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WAY WRONG! Mapquest had us on some SR125 that had more trick track than any coaster I've been on including Williams Grove Cyclone. DO NOT EVER TAKE PA SR 125 FOR ANY REASON EVEN KNOEBELS! This road went up hills so steep my transmission was burning, Down around curves so tight the wheel was all the way and grinding, Brakes FRYING! I was truelly scared! after about 30 miles of that B.S. It finally got a little less steep and such but then we found the road to curve around every barn and outhouse in central PA. Not only did mapquest specifically say to turn south on 125 which was the wrong direction and caused us to do a 20 mile reversal. It then told us to turn onto some road about 6 miles shy of Knoebels. I've about had it with mapquest! It did at one point have us on I-81 which runs up to I-80 and I could've gone that way with probably alot less time lost and probably saved about 20,000 miles on my van that was shave off of it in that trip. Arrival time was 12:30pm a full two and a half hours longer than I expected and IM a little pissed!
We enter Knoebels campground over the covered bridge and get our site, They say Rain coming tonight, Take a elevated platform! OK we pull up to it, see it is far better than the site we had in 2001 and decide to head over to the park before setting up.
First stop was The FLYER (Flying Scooters), BTW, Does Knoebels Ticket booths always have such a long line? it's 12:30pm a full two and a half hours after opening and we still waited 30 minutes for our ride passes.
Anyhow, Flyers. Our first ride was just as I expected it to be with little snappage. Our second ride got a warning. "GUYS, WE DON"T MIND PEOPLE SNAPPING THE TUBS, BUT TRY NOT TO DO IT SO HARD! IM worried someday those cables will break," Said the op! It took the adjustment of switching my steering hand to get the hang of it and I found Knoebles Flyers to fly EXACTLY LIKE LESOURDSVILLES. Matter of fact, upon inspection of the cable connection, They are the same! This makes for some incredible vertical climb and dive action. We would revisit the Flyer many times that evening, it almost always had a different op everytime.
Ok, I got a Pheonix craving and so we head over there, We took two rides early and for those unaware, Pheonix being a out and back has serious laterals. I Mooshed Robscoast so hard he thought he broke a rib on those hard sideboard topped PTC's. I didn't even do it on purpose, That third turn around gets you coming and going!
We take a walk through the park again for a Skooter Ride, While I think the speed and spin action may be a little better on Dutch Wonderlands. Knoebels seemed a little easier to control and you were less likely to spin yourself out. Slight edge to Knoebels but I love Lusse Skooters!
We walked around the far end including power surge, To a brief spell to enjoy some of Knoebels daily live bands and then headed back to camp to set up.
Well, ya just can't pass Twister without riding it so we took our first ride of the day, My opinion of it from our prior visit was it was the most inconstant coaster I've ever ridden, one ride would be great and the next lackluster. it seemed to get better as the evening progressed on our prior vist. Our first ride was ok, Fun and pretty forcefull, If you sit in the front car left seat be prepared for the STRONGEST LATERAL AIRTIME MOMENT IN COASTER HISTORY!
We go back to camp, Knoebels Campground was kind enough to give us nails to set the tent up on the raised deck. Well, we got no hammer, Ground was soft enough at previous campground to put stakes in by hand. Another unexpected expense bought a hammer from the campground office. (Needed a new one anyhow) Before setting up we ate some sandwiches and then proceeded in getting in a little argument that really had nothing to do with nothing. Something about being around someone for days on end that just get on each others nerves. Me and Robscoast decided, it's just not worth it and got over it real quick with apologies give and accepted and got the tent and air mattresses and everything set up pretty quick.
OK, It's only 3pm, a full six hours to enjoy the park. It started raining about 5pm and this made lines much shorter for the coasters. We did almost everything we wanted, The flume, The skyride, The power surge. More Skooters and Flying Scooters, Many more Phoenix and Twister rides and even one Whirlwind ride. High speed thrill coaster was not operating anywhere near the speed of our prior visit. The op would speed the train up the hill and then almost stop it at the last minute, After seeing that no ride was needed as it was being operated like a kiddy dipper coaster.
I would have loved to ride the pioneer train and a few other rides we didn't have time for. The Rock-n-Tug looked cool for the families and we skipped the Downdraft after strong memories of a sore neck in 2001.
We did take the Anthracite Muesum/Knoebels Museum tour. I remember going in there in 2001 but there must have been a ton of interesting things I missed such as Dick Knoebel getting to take a ride on Phoenix with it's original builder before his passing. We finally rode the grand carousel after skipping it in 2001. Somehow I got gypped our of either a jumper or an outside horse! GRRR! Toss the kiddies from the carousel! :) Just kidding!
For some reason I though the park closed at 9pm. I check the website before leaving and thought it said 9pm with it being an evening bargain night. We were struggling to get as many Phoenix/Flyer/Twister rides in as possible before 9pm only to find out they were open till 10pm.
We took two flyer rides about 8:45 that could only be described as incredible, Me and Robscoast went nuts. Then it happened, Robscoast was yelling to Stop the ride! The op stops us and Robscoast thinks he has a snapped cable! I myself sitting behind him couldn't tell, It looked like the emergency cable was holding it and the tub was tilted back about 30 degrees. Rob gets out, The op comes over and looks with a confused look on his face and we all see it at once, Somehow his cable got snagged on the tubs frame bar and was just looped around it. No danger really but it was a FLYER MOMENT nonetheless. We tried to get the tub off the cable and the op said "don't worry I'll call maintenance" There is a first aide station right near the flyers and this EMT comes out and says, "Let me show ya how to fix that!" LOL, At least we know not it wasn't the first time that's happened. EMT's perform minor surgery on Knoebels Flyers!
Its after nine and I think the parks closed, it's raining and we head over toward Phoenix, Two more rides and a convo with Rob as to NOT GRILLING IN THE Rain led us to eat at the food joint by Phoenix. Good chicken strips and fries with slaw. Much better than the Pizza I had on my last visit there.
We walked through the giftshops and headed for camp, IM pretty beat and while I only managed Three Twister Rides to Robscoast Five. TWISTER ROCKS IN THE RAIN AT NIGHT! Great coaster, Just add water !
Chuck, who will mention this in closing, visit the carousel museum at Knoebels its cool and interesting.
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Charles Nungester.
It's official Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003
And yes - Twisters rocks in the rain! (and also in cold weather) - It's a moody one that thing.
All the best,
Jim 'jimvid' McDonnell
Chuck
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Charles Nungester.
It's official Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003
My vote for best ride through Haunted House anywhere as well as my favorite Flyers, Favorite Skooters and Two of my top 20 woodies. Knoebels Rocks!
Chuck
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Charles Nungester.
It's official Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003
Knoebels has been cracking down on the snappage lately. It seems like when I get going good they slow the entire ride down. I guess after the the Skyride and HW incidents they aren't taking any chances.
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Signature will be closed today. Sorry for the inconveinance.
I know that when I get the chance to go, I'll definately try my luck at the flyers. I've heard everyone telling me how snappable (Is that a word?) they are. PKD's are too snappable, and they also say, "Don't Bounce Your Bird," but you can ask when they come around to check and they will usually let you.
Have you only written two parts of your trip. In the Hersey one, you mentioned William's Grove, but I didn't see a TR about it.
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Free Falls on Drop Zone: 11!
Batwing Flights: 7!
Superman: Ride of Steel Airtime-age: 10!
RTCFan, At the bottom of the Trip Reports page are the numbers for other pages of trip reports. The Williams Grove TR has probably just slipped of the front page.
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Charles Nungester.
It's official Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003
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