Knoebels Discussion Thread

[neil009]

Wow.

[A.J.]

The Skooters are terrifying. I challenge you to go to Hersheypark to ride the Fender Bender then go to Knoebels to ride the Skooters and THEN tell us that all bumper cars are the same.

[coasterbill]

You drive, you bump. *shrug*

 

I understand where you're coming from 100%.

 

I feel that way with my Honda Fit versus a Ferrari... you drive you get where you're going... same thing *shrug*

 

Same thing with Top Thrill Dragster and Woodstock's Express... you roll, you coast, same thing.

[Devins3]

This is the view from my tent at the campground at Knoebels, it's gonna be a good few days.

Camping at Knoebels is the best

[Barge84]

I'm just catching up on the madness that went down while I was in Scandinavia. The scooters and flyers aren't anything special? Listen, say what you will about Knoebels, but I just don't know how anyone can make that statement and not be trolling.

[neil009]

Trolling requires prior knowledge that whatever you're about to say will provoke a large negative reaction. The minor flurry I created just by suggesting that maybe the bumper cars at Knoebels aren't that different from bumper cars anywhere else is so mind boggling to me, I'm starting to wonder if I'M the one being trolled.

 

In fact, I was thinking about this, I'm pretty sure I actually PREFER cars with rubber bumpers on them because the cars bounce off each other more, meaning you can feel it more when someone bumps you, as opposed to the dull "thud" of the Knoebels version. The fact that enthusiasts are so freaking nuts over this ride I have to attribute to A) rarity and historical value of the cars themselves, B) fond memories of coaster club trips where everyone riding is there for the same reason, and the feeling of community and camaraderie that comes from a good bumper cars session with people you know and like, and C) Knoebels overhyping syndrome. Because again, I live near the park, I've been on them many times, and I can't even say they're my favorite bumper cars. I've also never heard the enthusiastic reactions from either the people I'm riding with or random passersby when I'm coming off the ride that I always, always hear when exiting Phoenix and the Haunted Mansion. Take that for what you will.

 

The Flyers I'll leave alone for now because at least that can be attributed to "operator error".

[djcoastermark]

Heading to Knoebels thursday morning. Heres to hoping for light crowds. And after seeing the tent pic, I wish I was staying at the campground instead of Danville. Oh well, its my first time to Knoebels and something tells me Ima gonna love it!

[Kyle Coleman]

Don't worry you will. Knoebels has all of the standard amusement park stuff but, they just have the best version of all of it. Just make sure you hit the flying turns first as the capacity of it is terrible.

[bert425]

Heading to Knoebels thursday morning. Heres to hoping for light crowds. And after seeing the tent pic, I wish I was staying at the campground instead of Danville. Oh well, its my first time to Knoebels and something tells me Ima gonna love it!

 

 

Don't miss the fried cheese on a stick at the pagoda near the kiddie slide.

 

it's amaze-balls!

[Ccron10]

Don't worry you will. Knoebels has all of the standard amusement park stuff but, they just have the best version of all of it. Just make sure you hit the flying turns first as the capacity of it is terrible.

I 2nd that about Flying Turns. If you want to have one last ride on it before the end of the night, make sure you get in line for it no later than an hour before park closing as they shut the line off early. I'm going on Friday, but I think I'll ask them how they go about determining what time they close the line off at.

[rramstad]

Hi there, new to the board, looking for some Knoebels expertise...

 

We will be at the park planning to be there all day Tuesday July 12th.

 

The last time I was there they had just opened Twister, so it's been a while.

 

I'm open to any general suggestions, first off, but mostly I was curious, any suggestions for discounted tickets? The all you can ride deal seems pretty steep, I see that for our day we can get discounted per ride tickets... but I suspect we'll probably try to get on Flying Turns two or three times, and ride Phoenix and Twister six to eight times each, if the lines aren't bad, so the math is confusing but even with the high price on the all you can ride, it seems like a better deal, if you do get 15+ coaster rides in.

 

Basically wondering if there are some unpublished discounts like coupons at local businesses, or something like that... also I suppose they might have an unpublished discount for members of coaster clubs (like ACE, which I am a member of).

 

Thanks in advance for details from the locals. I'm really looking forward to the trip!

[bert425]

Hi there, new to the board, looking for some Knoebels expertise...

 

We will be at the park planning to be there all day Tuesday July 12th.

 

The last time I was there they had just opened Twister, so it's been a while.

 

I'm open to any general suggestions, first off, but mostly I was curious, any suggestions for discounted tickets? The all you can ride deal seems pretty steep, I see that for our day we can get discounted per ride tickets... but I suspect we'll probably try to get on Flying Turns two or three times, and ride Phoenix and Twister six to eight times each, if the lines aren't bad, so the math is confusing but even with the high price on the all you can ride, it seems like a better deal, if you do get 15+ coaster rides in.

 

Basically wondering if there are some unpublished discounts like coupons at local businesses, or something like that... also I suppose they might have an unpublished discount for members of coaster clubs (like ACE, which I am a member of).

 

Thanks in advance for details from the locals. I'm really looking forward to the trip!

 

the all you can ride didn't seem to include any of the big coasters (or Flying turns). We just ended up using tickets.

 

during the week, the $20 booklets are sold for $18 in the park.

 

and when we were just there about 4 weeks ago, the locals told us that if you buy the tickets at the local supermarkets, you can get the $20 books for $16.

 

hope that helps?

[3Mutts]

^ The all you can ride DOES include coasters if you buy the with coasters option. The only rides that aren't on it are the Haunted House, Skyway, and Black Diamond.

[rramstad]

the all you can ride didn't seem to include any of the big coasters (or Flying turns). We just ended up using tickets.

 

during the week, the $20 booklets are sold for $18 in the park.

 

and when we were just there about 4 weeks ago, the locals told us that if you buy the tickets at the local supermarkets, you can get the $20 books for $16.

 

hope that helps?

 

Definitely helpful, the part about the $20 for $16 at the supermarket... the pricing on the web site has $3 for Flying Turns, $2.50 for the other two woodies, so that's 20% off those prices, which is helpful for sure. They don't always offer the ride all day option (mostly weekdays) but I see $44 for all day with coasters, with an option to pay $40 if you buy tickets in advance online. If you figure that you're going to ride the three coasters equally, at $16 for $20 in tickets, you'd be paying about $2.13 per ride, so at the $40 price, you'd need 19 coaster rides to break even... I dunno, I've definitely gotten 19 coaster rides in a day before LOL actually I think my record is something like 40, which was on a seven inversion steel coaster, which I did in several hours, originally planning to get 50 rides, but had such a headache that I quit... I digress. Seems to me on a random Tuesday there's probably a good chance of little to no lines for a good chunk of the day so maybe the POP isn't that bad of a deal...

 

It just seems a little funny to me that Knoebels charges a POP that's similar to Dorney and within $5 or so of Great Adventure and Hersheypark. Then again, they don't gouge on food, and don't mind if people bring food either, which is a huge savings.

[Devins3]

Black Diamond is included on the wrist band this year. Which makes it worth riding for sure, there is never a line.

[SharkTums]

It just seems a little funny to me that Knoebels charges a POP that's similar to Dorney and within $5 or so of Great Adventure and Hersheypark. Then again, they don't gouge on food, and don't mind if people bring food either, which is a huge savings.

 

Doesn't seem funny to me at all. Knoebels has just as many if not more attractions than those parks, better atmosphere, better food, friendlier ops, etc.

[bert425]

^ The all you can ride DOES include coasters if you buy the with coasters option. The only rides that aren't on it are the Haunted House, Skyway, and Black Diamond.

 

ah. .my error.

 

I must be mixing up the discount night with all day ride (we were there on a Friday, so tho they were offering the ride bands, there was a sign stating that it did not include the coasters, Flying Turns, or the 3 you mentioned)

[GayCoasterGuy]

Doesn't seem funny to me at all. Knoebels has just as many if not more attractions than those parks, better atmosphere, better food, friendlier ops, etc.

 

...30 second coaster dispatches

[rcjp]

^No, 20 seconds!

Look (4:20)

[GigaG]

^Why don't corporate parks do that? Especially when many of their coasters ran with that same restraint system years ago. I think it is stupid that what was safe 20-30 years ago and is still safe today is avoided.

[DrachenfireOP]

^ I'm not saying this is a good reason, but it's to avoid a lawsuit. Different parks have varying levels of safety as they see fit. Knoebels seems content not to have gates in front of their trains for guests, and to simply have people obey the yellow lines. Honestly, that should be fine in most instances, because most people should theoretically be smart enough to stay back, and keep an eye on their kids. I think a lot of parks just don't want to take on the risk. The little girl in that video would have given a lot of park GMs a heart attack since she was swinging out while the train started moving.

 

When I was working as a ride op, I saw a LOT of guests do VERY stupid things and get injured. (Like a guy getting med-evac'd out of the park because he stood up on the log flume going down the drop, fell out, and broke his leg in the trough). It's frustrating that some of the policies in place make the dispatch times longer, and sometimes I think the go a bit far overboard (for example parks that make their employees stand inside a sensor-locked gate and hold a presence button at all times while a train is moving is a bit overkill IMO) but the bottom line is, the larger the park, the more they view themselves at risk for law-suits and take precautions accordingly.

[djcoastermark]

We just got back today from the park and I must say, I totally agree with all the wonderful things people say about the place. Even though the coasters were only one train operations today, the longest wait we had for a ride was 15 minutes at the peak times of the day. the dispatches were lightning fast. Sadly, Bert, we missed out on the cheese which was ok because we were too stuffed from all the other wonderful stuff we scarfed down on all day. (next time) We bought the ride bands and it was well worth it for us. (my gawd those Flyers , yeah !!!) Everything was included even the Mine and skyrides, except for the Haunted house being the only upcharge at $1.75. I cant say enough on how much I LOVED Phoenix. The night rides on Phoenix were insane !! Although the park closes at 10 pm, they didnt cut the line off until 10:15 even though there were only 1 train waits. The "last" train out had the crew riling up the riders to thunderous levels of clapping and cheering. To everyones surprise, as the train emerged from the tunnel and hit the chain, the crew shut off all the running lights on the structure, leaving the ride in pitch black. Talk about an epic ride! As we returned to the station the dispatcher yelled out asking if we all wanted to do it one more time , and out again we went , to everyones ecstatic joy! Kudos to Knoebels on a fantastic day and having such a quirky wonderful park. I cant wait to get back!

[djcoastermark]

One error i put was that it was one train operations today. I meant to say yesterday. oops

[neil009]

I really wish they'd leave the running lights off every night, maybe for the last half hour of the night. Those pitch-black night rides on Phoenix and Twister are some of the best coaster experiences to be had anywhere.

[ajfelice]

Took a visit to Knoebels on Monday and had just as much fun as I always do there. Phoenix and Twister were both running excellent. Black Diamond continues to grow on me as one of my favorite dark rides (I know it's technically a coaster credit). Without going into too many more obvious details that have been talked about so much, their flat ride collections is arguably one of the best in the USA as well.

 

Flying Turns actually didn't impress me very much. I was never expecting the next greatest thing to grace upon the coaster world. Nor did I expect a high-intensity, crazy relentless ride. But simply Flying Turns for me was very forgettable. I applaud the time and dedication of Knoebels for getting this ride open, but it's simply not a memorable experience for me. Perhaps the 45 minute wait had some effect on my opinion, but it simply wasn't an experience I would wait more than 15 minutes for ever again.

 

Operations were as fast as ever, but Phoenix crew sure put on an interesting sideshow between dispatches. Texting on platform and while on controls was the theme of each visit I made on Phoenix. In addition, this guy below was also copping a feel with his female coworker every moment he could get as well as attempting to seduce her in plain view of everyone in the station. Pretty classy!

Also, as someone who was trained on small park quirkiness of safety and not afraid to do things big parks wouldn't fathom, I still can't believe the operators at Knoebels are comfortable standing in the track of Phoenix as the train parks less than a foot behind them. Skid brakes, fin brakes, or magnets, I still can't find myself being comfortable trusting a ride not to ever overshoot and possibly hit me.