Knoebels May 9, 2010

[DaveStroem]

Last week I noticed that Knoebels was running a special where handstamps were only $20 including the coasters. When we were there last year it was only for a short time and we didn't get to do much other then Twister & Phoenix. I wanted to give this park more time and not focus on just riding the coasters.

All I can say is if you love flat rides get yourself the the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania.

We left Columbus after work on Saturday and spent the night in Wheeling, WV at the in-laws giving us a head start to get to Elysburg, PA before the noon opening time for the park. We left Wheeling at 7:00 AM and passed 3 different amusement parks on our way to Knoebels (Kennywood, Lakemont & Del Grosso's). After a 5 hour drive we pulled into the park.

Knoebels is so unlike any other park. It is more like a permanent carnival then an amusement park. The staff, while friendly is a bit more billy-bob then the young student types that we are used to at KI or CP.

We headed over an got our handstamps and started our day on the Carousel.

Next up was one of my favorites, Power Surge. This ride flips and twists you in every direction possible.

We did a quick trip on Down Draft before heading to Twister. It seemed a bit rougher then I remembered it last year.

Next up was the famed Flyers. We did not get to ride them last year due to maintenance, but we did not have any issues this year. They were flying great with lots of snapping. There was a sign up saying not to 'whip the sail" but the op didn't seem to care. I would still have to give the edge to the Eagles at Carowinds because they encourage you to snap them.

No one was snapping them when I was shooting the video, but when my family got on there was nobody to shoot video of us.

After riding the Flyers we headed to one of the true treasures of Knoebels, the Looper. This is a restored vintage Allan Herschell ride that can best be described as a hamster wheel. When you are riding it you engage a clutch which sends you spinning over and over. After our second time I had to ride the bench for a few minutes.

We then headed to the back of the park and rode their Wipe Out and FanDango.

We were all getting pretty hungry so we headed to the award winning Alamo restaurant with it's huge menu. We had everything from Rubens, Crab Cakes, Eggplant Parmesan to hot Roast Beef.

When we finished lunch it was time for some Phoenix goodness.

When we got to the top of the ramp we notice a mostly empty station, we walked on row1-2 & 3 and got some amazing air.

It was running so well that we convinced Nancy to give it a lap. She agreed that is was quite smooth in row 1-2 and it even seemed that she enjoyed the pops of air. We headed over to the Tiques for a ride along the back side of Phoenix. It is to bad we couldn't stop the car and wait to take some photos of the train on back of the ride.

Last summer when we were at Knoebels the park was packed and we were using tickets so we skipped a lot of the flats that we were able to ride this trip. Some were so so like the Paradrop while others were interesting like the Cosmotron (indoor Himalaya) & Roto-Jets. But there were some others that were just fantastic.

There Paratrooper is quite fast and seems much higher then other models that I have been on.

The girls then jumped on the Tea Cups. This is unlike any other that I have seen. It was 1 part spinning ride and one part figure 8 demolition derby.

The girls and I then did a quick spin on the Tilt-a-whirl before heading to one of my favorites of the day. The Satellite Roll-O-Plane. I remember seeing these all over the place when I was a kid, but I guess that they are becoming rare any more.

Next up is one of the other not to miss flat rides the 1947 Lusse Auto Skooters or bumper cars. I love the styling of these, but the ride tops the good looks. These really fly around and steer quite easily allowing for some great collisions.

After the Scooters we took a trip on the Motor Boats. These were quite interesting as there is a steering wheel, but no controls for speed of stopping. This wouldn't have been a problem but the kid that went in front of me (not any of mine) did not know how to steer and got their boat sideways at the first turn. I had no choice but to ram him and try to get him free.

We then headed to the Whipper where I was expecting some serious whips, but it barely moved me in my seat.

The rest of the day we spent hitting a few of the rides again before we had to leave for our 7 1/2 hour drive home.

Phoenix 4

Twister 2

Flyers 2

Looper 2

Paradrop 1

Whipper 1

Tilt-a-whirl 1

Paratrooper 1

Satallite 1

Skooter Bumper Cars 1

Wipeout 1

Power Surge 1

Down Draft 2

Fandango 1

Cosmotron 1

Motor Boats 1

Roto Jets 1

Antique Cars 1

Carousel 2

The only thing we ran out of time for was the Scenic Skyride. We will have to do that later in the summer when we go back.

[KIfan1980]

Dave - as usual an interesting read, thanks for sharing - somehow whenever you post a PTR, I find myself adding another park to my "must visit one day" list!

[thekidd33]

Great pics and a lovely TR! Looks like you guys had a blast! That Looper looks very very interesting.

[pkiboy]

Glad you had fun. Speaking of fun I had Fun on the other side of the World this weekend 13 rides on Prowler and some amazing flats Oh and Getting stoped on Prowlers Lift for 15 min.

[The Interpreter]

I must get back to Knoebel's. Heck, this may even be the year I finally hit PPPP again.

Or not.

It depends.

Thanks for a fantastic TR.

I wonder how much lunch set you back? About as much as the Coke alone would have at KI, I bet.

[DaveStroem]

I wonder how much lunch set you back? About as much as the Coke alone would have at KI, I bet.

It was $35 including the tip. We got a total of 5 sandwiches and the girls got hot chocolate. About what I would expect to pay at any other non-park restaurant.

One other point, we calculated that with all the rides we did in an empty park our ticket total would have been right around the same amount as the normal all day handstamp w/coasters, $37. On a busy day I think that tickets would be the way to go.

[standbyme]

Very nice trip report...thanks for sharing!

[Avatar]

Nice TR Dave. I can not believe you take those long drives for a one day adventure but I am glad you do or I would never get to see so many great parks.

[DaveStroem]

Yep, 15 hours of driving for 6 1/2 hours of park time does seem a bit nuts.

We most often rent a car for the weekend which can be done pretty cheaply ($43 total) and keeps the miles off of our cars. The rental almost always gets much better mileage then my van or SUV. In this case we did this trip on 29 gallons of gas. So for $250 or $62.50 ea we had a great day at the park.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for the PTR Dave. Like Jesse said, it is nice to see all these parks you visit.

[Pillsberry123]

Great Trip Report and great pictures. It looks like they have a TON of variety in their flats.

[sheikra_rocks]

Adam broke Prowler!....LOL

[violakat03]

Great report Dave. I didn't realize handstamps were normally that expensive - opening weekend they were $24 (with coasters) on Saturday, and buy-one-get-one-free at the $24 price on Sunday, so we paid $12 a person for an empty park on our second day.

I absolutely adored Knoebels. From getting to finally ride the carousel I've been dying to ride for at least 10 years (and catching the brass ring on my first ride!!) to their huge collection of flats, from camping out 20 feet from Twister to a new top 5 wood coaster (Phoenix) for my count, I really, really enjoyed our weekend there last month and cannot wait to go back. I just wish it was a little closer! Their bumper cars are out of this world - I thought I'd ridden some good ones until I rode the Skooters. You can get air time on them if you hit hard enough - even with a one-way/no head-ons rule (which is actually necessary there!!) you can get some serious collisions. I also thought their indoor himalaya was what the indoor scrambler at Carowinds could have been - the lighting effects and music went together great and made for one heck of a ride experience. Looper was definitely one of a kind to me - you should ride it with Nick some time, he has mastered the trick necessary to make it just flip non-stop over and over and over again. Even I got to a point where I had to say stop - though it was more for the fact the seat belt was hurting than because of the flipping.