are provided to approved enthusiast club members only (does not include guest) who purchase any of our Saturday Ride Plans.

[Coupon Pack includes: 2 Slices of Cesari's Pizza, Drink, Game Ticket & Haunted Mansion Ticket.]

 

 

Hopefully see you in October!

[Rai Fox]

Two weeks ago, a few friends and I spent a long weekend hitting Morey's Piers and Knoebels. The first part of that trip is in the Morey's Piers thread...continuing here!

 

Wildwood and Morey's had turned out to be pretty fantastic; I loved the park and the area in general. It wouldn't be easy to improve on the weekend from there...but there's one place that we knew we could count on for that! The /real/ happiest place on earth!

 

The drive from Wildwood to Knoebels wasn't fantastic; I wanted to avoid going through Philedelphia and risking city traffic, but the route around ended up taking quite a bit longer than the gps had estimated, so it was almost 8:00 Sunday evening when I pulled into Knoebels with a couple of impatient, grouchy guys ready to get out of the car.

 

Well, impatient and grouchy right up until about here.

 

Because at this point, you're at Knoebels, all is right with the world, and you just can't be unhappy anymore

 

We got ourselves checked into the campground, hoping to get my tent set up before the sun finished setting. Pulled into my usual site - I've had RI-12 every year since the first time I visited back in 2007! - unloaded, and started setting up...only to find out my tent had a broken pole. Of course it did, it had a one year warranty and it was almost exactly 13 months old at that point. I'd checked it out the weekend before but somehow it had split on the trip down. So much for being set up before nightfall! We headed to the Knoebels camp store to see if they had anything I could use to replace or reinforce the pole, or if worst came to worst I knew they usually sell tents there. As it turned out, they had the best thing short of a replacement pole.

 

If this won't fix it...

 

We were running out of sunlight but I couldn't resist hanging around to watch Twister for a few minutes.

 

You sort of have to stand here and wait for the train to roar by at least once or twice before you walk past.

 

With the tent pole mummified in duct tape, we got everything set up by just after 9:00, and headed down into the park for a late dinner. Unfortunately, while I'd made sure the park was open until 10:00 on Monday, I'd only assumed that it was open as late on the weekend night before. It wasn't, and that left us no options for food besides snacks from the camp store. It's not as if there's a lot of food in the Elysburg area...wait! There IS something.

 

Salvation! I'll take Sheetz over most "real" fast food chains any day, so I wasn't too upset.

 

The line at Sheetz was out the door so we didn't look to be the only people in the same situation. Food was more than decent as usual for the chain, and then it was time to head back and get some sleep before the fun the next day. Well...not quite as much sleep as I would have liked. Thanks to our "we don't need sunscreen" brilliance at Morey's, I looked like a boiled lobster and there was no getting comfortable in a sleeping bag. Eventually, sleep happened, and we all got out of our sleeping bags with considerably more enthusiasm than most mornings bring. It's hard to want to sleep in when you can hear the rides testing so close by.

 

Tent pole all but made of duct tape did the job just fine, tent's holding together good as new.

 

Home, for a couple too-short days

 

Twister juuuust peeking between the trees here

 

Time to wander down into the park for breakfast at the International Food Court! We got a good look at the newest ride at the park on the way in.

 

It looks ready to open! It never opened.

 

I love the quiet before the park opens. Where else but Knoebels can you wander around to watch the park wake up for the day?

 

Almost no one here! That's promising as far as crowds and lines later.

 

It's not the best food at Knoebels but for a few dollars, not a bad breakfast by any means. ...and I only now realized Fluff had a Full Throttle with breakfast. Of course he did...

 

With our stomachs quite satisfied, we wandered the park for a bit, and picked up our wristbands. Still a half hour to go before opening, so we had to make a choice. We could go wait by Flying Turns and try to get a jump on that line, or we could kill time with Mini Golf. The park still didn't look crowded at all, so we took a gamble on not having to worry about lines and went with the latter option.

 

Knoebels mini-golf is just the same as so many of their attractions; it doesn't look like much from outside but it's so much better than you'd expect. They have some incredibly creative and devious holes; this is definitely not a Par 3 kind of course.

 

Inviting! It looks so easy!

 

It's not. This hole is /mean/. I've seen more shots bounce through the underside of the mechanism than actually make it through a barrel

 

And this one is just evil. Balls end up pinballing /everywhere/

 

While everything was opening up for the morning, I watched a chipmunk making a home for himself in here. Bet he got a rather rude surprise soon after...

 

By time we finished, the park was open. Flying Turns did have quite a line built up, so we decided to come back later and see if it was shorter. Instead, we'd start with one of the best rides a̶t̶ ̶K̶n̶o̶e̶b̶e̶l̶s̶ anywhere.

 

The ride before ours, no one was even /trying/. Nevermind snapping, most of them looked afraid to even get any height out of their tubs.

 

We made up for that when it was our turn. I don't claim to be particularly amazing at snapping flyers, but this ended up being the best run I've ever had even at Knoebels. The breeze was just perfect, and I got the most intense snapping I can remember out of it. Great start to the day! So how to make it even better? The obvious way.

 

No caption needed. It's Phoenix. You already know.

 

We waited just a few cycles for the front seat this time, and...it's kind of pointless to say that Phoenix was running amazingly. It's always running amazingly. I'm not going to try to describe Phoenix. You've been on it and understand, or you haven't and can't possibly. But you need to.

 

From there, we figured we'd do the antique cars, since Knoebels has one of the best courses for them anywhere, running right through Phoenix's structure. A bit in front of us in line, we were reminded of yet another reason why Knoebels is the best.

 

Knoebels has half a dozen rides labeled as dog friendly. This pup seemed to love her car ride! So cute to see things like this.

 

How many ride ops does it take to change a spark plug?

 

Everyone wanted to head to Black Diamond next, I didn't have any complaints. It's an odd ride, not quite a coaster, and the story is incoherent, but the scenes and tricks are well done. I've always been a bit fascinated by the Centralia disaster, so I definitely appreciate that scene.

 

Even the control panels have a bit of cute theming

 

Of course at that point we were next to the log flume. Unfortunately it was a bit cold for a flume, and no one else was willing to ride.

 

...but the only thing worse than riding a log flume alone when it's too cold, is not riding a log flume at all...

 

So I rode alone. Since there was no line, they didn't pair me with anyone else, so there was no weight in the log and I barely got wet anyway. Win-win, really. Knoebels is one of my favorite log flumes, and it's still up there, but I think Zoom Phloom just edges it out. Still great though.

 

It was time to hit some of the flats towards the middle of the park, then!

 

Disappointingly, especially after the crazy awesome Tilt-a-whirl at Morey's two days before, we had no luck with this one. Got our car stuck just swaying back and forth almost immediately and just couldn't break out of it, no real spinning at all.

 

On the other hand, the teacups were a very pleasant surprise this time! Normally I don't particularly care for this type of teacup ride since you can't spin them yourselves, but we must have had the weight balance just right, or got the lucky cup, we were spinning like mad the entire time.

 

Not the wildest Paratrooper around (I'm pretty sure Funspot in Orlando takes that award) but the setting still makes it one of the better ones!

 

The Paratrooper was unfortunately where we ran into our only negative experience for the day. The Saturday before we were at the park had been a Pride event there, and while we were waiting in line for the Paratrooper, the ride operator turned to a teenager nearby and just out of nowhere came up with. "Ugh, You know saturday was 'fag fest'" and just went into an angry homophobic tirade about "the gays" and how they "convert" other people to "being homo." It just got worse from there. I know central PA is deep conservative country, and visit there accepting that I'm going to run into less-than-tolerant attitudes, but this was pretty disgusting stuff, and the language involved was...well, I'm sure you can imagine. Worse, this was all delivered at volume with a TON of children of various ages right next to him the entire time. I'm a bit ashamed that I didn't say anything then, but...again, central PA...I don't know that making a scene would have been a great idea. All in all just not the kind of thing I'm too thrilled to see at at such a wonderful place.

 

Moving on from that...the Haunted Mansion. Still the best classic dark ride I know of, and Knoebels is taking care of it as well as ever. Either I'm incredibly unobservant and had missed more than I thought over the last few years, or there are a few new or changed scenes in there this year, too. It's great to have new surprises (and old ones. Even knowing exactly when it's coming, that damn truck...every time).

 

Then it was time for lunch! We'd missed out on the Alamo the night before, so we headed there now. I ordered one of my favorites from the park that I have to have every year, the Lake of Gravy.

 

There's a very tasty turkey sandwich and great crispy fries under there, too, but...really, it's a lake of gravy.

 

Back to the rides! We figured a little time with something calmer would be good after eating.

 

Power Surge! I love it but maybe not right after a meal.

 

I have an iron stomach but Hunter and Fluff didn't feel quite so willing to test their own, so we headed to the Skyride. The perfect way to get a little downtime. No pictures because I can't stand pulling my phone out on a skyride, I'm always certain I'll manage to drop it. You'll have to settle for the other 10,000 beautiful pictures looking down on the park from there.

 

We took a look at Impulse after but it was running a single car, and the queue was entirely full. I didn't want to do the math on that wait but it was a definite "nope." Great coaster but not something I was willing to spend hours in line for.

 

Impulse's car. Singular. One. Not good.

 

I can be talked onto a ferris wheel, but I'm not exactly enthusiastic about them (I'm fine with heights if I'm in a restraint! When it's open seating, it's not great...). No one showed any particular interest this time so I gratefully walked on by.

 

You really can't take a bad photo of a Wave Swinger. They're just such photogenic rides! Knoebels' is a bit different (Zamperla Flying Carousel as opposed to the more common Zierer Wave Swingers); it spins the opposite direction and seems to have a slightly more pronounced vertical wave motion to it. I think I prefer the Zierer models, but it's a slim margin; they're all wonderful.

 

Satellite! I love this ride, even if the dismal capacity makes it a poor fit for most parks these days. I'm just glad there's somewhere I can still ride one any time! The bruises from being thrown all over the cabin when you ride alone are more than worth it.

 

I wish I remembered the name of the ride operator on the Whipper, or taken pictures of him. He was just amazing, so much enthusiasm and endless energy. Getting riders all psyched up, chatting with people in the queue like he'd known them for years, insisting on high fives from all the kids, just absolutely radiating pure fun. A person like that running a ride makes it into something entirely new; definitely the standout person for the day there. It was pretty clear that he didn't get up and go to work at the park, he was loving being there as much as any of the rest of us.

 

And then it was time for the Carousel. Normally not a ride I'd bother with, buuuuut...we're at Knoebels.

 

This is the time I'm finally going to get the brass ring! Definitely this time!

 

...I didn't get the brass ring. I'm pretty good at catching the iron ones, I rarely miss one on a pass, but I've never had the luck to actually catch the brass one in all the years I've been to Knoebels. Next time!

 

We decided to head over and check out the line on Flying Turns, and found it with the queue about half full. Good enough! The ride crew was going for speed records too; definitely the most efficiently I've seen the more-than-slightly-complex station run. We were on in fifteen minutes or so, and as always it was a great ride.

 

Okay. Now it's time.

 

I've never seen Power Surge seem to get a ton of attention when people start talking about their favorite flat rides, but I'm not sure I understand why; they're absolutely one of my favorites. I used to feel like the one at Knoebels had a lot of potential but didn't run quite fast enough or entirely deliver on its promise, but since it was rehabbed a couple years ago, that's stopped being the case at all. It's noticeably faster and wilder now than I remember it being before. No one else was willing to ride it, so I was alone, and as anyone who's ridden a Power Surge knows, riding alone in an unbalanced car just makes it all the crazier. So much spinning in every direction. Have I mentioned that I love Power Surge? I love Power Surge.

 

Downdraft had been listed on the website as being closed for a while, but we seemed to get there on the lucky day; it was a very pleasant surprise to see it running. It's such a simple ride but still so much fun; the upward swings are so powerful it just feels like the ride is trying it's hardest to throw you off. Intense and not to be missed.

 

Then it was time for something I'd been neglecting for years upon years. I had to pull up TPR on my phone and find The Pierogi Map to make sure I had the right place...and yes, the pierogis really are every they've been said to be here. We all bit into our first one, choirs of angels sang, no one said a word more until they were gone... Since we wanted to eat so much more, I just got one order to split between the three of us there, but if I let myself I could have gone through a few orders myself. Never going to Knoebels without getting them again. No one should be allowed to miss them; I can't believe I did for so long!

 

Then it was time to go black squirrel spotting on the pioneer train. No squirrels this time; there didn't look to be much if any food out at the feeders they keep at the turnaround for some reason. The park was running three trains, which seemed like overkill given the small crowds, but no complaints! It's one of the best train rides at any park I know, between the views underneath Twister and the long leg out into the woods.

 

It's very peaceful and pretty out here.

 

And then, finally, it was time for the best coaster in the park.

 

<3

 

Okay, is it safe now to come out from under my desk now to continue? I can still hear the shock and outrage...

 

But yes, I still put Twister over Phoenix, sacrilege or no. That's not to say I don't love Phoenix, I absolutely do! I'm just far more a fan of wooden coasters with more complex layouts, lots of twists and laterals and all. Twister is pretty much built for me. I love how much of it stands out as just a little different; the split lift hill, the curved station inside the helixes...

 

This. C'mon, this is awesome.

 

It was running great, too; it's definitely gotten some retracking in the last few years. A few years ago it was more than a bit punishing to ride, but the last couple years have been much better. It's not what I'd call smooth, exactly, but I don't think I'd want Twister to be entirely smooth. It's just a bit out of control, and that's perfect for it. For me, Twister's up there with Boulder Dash and the Beast as one of my favorites...and like those two, its indescribably better at night, too! But that would have to wait for later.

 

I don't have pictures for the next couple hours and exactly what we did when is a bit of a blur, but we did hit almost everything in the park, and a few repeats, before we settled in for some Fascination. I'm not particularly good or lucky at that game in general, but I racked up quite a few wins that time! Missed winning the cover-all game by one light that I just could not get a ball into though.... Last year I'd finally saved up enough tickets to buy the toaster oven that I'd said I was going to win years and years back (I refused to buy one for years; I was GOING to get one from Fascination...and I did!), so I need to pick a new goal to save up for. Couldn't find anything I needed that time though, but it'll be a while before I have a lot of tickets again anyway!

 

Fluff /really/ wanted Mexican (as always), and as much as I wanted Cesari's for dinner I was outvoted 2-1, so we headed back to the International Food Court. I got nachos and cornbread, and while they weren't anything that would impress me at a real mexican restaurant, they were definitely enjoyable, and I got a massive pile of nachos and toppings, more than I could even finish. I can't say I remember what the others ordered there.

 

We were running out of time, especially since we had to get a very early start in the morning, but there were still things I needed to do! One was get another ride on Power Surge (Have I mentioned that I love Power Surge? ) which like so many rides is just so much better at night. The crowds by that point had thinned out to the point where rides were waiting for enough people to show up for them to run, so I ended up waiting at least a few minutes just sitting there in the ride before a few more people joined.

 

I didn't mind. Just relaxing, enjoying the lights and atmosphere.

 

Once they did, I got an even better ride than earlier; as soon as the cars unlocked mine dropped almost entirely sideways; it wasn't resisting spinning at all, and it didn't start at any point in the ride. The park was so quiet at that point it was almost eerie, and made for a pretty unusual setting to be flung all around on that kind of ride.

 

We headed back to Phoenix as the sun was going down, and this time I took the third row, not that I used the seat for much after the lift hill. That's definitely the row to go for.

 

Speaking of Fascination prizes, I'm almost certain I remember seeing these lions there a couple years back! Now they're apparently keeping Phoenix's operators company. They were there last year, I think; the wolf is a new addition to the pride. Knoebels' zoo, coming soon!

 

Nope. No closer to opening than it had been in the morning. It's not a ride I was too set on getting on, but it would have been nice.

 

Back to Twister for the required front seat night ride, then! Yep, best coaster in the park. Sorry.

 

And then one more tradition to keep up before the night was over. I always make Fandango my last ride of the night. I can't quite put my finger on why I love Fandango so much, especially having ridden "better" pendulum swings like Black Widow and "It" not long before, but Fandango's still great. It's one of those rides that for me is less a thrill ride now but almost calm. Not that it's not exciting at all, it /is/ still a great thrill ride despite being on the smaller end for the type, but the rhythm of it, the sounds, everything just puts me in this blissfully relaxed state. As usual for Knoebels, the setting helps too; I love swinging up into the trees.

 

The problem with taking a picture of Fandango at night is that it means I'm not ON Fandango. I should fix that.

 

I'll frequently spend the last half hour or so of the day just re-riding Fandango until the last ride of the night, before heading back to the campground, but we had less time than usual this time. Hunter needed to be back in Rhode Island by 2 the next day, so we headed out without waiting for closing this time. Worse, we had to skip staying up late to make S'mores, so we could get an early enough start. So sad!

 

We didn't have much trouble sleeping after that, and were up at 6 in the morning to get showered, grab a quick breakfast (Sheetz again!), and head on back. Overall, it was a great trip, as always with Knoebels, but we definitely didn't have the amount of time we usually try to get there, and I won't try to compress Wildwood and Knoebels into one short trip again.

 

Fortunately I can make up for that next year. Knoebels is offering week long cottage rentals now, and current plans are to grab a big group of friends and rent one of the nicer cottages sometime next June. I figure there's plenty to do within day-trip distance of there so we can use it as a base to hit other parks, likely Hershey, do a bit of hiking and such in the mountains, and of course spend plenty of time at Knoebels itself. It'll be weird for me to not be staying in a tent there, but I think I can pass on that for one year, for something bigger and better. Should be fun!

[larrygator]

You got lucky with the Flyers (or I was unlucky). That ride operator in your picture slowed the ride down three times in a row on my rides when he deemed my snapping too intense.

[Rai Fox]

Maybe I did! I'm pretty sure he's been there in previous years running that ride, too, he looks very familiar, but I've never had anyone at Knoebels complain about snapping or slow the flyers. Maybe you caught him in a bad mood or with a manager breathing down his neck? No way to know, I guess.

[Canobie Coaster]

^^^ Great report!

 

I had that same operator for the first half of my visit in June and it stunk. I kept on getting the ride slowed down. But then for the rest of the visit I had someone who let me run wild and have near death experiences.

[coasterbill]

Excellent report!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the miniature golf course. I really like it also, especially that weird hole that blasts the ball uphill through a tube. It's definitely a quirky little course. Glad to hear you liked the pierogies also.

 

As for Over the Top, I'm curious as to whether or not that ride will ever actually open. According to this article they were hoping to have it open in mid July. Unfortunately right around it's projected opening date an 8 year old girl fell out of the same ride in Pigeon Forge and the park hasn't made one mention of this thing on their social media platforms since that happened.

[Rai Fox]

Crap...I'd missed that there was an accident involving one. Those rides are all new in the last year or two, aren't they? That's not looking great if one already had an accident. If what I'm reading now is correct it looks like the restraints opened on the girl mid-ride. If that's the case, maybe Knoebels is waiting on a revision from the manufacturer to keep that from happening again? I'd hate to see them never get to open the ride. Maybe next year with some luck.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I believe that ride was just introduced at this year's IAAPA, so Knoebels and that other park bought the first ones. Yeah, it was disappointing for me also to see it closed, but better to be safe.

 

Great report BTW; Knoebels is such a special place. Glad you got to experience Fascination and other non-ride attractions. The more time you spend there, the more you love it.

[robbalvey]

Hey everyone! We just got in the following info from Knoebels about Phall Phunfest! Remember your Club TPR membership allows you access to this event!

 

Hello,

 

Phoenix Phall Phunfest will be here before we know it! We’ll once again have a Friday night exclusive event on October 6, and our traditional PPP events on October 7.

 

We know many PPP visitors love Flying Turns, but might not love waiting in line to ride. So this year, Flying Turns will be part of the Friday night exclusive event (weather permitting)! We’re still receiving the overwhelming response that a Phoenix Phall Phunfest event should include Phoenix, so Phoenix will fly the entire time, too! The event will be held in Phoenix courtyard area, and will include “light” refreshments (Knoebels style), live entertainment, great friends and more!

 

The Friday night event will be open to pre-registered members of approved enthusiast clubs and one guest, and the coupon pack will be provided on Saturday with the purchase of a Phunfest Saturday ride plan AND proof of a club membership. Registration for Friday evening is currently open at http://www.knoebels.com/phunfest. Pre-registration will not be required for Saturday. You do not need to purchase a pay-one-price plan in order to attend the Friday evening event, but you do need to purchase a pay-one-price plan on Saturday in order to get the coupon pack.

 

Phoenix Phall Phunfest Preview Exclusive Event (October 6):

- FREE event for card carrying enthusiasts of our approved groups (Club TPR!), plus one guest

- Register at http://www.knoebels.com/phunfest

- Check-in begins at 6:30 p.m. on October 6 near Freaky Fandango

- Event runs from 7:00-10:00 p.m.

- Three hours of ERT on Phoenix and Flying Turns (weather permitting)

- “Light" refreshments

- Knoebels Plinko game with Knoebels prizes (with donation to Give Kids the World)

- Live entertainment by the "Koaster Kats"

- PPP shirt sales so you can skip the line on Saturday

 

 

Phoenix Phall Phunfest Saturday Events (October 7):

- 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Covered Bridge Festival

- 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Rides Open

- noon - 4:00 p.m. Souvenir Swap Meet at Phoenix Courtyard

- 7:00 p.m. - Costume Parade registration at Food Court

- 8:00 p.m. - Costume Parade (prizes awarded)

- 10:30 p.m. - Rally & Bonfire at Campground

 

Phunfest Coupon Packs are provided to approved enthusiast club members only (does not include guest) who purchase any of our Saturday Ride Plans. Coupon Pack includes: 2 Slices of Cesari's Pizza, Drink, Game Ticket & Haunted Mansion Ticket). Pre-registration not required.

 

We hope to see you in October (or sooner)!

[coneyislandchris]

Yesterday morning, I had an appointment in Allentown to get my car inspected and serviced. I bought a car over there last year, and it's coming up on its yearly inspection at the end of this month, plus there was some other miscellanous work needed. The dealership is literally less than a mile from Dorney Park, so my original plan was to drop off the car in the morning, walk over to the park, get a few rides in, head back out. Two things interfered with that plan.

 

1) It was absolutely bone-soaking pouring in Allentown as of 9 AM, and the forecast showed no signs of it slowing down any time before 6 PM.

 

2) The dealership gave me a loaner car. With the caveat to bring it back filled up. They also gave me an estimate of the car being ready for pick-up around 3:30 PM.

 

Hm. *quick calculations* 9 AM... 3:30 PM... about 90 minutes to drive to and from Elysburg... only light drizzle predicted... f*ck it, I'm going to Knoebels today!

 

As I made my way through the winding hills of middle Pennsylvania, the weather continued to get worse, but the rain load sure enough lightened up by the time I pulled into the grassy fields of the Knoebels parking lot. The light drizzle was a little bit more regular and steady, but nothing too terrible. What I wasn't expecting was the significantly cooler weather, with it only being 59 degrees and breezy (plus the aforementioned rain). So my first order of business after getting my wristband and handstamp secured was getting a hoodie to stay warm and (mostly) dry with. The kind folks at the Chalet Gift Shop were more than happy to hook me up with a black hooded pullover with neon green accents in exchange for nothing more than a swipe of the ol' credit card. I threw it on, checked the time... oh gee, would you look at that? 11:00 on the dot. Let's get to riding!

 

The first stop was Flying Turns, since I usually skip this one during my visits due to the lengthy lines. Since it had just opened, I was greeted with my wait position taking place at the very top of the station's steps. Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, they were running two trains but only loading one, while keeping the other one empty and cycling through. So even that top-of-the-steps wait still ended up being about 15 or 20 minutes. Even on a slow, dead, rainy day, I can't escape a wait on this ride! They ended up loading me in the front of the train for the first time, which was a different experience for me. Definitely like the back more, but the front feels way out of control when you're swinging so far up the sides. Cool indeed, but I wouldn't do this more than once today, because with the hampered operations and limited time, I had bigger fish to fry. Fish? Phish? Nah, I'm talking about Phoenix.

 

What a beautiful sight!

 

After I got off the Turns, I immediately bounced over to the Phoenix station to be faced with... zero lines at 10 out of the 12 gates. Yessss! That's what I'm talking about! I hopped in line for row 10 and a few seconds later, the single train pulled back into the station. As usual, the Phoenix ops were absolutely flying, even with only single train operations. Hopped in, pulled down the buzz bar, and got ready for that sweet, sweet airtime. The ride itself wasn't all it could be this time around, but that's to be expected with the wet tracks and light loads. Even still, a "bad" Phoenix ride is better than 80% of "good" other rides, so I'm not complaining at all! I had a huge smile on my face, and when we pulled back in the station, I saw... no one waiting at the gates anywhere. I asked the ride ops if, since I had the bracelet and handstamp, I could just move to a different seat instead of walking all the way around. They must have been in a good mood, because not only did they let me do just that, I got to do that five times before there were enough people to have me make the walk around! I ended up walking around 2 times and got a total of ten rides in, once in every row except for 4 and 6. Love love love love LOVE this ride and glad I got to do a rapid fire marathon of it. By the time I was done with my mini-overdose, I checked the clock, and it was only 12:03. More than enough time to get a lot more in!

 

One solitary dude admiring the Twister structure.

 

From here, I walked around the outside edge of the park, getting in rides on their awesome little frisbee Fandango and their equally awesome drop tower Stratosfear. Both these rides are smaller than their counterparts you can find elsewhere, yet they never fail to pack a punch and always leave me grinning like a loon when I get off of them. After Stratosfear, I found myself near the bridge to cross the creek and come face to face with Twister. I saw a few trains running over there with minimal loads, so I hustled across and headed up the long, winding ramp to be greeted with a completely. Empty. Station. Word. The train's just sitting there, all the ratchet bars down, and I'm told "hey just sit wherever you want, push down and pull up if you need to". Okay! Front row it is! I take my seat, they wait another couple of minutes for anyone else to join and yet no one does. So I've got my first Twister ride of the day all to myself. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Twister is an absolutely worthy companion piece to Phoenix. They're both great rides for completely different reasons, and on a day where Twister is running at the top of its game, it's really hard to pick a favorite. Unfortunately, getting back to the station, although once again there was no one waiting, I asked if I could please stay on because of the bracelet like at Phoenix, and was greeted with a hardline Cedar Fair-esque "no, sorry, you have to walk all the way around". I wouldn't mind so much if that were the case at Phoenix, but dang, it takes as long to walk around Twister as it does to get a ride in, what with the slowly sloping entrance and exit ramps folding in upon themselves. Oh well. I sucked it up, got some extra exercise, and ended up doing another three laps on it before I decided to move on.

 

But man, when the station looked like this, I really would have loved to stick it out over here even longer!

 

After leaving the Twister peninsula, I came face to face with another no-line situation at the Flyers. There were about three or four kids already on, the ride op was about to close the gate, but he saw me waving and held it for an extra moment for me to hustle on over there. Unfortunately for this first ride, I must have picked a dud flyer, because I was getting no snapping whatsoever while the others on the ride were going buck crazy. As we slowed to a stop and we disembarked, I again tried asking if I could stay on for another ride because of the bracelet (even though once again, there was no one in line). He looked at me... looked at the rest of the kids who were almost at the exit... says, "Hey, guys, do you ALL wanna ride again?". The kids let out a unanimous "YEAHHHHHH!". A moment's hesitation on his part, and then... "AWRIGHT, get on back in here! Have fun you guys!" I don't know whether or not the kids had their own bracelets, but as we all scrambled for flyers, I made sure to pick a different one... ANY different one... and I was rewarded handsomely this time by a completely batsh*t, out of control snapfest. Yowza. I know there's always some consternation around these parts whenever they get "that" ride op on the Flyers who seems to make it his life's mission to prevent people from having fun... with this ride op? Definitely not the case. He was fine with it, kept running it at a full speed, and even when we stopped at the end of the cycle, came over to the kids who were arguing amongst themselves and declared one of them the official "winner" at snapping. Awesome!

 

I made my way back towards the main midway to hopefully get a ride or two in on Impulse, and I walked under the covered bridge. I ended up coming out next to the grand carousel which was in the process of loading. I hadn't been on it in a hot minute, so I ran in, took a seat near the edge, and got ready to grab some rings. They cranked it up, started that classic organ music, then before you know it... there's that ringing bell, the klaxon announcing the arrival of the ring arm! I leaned slightly off my horse to the right and prepared to catch. Final tally; 11! Still no brass ring. One of these days... one of these days, I swear.

 

The most beautiful carousel in the USA, bar none.

 

At this time, it was about 1:00 PM and my belly was craving. I have one go-to every time I hit Knoebels for some must-eat food, and I was a bit worried that they might not be open on such a low throughput day, but never fear... the potato cake stand was up, running, and slinging them out so fast it was unexpected. Four potato cakes for four bucks = a nice full tummy for yours truly. I scarfed them down as quick as possible with an eye on the clock. From my seat near the potato cake stand, I saw that Downdraft was up and running today (which is always a pleasant surprise, since it has a reputation for being finicky and living up to the first half of its name), so I popped on over after finishing off the last swig of my drink and ended up with another ride all to myself. I always forget just how quickly this ride hurls you from a stopped position into full motion. No gentle easing or anything, it's just "press button and go like a bat out of hell". While it's fun, I do prefer the similar style like Apollo at Dorney to this one, mainly because that one doesn't have any of those weird upper body restraints like Downdraft does. While I was riding the 'Draft, I could hear raucous screaming, and it appeared to be coming from the Power Surge area. So after I got off Downdraft, I bounced over there and ended up being one of three people on this ride. This flat is another fun one, I always have to liken it to a Tilt-a-Whirl in three dimensions because you never know exactly which way you're going to be swinging. The feeling in my stomach told me that maybe this wasn't the BEST choice of flat ride so soon after consuming four potato cakes, but I held it together and walked off with the contents of my guts still steadfastly inside me. Yay for these small victories!

 

It always looks out of place at Knoebels, but it's slowly growing into a piece of the skyline that I appreciate.

 

Finally, it was time for the final major coaster of the day. I walked over to Impulse and the wait point was, much like Flying Turns, at the top of the steps and running a solitary train. Since I was a single rider, I got pulled to fill in a group of three in the back row on the first train out. It was a family with a mother, father, and young daughter who needed the booster seat. Once again, I have to give props to Knoebels for their booster seat procedure. It could have been easy enough for them to say "You know what, this coaster is only for our tallest guests and kids are going to have to wait until they hit that 54" mark to ride" like so many others, but by designating one of the seats to get a booster seat snapped in to let kids that are 48" tall ride it with their families? It definitely cements Knoebels as one of the most family-friendly parks out there, and they will forever get props from me for doing so. I do like this ride quite a bit, and going over the top on that first drop can give you an insane amount of ejector if those restraints are even the slightest bit loose. With that being said, they don't give you much opportunity to keep them loose because they're constantly tightening unless you're actively pushing them away from you. And you know what? I much prefer riding Impulse hands up than I do constantly fighting the restraints. It's a short ride but super effective for what it does. And on a day like today, where the lines were practically non-existent, I'm happy to ride it as frequently as I can. I only ended up getting three rides in this time around before I checked the clock, saw it was getting close to the 2:00 PM cutoff, and decided against a fourth spin. Walked back to the loaner car, and was back on the road to Allentown right at 2:00. I made it back to the dealership at 3:30 where my trusty vehicle was freshly inspected and ready to go. Mission accomplished!

 

Another dead station. God, I love days like this and the wonderful job they do keeping away crowds.

 

All in all, it was a great way to kill a few hours of downtime in Pennsylvania while waiting for the car mechanics to do their thing, and definitely tided me over until Phunfest rolls around on my birthday weekend this year! Hopefully I can finally make it out. We'll see.

 

Final scorecard:

Phoenix x10

Twister x4

Potato cakes x4 ;d

Impulse x3

Flyers x2

Downdraft x1

Fandango x1

Grand carousel x1

Power Surge x1

Stratosfear x1

[ytterbiumanalyst]

 

Best wait for a mechanic ever!

[larrygator]

Chris - Very effective use of your downtime. I would have been stupid and driven to Sands and spent even more money.

[boldikus]

Great little report, Chris!