PA / NJ park advice for a rainy weekend

My wife and I have booked a hotel in Bethlehem (near Allentown) for the entire weekend, and Tropical Storm Ernesto should be overhead by Saturday morning. Great timing, eh?

We've had fun times on rainy days at Dorney Park, Hershypark and Knoebels in the past. But how do SFGA, Moreys Pier, and Astroland (Coney Island) operate in rainy weather? (Of course, KK will be closed, but what else?) We'll make our plans depeding on the daily forecast and feedback about each parks ability cope with wet weather.

If Saturday is really bad, we may head indoors. Can you recommended any good indoor attractions in addition to the Crayola factory and Hershey Chocolate World?

I know that Morey's Pier only closes their rides in pretty extreme conditions but I don't think Astroland of Great Adventure would be much of a problem either, especially on a busy holiday weekend.

Oh, so YOU'RE the one to blame!

Not sure what you're into, or how far you're willing to travel, but here's a few indoor (non-park) attractions in the region.

Crystal Cave near Kutztown

Ashland Pioneer Tunnel (a real mine train ride) www.pioneertunnel.com

If you're the artsy/gallery type, there's Banana Factory in Bethlehem www.bananafactory.org

If you're the musical type there's the Martin Guitar factory tour in Nazareth. www.mguitar.com

Not sure of hours of any of these places, particularly on a holiday weekend, so you should check out the websites. The good news is that Saturday night and Sunday should be OK.

Actually I wouldn't worry about it. SFGA last time I was there in teh rain last year in august, everything was open, KK was open, it launched when it could, but everything was open. I love to go to parks in the rain, so what I say is, if there's a chance to hit a park in the rain, GO! And I believe there are rain checks for rainy days, I think. When you go, DON'T buy a poncho, it'll just be crap in the long run, if you wanna ride coasters. SFGA, we rode nitro a couple times, and we were pretty much dry. Don't be afraid of water. KK will be closed during the storm, but it'll open after the storm has passed.

I'm concerned about Knoebels. Will they get another flood? Hopefully they will luck out this time.

Thanks for the tips. I thought they were great suggestions, but my wife vetoed them and insisted that we go to a broadway show when it poured rain on Saturday. The Producers was good, but I think I would have enjoyed the Ashland Pioneer Train better. ;)

BTW, Coney Island was shut down because of rain and high winds last Saturday. At noon, one window of Nathan's Famous was open, and virtually everything else was shuttered from the storm. We got free parking at Keystone Park, and took the subway to Manhattan.

We had a great day at Dorney Park on Sunday (not a drop of rain), and actually got heat-stroke at Six Flags Great Adventure on Monday. And yes, the coaster gods cooperated and we got two great rides on KK. :) *** Edited 9/7/2006 3:10:51 PM UTC by greatwhitenorth***