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I woke up around 11:30 and Knoebels opens at noon. I need to catch up on sleep because I was on the go day and night for the last two days Poughkeepsie, NY one day, Wilkes Barre, PA the next.
I got to the park going on 1 and went right to the handstamp booth. No deals like they had the previous years (like the buy one get one) doesn't matter I was flying solo any way. It was $19 for the wood coaster option noon till 6.
It was a nice day mostly sunny and in the mid 60's. I wore a long sleeve T shirt and a sweat shirt and I was fine. I ditched the sweatshirt mid afternoon. Crowds weren't bad a little busier than other opening days still not crowed like weekends mid summer.
My first ride of 2002 was on the Phoenix. After about a 20 minute wait I was in seat 3. I'm never dissapointed with the Phoenix, it always runs in top form. The only thing I noticed is on the final bunny hop to the station the cars didn't hit with at thudd as usual. They also raised the price by a dime to $1.60. I scored four laps the entire day.
Next up was the Haunted Mansion. Basicly the same as last year. A few minor fix ups on some of the props and it looked like the jungle room got a fresh coat on neon.
The Flyers! Oh the Flyers! My favorite ride in the park! The only thing I noticed was that they welded little pieces to the front so you can't move the rudder as much. The one car I got had very little movement but was still snappable. All the rest had good movement. I rode them 4 or 5 times.
Bumper Cars are awsome as usual hard hitting and loads of fun. Scored 4 rides on them.
Twister was running outstanding as usual no slow spots, loads of latterals and a wicked enterance to the helix. Nothing changed from last year. 2 laps
I hit Power Surge once. This is just a great ride every park should have one!
I rode the Grand Carousel twice. The first time the guy in front of me got the brass ring. :( My second ride I was starting to warm up catching the rings I started to get some doubles (two rings in one pass).
The High Speed Thrill Coaster is always fun. I always forget how great it is until I take another ride. For a first drop of like 15 feet it sure packs plenty of punch air time and laterals on a kiddie coaster. 1 lap
The Whirlwind was down all day. they had the backs of the seats off all the cars. I guess they were doing somthing with the restraints. The Paradrop was down all day too, no big deal there.
For a snack I went to the International Food Court and had the 3 Amigos chicken 1 taco, 1 burrito and 1 Quessiadeia for $4. With the large Dew it came out to $6. I didn't even finish the whole thing! Before I left I grabes some fries near Power Surge. Catsup, satl, and Vinegar. I love the fries and for $1.75 or was it $1.50 you can't go wrong.
While walking around the park I was looking for new things food stands, games, stuff like that. The only thing I noticed was a new game stand between Downdraft and Skloosh. On the Pioneer Train I noticed they removed the old water slides and were putting up a new one or two. there were also parts of the slide all over the pool area and near the far turnaround of the Phoenix where the Antique Cars are. No new rides are at the park yet last year Downdraft came in sometime late May. Maybe just water slides this season.
Had a great day at Knoebels again. I'll probably be back next weekend. :)
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I was also at the park that day, and part of the next day as well. (After braving the campground on a *very* wet night)
I dont' know if you saw it, but they *did* have buy one get one pay-one-price fees. It's easy if you missed it because they didn't even really advertise it...I wouldn't have known about it if I didn't see a newspaper clipping at the campground.
Good TR. Just wondering how you could go to Knoebel's and not get Cheese on a stick?? :)
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Are you Reelin In The Years? Stowin away the time?
My daughter and I left Columbus,Ohio at 5:45PM on Friday and rolled in at our motel at 12:30AM after 410 miles of driving. Got plenty of sleep and out to the park at 10:30 the next morning. The weather was almost perfect all day, nice and cool, no bugs and no sunburn to worry about. This was 1 hour before the GOCC registration for the SPRING FLING.
Since we had never been to Knoebels, we toured the park, then registered at 11:30. They opened the Phoenix about 11:45. No wait, a walk on, unless you wanted the front seat as we did. Took a few laps there, then headed over to the Twister. No wait there either and yes the front seat for our first ride. The Twister was running great. Lots of latterals in the helix's and man those turns....awesome.
We went on almost every flat ride and spin and puke they had. It was our first time on a Zamperela/Power Surge and it was interesting to say the least. You never knew which way you were going to feel like you were falling out. Didn't care for the restraints on the Nacht. Felt like my gut was being squeezed by a big pincher. Downdraft was fast and furious. The Fliers were wickedly awesome. The way you could make them almost hit the trees. The High Speed Thrill Coaster was a bit more rough than I expected.
The french fries and funnel cakes were very good and the prices more reasonal than most. More rides on Twister and phoenix. BBQ catered dinner at 4:30PM. Chicken, burgers,hot dogs, beans and all of the trimmings. I must have eaten to much. We went to the tilt-a-whirl for a few rides, then over to the teacups. Back to the Phoenix at 6:05 where we rode untill 8:00PM.
The park closed the lines to people with the hand stamps about 6:00, but if you had tickets you could still ride as well as the GOCC group. The lines were almost non existent at this time. I forgot how many rides on the Phoenix we got from 6:00 to 7:00. The ERT started at 7:00 and went untill 8:00. We managed at some point in time to get in seat no. 5 and ride for 26 laps with never getting out of our seats. We even had a "tripple" during that time. We had another lap and instead of stopping to load/unload the ride op let us cruise through twice without stopping. BTW I was still queasy from the BBQ for all of the rides on the Phoenix in the evening, but I wasn't going to let that deter me.
The whole day was incredible. Thanks Knoebels for a great day of fun and hospitality and thanks to the hard working coaster freaks at GOCC for an awesome event. Best $20 I've spent in a long time.
Steve and Rhonda Martin
RollisonCoaster said: Just wondering how you could go to Knoebel's and not get Cheese on a stick??
I found out a few years ago cheese on a stick Saturday blocked till Tuesday. ;)
I was wearing a Motorhead hoodie most of the day then had on a Ghostrider shirt the rest. I you saw me you'd remember me. I'm sure Greglegg and Woodie will vouch for that. ;)
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Hello, My name is Dan and I'm a coasterholic.
YO!!!!!!!! Somebody rang?? C-Punk is absolutely right....but it's in a good way. I'm glad you had a great time at Knoebel's on opening day, C-Punk. More power to you. Great TR, too!!!!
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-Sean Newman
80 coasters and soon to be more Life is a roller coaster Ride It
scooter said:
BTW was it bring your pup to the park day? I bet we saw at least 12 dogs there.
That's the norm at Knoebels.
Sounds like another great opening day -- too bad I missed it, but I was watching some friends get married...
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--Greg
"Are you justified in taking life to save life?" -- The Great Debate, Dream Theater
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