Knoebels: May 6, 2006

We arrived at Knoebels around 12:30. We put our food and cooler under the pavillion by Skloosh, and we were on our way to get our hand stamped for admission. Got to the admissions stand, waited about 25 minutes, and we were good to go until 6 PM. :) This weekend was Scout weekend at the park.

My brother, his friend, my friend, and I walked back to Phoenix. The line was a little long due to 1 train operation. My friend and I hopped in line, while my brother and his friend went to check out Twister. Yu have to love Phoenix. Our first ride was near the front, but all of the others were in the back. You have got to love the airtime on this thing, especially when you sit in the back. I am not even lying, I was standing up during the last row of bunny hills. Within 20 minutes, we were on. My brother called us before we loaded, and he had already been on Twister 2 times. After Phoenix, we headed back to Twister.

Twister had a short line, we maybe waited 4 trains. Twister was also running only 1 train. Fun ride as usual, only problem was that my lap bar wouldn't come down all the way and I had a LOT of extra room. I enjoyed the ride though. We rode this another time, then went back over towards Phoenix and got in a few rides on that.

After our Phoenix runs, we went on Fandango. I love this ride. It is a lot of fun, especially when you see how freaked out the people get in the line, thinking you are going to hit them or something when you go over them. We ended up riding this 2 more times throughout the day. Since I like this ride a lot, I can't wait to try MaxAir at CP in June. :)

After Fandango, we went on the log flume. Same ride as usual, only we seemed to get wet more this time. Fun. :) We practically walked on.

Went to the front of the park and got something to eat at the Alamo. We got chicken fries and a few orders of fries. Ate at the pavillion since we already had drinks and other snacks.

Throughout the rest of the day until about 6:15, we rerode Phoenix, Twister, Fandango, and a few others. We went on the usual fun Carousel with the rings. We also got in line for the Looper, but the line wasn't really moving, and we wanted to do other stuff more. We ended up getting out of line. My friend and I made our way to the front of the park, and went o Downdraft. We then headed over to Twister, but the line was getting long, so then we headed to Phoenix and rode that 2 more times.

After Phoenix, we were done with rides because it was already 6:15 and we had to meet back at the pavillion and go home. :(

Overall, I enjoyed the day and had a good time. The lines were longer than I expected, but they moved fast. It would have really helped out if they would have run 2 trains on Phoenix and Twister. There were more than enough people to run 2 trains on each. Also, Flying Turns is looking good. A lot of people seem to be interested in it. *** Edited 5/7/2006 3:10:48 AM UTC by coasterniece***

Nice trip report. Dissapointing to hear that they were only running 1 train on the coasters. Running 1 train when the line is anything more than a 1 or 2 train wait is something that I can't stand at parks.

Typical day at Knoebel's....not much there so re-do everything 1000 times.

Nice TR, niece! Sounds like a fun day. You can definitely get a lot done in a short time there. I spent a few hours there today (Sunday), from 4:30 to around 6:45. In that time, I got 4 rides on Phoenix, 2 on Twister, tried out XD Theater, and did a lot of walking around.

Yoshi, by 5:00, it would have been pointless to run two trains on either coaster as the only wait was for the first two or last two rows. Both coasters were dispatched only partially filled most times. In fact, my second ride on Twister was a "private ride." Yep, I was the only person on the train. It was a hoot hearing the op give the spiel "Welcome, rider. Pull down your lap bar." May have been the first silent ride ever on Twister.

I'd recommend XD Theater. It's located in the Roaring Creek Saloon Building, in the side closest to the bandstand. Only downside is it's an upcharge of $3.00, but you buy the ticket right there. The room holds 10 people in 2 rows of 5, and today the wait was pretty short. I don't know how long that will last once people find out about it. I saw a program called Arctic Run-- it's about a 5 minute show. They have 4 different shows. The op tells you which show is next and I guess you'll have the choice to watch or wait for a different one. Like everything else at Knoebels, it's efficiently run. They fill the room, start the program, when it's done, you exit and the next group comes in.

Noticed a few improvements throughout the park... roof over the Flying Tigers, new restroom building across from the Tilt-a-Whirl, new paint and general refurbishing of the Celebration pavilion (the one that looks like the birthday cake).

Of course, the major reason I went to the park was to see the Flying Turns construction close up. It's a thing of beauty. They have the trough in place from the bottom of the tower leading out toward the brake run. What I found surprising in the two turns in place is that while the trough is high on the uphill bank side, it's quite open on the downslope side-- if that makes sense. Basically, if you look to the inside of the curve, you might only see the ground below.

They've also placed an unused ticket booth beside the construction zone with a lot of pics and information about the construction and former Turns rides. It's getting a lot of attention from passersby.

Jeff, it's not that there's not much to do at Knoebels, it's just that you don't have the 60-90 minute waits in between doing things like there is at most other parks. ;)

wow, sounds like it wasn't busy for you. We were going to go on Sunday instead, but my brother had a big project to do for school. We'll get there again before school's out. :)

Just don't go this Saturday. It's WVIA day. The place will be crawling with public TV watching toddlers and moms all fighting to get a glimpse of someone dressed up like a character from Dora the Explorer or Arthur the Aardvark.

BTW, I've never been, but I know some people who go every year.

I always like to hit Knoebels later in the afternoon, around 3 or 4. The morning crowd is on the way out, and you can usually get a parking spot close to the front. Plus the heat isn't quite so bad by then, in the summer that is.