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A week at a Knoebels cottage!


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"old school central Pennsylvania aka Pennsyltucky"

 

Yep. "Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle."

 

I appreciate the photos, too. We thought about renting a cabin last year, too, but Rikki insisted on...camping (*shudder*). Glad to know the cabins aren't much better and know for sure that the best option is a local hotel.

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Unfortunately the decor of the cottage is really just an "old school central Pennsylvania aka Pennsyltucky" thing. Having lived up there my entire life, I've come to learn that some people in the region have almost hick-like appearances and mannerisms but in the end are perfectly decent people. A while ago, my parents and I would often go to this local restaurant where the food was amazing and the hospitality was absolutely wonderful BUT they had taxidermy all over their walls because nearly all of the family members that ran the place and cooked the food were hunters.

 

Also, it's about time someone actually posted a trip report about Penn's Cave. I've driven past exactly seventeen million "Penn's Cave, See It By Boat" billboards in my life and yet have never gone.

 

Yep - I live close enough to the PA border to know that the first day of hunting season is akin to a national holiday.

 

I can't book vacation during that time because so many of my co-workers slap that first day (and often times the entire week) on the vacation board as soon as the new year rolls around. Well, actually I could because I have team seniority, but I'm not going to be a dick.

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Yep - I live close enough to the PA border to know that the first day of hunting season is akin to a national holiday.

You'll laugh but in some areas it actually IS a holiday and schools get a day off.

 

EDIT: Apologies for my digression hijacking your thread...

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That's how it is around here too. Schools are penalized for having a low attendance %, so on days where too many parents would pull their kids out they'll just call it a school holiday instead. Not all, but a good number of rural districts in MO close the first day of hunting season for exactly this reason.

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Thanks for taking some in depth pictures of the cottages. They only have a few pictures of each one on their website. I haven't read past the first page yet, but I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

Also, is that your Focus ST?

 

 

We really would love to do more of an extended stay at Knoebels, and I'm really hoping that someday Knoebels builds something more like what Cedar Point has with their Lighthouse Point cabins. Nice, newer accommodations that feel more like a more modern hotel, but in a small cabin with a fire pit! That's more my idea of "roughing it!"

 

Right there with you. Emily and I really wanted to pull the trigger on a cottage, but it just seemed like too much of a toss-up. I'm sure it would have been fine. I'm a pretty big hotel snob.

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The cottages remind me of my family being loaned a relatives' place down at the beach for a week when I was young, except not as good a deal. Also even a trailer has a tiny second bathroom ... I expect you guys had an emergency bush.

 

It's all very Knoebels though ... it would be weirder if it was less weird?

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Loving this report

 

When I first read Knoebels + cabin your pictures confirmed the picture I painted in my head haha. Clean and comfy, but with way too many of grammas kisses.

 

The cave tour looked really spectacular being on the water and all. Great pictures of all the animals! Too bad the foxes didn't want to peek out.

 

Keep it up!

 

Rai Fox.....do you always hang blah blah

What a sh*tty comment. If you can't come up with anything nice to say about someone's trip report they put time and effort into posting, you shouldn't say anything at all.

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Thanks for taking some in depth pictures of the cottages. They only have a few pictures of each one on their website. I haven't read past the first page yet, but I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

Also, is that your Focus ST?

 

Yes, it is! I love it, but not sure how much longer I'll have it; a small-ish car is becoming increasingly impractical for me these days. Holding on to it as long as I can though!

 

The cottages remind me of my family being loaned a relatives' place down at the beach for a week when I was young, except not as good a deal. Also even a trailer has a tiny second bathroom ... I expect you guys had an emergency bush.

 

It's all very Knoebels though ... it would be weirder if it was less weird?

 

Definitely. A plain, ordinary hotel room would be incredibly out of place there.

 

 

Anyway, sorting through pictures for the next couple days now; will have Hershey up in a bit!

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Alright, day 3 and 4 update!

 

My group didn't have any big plans for day 3. While I personally would have loved to get out to hit Dorney, or Camel Beach, or anything else along those lines, not everyone on the trip is as much an amusement park junkie as I am, and I wanted it to be fun for everyone, so this was going to be a "just hang out and relax with friends" day. That's nice enough when you have people from all over half of the country together for one of only a couple times a year, anyway.

 

We figured we'd all be sleeping late, but one of our group thinks "late" is 7 AM, and most of us woke up earlier than we would have otherwise once we smelled bacon cooking.

 

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Sleeping late is great, but...priorities.

 

While the plan had been for a mostly non-park day...we were at Knoebels, and everyone wanted to play games. Well, there's one game you can't play many places other than Knoebels anymore! That was a compromise we could work with.

 

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This ended up being the luckiest day I've ever had at Fascination. Won something like 5 games out of the 20 ish we placed, including a coverall game. By the end of the week, with my tickets and some donated by friends in my group, I picked up a toaster to complement the toaster oven I won there a couple years back. Better than rubber spiders and penny candy!

 

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And of course with Gelati right outside the Fascination parlor...well, I was there to show my friends all the great things at Knoebels, so we had to get some!

 

Everyone else wanted to just sit and relax and people watch a bit after finishing their gelatis. Fair enough, but...I see something I'm a lot more interested in just a minute away. In fact, it's rather a travesty that it's my third day at the park and I haven't done this yet already.

 

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And it's just waiting there for someone to come ride it, too! Power Surge might just be my favorite flat ride anywhere.

 

The others wanted to head back, play a couple games, and get ready to hit the pool. I'd meet them back there a few minutes later. After all, we'd hit Phoenix the first night, but there was still something missing.

 

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There we go. I'm still in the group that things Twister is just as good as Phoenix.

 

Especially this year. It seems like they do at least some track work every year, but whatever they did this year made a big difference; Twister was running possibly the best I can ever remember. Fast, smooth, still out of control as always. The green train seemed even better than the purple one this year, but both were awesome.

 

We all hit the pool and waterslides for a while afterwards. I wish I had pictures, but...phones and pools aren't really the greatest combination; especially an already damaged phone. There weren't a ton of people in the pool despite the hot weather; plenty of room to swim and relax. We had free passes to the pool that the park gives to people renting their cottages, and for $1.50 each they upgraded them to pool+slide passes; awesome! Knoebels waterslides are maybe not quite world class, but they're fun! The two mat slides are simple loops with a drop at the end, but they absolutely fly, and you can get legit airtime just hitting the water brakes at the end. The tube slides depend on how you ride them. On a single tube, they're pretty relaxing. Go down with someone else on a double and they're an entirely different experience, tearing down the slides and ending up nearly inverted in the tunnel corners!

 

Before the trip, one of the members of my group had mentioned that the trip would be fun, but that it was too bad that middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania wasn't likely to have any good brewpubs. I took finding one as a challenge, and...Old Force Brewing Company, not too far away in Danville, looked promising! Tonight was going to be the night to find out if you can get really good beer in Pennsyltucky. I have to admit, parts of the area were less than promising driving in...

 

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This definitely looks like high quality authentic food right here.

 

Fortunately, the brewpub looked a lot better than John's Asian.

 

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This looks much more like my kind of place!

 

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The menu here is a little bit all over the place. Irish bangers and mash, falafel, crab cakes, and udon noodles. Huh.

 

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Pretty much everyone got something different, and different beers as well.

 

We all were very happy with our beers. I had a black ale that was among the best I've had; between us all we tried porters, stouts, ales and ipas and every one was quite good. It turns out that yes, there is top notch beer to be had even here!

 

Food was a little bit less even. Most was very good! I did a build-your-own-burger with bacon, mushrooms, and beer cheese. Burger and bacon all perfectly cooked, nicely sauteed mushrooms, and the beer cheese was fantastic. The other burgers at the table were well appreciated, too. A couple people had the Bangers and Mash and raved about them; the chicken and waffles was apparently good too. Unfortunately a couple of the dishes weren't quite as loved; one person ordered the shepherd's pie and found it to be a very odd take on the recipe, with a thick, heavy crunchy topping in place of any mashed potato, and didn't eat much of it. Another person tried the falafel and said it was terrible; I tried a bit of that and had to agree, it was very dry and almost entirely flavorless. Sadly, no one had room to try their honey lavender cheesecake or stout cake with coffee mousse.

 

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Perfect burger!

 

Overall, definitely liked the place, and will probably go back someday. Just don't order falafel.

 

Back to the cottage then to hang out with friends a bit.

 

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Red Dragon Inn! I don't really know why I had a picture of this, and didn't notice it in the batch upload, but any time I try deleting one out of the middle of a bunch, it causes weird issues, and I'm not re-doing the whole batch now, so it can stay.

 

For the record, I lost horribly. As usual. Playing this character usually means you piss off the other players before 2 minutes into the game, and get everyone taking you out first.

 

And on to things more interesting to most here! Day 4, back to parks!

 

As I'm sure I'm mentioned other places, I've had terrible luck with Hershey Park over the last several years. Every attempt to get there has ended up being a miserable day due to weather and/or extreme crowds. The last time I tried the park, I spent all day there and got on four coasters and one flat ride all day, with the lines. I really want to like the park, but it hasn't been great to me...I was cautiously optimistic that this time might turn it around. Not everyone was, especially since the forecast called for heat and humidity and then possibly major thunderstorms later in the day, so half the group stayed behind, but several of us braved the meteorological threats.

 

As it turned out, the major thunderstorms turned out to be approximately 6 raindrops over the space of 20 seconds around 2:00. The heat and humidity definitely made their appearance, but not to an unbearable degree.

 

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Not looking too crowded, probably because of the forecast. That's promising! In the distance, the biggest reason I wanted to be there! I'd never been on Skyrush yet!

 

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Weather holding steady, light crowds, Skyrush running. This might just be the seemingly-mythical great day at Hershey for me!

 

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And this was the extent of the line for Skyrush! Straight to the back left seat for me!

 

...and then the rather hefty young woman attending my side of the train came and threw her entire weight into the restraints to staple me in. I've never been so crushed into a restraint on any coaster in my life. It was painful before we even left the station. Those of you who've ridden Skyrush probably know what came after that.

 

I want to love this coaster; the layout is great, it's so fast and aggressive and relentless, and forceful coasters like this are so rare now...but every airtime hill was excruciating. I am not someone to complain about rough coasters. I loved Wildcat even when it had its old trains (Actually, that applies to Hershey's AND Lake Compounce's Wildcats!). I got off Hercules at Dorney, went around and re-rode it. This was not the same thing at all. With the way the restraint fit me, and how unbelievably tight it had been forced down, there was nothing to do to ride defensively; just wait for it to end.

 

I don't understand how these restraints could be designed so badly. With something along the lines of B&M's clamshell restraints, this could be one of the best coasters in the world. I got off it barely able to walk though, and 2 out of the 3 friends sharing the back row with me said they'd never ride it again. I wouldn't quite go that far; maybe with someone less determined to staple riders to death, it might be more tolerable, but...this was just not a good few minutes here. Crazy to have such a coaster so ruined by a restraint design like this.

 

Maybe I'd give it another shot, but not that moment. On to something I knew would be a little nicer to me; one old classic that's stayed pretty smooth over the years. Sooper-Dooper-Looper doesn't have much to brag about in numbers or layout these days, but it's still a fun little ride, and surprisingly comfortable.

 

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One shot, three hills, and none of them even the coaster I'm about to get on. I love how tightly packed the coasters are here.

 

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A little iffy on the current trains. Not a huge deal, but they look like they're going for an almost futuristic look, for a very classic ride? They ride well though.

 

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And time to get a bit wet! I love a good log flume, and the old Arrow Hydroflumes are must dos with how rare they are now. I think Coal Cracker is one of two left, if I'm not mistaken? Certainly not missing it anyway.

 

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Especially with nearly no line!

 

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I don't know why more rides don't use this type of loading station. So efficient and easy.

 

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I literally spent more time waiting for my boat to circle the turntable than I had in the entire line.

 

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Not a huge splash, but that little hop of airtime is great

 

Given how hot the day was, a wetter flume might have been nice; none of us got more than a bit of mist out of the final drop, but still such a fun ride.

 

And over to Great Bear! Inverts are still my absolute favorite coaster type, and the bear might not be the best loved of them overall, but I've always had a soft spot for it. It's not forceful or intense, but it's graceful and smooth, and in a pretty awesome setting. If it were a little bit longer, it might just be one of my favorites.

 

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Again, the entirety of the line for the ride.

 

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The station for Great Bear also gives a great chance to see that little airtime hump at the bottom of Coal Cracker's drop. Fly, little boat, fly!

 

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Another game of count-the-coaster that would have been much better had I not failed to get Comet in the shot

 

To get to the other half of the park, we had to pass the Zooamerica entrance, and there was no way my group was going to skip that, especially not when it was free. I debated cutting these pictures out since I've already filled a lot of space with animal pictures, but...

 

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HUGE snapping turtle. I wish there was anything for scale here. This guy had to be five feet long.

 

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And a much smaller alligator. They're actually kinda cute when they're small.

 

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These guys clearly knew that "human in the enclosure" means food. Not one bit shy about her.

 

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Snacking on a nice little salad, not a care in the world

 

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Ocelot! What an absolutely beautiful little cat. It looks a bit sad though.

 

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Aw. Yeah, I'd be pretty sad too. People suck sometimes. Poor kitty.

 

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Ringtail! Ringtails are cute...but do not hold still for pictures.

 

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More bobcats!

 

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This guy was having a little pool party for himself, and seemed to love attention and cameras

 

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These guys want to know why they're not getting Double Stuff Oreos like Penn's Cave's bears!

 

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Sentry duty

 

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This guy is staring us down just daring us to make some trite "Nevermore" comment

 

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Wolf! Not as pretty nor as interested in visitors as Chorro back at the other park, though.

 

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Pine Martens are absolutely adorable, but, but this guy was in having too much fun leaping around his home to pose for a flattering picture. You can just kinda see him running across the beam, center left.

 

Okay, enough animals! That's the last of them for the week, I promise. Back to the park! It was getting close to lunchtime now, so time to find something good! ...And this was where we found one of the bigger problems for the day. I wanted a drink, and those BBLZ ones I'd heard about sounded good!

 

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Almost all of these look good. Which to try?

 

Oh. None of them. The place was chained off and closed.

 

Okay, how about one of those big super shakes? Ah. Closed. Hmmm. Ice cream? Nope...well, dippin dots? Not Hershey ice cream, but still nice...oh, closed too.

 

Okay, so food is going to be a challenge...how about a break for some games?

 

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Wellp.

 

Perhaps because of staff shortages after younger workers had gone back to school, nearly everything in the park other than the rides was closed. The only food that seemed to be open were the chain stuff; Subway, Chickies and Petes, Moe's, and a couple places near the gate. Not greeaat.

 

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Most of the rides were at least running, with a few exceptions. Given the problems Skyrides have been having lately, I'm not shocked that this wasn't...and it's so short as to be mostly pointless anyway...

 

We ended up giving up and heading out of the park to try Hersheypark Place, the full service restaurant outside the gate. Somewhat to my surprise, it ended up being quite good, and far more reasonably priced that I expected. Sandwiches and burgers and such were in the $10-$14 range, which for a full service restaurant at a pricey amusement park...no complaints there. I ended up getting another burger (...I know. I really should branch out) and went with their specialty of the week one, with a red pepper cole slaw and spicy mustard on a pretzel roll. While it wasn't quite on bar with the pub burgers of previous days, it wasn't bad by any means, and better than I expected for the park. The raspberry lemonade I had, given how hot it was outside, was one of the most refreshing things I could even remember, and I may have abused the free refills a bit. This place definitely gets my recommendation for a meal at Hershey; almost normal, non-park prices, decent food, and air conditioning.

 

We still had coasters to ride though, and I'd promised everyone I wouldn't keep them at the park all day, since half the group was waiting for us back at the cottage, so we hurried back in and down to the far end of the park.

 

No one had much interest in the drop towers. For those of us that cared for them...basically just myself...Stratosfear was in the future, so these were pretty superfluous, and left me missing Condor. No need to bother with that area at all then...down to Farenheit!

 

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Vertical lift hills are still mildly intimidating for some reason!

 

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I love this twisted tangle of track. Always fun to have so much packed into a small area.

 

The last time I was at Hershey, Farenheit was new, the park was horrifically overcrowded, and we waited hours for it. By time I got on, I was too overheated, dehydrated, and irritable to really enjoy it as much as I would have, and it didn't leave much of an impression. Fortunately, this time was far different. We walked right on and claimed the front couple rows. Turns out that Farenheit is a pretty great coaster, and I'm kind of surprised that it doesn't seem to get that much attention. It's a pretty big step up over a Eurofighter in size and intensity, smoother than anything along those lines that I've been along, and all in a pretty similar footprint. I'd expect to see more of these from Intamin, but given that the page for Intamin Vertical Lift coaster on wikipedia only goes directly to Farenheit, I'm guessing this is it?

 

The day was getting hotter, and Tidal Force was looking pretty good, but...exactly how wet did we want to be?

 

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Maybe not that wet.

 

Almost everyone riding it was wearing swimsuits and getting off drenched. With the humidity, we knew we'd never dry off, and didn't want to ride home still wet, so we ended up giving it a pass, somewhat regretfully in my case; I really enjoy those big flumes.

 

On the other hand, just past it, a big old tangle of twisted wood track was calling my name. As I mentioned before, I always enjoyed Wildcat, and as its gotten a bit less punishing to ride over the years, of course I was getting on it.

 

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I love wild, twisty wooden coasters with lots of laterals; Wildcat is among the best of them, if you can take the beating it can sometimes offer you.

 

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I guess Hershey's given up on this ride ever being popular; as far as I can remember this wasn't just a product of the park being understaffed today, but had been closed the last several times I'd been here.

 

I don't know if Wildcat had track work done recently, if the weather was just right, if we just got lucky or what, but it was running incredibly well today. I wouldn't even consider it rough at all; really not noticeably worse than Twister at Knoebels, and Twister's running smoothly this year! Maybe it's more the heavily padded trains than the actual ride, but it felt pretty great. If Wildcat always ran like this, I think it would have an entirely different place in the park, and in peoples' minds. Fast, crazy, forceful; at least that one ride put it way up in my top coasters list. I wanted to get back on it, but my group was pretty determined to get everything in the park once and get back; not how I usually like to approach a park, but...compromises, I suppose, so we headed on to Laugh Track.

 

Laugh Track might not be the best in the park, and it definitely had the longest line...but it was a line that featured air conditioning for a good part of it, so no one had any complaints.

 

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It also had a Laughin' Sal. I always remember Kennywood's but I didn't know they had one here too.

 

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So nice that this coaster has this nostalgic, classic decor, instead of modern themepark advertising.

 

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*sigh* Nevermind.

 

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Mirrors, fun. Air conditioning, amazing.

 

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Sadly, we're going to have to give up the AC soon and settle for the actual ride.

 

Laugh Track? Not bad! I wasn't expecting much, but having ridden Steel Dragon at Waldameer a couple months ago, the themeing in here does make a big different and make it quite a bit more fun than the basic ride. It's no Space Mountain, or even Exterminator, but as long as the line isn't too long to be worth it, it's a good time. Would have been even better with more spinning, but we had a well balanced car, unfortunately.

 

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Hey, these look good! Especially the jalapeno ones! We never actually found a place that served them, just signs for them. Wherever they are, it was probably closed...dammit Hershey)

 

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Well, speaking of tangled messes of wooden track, there's one more of those for me here.

 

Lighting Racer has always been a favorite of mine. It's best at night, when you can crest the to of the lift hill and look down on that spaghetti-bowl of chaser lights along both tracks, but I wasn't going to skip any chance to ride it! We picked Thunder (green) side. Unfortunately, while in the past it seems like it's been pretty close and either train could win any time, that didn't seem to be the case today. Even though red had quite a few empty seats and we definitely seemed to have the fuller, heavier train, Lighting won by quite a bit. Watching afterwards, that side was taking every win. Not as much fun that way! Still, beyond that, the LR felt every bit as good as it did when it was brand new, and I still love the dueling elements.

 

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C'mon Thunder!

 

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Nope. Lightning wins again.

 

After we gave up watching to see if Thunder would ever win, we got into what was probably the longest line of the day for us.

 

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Everyone wanted Ritas. We were hoping for Mistos, but they had everything but that. They did have watermelon cream ice though, so the line was worth it.

 

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We found where the rest of the crowds were; the waterpark was pretty well packed. No surprise.

 

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We found where the rest of the crowds were; the waterpark was pretty well packed. No surprise.

 

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Sidewinder! Even the less enthusiastic about coasters in my group had been on enough Boomerangs though. We skipped that and Trailblazer.

 

We did head down to hit Storm Runner, of course, since it would be the fastest launched coaster at least one of my friends had been on. It's still a pretty great ride; obviously it doesn't have the intensity of Kingda Ka, but it's a nice change to actually have a ride after the top hat, too, and it has some really good interactions with the terrain and some of the other rides. Good stuff, still.

 

...And yet I entirely forgot to take any pictures there.

 

Unfortunately, that was as long as I could convince my group to stick around; they all knew we'd be spending the next few days in the park at Knoebels, and wanted time to rest up first. I'd have loved to stick around Hershey for some night rides, but I couldn't entirely blame them. We were going to be on our feet quite a lot.

 

Overall, a pretty decent day at Hershey, far better than my last couple attempts. It was a bit disappointing that most of their unique food and treat options weren't available, but even with the low crowds, the important rides were all up and running, and operations were for the most part very good. Only Farenheit was really stacking trains at all, all the other crews were getting them out of the station in impressive time. I still can't shake the feeling that a few things at Hershey just aren't quite as good as they could be, but some of it might just be bias going in. It does seem like, somehow, despite the amount of trees and scenery at the park, you end up spending a lot of time standing out in the sun without shade. Flat ride operations are still pretty sad, with very short rides for some reason. They still have a pretty awesome collection of coasters though, and some really deserve more attention than they get. I think I can withdraw many of my previous complaints about Hershey, and I'm sure I'll head back, but next time, I want to try one of those bblz drinks.

 

...and damn you, sadistic Skyrush stapler.

 

Anyway, heading back Knoebels, we gathered everyone up and returned to Nickel Plate for the second time. This time, someone else drove so I could try the drinks (fantastic) along with the Santa Fe chicken salad (equally amazing). We got a bit of time to rest up then, since Friday would be the first "real" day at Knoebels. It had been painful waiting that long to really get into the park, but if we were going to get wristbands, we wanted it to be when the park was open until late.

 

Next time!

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Thanks for taking some in depth pictures of the cottages. They only have a few pictures of each one on their website. I haven't read past the first page yet, but I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

Also, is that your Focus ST?

 

Yes, it is! I love it, but not sure how much longer I'll have it; a small-ish car is becoming increasingly impractical for me these days. Holding on to it as long as I can though!

 

Nice, man! I like the way those cars look and I've heard they're a blast to drive. Unfortunately, I've never driven one. I love fun cars that are practical, hence why I've owned a WRX and two STI's since 2013. I'm tired of spending money on new cars every time I get them paid off, so I forked over the cash to pay for my 2018 STI in full and I've vowed to keep it for at least 100k miles, which should take me at least 5-6 years. Sorry to change the subject.

 

Back on topic, I'm jealous that you had a chance to take a trip with so many of your friends. As I read more into your thread it sounds like you guys had a blast.

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Nice, man! I like the way those cars look and I've heard they're a blast to drive. Unfortunately, I've never driven one. I love fun cars that are practical, hence why I've owned a WRX and two STI's since 2013. I'm tired of spending money on new cars every time I get them paid off, so I forked over the cash to pay for my 2018 STI in full and I've vowed to keep it for at least 100k miles, which should take me at least 5-6 years. Sorry to change the subject.

 

Back on topic, I'm jealous that you had a chance to take a trip with so many of your friends. As I read more into your thread it sounds like you guys had a blast.

 

It's definitely a blast to drive, and it has a decent amount of room inside, gets better-than-advertised mileage if I show a bit of restraint, and I haven't had to do anything but scheduled maintenance for it yet. It's been damn near perfect, really. I just do quite a lot of travelling lately, usually with lots of stuff to find room for, and between that, work, and generally being "group mom" when it comes to taking friends all over the place, I think something bigger is going to be in my near future. Might try to get my hands on a Flex before they stop making them; with the Ecoboost, they're a lot more fun to drive than they have any right to be.

 

As for taking trips with friends, I'm very lucky that I'm able to! Trying to wrangle bigger groups can be frustrating at times, a lot of cat-herding, and compromises to be made, but in the end it almost always ends up being a lot more fun, if you have the right people. Going back to places I've been before is a lot more fun when I have new people to share them with, too. This time was great, one of the best trips I've taken in a long while.

 

Next year's plan, Busch Gardens food and wine festival. Gonna get everyone fat.

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great report on Hershey, tho sad so many of the food options were closed (that bubbles place was open when we were there w/ TPR, but I don't recall seeing many people getting them. . .the giant shake place tho, had a line every time).

 

glad to see someone else took time from park to do ZooAmerica, as my TPR group did too. . I also loved it, and have tons of pics to share too when my TR gets to that point.

 

I did skip power surge at Knoebel's tho. . now I wish I had tried it at least.. .but I did get to ride Downdraft.

 

keep up the great TR. . very much enjoying reading it!

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Great choice with Busch Gardens. You'll have a blast. I tried my first shot at a 'guys trip' this summer and someone backed out at the last minute. I couldn't find anyone to go, so I roped in Emily to fill the gap. So much for the 'guys trip.' To top it all off, it took one of my close friends over a month to pay me for the up front gas and hotel costs. You shouldn't have to reach out to people for money, but not everyone is considerate.

 

The cave tour looked awesome and it's cool that you guys got to explore more than just Knoebels. I was wondering how that would play out as far as keeping yourselves entertained for an entire week if you were doing the park only.

 

As far as MPG goes in your car, I'm jealous with my 18 mpg on 93 octane. FML. It's pretty standard even when I shift below 3k, so I tend to gently ride out the RPM's without giving a ffff, anymore.

 

Looking forward to going back and looking at your Hershey trip when I get time.

 

 

Yep - I live close enough to the PA border to know that the first day of hunting season is akin to a national holiday.

 

It's the same in my neck of the woods. Being non-typical in my area, I never have and never will hunt. I'm not trying to dog hunters, but I never understood killing beautiful animals for fun. I couldn't do it, but I do buy deer sausage and brats from some of my friends.

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^ I was never a hunter, but when my uncle got shot and bled to death in the woods from some a-hole that shot him as it was turning dusk, that sealed the deal for me.

 

Another great report. Rai! You guys should have ventured down to Troeg's Brewery right down the road from Hershey if you like good PA microbrews. The brown butter and rosemary salt popcorn went well when paired with a beer sampler - and the other menu items sounded pretty good too!

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I just finished up with your Hershey TR. I agree with you all the way on Skyrush. My two rides were OK, but I was being incredibly defensive and sitting in the middle of the train, in a middle seat. The following day we tried the front of what would be our last ride and I got stuck on the wing. That was it for us.

 

I'm surprised you, and everyone else for that matter, don't have more good things to say about Great Bear. It may have been our favorite coaster at the park.

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My new thing with clueless seat checkers is to just tell them to let me out and try again later. My body was damaged by one early this year and I won't -- CAN'T -- allow it anymore. I prefer the restraints on Skyrush to most Intamins. But I have to hold myself down on most of the airtime or it is painful, no doubt. I used the bar directly either side for that, the handles are too far forward. I question the need to be quite so ridiculous but also loved it. Most hypers I need a night ride to be impressed.

 

There are aspects to your trip that would drive me crazy. Of course my trips tend to be not much to report on -- went to this park, rode ass off, went home ...

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Well, I didn't expect to be front paged! I guess I better get this finished up soon now!

 

great report on Hershey, tho sad so many of the food options were closed (that bubbles place was open when we were there w/ TPR, but I don't recall seeing many people getting them. . .the giant shake place tho, had a line every time).

 

glad to see someone else took time from park to do ZooAmerica, as my TPR group did too. . I also loved it, and have tons of pics to share too when my TR gets to that point.

 

I did skip power surge at Knoebel's tho. . now I wish I had tried it at least.. .but I did get to ride Downdraft.

 

keep up the great TR. . very much enjoying reading it!

 

Thanks! Yeah, it was a bit sad to be at a place founded by a candy company and not get any real treats, but...still a good day, in the end!

 

Power Surge is one of those rides that I don't hear people talking about a lot, but I just love how out of control it feels. Downdraft is awesome too, too, though. That one feels like it's seriously trying to throw you right off.

 

 

Great choice with Busch Gardens. You'll have a blast. I tried my first shot at a 'guys trip' this summer and someone backed out at the last minute. I couldn't find anyone to go, so I roped in Emily to fill the gap. So much for the 'guys trip.' To top it all off, it took one of my close friends over a month to pay me for the up front gas and hotel costs. You shouldn't have to reach out to people for money, but not everyone is considerate.

 

The cave tour looked awesome and it's cool that you guys got to explore more than just Knoebels. I was wondering how that would play out as far as keeping yourselves entertained for an entire week if you were doing the park only.

 

As far as MPG goes in your car, I'm jealous with my 18 mpg on 93 octane. FML. It's pretty standard even when I shift below 3k, so I tend to gently ride out the RPM's without giving a ffff, anymore.

 

We definitely will. I've been there quite a few times, but usually just with family, and it's been a few years. I'm excited to take people who've never been before! I just need to make sure no one spoils Verbolten's little surprise before I get them on it

 

The cave was a lot of fun, and yeah, I wanted to make sure there were things to do for people who weren't quite as enthusiastic about spending every day on roller coasters. Even for those of us that are, it's nice to have a change of pace.

 

I'd have to really love a car to live with 18 mpg, I think. I average 25/26 ish, but the ST can break 32 on the highway even at 75-80mph. Not bad at all there.

 

Another great report. Rai! You guys should have ventured down to Troeg's Brewery right down the road from Hershey if you like good PA microbrews. The brown butter and rosemary salt popcorn went well when paired with a beer sampler - and the other menu items sounded pretty good too!

 

I thought about it! We went with that Old Forge brewery that we'd never heard of before in the end, which turned out pretty well, but Troeg's is still on the someday list!

 

Shame you guys didn't enjoy the back left seat on skyrush. Holding my hands up the entire time and letting that ride feel like it was going to throw me across the park is still one of my favorite coaster experiences ever lol

 

Definitely. It pretty clearly would have been a great ride in better circumstances. I'll get back for another try sometime.

 

I just finished up with your Hershey TR. I agree with you all the way on Skyrush. My two rides were OK, but I was being incredibly defensive and sitting in the middle of the train, in a middle seat. The following day we tried the front of what would be our last ride and I got stuck on the wing. That was it for us.

 

I'm surprised you, and everyone else for that matter, don't have more good things to say about Great Bear. It may have been our favorite coaster at the park.

 

I'd have a hard time picking a favorite coaster at Hershey, but Great Bear is definitely one of the candidates.

 

The structure with the camo netting at the lake is simply a Duck Blind. If you are named Donald and have webbed feet, I'd leave town by October.

 

Ahhhh...That makes sense, there were ducks all over the area.

 

Anyway, going through pictures from the last few days now; I should have the last part of the report up later on, as long as nothing else comes up!

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(a few of the photos in this part were taken by one of my friends, not myself. You can tell because they're actually good shots.)

 

Alright, Day 5 of our trip. It's been torture being at Knoebels for this long, but not actually spending much time in the park itself. Finally, we were going to fix that!

 

...of course, we woke up to this.

 

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The forcecast for several days had shown rain, but it never materialized, until we meant to actually spend a day in the park. If I stretch things a little and just count this, the day we spent all day in the park, as the actual park day for Knoebels, this makes 11 out of 12 times I've been there Knoebels that it's rained.

 

Well, that just means less crowds. If the rain kept up, we'd just have to get Flying Turns another day. Everything else always runs in the rain, and I don't mind getting a little wet. We took advantage of the cottage kitchen before heading down to the park; one of my friends made biscuits for breakfast sandwiches (sooo good) and then, the two minute walk down into the park.

 

We picked up our wristbands, and...well, look, we're already right near the carousel! And we have people who've never been on a carousel with a brass ring to grab!

 

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All nice, but this isn't what makes Knoebels' carousel the best.

 

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I explained about the ring, and reminded my friends that almost every time I'd brought people to the park, one of the people there for the first time got the brass ring (true!). We got onto one of the first rides of the day, everyone found an outside horse...they lowered the ring dispenser...and 15 seconds later, I had the brass ring. First time! I guess I broke the beginner's luck streak for the others, though. This year, instead of a free ticket specific to the carousel, they were giving out 3 of the regular 50 cent red ride tickets, so they could be used on something else. We had a couple people who didn't want to do a lot of rides and bought tickets instead of wristbands, so that was a nice little extra.

 

Everyone was adamant about getting on the bumper cars that I'd been hyping up so much after that. No complaints from me!

 

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Only the best "in America" might be underrating themselves here. I can't imagine better anywhere

 

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Because of the very low crowds, they only had a few cars out on the track.

 

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Not entirely ideal to have less targets, but it did meant my group got most of the cars out there so we could focus on attacking each other.

 

There's only so much I can really say about the Scooters here; it's all been said plenty of times. I knew what to expect, I'd done this dozens of times, but my friends' reactions to the first few hits were pretty spectacular. Sadly I wasn't about to try to pull out my phone for pictures here. With a lot of open space, we were able to get moving for some really good hits out there.

 

As good as the Scooters are, we can only take so much abuse, and we had a lot else to do; there was always the rest of the weekend for more. I wanted to get on one of my favorites while we were right there.

 

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Not many of these left around! Most parks wouldn't try to run something this low capacity now. I believe this one originally belonged to Kennywood.

 

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Judging by recent conversations in the Knoebels thread, Satellite isn't phenomenally popular, but I love it, even if it does beat you up a bit.

 

We doubled up, two to a side; it's much more comfortable to ride this one with someone else, so you're not being tossed around the entire cabin. I'd happily put up with it anyway, but this way was better for everyone else.

 

By this point the rain had, despite being forecast to last a while longer, already started to back off. We didn't see it again for the day, but it had already done its job of keeping a lot of people out of the park, apparently. The crowds were the lowest I've ever seen even for a weekend there.

 

Next, the Whip!

 

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I used to think these were relatively rare old rides, but it seems like basically every park in Pennsylvania has one.

 

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Sadly, the amazing operator / hype man that was running this and entertaining the riders last year wasn't here this year, or anywhere else in the park that I saw. Having hm running down the playform high fiving people, playing with the kids riding, and all was...well, very Knoebels. This year, just a normal ride.

 

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Italian Trapeze was down the entire week we stayed at the park. Out of all the rides there, it's one of the least unique ones, so better that that anything else. The skyride was also down the whole week as far as I saw, which was far sadder.

 

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Galleon was also down, but only because of the wet weather; the drive system doesn't work too well wet, apparently. They had it up and running very shortly after, but we didn't end up going back for it. Plenty of these rides around.

 

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Impulse still looks a bit odd, a bright modern ride in the front of a very traditional, woods-y park, but it's a nice change from the style of most of their other rides, and someone, at Knoebels, a ride sticking out so much...almost makes it fit in?

 

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Impulse was only running one train again today, but that was plenty for the number of people riding. I was going to wait for a picture of the car going through the loop, before I realized it was in the station waiting for us to get to it; it wasn't even going to be leaving until we rode.

 

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The giant wheel looks pretty peeking through the trees here.

 

Not pretty enough for me to get on it. I know, it's ridiculous, but Ferris Wheels are about the only thing I don't like riding. I'm terrible with heights if I don't have any kind of restraint...

 

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Pretty much every park has a Scrambler type ride, but Knoebels is the only one I've been to with a Garbrick model. Might just have something to do with Garbrick being almost down the road from there? The cable drive makes it much smoother than a normal Eli Bridge Scrambler, but...personally, I feel like it's missing something without the ka-thunk ka-thunk...

 

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While I was riding Power Surge, most of the group stayed safely on the ground, and one went to take pictures.

 

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Downdraft is so much more intense than it looks like it should be. Definitely don't miss this one.

 

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Who remembers that this ride has someone who literally married it?

 

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It wasn't particularly hot after the rain, and there was no line for Skloosh. That didn't stop a few friends and myself.

 

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Picture just a little early to catch the splash. With only a few of us in the boat, we didn't get nearly the soaking Skloosh usually gives, just a bit of spray. We'd make up for that later...

 

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The Pioneer Train is another must-do at Knoebels, with some of the views you get, both of Twister and the waterslides, and out into the woods...

 

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The tube slides from an earlier day of the report

 

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The train runs right underneath Twister and lets you watch riders from below!

 

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When we were at Penn's Cave, they mentioned that they host an annual festival for people to show off old machinery, like Knoebels has here. I wonder if they ever bring this down there?

 

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None of Knoebels' black squirrels today. Too bad, they're adorable.

 

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Just a quiet ride through the woods.

 

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There's always a guard on the bridge here, and they always wave to the train. Or...is she...

 

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Yeah. She's blowing bubbles at the train riders. Because Knoebels, all. The little things here.

 

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Riders going up the first lift hill on Twister. I like the train, but I'd still trade with them right about there.

 

Okay, we'd had a good start to the morning, but we'd been putting off something very important. Far too many of my friends still, to this point, didn't know what had been missing from their lives before now. Time to change that. There was something they had to ride.

 

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The one and only Knoebels Flyer! The little bit of breeze left over from the morning storm was absolutely perfect for snapping. Most of my group was new to the ride and not willing to push their luck too far, but I got absolutely the best snapping I've ever experienced on this ride. Fortunately the operator this time didn't care one bit. I wish someone had been taking video, though!

 

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JUST as we got off the Flyer, Flying Turns started testing after drying out from the morning. Perfect timing!

 

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I think I can see why they don't run this ride when it's wet. Maybe it was all in my imagination, but even after drying enough for them to reopen it, it felt like it was running faster and wilder than usual. Still maybe not worth waiting in a huge line for, but a unique and fun ride, if you can get on in a reasonable time.

 

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Knoebels putting on some entertainment for the kids, though I think there were twice as many actors as kids in the audience.

 

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Round-ups aren't rare, but they're still fun, and this one has a big advantage over any other similar ride. It's at Knoebels!

 

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Same with Tilt-a-whirls. For some reason I rarely seem to get a good, spinny ride on this one, but today was an exception; we just got the car going and it did not want to stop. Sadly my friends that took another car just stalled theirs almost immediately and never really got beyond rocking about a bit.

 

The ride op here was great, as well, chatting and having fun with everyone, and trying to teach younger riders how to throw their weight around the car to get a good spin going.

 

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I don't pass up flumes, but no one else wanted to ride yet. A few people said maybe later, so I figured we could come back. If no one else wanted to, I'd ride alone later.

 

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Besides, I had something even better than a flume to distract me for now.

 

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Anyone else claiming to have the World's Finest Roller Coaster would be met with some healthy skepticism. Here...I might just believe it.

 

The ride operator here was messing with everyone, refusing to talk about Phoenix at all and trying to hype everyone up for the antique cars instead. Cute.

 

Front seat ride this time. I can't decide if the front or back of the first car is better, so I'll just settle for both of them being perfect. I don't know if it's possible for Phoenix to run better than usual, but after the rain it certainly felt like it was. I felt like I was going to get thrown entirely out at the far turnaround and end up taking a shortcut straight to those antique cars.

 

Well, after hearing all about them from the Phoenix ride op, everyone wanted to ride them. Fine with me!

 

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Unfortunately they seemed to have one car that just couldn't keep up; they kept staggering the cars sending them out onto the track, only for them to all come back bunched up behind one car.

 

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Yeah, this green one wasn't doing so well. I'm kinda surprised they left it on the track, but as far as I saw it stayed out all day.

 

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I ended up going out several cars behind the problem car, so I figured I wouldn't have too much trouble. Instead, I ended up being someone who let their small child drive, and the kid couldn't seem to keep their foot on the gas pedal and kept stopping.

 

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Silver lining, that gave me a chance to take some pictures as we putt-putted around the course.

 

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Knoebels has one of the prettiest antique car courses I've seen.

 

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Made all the better by how it's partially built right into the structure of Phoenix.

 

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Over the top? Still not running, the entire week I was there. Not sure what's going on with it now...

 

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This is just disturbing in so many ways.

 

After the antique cars, someone, possibly me, mentioned that the park also had driveable motorboats, and several of the group very much wanted to try that, so we cut back across to the other side of the park to get on them. They had what looked like the longest line in the park, probably because they were only using one side of the station and a few boats, and one operator was running everything, but with how quickly we were getting on everything else, we could afford to wait a bit.

 

Finally got our turn...

 

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One of my friends got in his boat, and made it...exactly this far out of the station before managing to get his boat twisted sideways and stuck. The operator had to jump on his boat to get him unstuck.

 

And then...everything went quiet for a while. Too long. No boats coming in, nothing going on that we could see...the operator giving us some rather awkward looks...normally they have extra staff there and someone would have gone to check out the boats, but that didn't seem to be the case this time.

 

Finally, one boat returns...followed in one giant pile by all the others.

 

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...yep...guess who.

 

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It actually turned out that it hadn't been him holding us up after all. The group before us had managed to get two adults and two children into a single boat, way too much for it and leaving it barely able to move or turn. They'd proceeded to make it as far as the first bridge, turned sideways, and gotten stuck. Eventually the boats behind managed to push them out, and they bounced and scraped their way along the canal in front of everyone, before making it to the last bridge and getting stuck again. My friend in the boat behind them managed to push past them and get them unstuck again, passing them in the process...

 

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...only for them to immediately get stuck again badly enough that the lone operator had to run back to push them free.

 

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The poor ride op was really earning her pay that day.

 

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Finally my turn for a nice little cruise. Hello Satellite.

 

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The boats are a nice, peaceful diversion for a little while, assuming you don't have a crazy family ahead of you.

 

I'm pretty sure we worked our way back through the middle of the park around now. At least point we hit a bunch of rides in the middle; Cosmotron, Paratrooper, Roto-jets etc. All fun, but not particularly notable by Knoebels standards. At least, not enough that I remembered my camera...

 

Cosmotron still sticks out to me as a bit of "it could be so good." I'm easy to please and an indoor ride with lasers, music, etc? Awesome! The ride system is just kind of a tragedy though. It's so sluggish, bumpy and rough compared to any other type of himalaya or music express type ride I've been on. I always ride it at least once, still, but...it could be so good with a better ride in there, even a garden variety music express or Thunderbolt.

 

We also made time to stop for ice cream at the Old Mill. The ice cream here is SO good; does anyone know for certain where they get it? There are quite a few mentions of it being Hershey's, but Hershey doesn't seem to make some of the flavors they have there. The only coconut pineapple ice cream that I can find, like what I had, seems to be Haagan-Dasz, but they don't make some of the other flavors, so maybe it's a mix?

 

Soon enough, someone suggested that the Flume was a good idea after all. Well, who am I to argue that? It was a bit cool, but that rarely keeps me from Flumes, and if Skloosh barely wet us, what was a regular log flume going to do? I've been on this one so many times and mostly just gotten a bit of a misting. Three of us got on, the rest waited on the observation deck.

 

Oh. Right. The observation deck. I remembered that part just as we were going up the first hill, and realized it was probably going to be somewhat wetter than anticipated, because there was no way they weren't going to notice the water cannons. At least we'd get pictures, because someone would definitely be taking them while they soaked us.

 

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Yep. I know my friends.

 

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The joke was at least partly on them, though, because I don't know how we managed it; we didn't have THAT much weight in the boat, but when we hit the bottom of the last drop...I'm not sure I've ever seen such a splash from a normal log flume. Too bad the picture was taken just a bit too early. We were pretty much drenched head to toe; that water cannon hadn't made any difference in the end. At least that left us well armed for some revenge-hugs for our friends when we caught back up to them...

 

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This carousel organ was playing the most horrific piece of "music" I have ever heard from one of these, so bad that it was hilarious. Unfortunately, I don't know what I was thinking at the time, because I took a picture of it, and thought it was such a shame that there was no way I could actually include the horrible music. I was halfway back to the front of the park before it occurred to me that cameras can take video, too. I know...I'm gonna blame it on being hungry.

 

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It was just about time to do something about that, anyway, and the Alamo was finally open! While we were waiting for our table, the park lights began to come on...

 

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I didn't need a menu. I'd been waiting for this all week. The Alamo's hot turkey sandwich might look simple, but it's one of my favorite meals anywhere. Plenty of moist, delicious turkey and crispy fries just drowning in a lake of gravy. Sometimes fancy looking food is overrated. This is all I need.

 

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By time we finished, the sun was down and all the lights were on. Knoebels is even more beautiful after dark. Time to pick out the best night-rides in the place!

 

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...and Twister is so, so much better in the dark, too. I see you over there...I'll be there soon!

 

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But first, I needed a night ride on my favorite flat ride. Also very pretty with its lights on!

 

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And then over to Twister. One of these days I need to get there for Halloween when they turn all the lights in the back of the park off for it...but for now, this would do just fine, especially with Twister running like it was this year. So incredibly disorienting in the dark; even very nearly up there with the Beast and Boulder Dash for after dark rides.

 

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Stratosfear, also better after dark, with how the lights bathe the park around you when you're at the top!

 

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Of COURSE Phoenix is one of the must-do night rides. I love diving into the pitch-black tunnel before the lift hill, and if any coaster deserves a light-up crown...

 

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And...as always for me, last ride of the night.

 

Everyone else headed back to the cottage, but I stayed for an extra 20-30 minutes or so. Finishing up with Fandango is a little bit of a tradition for me; I don't know why I like it so much when I've been on much "better", certainly bigger rides of its type, but...something about Fandango makes it once of those rides where it manages to be both a thrill ride and so comforting that I could sleep on it. Especially at night, under Knoebels' trees, it's wonderful. Every time I can stay at Knoebels until closing, I head over to it towards the end of the night and just ride until the last ride of the night.

 

 

 

----

 

 

Day 6!

 

A bit less to show off for the last two days here. By now we were a bit tired and had quite a bit of ride time, so these were mostly hang-out days. Saturday though, someone suggested Mini-golf. Knoebels mini-golf course is the mini-golf equivalent of Phoenix; it might not look like much from a distance, but it's a pretty crazy ride. It ended up being more so than usual this time.

 

On the way there, a couple members of our group wanted to get in an extra ride on the Haunted Mansion. Fine with me!

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This was the first time I'd seen anything even closer to a line for the Haunted Mansion, so the first time I actually noticed this while waiting. I didn't know it had a story.

 

We headed down to the golf course, and I attempted to break us up into three groups so we could stay under the group size limit and not cause issues for anybody. That was when the mini-golf attendant laughed and told us to just go ahead and all play together; no one would mind. They didn't really care about rules like that. She made the mistake of telling my friends not to worry about rules and just go have fun.

 

I'd really been hoping to play minigolf. That wasn't exactly what happened.

 

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It STARTED as mini-golf...

 

But people kept mentioning how she said not to worry about rules. So soon enough...

 

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It was more Mini Golf With Friends

 

With everyone trying to come up with more ridiculous ways to "not care about the rules." It was pretty silly, to be honest, but I was clearly outvoted on wanting to play seriously, and everyone was having fun, including quite a few people that were obviously getting a laugh just watching. We made sure to let "real" players play through past us, so no harm done.

 

At least until one of the group decided to Happy Gilmore a shot and sent it not just off the course, but through the chain link fence, across the road, and under a corral across it. Um.

 

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I missed the actual shot. I didn't miss the reaction it got from passers by.

 

Someone fished the ball out and tossed it back to us, fortunately. "Don't worry, I love grabbing balls." Well, that wasn't what I expected to hear in the middle of central PA, but sure.

 

The group only played a little bit more seriously after that.

 

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Exactly one out of nine of us actually made it up over the ramp and through a barrel here. Mostly unintentionally, the vast majority of us found...more interesting ways through. Less a factor of this group bending the concept of mini-golf, and more just how this hole usually goes, in my experience...

 

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This hole has four different spots to tee off...so of course, some of the group used them all at once...

 

We did manage to get through the rest without any more entirely lost balls, somehow.

 

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I needed a coffee, and how ca you resist The Loaf?

 

This was actually the first time I'd been to Knoebels on a weekend, and even late in the season, it was beginning to look rather different than I'm used to.

 

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That's a lot of people for Knoebels, at least compared to what I'm used to

 

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The back areas were still pretty quiet

 

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The bigger crowds meant that the bumper cars were running almost all of the cars at once. That was an opportunity!

 

As much fun as the extra room was the first time we'd hit the bumper cars, having more targets was even better. The car I took this time had an...unusual crabwalk, which made aiming at anyone something of a challenge, but it wasn't like I could drive far even diagonally without hitting someone, so just as good, really.

 

We wandered the park a little bit, getting seconds of a few things that we hadn't had enough of, then most of the group headed back. I stayed in the park a little later again. I can't remember if we all got on the Flyers again, or if that was after I was on my own, but I did need to get in more time on them before the week was over.

 

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They were snapping like crazy again, and again the ride op didn't mind

 

At one point I got in what certainly felt like a very impressive snap, hung the tub in the air for a moment...dropped back onto the cables, and the lights on the entire ride flickered. Now...in retrospect I don't think there's any real chance the two were actually related, the ride isn't that rickety. More than likely someone brushed a switch or who knows what. For a moment though, I couldn't help thinking I broke something! Just a minor heart attack there.

 

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Very dark night, means an even better ride on Twister!

 

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And back "home" for the night

 

 

Day 7

 

Sunday was even more relaxed; we all meant to recover a bit before long drives home and heading back to reality, so it was very much a relaxing day. We hit the International Food court for breakfast...which was absolutely mobbed, we could barely find anywhere to sit...then lounged around a while. In the evening...

 

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Well, we had this nice charcoal grill here, why not use it? Burgers and hot dogs, and one of my friends made a fantastic chili to go with them. One of the best meals of the trip, and we got to take credit for it!

 

Well...some of the group could take credit for it, anyway. I mostly just cleaned the grill. I'm a baker, not a griller.

 

Everyone else was entirely satisfied as far as rides by now, but this was the last night I'd get to spend at Knoebels at least for the year; I was going to make the most of it.

 

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One more time down the road into the park

 

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This place has such a warm, welcoming glow at night. How can you not love it?

 

I wasn't going home without one more ride on Power Surge. Settling into the seat...I couldn't help but notice a massive spider web across one of the arms...apparently spun by a tiny little spider. I can't imagine how this web stayed in place with the way this ride moves, but...that's spider silk for you, I guess. No one seemed to want to knock it down, staff or guests. Gotta respect a spider with ambitions like that, I suppose!

 

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It's hard to see in the photo; I didn't get a chance to take one from up closer, but that's one big web, on a fast moving ride. Huh.

 

I did a bit of wandering, just enjoying being in the park one more night. Towards the back, I noticed a bit of a green glow that looked almost like something being set up for the Halloween event?

 

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Nope. Just a green light atop the flume for some reason.

 

It was getting chilly and late at night...riding the flume again now wouldn't be a great idea. Of course, I rode the flume again.

 

I finished up with a couple more rides on Twister and Phoenix, and once again Fandango, and then, back to the cottage. Even after spending so much time in the park, I still didn't want to leave...that has to say something about the place. There was something waiting back at the cottage though that we hadn't had a chance to break out all week yet...

 

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We had a fireplace; we had to make s'mores!

 

A night around the fire with friends and toasted (and horribly burned, flaming) marshmallows, to cap off an amazing week. That's appropriate enough, I think.

 

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This little place really did feel like home by now. Even the parts that had seemed a little rough at first had grown endearing.

 

Well...except the Jesus clock, anyway.

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Also a victim of lap bar stapling on Skyrush. It's not pleasant. Thankfully it has only ever happened once in however many years.

 

that was the main culprit that caused my Quad tear / injury (tho the triple tower "upshot" one shortly after was likely the final nail.

 

the first time I ever rode Skyrush was a back wing seat, and it scared the crap out of me.

 

re rode it this time in 2nd row on inside seat (but with some stapling). and it crippled me.

 

that's a sign not to ride it if I ever go back to Hershey -- joining Wildcat, and the Boomerang on my "thanks but no thanks" list.

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