Hershey/Knoebels

Hmm... my first report vanished into cyberspace :(

Dang, that took longer than I thought! I will try to be quicker this time....

Hershey: BIG crowd for a Monday! Longest wait was 35 min for the Comet, the first ride. I thought it was great, and loved the "dogleg section" to the right... really unsual layout, I thought.

Wildcat... E-h-h-h-h-h.... it'll do. I thought it was pretty rough. I am not that fond of the curved drops rather than a straight down, either... though for reasons I can't explain, I LOVED the Lightning Racer! The layout was really unpredictable, and at night the thing seems to fly twice as fast. I found that if you make sure the square lap bar contraption isn't too tight, and you hold it like a steering wheel, you get airtime galore!

The nay-sayers can sneer at the Boomerangs, I still think they are a blast! Sidewinder was typical but nevertheless fun. My son didn't make the height requirement for Great Bear or the catapult one which shame on me, the name escapes me right now.

Favorite flat ride was the Falcon, or I guess more commonly known as a Condor... I had never been on one. It rocks! Good thing it doesn't have a backwards cycle up there, I would have pooped my pants, I swear! Eep! Particulary fun at night.

Knoebels... I expected more of a West View Park/Idora type experience, I think... my first impression was more of a Conneaut on steroids.. I spent the first half hour or so running around like a madman with a camera, then put it back in the car and let the fun begin.

Phoenix was fun, but I think I still prefer the "longer" out and backs like Blue Streak at CLP or the old WVP Dips. It had one good hill, and a bunch of bunny hops. Front seats were fantastic, back was rough as hell.

Twister... I was not real fond of the strange layout... a lift hill, followed by a baby hill, some turns, a 2nd lift hill, followed by another baby hill and a turn then finally a decent drop. Also rough as hell in the back. The double helix reminded me of the Thunderbolt in reverse, though more banked. The tunnel was cool (literally, like 50 degrees). Still both decent rides, we rode multiple times, although my front section rides on both were much more enjoyable.

Lots of cool old flats, and good food. I had an awseome steak sandwich. real steak, mind you. And I learned a valuable lesson.... NEVER put off for tomorrow what you can do today... meaning, we skipped the Flyers at Hershey knowing what awesome ones were waiting for us the 2nd day at Knoebels... except, the Flyers at Knoebels were DOWN all day! Sniff! Didn't get to show my son my "snapping skills" from years ago! (Looks like they were installing a whole new motor).

That Fandango and it's similar ship the Claw at Hershey were really neat, too.

One last thing, though... I guess I am "spoiled" by KW and even the old days at WVP staying open till 11. I would MUCH rather see parks run an 11 am to 11 pm schedule, as I am a huge lover of night riding and the light show! PLEASE, park management take note here! The crowds were still good at 10 PM at closing time. Knoebel's maybe I can understand but Hershey was still PACKED at closing. On a Monday yet. I think Hershey, the size that it is, can afford to stay open till 11, or maybe adjust from 10-10 to 11-11?

Still a great trip. I would do it all again in a minute! :)

One side note..... Silly me!

I didn't know until listening to the ride ops on the speakers that the "K" in "Knoebel's" is NOT silent... heh heh.

Has anyone else been mis-pronouncing the name of this park all along? Oooops! Ka-knock on wood (bangs noggin').

Nice TR, sounds like fun. Knoebels is a very fun park, interesting about the flyers, didn't they install a new motor not that long ago? As for Hershey, I'm making it up there for a few days in July/August, I can't wait!. Btw, Catapult one, do you mean Storm Runner? It's launched..

One park that especially appeals to after dark enthusiasts is Denver's Lakeside Park. They don't open until the evening on weekdays but they stay open late.

This is another of the parks that focuses on the classics. They have that great wooden coaster (Cyclone) and a traditional Wildmouse type coaster (Wild Chipmunk) and lots of vintage flats including three of the Eyerly O-Plane rides (Loop, Roll, and Rock). There's also that train ride around the big lake. The night lighting package is really great.

Generally, the parks that stay open late are in or close to urban areas where many of the visitors are local. Some beachfront parks also stay open late because the evening is their busiest time with most people out on the beach during the daytime.

RE: Motor on Knoebels flyers: On Friday (June 22) I noticed something didn't seem quite right about the flyers. They seemed to be going (only slightly) slower than normal and the motor seemed to be just put-put-putting along. A new kid was being trained to run them that day so I thought they were just taking it easy on him... guess the motor may have been on its last legs then.

It wasn't my fault. I was at Knoebels' on the 21st, and on one of my several Flyer rides, (one of the better ones of the night) suddenly we started slowing down. I thought maybe someone was going to be scolded for some extreme snapping, but they totally stopped the ride and told us we needed to get off. They refunded the tickets for anyone who didn't have a wristband. I jokingly said to the op, "what happened, did you run out of gas?"

I went back later and saw them running empty. The operations people said it was a grounding wire. But they had them up and running again. In fact, I caught two more rides-- one of them free because the op wouldn't take my tickets. (Thanks, Jeff.)

Chooch, for the first 30-some years of my life, the K was silent. Most of my relatives and many other locals still pronounce it "Nobles." They'll be quick to tell you that you don't cut food with a ka-nife. :)

But I am with you on the night hours. Love riding at night, and just the whole atmosphere of the lights, plus the coolness once the sun is no longer beating down. I believe Hershey is open till 11 every Saturday in July and most of August-- and maybe a few Fridays too.

I rode the Flyers Friday night with no apparent problems other then I snapped a little rough and broke a slat on the seat of the 8 car. (sorry dick) Has anyone ridden them after Tuesday?

What other flyres have wooden seat like that? It surprises me they don't break more often. Hope all is well with my favorite ride in the whole world.

I am pretty sure it was the motor itself. There was a front end loader nosed in to where the motor sits early in the day, then for the rest of the day we saw nothing going on there. :(

Also, that Power Surge was down. It must have been down for some time, it had a painted wooded sign on it "waiting parts from Europe". That thing looked like a blast.

Knoebels doesn't seem to be having very good luck with European rides this year. The Italian Trapeze (Bavarian Wave Swinger lookalike, is it a Zamperla too like the Power Surge?) was down for a long time earlier this year. The same hand-painted sign was posted on it.

The Italian Trapeze was fully functional on Tuesday. Of course, the first thing my 9 year old son notices about it is it has nude women painted on it..... :O

I remember the stunt in WVP's old Davy Jones Locker as a kid where you'd pass by the female mannequin and her boobies would jiggle up and down..... and the hands coming out of the toilet at the end of Boot Hill. Hooters and potty jokes never tire.... : |

That's one of the problems with Zamperla: getting parts for their rides quickly. KW had that problem with the Aero 360 and the Flying Carpet last year. I I wonder whether this problem will occur for those Crazy Mouse spinning coasters now that Zamperla has taken Reverchron over.

Regarding Davy Jones and Boot Hill, Bill Tracey could get a bit risque at times. I remember that there was a nude pinup in one of the Boot Hill scenes just before you entered the jail maze. Does anyone remember other such scenes from Tracey darkrides and walkthroughs?

The Flyers are back up, according to the newly-rebooted Flying Turns webcam.

It was running on Saturday when I was there.