Elysburg, Pennsylvania – Saturday, July 14th, 2012
Back at Knoebels after the second morning of FREDx, this time we made getting a slice of Knoebels' famous pizza for lunch our first priority.
Although it's not a "theme park", small details like this abound throughout Knoebels that give every element of the park its own unique personality and backstory.
This pavilion roof slowly spins, which if you look closely you can see is powered by the water mill located behind it.
It was a somewhat busy Saturday, but even with the lines we had to try out the Skooter bumper cars.
There are any regular polls ranking the best bumper cars, which means that acclaims such as these make Knoebel's Skooters sort of the defacto best bumper cars in the world. I won't contest this claim, either.
Boat ride beneath the Cozmo's Curve.
This guy has a pretty laid-back job. If I recall, all he had to do was remind people to stay in the boat as they passed under the coaster.
Snitches get stitches!
On duty.
Satellite, didn't ride it this time.
Kozmo's Kurves, which ended up being coaster #587 for me today. I didn't count Flying Turns from the previous day.
Balloon hat on the boat.
Kozmo's Kurves is the replacement for the High Speed Thrill Coaster. I appreciated the former title's wordy ambitiousness when juxtaposed against the coaster's demure size, whereas Kozmo's Kurves' simple mascot referencing I find somewhat klichéd.
I'll give them props that they did try to find a suitable replacement for the HSTC, something small enough to be kid friendly but still kind of violent to please the thrill seekers. Not sure if it's in the same league as HSTC... in part because I never got to ride the original at full speed before it was removed.
I personally don't find much reason to ride these flying chairs rides, but for whatever reason these rides have become associated with featuring good artwork, and Knoebels' Flying Trapeze is no exception.
My first time to try out Knoebel's Skyway chairlift.
Since there were no all-day ride passes available on a weekend, I figured I might as well give the rides that are normally extra charge a ride anyway. At $3.00 the Skyway is one of the most expensive single rides at Knoebels, but hopefully the long ride up the side of the mountain would be worth it.
Departing on the Skyway.
Crossing the entrance.
The Skyway is one of the first rides you see as you drive into the park, predictably.
Climbing the mountain
Skyway
I'm guessing these zigzagging logs beneath the lift are for maintenance and emergency access?
Approaching the top.
The turnaround is quite basic.
It's not the destination that matters, but the journey there. Very true in this case.
Nice review. I was there on a really nice Fall Sunday in 2012. Thanks for the photos of the Carousel Museum. I missed that when I was there, I’ll have to make sure I find it next time. I really enjoyed the park also. The sky ride wasn’t as happy as the one at Lake Compounce perhaps because it’s missing a Boulder Dash as you pointed out. My favorite thing was their Fascination, I wouldn’t mind crossing over to the other side mesmerized by the sound of those little rubber balls softly bouncing between the wood and plexiglass. I’m surprised you had no comment on the pricing structure the park uses. It’s fascinating in it’s own right. Free admission but All day wrist band for rides not including roller coasters, hand stamp for roller coasters, tickets for rides that do not accept wrist band or hand stamp, ticket for rides that do not accept the kind of ticket you purchased and cash only for attractions that do not accept either kind of ticket, wristband, or hand stamp. And tickets required for non-riders. I thought that was fun. I didn’t uncover the key for the snap on the flyers either but I did manage to just keep the flyer up flying high along the trees, which I preferred but never have seen anyone else do, I felt like was a defying some law of flyer physics. Those things are fun. I hope to go back there sometime.
Looks like you stayed in something like a Hyatt Place. Very simply put, the cost of consumer goods has fallen enough at this point that rooms like you’ll see at a Springhill Suites or Hyatt Place are actually affordable to the average person travelling. For a more basic room (and probably more chances for hookers/meth labs in adjoining rooms) there’s plenty of non-chain motels off the grid in cities like this who don’t do e-booking and might be cheaper, but they’re pits.
Realistically, if you’re in a position of travelling and can only afford $40 instead of $60, the place that’s charging $40 can be hell on earth and you’re not going to have an alternative.