Knoebels Discussion Thread

[njcoasterguy34]

I'm taking my parents this Saturday for their 40th wedding anniversary. The last time I was at Knoebels was before I conquered my fear of coasters, so I didn't ride any of the coasters. I'm looking forward to adding another 6 credits.

[JJLehto]

Don't think of Kosmos Kurves as a cred purely for the sake of a cred, it's a fun lil ride that had some pretty shocking airtime!

[bucsbassdrum]

i love living 35 minutes from knoebels..i grew up going there and it is still my favorite park by far. i also love taking my kids there and sharing knoebels with them. i had some time this past saturday so i decided to go and use some leftover tickets from years past. i got 4 rides total in and impulse was first along with phoenix,twister, and the pioneer train(a tradition of my family always riding this before we head home). impulse was great and on a day the park was packed it took 45-and hour to get on but well worth it. this coaster fits knoebels so well. phoenix was flying fast and twister was good too. next visit i'll be up with my kids..oh and with the leftover tickets i spend a grand total of $11 at the park..another reason i love knoebels.

[Stu K]

Great report a small park with a ton of love. Not been since 2001 but next year I return whoop whoop.

 

Stu K

[Devins3]

Great report! I agree with everything that you said, it is indeed the happiest place I ever go. If you loved the park so much you will be over the moon when you camp there. For my money there is no better time at an amusement park than camping at knoebels. I usually go for a few days a couple times a year, while the park is 4 hrs from me it has turned into my home park because it never dissapoints.

 

There is something special to me about waking up at 6 am and taking a stroll through a closed and empty amusement park, it's something that is made possible by camping there. Just make sure you get your reservations in cause they book up sometimes. Also anything in the Texas /Rhode Island areas of the campground have always been the best spots for me, the bathrooms near there are the best. Knoebels is the only park I visit on a regular basis in July/August because the lines are still reasonable, especially during the week. Have fun when you go again!

[A.J.]

Phoenix was phlying fast and twister was good too.

Phixed it phor you.

[Brassinthegrass]

Went to the park yesterday on my own after a mid afternoon at Dorney Park. Took advantage of the Evening Wrist Band; and way I say took advantage, I mean TOOK ADVANTAGE.

 

Driving into town, there were unscheduled torrential down pours, and a line of cars leaving the parking lot... When I pulled in the lot it was still raining, so I sat there for a little bit and checked emails and made the depiction on weather to get the wrist band.

 

Walked into the park just as the rain stopped, and it was relatively dead. Got the wrist band, and they let me start using it an hour earlier than usual!

 

Impulse - great ride. Really perfect. I think it added exactly what he park was missing. I love the old style of the rest of the park, but this was a great addition. Super smooth, super quiet, and super fun! Best feature? SINGLE RIDER LINE!!! With that, got three rides in in a row, with just a walk around between each ride!

 

Twister - better than I remembered from last year. Saw a lot of new wood on the track, and it was hauling ass. Ended up with 4 rides through the night.

 

Flying turns - great ride, really fun. Unfortunately, the capacity is low, rode it once, but stuck withpheonix for the rest of the night.

 

Phoenix - marathoned like nones buisness. Did 3 times in a row without getting up in the midd seat of the back car, the. 2 times in the front car, front seat with a walk around in between, and then 5 rides in the second car middle row WITHOUT GETTING UP! I was in heaven! Pit was hauling through the ride, air time that actually scared me, I was so far out of the seat. At one point I felt like I needed to gain some weight so I wasn't so easily thrown around. I realized I could hook my feat under the seat in front of me and that made me enjoy the ride even more.

 

I did sneak a ride on Black Dimond. It was pretty cool I have to admit. Took a spin on the scenic skyway, and watched a bunch of the spin and pukes. Not my cup of tea, but very cool to watch. Ate a ton of food and tried birch beer for the first time, and then hit the road to come up here to my farm house.

 

Overall a great way to start the Memorial Day weekend! Especially with no lines!!!

[A.J.]

Best feature? SINGLE RIDER LINE!!! With that, got three rides in in a row, with just a walk around between each ride!

So they did add a single rider line then. Thought that they would.

[Brassinthegrass]

Yup! As you enter the ride, the attendant is actually sitting in the line, as you walk down the queue in the regular line, it's to your left! Then they throw you into a row that is on the yellow numbers, so you only have to wait one train or so... Really helps!

[coasterbill]

We made a really spontaneous trip to the park yesterday and to the surprise of absolutely nobody we had an absolute blast.

 

When I say it was spontaneous, I mean it. We had spent 3 days at Cedar Point and were on our way home and saw a Knoebels billboard. We both kind of looked at eachother, then realized we'd have about 4 hours before they closed and decided to get off the highway and go.

 

Our first stop was Impulse and we waited about 30 minutes before we got ourselves a front seat ride. Operations were very fast despite the low capacity but this is Knoebels we're talking about here so that goes without saying. The ride is an absolutely perfect fit for the park, it's a ton of fun, it's not too big but it still looks very imposing given the location. People really enjoyed riding it and watching it and it makes a great visual statement on the way in. I feel a lot like I did when they added Stratosfear, they didn't need the ride at all but they somehow managed to add ANOTHER awesome ride and at this point it almost feels like they're just showing off. Impulse is just more icing on the Knoebels cake. lol

 

We were limited on time so we had to skip some great rides (Like Flying Turns, Skyway, Kozmotron, Haunted Mansion, Black Diamond, Fandango and Stratosfear), but we managed to get on most of our favorites. We ended up getting one ride on Scooters (I love these), Twister (running as awesome as ever) and Paratrooper and two rides on the Flume (which is one of my favorite flumes and we took 2 rides because it's never open at PPP when we usually visit), Flyers (what a breath of fresh air after the crappy Lake Erie Eagles) and of course Phoenix which was running absolutely insane like it always does. We snuck some Pierogies in there too and on the way out I attempted to get a slice of Ceasari's but sadly they were closed by the time I got there. I had to "settle" for a delicious ice cream waffle sandwich... poor me. lol

 

All in all we spent about 3 hours at Knoebels and it just re-affirmed the fact that this is probably our favorite park anywhere. We learned last year that visiting another park right after spending 3 days at Cedar Point is usually a let down but that doesn't apply to Knoebels (or the Phoenix) at all. We can't wait for Phun Phest!

 

Keep being awesome Knoebels.

[ejot]

Spent a full day at Knoebels alone yesterday and it was glorious as always. Even more so due to low crowds and walk-ons everywhere, including Impulse, which is fantastically fun. Probably rode 10-12 times. Awesome hangtime on the slow roll at the end of the course, best part of the ride IMO. Power surge is reinstalled and it looks absolutely brand new. Flyers was running fulll throttle as usual and even novices were snapping cables!

 

Did the Haunted Mansion for my first time, and it was the first haunted house I've ever genuinely enjoyed. Also did the Skyride for my first time - totally worth it! If you skip this you're missing out on a great, relaxing ride with awesome views.

 

Oh, the seats on Impulse are enormous. Saw a guest ride that I'm pretty sure would fit on no other coaster I've ever seen. They have inserts that snap into the seats to make them smaller for young riders, very cool system for accommodating a huge range of body types.

 

Phoenix - marathoned like nones buisness. Did 3 times in a row without getting up in the midd seat of the back car, the. 2 times in the front car, front seat with a walk around in between, and then 5 rides in the second car middle row WITHOUT GETTING UP! I was in heaven!

Hmph, the ops were very strict about making me walk around every time, even with station completely empty. Not that it's a long walk but still....

 

Going to combine my Knoebels pics with a few other parks for a separate photo-TR later, but for now I'll leave a few here.

You're now greeted by Impulse upon driving up to the park.

These are the "kiddie inserts".

It's back!

Cobra roll!

[linearinduction]

Oh, the seats on Impulse are enormous. Saw a guest ride that I'm pretty sure would fit on no other coaster I've ever seen. They have inserts that snap into the seats to make them smaller for young riders, very cool system for accommodating a huge range of body types.

The Booster Seats on Wicked and Impulse are a pretty cool feature and allows Lagoon to get the Minimum Height Requirement down to 46", which is great for my Nieces and Nephews.

[A.J.]

Has something happened to Impulse? I just dropped in today for a ride on it and the wooden coasters, and it was vibrating all over the place. If I sat forward, my back would be painfully thrown forward, but if I tried to sit back and keep my body upright I couldn't because I would get a headache from the vibrations on the seat back. It's still pretty fun, but it was butter smooth on opening day.

 

On the bright side, I'm willing to call my previous bad ride on Twister a fluke because it was running very well today.

[Brassinthegrass]

To be honest, I'm not sure... One of the trains when I went past Friday was butter smooth, the other train had a small rattle.... The third train was in storage and there were multiple men looking at the wheels...

 

Maybe it's a problem they are trying to figure out...

[coasterbill]

When I rode it on Sunday it was a little bumpy but nothing that took away from the ride. I just figured it was supposed to be like that as the euro fighters are generally the same way (though again, not enough to take away from the ride experience).

[ejot]

Agreed, felt a few small bumps and shakes on Tuesday, not uncomfortable at all, but don't have any earlier rides on it to compare to. Didn't notice any difference between trains. I was more focused on how darn quiet the thing is, never heard anything like that before.

[linearinduction]

Has something happened to Impulse? I just dropped in today for a ride on it and the wooden coasters, and it was vibrating all over the place. If I sat forward, my back would be painfully thrown forward, but if I tried to sit back and keep my body upright I couldn't because I would get a headache from the vibrations on the seat back. It's still pretty fun, but it was butter smooth on opening day.

 

On the bright side, I'm willing to call my previous bad ride on Twister a fluke because it was running very well today.

Worn Wheels is the answer you are looking for. Considering the about equal amount of grinding on Impulse's Track Joints as Wicked's, I'm not surprised it's Chewing up Wheels, then again, maybe they are still adjusting hardness and combinations thereof.

[DanM64]

Has something happened to Impulse? I just dropped in today for a ride on it and the wooden coasters, and it was vibrating all over the place. If I sat forward, my back would be painfully thrown forward, but if I tried to sit back and keep my body upright I couldn't because I would get a headache from the vibrations on the seat back. It's still pretty fun, but it was butter smooth on opening day.

 

On the bright side, I'm willing to call my previous bad ride on Twister a fluke because it was running very well today.

I was there Thursday as well. I was the guy with the big brown beard and the bright red shirt.

 

Noticed the same thing on Impulse. The one train was vibrating like crazy. I still enjoyed the ride and thought it was really good, but the vibration was uncomfortable.

 

Phoenix was running INSANE though, as was Twister. I had an absolute blast! My last visit to the park was in June 2012, so I was able to collect credits for Black Diamond, Flying Turns, and Impulse this trip.

[jray21]

Best feature? SINGLE RIDER LINE!!! With that, got three rides in in a row, with just a walk around between each ride!

So they did add a single rider line then. Thought that they would.

 

I always love it when a ride has a single rider line. Glad to hear it has one now.

[Donkey123]

When I was there opening day they didn't have the single rider line, and the line was 30 minutes so I only got one ride on Impulse. I will go later this year to check it out and get a lot more rides on it!

[sammax144]

Did I miss something or go crazy? What happen to PowerSurge, it was there and open the weekend after opening and now is gone again.

[Rai Fox]

It doesn't appear to be listed on their website at the moment...odd. I hope they have it up and running again soon, I don't want to miss it again this year.

[A.J.]

I was just there a few weeks ago and it looked like it was operating without any issues. Weeeeeeeird.

[sammax144]

Yea Monday I was there it's totally removed and they have a small band organ on its sight. Unlike last year they don't have a sign there saying what's up.

[Rai Fox]

FYI