Any Tips for Knoeble's & Hersheypark?

Thanks Stew!

Okay guys, the plan as it sits right now is to get up very early on July 21st, drive to Knoeble's, do that in the afternoon & stay the night in the area.

The next day, it's to get up early, drive to Hershey (a bit less than 2 hours) & be there for Hersheypark opening (10 am if memory serves me right). Spend the next two days in Hershey. Then the rest of the week is open.

Possibly might head towards the Philly area & do the Yeungling Brewery tour and maybe Six Flags Great Adventure, then swing back towards NH.

If anybody else is going to be in the Hershey area on July 22 & 23 or at KG on the 21st, let me know & we'll meet up.

Hey Superstew, is the Coaster Cafe open to everyone who wants to eat there, or is it only for employees? Will they want to see a employee ID? Will all of the employees who eat there look at me and my friends funny?

Every park has an eatery for employees with decent prices. Is this one strictly for employees? If I were to eat there, would I be considered a sneaky person? lol

Funny you should ask .. I actually learned about it when I was driving tour bus just a few years back. I use to run quite a few charters (as many as I could get my hands on) to Hershey, and was alerted to it by another dude from the company; I've been eating there ever since.

We actually got some pretty cool perks as drivers that included, free admission to the park - and a packet from Chocolate World that contained a chocolate bar, a ticket to get in the Really Big 3D show - and a coupon for 10% off the food court and all merchandise. And to think, I was being paid to be there and deal with this. lol

Anyway, to answer your question: To the best of my knowledge, anyone can eat there. While it is definitely a place where the employees hang out, put a munch bag on, and take their break, I think it's safe to say, any "civilian" could infiltrate their way in and be safe. lol. I know I personally have never had any trouble, and neither has anyone who I've pointed that direction. It's a really pleasant, laid-back atmosphere and I don't think anyone really cares who's in there or why. No ID badge or anything of the sort is needed (at least as of last Labor Day Monday) and no one looks at you funny either ... Unless of course you're wearing your underwear over your pants, or something like that ;)

I'd give it try the next time you go, man.

bunky666 said:
Also, Skyrush got the new restraints according to pictures I've seen.

Any place to see the pics?

I just googled it and eventually found the pics. I would link them, but I don't know how.

The most basic way to share a link on CoasterBuzz:

1. Highlight the web address from your address bar on the page you want to link to. You can do this by clicking the beginning of the address and holding the mouse button while you move the cursor to the end of your selection, or you can just double click it.

2. Right click on your mouse and click "Copy."

3. Click inside the CoasterBuzz reply box.

4. Right click again, only this time click "Paste."

Hope that helps. lol

I turned to Google and to Bing before I asked about the pics of the seats... didn't find them then. Just spent some more time looking for them, still no luck. Only pics I find are of the original restraints.

Was at Hershey Park today. Just to let you know, after reading this thread we decided to check out Coaster Cafe. It is most certainly for employees only. We were asked for our employee id's when ordering. Two employees in the park also told us it was for employees only before we decided to give it a try anyway thinking maybe they wouldn't care. We had our 10 year old daughter with us so perhaps they only check if it's obvious you're not employees?

Did you at least try to volley for a corndog??

Thanks for that, CatfishMan. I'll be there in a few days and I was wondering if I should check it out.

If you've never visited Hersheypark before, give yourself two days to visit this park and one day for Knoebals (Save Knoebals for last)! ;)

If you've previously Visited Hershey and/or Knoebal's use one of your three days to visit Dutch Wonderland. Although it's geared for the younger set it has enough rides and shows to entertain us "Grown Ups". Their Kingdom Coaster has enough elements to satisfy older riders, yet be tame enough to introduce younger riders to the savage elements of wooden coasters. Joust is definitely geared to younger riders, but can still be a credit for us older riders. Dutch Wonder House is a rather unusual ride, Blackpool Pleasure Beach has a similar ride, great Adventure in New Jersey has a modified version of this ride called Houdini's Escape. Dutch Wonderland also has the honer of being only a handful of Parks to stil have a "Sky Slide". In the late 1960s these kinds of rides were some kind of fads, at the height of their popularity it seemed like every Amusement Park, Shopping Center, Tourist Attraction, Zoo, State Fair and even Horse Racing Track had one! The Fad ended and the rides disappeared one by one, to the point that there are probably more fingers on my hand than there are these kinds of slides existing.

CatfishMan

Was just there again yesterday, and as usual, I had no problem at all. The fact that someone asked for an ID is a head scratcher to me because the restaurant is not "policed," and there is also nothing posted in the way of signage or anything alike designating that it's for employees only. People are in and out of there all day wearing street clothes and who are NOT flashing badges; not sure why that would have happened with you. Perhaps whoever you talked to wasn't really sure, so that was just their default answer. As I stated before, the CC is definitely where employees, bus drivers ect. eat and take their break, but the atmosphere is really low key and pleasant and no one is going to look at you funny when you walk in.

Krause

I would definitely give it try, dude. I've been there a good 50 times without a hitch, as well as several other people I've referred who didn't have any trouble either. Besides, the worst that can happen is that they tell you NO, you're just a a coaster geek ;) looking for a shortcut and they're on to your/our shenanigans lol. I highly doubt that will happen though.

Thanks anyways Superstew, but I was already there the other day and ate at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog's instead. I got a really good Cheesesteak sandwich with awesome fries and a drink for about $12. It was fantastic. I snacked all day besides that. Maybe next time though.

Here is my trip report, just in case you were wondering.

I just read your trip report (which was good and I liked). After looking that over and going back through your post on here, I'm pretty sure we might have been there on the same day ... Did you go this past Monday the 17th ??

The real giveaway was the closing of the rides, which had me irritated as well. I love HP, but they really do tend to be over-the-top where the weather is concerned.

Yes Sir. I was there on Monday. I was with my teenage friend JD. We stood in line outside the Lightning Racers queue while the invisible storm passed. We spent a few hours at the thing where you can ride a boogie board on the wave. Maybe we saw you in passing? Small world. lol

I am going to Knoebel's next Tuesday, does anyone know of any hotels in the area. I was looking at the Red Roof Inn in Danville. Has anyone stayed there before?

I've stayed at the Red Roof Inn in Danville. It's a nice hotel, although it is a little far away from the park. Although it is the closest hotel, if you want to be closer to the park I recommend camping at the park, but if comfort is better than location to you than stay at Danville Red Roof Inn.

I have stayed at that hotel too. It was decent.

I saved a bunch of cash by stopping by one of the "Welcome Centers" and picking up a coupon in one of those multi-state coupon books.

If you're gonna do a whole day at Knoebels, the POP is the only way to go. Who wants to spend time counting tickets and adding up prices? Also, if you're like us, you'll find yourself riding certain things multiple times in a row. The carousel comes to mind... it's just so addictive grabbing the rings. You could easily do $5.00 in 20 minutes right there on tickets.

Enjoy your trip. Both are excellent parks and will make for a very nice couple of days.

LostKause said:

Yes Sir. I was there on Monday. Maybe we saw you in passing? Small world. lol

Man, that stinks ! I feel like we missed out on a golden opportunity to bond.

Here we were, in the same park, on the same day, without a preconceived plan to hook up (what are the chances of that?), and we didn't even get a chance to share a lemonade and discuss HP's layout :( ;)