Knoebels POP

I just looked at the 2011 download flyer on their website. Why is Black Diamond not included in any POP plan? Does that seem odd to anybody?

That's the way Knoebels does things.

You're lucky that Knoebel's even offers POP at all!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I assume that this is done to keep lines for the new ride to a minimum. If people have to pay each time they ride it, they may limit how many times they do.

I suspect that is why KG does this with the coasters and haunt, as well.

The haunted house is an upcharge to keep bored kids from going in and busting up the scenery. (It's true, I heard it on some interview somewhere.) With Black Diamond, people will presumably have to stay in the cars (they're going to have seatbelts, although knowing Dick, I expect the most minimal seatbelt he can get away with), so it's probably to keep the line manageable. I can't imagine how they're going to run as many trains as they want to on it anyway, there must be a ton of block brakes (I never rode the original, but this one is going to have more trains.)

I think in the case of the new ride, it's more of a way to get extra revenue out of it since everyone will want to ride it regardless of whether they already bought a POP. If I recall, they did the same thing with Twister when it was new.

It reminds me a little of how parks will scale back on how they include new attractions in certain programs. Like Universal doesn't include the Harry Potter ride in the Express perk. Knoebels doesn't strike me as being particularly rigid, and if the ride capacity is what they want, and it isn't getting slammed every open moment, maybe they'll include it at some point.

Yea, I think they did this with the Twister IIRC. Once the novelty wears off it will be included IMO.

Looking forward to this one to take my kids on it. Golden Nugget was my first coaster.

One of the beautiful things of a park like Knoebels is the fluidity that Jeff is referring to. There's much less involved in making practical changes to policies to benefit operations in a short time span. It's just one of the abilities that a smaller park (when under effective management) can do well. The first season of a new ride can be a great testament to this. I'm sure they won't disappoint.

Is the ride going to be ready for opening day? If it isn't going to be open, that could explain why it's not listed with the POP. This way everyone who pays for POP throughout the season has exactly the same rides included.

The word at the off season events was that it might not be quite finished by opening day.

Looks like Flying Turns probably won't open at all this summer, and Black Diamond until part way through the season:

http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x1019715828/Safety-issues-derail-coaster

I think with regards to BD, it's mostly capacity and a little bit of revenue generation. That being said, I expect once Turns DOES open (yeah, I'm an optimist when it comes to my home park) - Black Diamond will be added to POP shortly thereafter. Mind you, I'm not saying POP won't increase a bit...
I <3 Kozmo! :)

Jim S. said:
The haunted house is an upcharge to keep bored kids from going in and busting up the scenery. (It's true, I heard it on some interview somewhere.)... I can't imagine how they're going to run as many trains as they want to on it anyway, there must be a ton of block brakes (I never rode the original, but this one is going to have more trains.)

Yes, that's the reason why the Haunted Mansion isn't included in the POP.

As for Black Diamond, it's going to be a darkride first and coaster second (just as it was on Hunt's Pier as the Golden Nugget) so there will be enough block brakes to allow for many trains to be running at once. Think of the coaster hardware being the ride's way of taking you from scene to scene- aside from one of two spots, there are no high-speed sections so it's not like block brakes are going to detract from the ride experience. I also expect Knoebels will be loading multiple trains at once, perhaps up to three. Three loading and five throughout the three-story layout that zigzags on each level doesn't seem at all impossible.

Morey's went the other way around. Last year you could ride the Ghost Ship as many times as you wanted with a braclet, now you only get 2 rides per day. They did make it a lot better this year though.

As far as the Black Diamond, i heard late june early july.. I am not going unitl it is definately open.

From what I have seen the BD has a heck of a lot morer scenery than the GN did, so theres probably a lot more braking to see the different scenes and facilitate more trains running at once.

http://zamperla.it/en/product/162/whirlwind.html?category_id=10Please buy it back... they can put it back in the spot it use to have!

Gary B said:
http://zamperla.it/en/product/162/whirlwind.html?category_id=10Please buy it back... they can put it back in the spot it use to have!

I rode Whirlwind on my first visit to Knoebels. One of the worst coasters I can recall riding.

Whirlwind wasn't a pleasurable ride, and I'm sure Knoebels could afford and find a better steel coaster than that. I have faith that they'll get flying turns operating eventually.

You couldn't pay me to ride Whirlwind again.

Aww... you didn't like the loud "CA-Chunk!" at the top of the lift, Greg? It was only trying to tell you what to expect out of the rest of the ride :)

~Rob

I don't recall Whirlwind being bad. It was about as 'meh' as a coaster can get.