Phoenix Phall Phunfest; October 6, 2012

Most of you are probably all still AT PPP, and I know there are going to be a million trip reports on this same topic, but there are just a few things I wanted to touch on:

1. I don't know if anyone actually remembers, but I've said many times that I preferred Twister to Phoenix. This has completely changed. Twister seems to be running extremely roughly this year, although an ACER I spoke to said that this is the smoothest it has run in years. I don't remember feeling like I had just had a chiropractic adjustment after riding Twister in the past, and actually, I rode Twister 4 or 5 times with my husband at PPP a few years ago, and we both loved it because it was just the right combo of thrilling and "wooden" feeling. Maybe I just can't take the wooden twister coasters anymore, but I really did NOT enjoy Twister. One lap.

Phoenix on the other hand...........WOW!!!! I always sat in the back for this coaster before, and I really didn't care for it. This time I aimed for the front, but the line was too long for the front (so I thought...didn't realize just how much pep the Knoebels operators keep in their step), so I sat in the right side second seat from the front. PHANPHREAKINTASTIC!!! I was like a little kid after that, running around for lap after lap. Total Phoenix laps: 11. Six second car laps, three front seat, one third seat, one last seat (really don't like the back of the Phoenix still). The yellow train in particular was giving sick air, and with all my weight loss giving me extra room in the seat, it was nearly scary riding with my hands in the air and no seat belts holding me in. Phoenix may have unseated El Toro as my number one. Maybe.

2. Black Diamond: I was not expecting this ride to be...well, to be what it WAS. I expected something of a junior coaster with a fair amount of theming. It was actually kind of exactly the opposite of what I was expecting. The theming was pretty impressive outside of Disney and Universal. Was it cheesy? Yeah, a little, but I am pretty sure that there was enough to look at that I missed stuff. The ride itself was spectacularly lame, but it was interesting enough to look at all the that I would ride it again with friends. This ride could use the Phoenix operators though to get it moving because the operations were slow as molasses. I was worried about wasting valuable PPP time because I probably stood in line for over 20 minutes for what seemed like a 10 minute line. Maybe I was just super excited to be at PPP and it SEEMED longer of a wait, but they were really crawling at this ride. One lap.

3. Cosmotron: Shouldn't it be Kosmotron? ;) When I first entered the Kosmotron and it got going, they were running it with some seriously heavy metal playing (I think Metallica). Then they changed it to Purple People Eater. Why?? That would have been the best ride on Cosmotron EVER. But I still love that ride. 2 rides.

4. Fandango: Really wish this would spin more. 2 rides.

5. Flyers: There was some seriously awesome snapping going on, but the operator DID slow the ride down when people got out of hand. I snapped once or twice, but it actually turns out I don't LIKE to snap. I like the flying up and down as fast as possible, but it actually scares me to jolt and bounce at the end of the line like that, and I gave up after a few good snaps.

6. I opted out of the pizza and got a 1/3 pound bacon cheeseburger. Then I forced it down because it was the nastiest thing I had ever eaten. Should have eaten the pork chop on a stick when it was still open, but I wanted a PPP T-shirt, and then the pork chop place closed. I missed the food stands at the covered bridge festival because I wasn't hungry when I was on my way in, and then it was too late after that when I DID become hungry.

What I love about PPP most of all though is just the vibe. Knoebels is always a happy place for me, but even though I was alone and didn't know a soul, I felt like I was among friends. I even got invited to a few parties. It was a lovely night, and I can't wait to go back.

Love me some Phoenix in the Phrunt, but 1-3 is definitely where it's at (other than Dorney, apparently).

Twister has had that big jerk at the turn into the helix removed. My first lap on it last night was pretty smooth. I was in the front seat. My second lap was pretty rough, I was in the last seat. Previously, I had always found the last seat to be the same as the first, and it was the middle seats that were rougher. But I was also in a different train the second time than the first, and there was a huge difference in the way the trains were running! The first time, the train was running so smooth that it seemed it coasted almost halfway up both lifts before catching the chain. The second train seemed a lot slower.

Flyers were disappointing, unless it got better later in the night. They'd slow it down anytime anybody snapped, so after the first snap I didn't even try. (The wind was making it easy to snap no matter what you did, too.)

Bunky gets Purple People Eater at PPP. (heh..PPE at PPP!)

I get They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Haa! at FrightFest.

I call that a draw. Both are among my favorites.

Wherever he is, Dr. Demento is smiling.

Thanks for the report, bunky.

I saw just a few "I Was Mooshed" buttons this year, but I also saw some new buttons with the face of a young lady on them. Can someone tell me who she is? I didn't ask because I didn't recognize any of the wearers.

I wonder if we crossed paths at all. My crew was covered in glow sticks for some reason, and we were having a blast. We didn't do too much overall riding, but we hung out a lot, took a few Phoenix rides, a couple of Twister (My, how things have changed for me... Twister is a shadow of its former self and Phoenix is clearly the better ride now), and watched the parade.

Our friends and camping buddies won the costume contest this year with their Army Men, which was pretty awesome to see.

Jim S. said:

I saw just a few "I Was Mooshed" buttons this year, but I also saw some new buttons with the face of a young lady on them. Can someone tell me who she is? I didn't ask because I didn't recognize any of the wearers.

That lovely face belongs to Martha Andrews, one of the nicest people you'd ever meet, who sadly passed away recently. Her smile could light up any room, and Knoebels was her favorite park. In her honor, we had a bumper car takeover around 4:30pm Saturday. Until we meet again, Martha.

I saw some of the Martha buttons and spoke to a few of the people wearing them. I could have actually talked to a Buzzer! :)

I was there at the bumper car takeover, so I probably saw all of you and had no idea who you were. Since it's my home park, I recognize a lot of persistent Knoebels-goers, but the ones I can actually put names to are limited to about half a dozen, total, across this and the other two forums I patronize.

I actually love the bumper cars, but I never went to them this time around. I don't know why.

I recognized a guy that I have seen around MY area at Knoebels, but I have no idea where I have seen him before...I just know I know him. It was just strange! LOL

Twister has been re-profiled going into the helix. It used to have massive air time morphing to air/lateral time - a truly great moment! It's basically a highly banked fan curve now. But the trade off is that the rest of the ride is a bit faster!

I was surprised there weren't more people riding Twister - I didn't think it was too bad. Last year, Phoenix was very pot-holey on the first drop. It's all new track now and is very smooth there. But the rest of the ride could probably use a new layer of wood. By no means is it rough, just could be a touch smoother.

I had such a blast at my first PPP, that I have already reserved (a much nicer!) hotel room for next year. I added some pictures to my fb page if anyone would like to see. It's time for a new camera; I have a digital Nikon since I misplaced my old Canon. I'm not big on learning all the ins and outs of photography - too lazy - I prefer to just point and shoot. The Canon took much better pictures. Actually, it seems that even those disposable Fuji cameras you used to get at the drug store take better pictures than this current camera I have.