PA, NJ, NY day two June 20th Knoebels!!! Our vote for best traditional park and food

We got up about 8am friday the 20th and embarked to Knoebels knowing there were things to do even if the park was closed and a 5 dollar very good breakfast that included coffee.

We spend from 10 to 11am eating, seeing the bald eagles that I didn't know they had. watching the kids play on the old steam engine and watching the park come to life with test runs ect before getting our all day wrist band with coaster option in which we kinda wondered why we bought the coaster option in the first place by days end.

No we did not rush to the coasters we went the other way. Riding the log flume, Paratrooper, Excellent Haunted Mansion, Cosmotron, Little Smokie, Auto Skooter (Insane) Power Surge, Pioneer train, 1001 Naughts, skyride, High speed thrill coaster, Carousel and Carousel Museum and that swingy spinny thing up past phoenix and a couple flyer rides all by 1pm :) :) :0) Debbie said we've already done more in two hours that we'd get done at CP or KI and I just smilled knowing Knoebels is Knoebels and quite honestly. THE PERFECT PARK with great capacity, Lots of things to do and great affordable food.

At about 2pm after a couple awesome flyer rides which me and rob snapped right out of the gate till the end of the ride (Totally depends on operator what kind of ride you'll get) We headed for Phoenix.

I've ridden this coaster in ever condition from cold and hurricane rains to hot and dry to night rides and still don't think it's top ten worthy on my list, top twenty maybe. It's fun, Its a nice ride and features a bit of everything a classic coaster should have but there just isn't a WTH or Holy moment on it. A bunch of weeeeeeee's and yippies but no OMG moments. All three of us agreed and even after getting a better airtime ride later in the day and the next day all our opinions were that twister was supperior. Your milage may vary.....

Twister was running good with good air on first and second drops with pops on the second hill and top of the helix (First entry) Ripping till the end and that classic station with the lattice work ect. they made is beautiful to end a ride on.

We did every thing else we wanted to do several times including the rock n tug and other rides. Only ride we sat out for wait time was the antique cars. Had Cesari's Pizza for dinner (Second time I've gotten cold pizza there) The rest of the food in the park is far better.

Knoebels serves everything from Seafood and Steaks to chicken and assorted other foods and beverages, They cover the entire gambit from Birch Beer to Iced coffee and capachinos and quite honestly. It's the biggest best selection of eateries and snack stands I've ever seen. The carmel kettle cooked corn is AWESOME.

Left the park near closing times after ending on another awesome Skooter ride and filiming some things and went back to camp not totally exhausted and hot as Knoebels is shadded throughout.

Ended with a campfire and a good nights sleep.

Next TR. Sat July 20th, Hershey's Zoo America, Highlight rides and Chocolate world.............. OR NOT! Kinda funny. stay tunned and thank God for Knoebels!!!!!!

I really wanted to eat somewhere a little more unusual at Knoebels, but I ended up with a pork barbeque sandwich and fries. The fries were craptacular, but the sandwich was quite tasty. I wanted to eat something like seafood or mexican food or something, but the kids won out when I went with my friend and her two adorable little ones. Next time maybe.

I liked the Phoenix better than Twister, but just barely. I had extreme airtime...not like El Toro airtime, but still great. Twister gave me nearly no airtime, and the tunnel at the end was short and felt sort of random, but it was very beautiful and great because of the surprising layout. I enjoyed both coasters very much.

Just got home from a long trip in NY, PA, and NJ myself. My Knoebels' menu: Crab cakes, ice cream waffles, cheese on a stick, Cesari's, and a few sweet tea slushies. I so wanted a KG Rib-b-q on Friday at HP with a long line for their smokehouse food.

Knoebels easily wins for food variety. Dollywood and SDC are right up there (hearing reports that food at WA has been improved VASTLY). No birch beer here in FL...not that I don't keep trying. ;)

Sweet tea slushy. Mmmmmmm.....long story short, better food might prove profitable for the big themers. The "local food" at DL was fairly impressive. Berks hot dogs, for instance, over a national brand.

Gonch, want to co-author a book on the biz? :)

Oooh, I missed the sweet tea slushies! *pout* Next time for that as well!

I missed them too! Add that to your list :)

Where do they have those? And is it real tea, or that crap from the big soft drink chain that uses the name of a real tea company?

I don't see what everyone sees in Knoebel's food. They have a decent selection but the food itself is not all that good. Ive had it a few times and it's nowhere as good as say BGE or Dollywood, by FAR.

Each to their own I guess! :)

*** Edited 7/1/2008 10:47:24 PM UTC by SteveWoA***

Steve, I visited four times before changing my mind. The four times I basically had Cesaris, A cheesburger and little else.

This time we explored. Like i said. from breakfast to desert and treats there is tons of choices and everything I had was good except for the Cesaries pizza in which the only time I've gotten it hot was a PPP when they coudn't make em fast enough.

Chuck, crab cakes to ribeyes and shrimp down to cotton candy and the best darn carmel kettle cooked popcorn ever.

^^ I think mostly what they see is food that is 1/2 the price of Dollywood or BGE food.

I have been to the park many many times and I still sometimes find a new treat to try out.

I learned long ago not to get the pizza or a dog or burger. The best stuff is things you don't find everywhere else.

My new favorite is the Apple Cinnamon Crispitos w/ ice cream. The most awesome dessert ever!

The hard part is leaving room for dessert. The D&D Pita is sooo darn filling. ;)

Damn now I'm hungry!!!!

Steve, different strokes for different folks, I suppose. As far as park food goes, I think KG's is well above the average in price and quality.

The sweet tea slushies can be found in the stand across from the Italian Trapeze. If you want to try something different, order some alligator bites from the International Food Court. Sometimes I like to stop in the Oasis cafeteria for their specials, or if I have a lot of time to spare, the inside Alamo. Their dinners and platters are quite good, with decent sized servings at a reasonable price. Many people in the region travel to Knoebels just for a meal at the Alamo.

^You weren't supposed to tell everyone WHERE to find the sweet tea slushies, RGB....now I'm gonna have to wait in line for them... :)

LOL, the stand is perfectly located on the way from the world's greatest bumper cars to the world's greatest kiddie coaster... ;)

Things I *finally* got to this time at Knoebels - Flume (totally soaked), Sklooosh (a little wet), Flying Tigers - since they were highly recommended), bumper boats - never ridden KG's before.

Man I'd like to have a Rib-b-q for lunch...

^ You got totally soaked on the Flume, but just a little wet on Skloosh? How did you manage that? It's usually the other way around.

Gator got me hooked on those sweet tea slushies right away. I didn't know they existed either. :) I have been craving another one since last Thursday. ;) I think we pretty much discovered them by "accident" or at least he did. :)

Like I said, I am always discovering something new at Knoebels. That sounds like a good tagline for a Knoebels commerical. ;) Do they even have commericials?

Chuck, sounds like we missed each other by a day or two at Knoebels and Hershey. We will all have to coordinated our schedules better next time. I knew you guys were "somewhere" in PA about the same time we were. ;)

-Tina

*** Edited 7/3/2008 6:41:05 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

Yup, Im kinda upset that we couldn't have at least coordinated at least one day together.

All I knew is that Pete was celebrating his birtday at Knoebels a week after our plan. I didn't know you were doing all the other ones.

Chuck

I only did Knoebels and Hershey, and missed Dutch Wonderland because I am an idiot and didn't print out a map. ;)

Bill and Matt went onto Waldameer, etc. :)

Good trip report, I had the pleasure of visiting Knoebels for the first time last summer and absolutley loved it. I utterly disagree about Phoenix though, I absolutley loved it, and it shot striaght to my top 5 wooden coasters. The airtime from the back was amazing, Twister on the other hand was just very average, I wasnt impressed. Also, my food vote goes to Kennywood but maybe Im biased...