Knoebels Discussion Thread

[boldikus]

You're spending an entire day at Dutch Wonderland?

[AmyUD06]

Hey now, he may have small kids.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I agree. Dutch Wonderland is an excellent kids park except for one thing. Kingdom Coaster has a higher height requirement than the woodies at Knoebels or Comet at Hershey.

[YoshiFan]

They really increased the height requirement a lot compared to when it first opened. I remember in the 90s it was 42" to ride alone and I want to say 36" to ride with someone else but not 100% sure on that.

[disownedpear]

I was there for half of Wednesday, all of Thursday and some of Friday. Impulse had people working on the lift and was testing Thursday. Parking lot guy had some rumors about Impulses lift being made quieter.

 

Anyone else notice the flyer ops being particularly strict this year? \

 

I also noticed they were rotating some of which rides were open, Satellite was running only Wednesday, Looper running Thursday and Friday and Black Diamond running Friday only.

[disownedpear]

I was there for half of Wednesday, all of Thursday and some of Friday. Impulse had people working on the lift and was testing Thursday. Parking lot guy had some rumors about Impulses lift being made quieter.

 

Anyone else notice the flyer ops being particularly strict this year?

 

I also noticed they were rotating some of which rides were open, Satellite was running only Wednesday, Looper running Thursday and Friday and Black Diamond running Friday only.

[JG-77]

Flyers ops always varies from operator to operator, on my visit a couple weeks ago I was able to snap like crazy, so it’s really just a matter of luck!

[Canobie Coaster]

As much as I love snapping, I've stopped doing it at Knoebels since I learned the park's official stance is that it isn't allowed and the ride is still enjoyable without it. How an op enforces that is random (some care, some don't care).

 

I feel lot more comfortable snapping at Lagoon and Carowinds where the operators openly encourage it.

[disownedpear]

Yeah, the Knoebels ones just allow for such strong whips it's hard to resist the temptation. I've never tried Carowinds or Lagoon but I couldn't get the Kings Dominion one's to do much.

[Canobie Coaster]

The ones at Lagoon have similar speed and movement to the Knoebels ones. The ones at Carowinds have similar range/movement, but not as much speed.

[MisterBrow]

We were there on Wednesday and would agree about the flier op that day.

 

The pierogi booth was closed. I just stood there looking at. It was like that Christmas when I didn't get a pony.

[Highridin]

You're spending an entire day at Dutch Wonderland?

 

I have young children. We spent the entire day there. Had a good time. The waits for the gondola, and antique cars was a debacle, but can't have everything...lol

[BoulderDash]

Regarding the flyers, we were there a week and a half ago and I got a friendly warning about snapping and the guy said it was a safety hazard. I wasn't even trying that hard and wasn't going very crazy at all. Oh well, still a fun ride regardless, but it is hard not to snap their flyers. The ride wasn't even half full so maybe it was because there were less people to worry about and the op watched me. The flyers at Lake Compounce are entirely snap-able, but the cycle is too short. Snapping is mostly encouraged there and some ops will even do a double cycle.

 

Still had a great time regardless. It was on that day during the huge storm and they were pretty much the only park open. Did pretty much everything we wanted too but they did close an hour early after a huge downpour. The wood coasters were running great and are a blast.

[Nrthwnd]

Could some one explain to me, what the 'safety hazard' is with snapping on the flyers? I mean, it totally varies from park to park about this. Some allow it. Others won't. Is it a case of somebody possibly falling out of one of these things? Or something else?

 

I've been wanting to know about this for a long long time, now. Thanks in advance for any answers.

[Canobie Coaster]

I've heard two possible reasons, but neither are confirmed by the park and just heresay.

 

One, a wild snapping ride can scare potential customers away from riding. I personally have seen people get out of line after a snap-heavy ride. To someone unaware what snapping is, I understand their viewpoint that it does look like the ride is breaking/malfunctioning because of how wild and jerky the movements are.

 

The other I've heard is that some tubs were damaged in the past from snap-heavy rides and it's to help maintenance out. The park has always been against riders whipping the sails and that is one method to get snapping (not the best one, but the easiest for a newcomer).

[JT325]

One, a wild snapping ride can scare potential customers away from riding.

 

Have we become complete wimps in this country? Good gosh this has gotten ridiculous. I cried the first time I rode a kiddie coaster - stuff is scary sometimes!

 

I personally have seen people get out of line after a snap-heavy ride.

 

Let em go! When I was 6 we waited in line for Space Mountain then didn't ride cuz I had a meltdown. There was no shortage of guests who will ride - same at Knoebels. PS - I rode that kiddie coaster (at Sauzer's Kiddieland in Indiana) and Space Mountain, FL later and loved them both.

[A.J.]

One, a wild snapping ride can scare potential customers away from riding.

 

Have we become complete wimps in this country? Good gosh this has gotten ridiculous. I cried the first time I rode a kiddie coaster - stuff is scary sometimes!

I'm not particularly fond of snapping myself.

[disownedpear]

I've heard two possible reasons, but neither are confirmed by the park and just heresay.

 

One, a wild snapping ride can scare potential customers away from riding. I personally have seen people get out of line after a snap-heavy ride. To someone unaware what snapping is, I understand their viewpoint that it does look like the ride is breaking/malfunctioning because of how wild and jerky the movements are.

 

The other I've heard is that some tubs were damaged in the past from snap-heavy rides and it's to help maintenance out. The park has always been against riders whipping the sails and that is one method to get snapping (not the best one, but the easiest for a newcomer).

 

I've personally seen the first happen as well as had an operator tell me the second. But I agree with the above poster, if it's not a maintenance problem let em rip, this is Knoebels if it scares people they have quite a large selection of other rides to choose from. In my opinion it should run like the best version of the ride it is, like the bumper cars, Phoenix with no seat belts, and various other things at Knoebels, the fun is in it appearing dangerous while not being so. It is listed as a thrill ride.

 

EDIT: Also, In my experience, snapping sometimes gets people in line amped up for the ride as opposed to scaring them, depends on the crowd.

[Zand]

Finally got a full day in yesterday for the first time in four years. I spent two hours there two years ago, but it happened to be mere days after the 2018 flood (which is marked on the signs) on a day where the park flooded again but was still open because Knoebels.

 

The park was definitely on the busy side yesterday, and with quite a few rides closed and most others operating at reduced capacity it made for longer lines than I'd ever encountered there before. Even still, there were plenty of rides with no lines and it was still a great day. It allowed me to ride stuff I hadn't before as well.

 

I only managed two rides on Phoenix and one on Twister aa both were only running one (socially distanced) train making for lines around 30 minutes. The lines still moved faster than most Six Flags roller coasters running multiple trains but I've become used to walking up to empty rows at Knoebels so having actual lines to stand in was strange for sure!

 

Some flats also,had longer lines than I've seen before, such as waiting 3-4 cycles for the Flyers, Paratroopers, Kosmotron, and Bumper Cars. Rode both trains for the first time which was a nice change of pace. Also finally got that long awaited Kosmos Kurves credit. Not as good as the old kiddie coaster but still had some great pops of air. Also rode the Flume for the first time in a while. Reminds me of Canobie's flume with two drops, a tunnel, and fast sections at ground level. And, of course, lunch consisted of Pierogies and a mashed potato bowl at Oasis.

 

Long ride home (I-84 is my least favorite stretch of pavement in the country as the PA and NY sections are entirely dark and boring and then it immediately becomes a clusterf*ck through most of CT) made me wish Quassy was open 24 hours to ride Wooden Warrior on the way through at midnight. But it was great to actually get some coaster riding in during that weird ass summer of 2020.

[SharkTums]

^Glad it worked out for you. Knoebels will always have better operations than Six Flags even under these conditions!

[disownedpear]

I'm really curious as to why they are not running two trains, my visit had some decent lines on the coasters as well. You'd think it would be beneficial as they are a ticketed park. Line moves surprisingly fast though.

[disownedpear]

I'm really curious as to why they are not running two trains, my visit had some decent lines on the coasters as well. You'd think it would be beneficial as they are a ticketed park. Line moves surprisingly fast though.

[prozach626]

Have we become complete wimps in this country?

 

Yes. Absolutely yes.

[JG-77]

Interesting, Impulse is no longer marked as closed on the website, I wonder if it's an error if if we could actually see Impulse reopen by next weekend!

[tndank]

Pretty sure it was open today.