Photo TR: Sam's TPR East Coast Trip Report

Sam, you got a pic of the "This Ride is Dark and Dynamic" Patriot's Plunge! haha That white one was insane. I remember the locker fun and how crazy it was trying to figure out how to get to the slides that we wanted to go to. Definitely a lot of fun though.

 

Hmm....Talon..amazing. Maybe I'm one of a very few but I really liked Hydra. I think there were only 4 of us on it during ERT on any one train. Riding it in the dark made it that much more fun as well.

 

Cool update!

Day 10 - Dorney Park

 

We got up nice and early on our "day off" before the end of the trip the following day. Why our day off? Well, Robb and Elissa explained to us that this Cedar Fair park is not one of the best run parks around, and since our hotel was right across the street, the park was optional.

 

I'm really surprised to hear that, other than the stupid rule of no more than 2 adults per car on the Wild Mouse, I have found the park to be run really well. Talon, Hydra and Steel Force always run 2 trains unless they can't for weather reasons (in 40+ visits I have seen Talon run 1 train once, Hydra and Steel Force run 1 train twice each). Plus 4 restraint checkers on the B&M's and having all rides open during the summer season.

 

I'm glad reading your post and the replies that people liked the park. I think it has an unfair bad reputation.

Five months and 17 updates later, I bring you the final installment of Sam's east coast trip report. I apologize for the long delay in the middle due to starting college and all.

 

 

 

Day 11 - Knoebel's (and GCI factory tour)

 

 

 

We awoke on the final morning, loaded our bags onto the buses, and headed off to our final park of the trip - Knoebel's. But wait, it's 7:30 and we have not left yet. What's happening? I'm sure Tyler and Adam can explain...yup, you guessed it, they were late. But at least their violent awakening wasn't due to a flooded bathroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the final batch of photos from one of the most exciting, unique, and overall greatest days of the trip! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do reliving this trip through preparing this report here in Notepad.

 

 

 

After a fairly long bus ride, we arrived at our destination.

 

Unlike most parks, Knoebel's featured free parking and free admission.

 

 

Interesting squirrel sign

 

Wait, this looks familiar!

 

Ok, so before our visit to the park, I did not really know much about Knoebel's. All I knew about were the Phoenix and how awesome everyone says it is, and their unfinished Flying Turns coaster. I also knew they had a wooden coaster called Twister that we got ERT on in the morning. It turns out that Twister is a remake of the former Mister Twister at the old Elitch Gardens back home in Colorado! The new Elitch Gardens also has a remake of the ride, but not as similar as this version. The double helix through the station like on the original was amazing. I felt like I was riding a piece of history even though the ride was not even 10 years old. The double turn around lift caught me off guard - I was not expecting that! Overall, this ride was amazing. I had not had that much fun on a wooden coaster since El Toro and Boulder Dash earlier in the trip. This easily made its way into my top five.

 

 

Knoebel's also has a few waterslides that are mostly covered by vegetation. They looked pretty fun, but not enough time to try them.

 

Even though we had a full day, the Flying Turns tour and GCI tour took a considerable amount of time. I didn't get on the shoot-the-chutes (which made the biggest splash I had ever seen on one of these rides) or the log flume (which was also probably awesome - considering everything at Knoebel's is!)

 

Just like on the original...double helix under the station.

 

They even brought over parts from the original for this one!

 

"Hey Matt, do you think we will be able to enjoy Twister II back home after this?" "I don't think so either."

 

Definitely more compact, but it still had all the notable traits of Mister Twister and its retarded half-brother across town.

 

It's even held together with a bolt from the original!

 

 

With Twister ERT over, we were given $35 in tickets to use on the remaining rides. Being a "pay per ride" park, the lines were never very long even though this was a Sunday. With ERT on the two main coasters, we didn't use up all the tickets. I still have quite a few left for when I come back after Flying Turns opens up.

 

 

But before breaking off from the group, quite a few of us went with Robb over to Phoenix for a filming session that would later be featured on Roller Coasters in the RAW, Vol 2 and trip DVD! In a hurry to get over with the group and on the ride before the GP were let on because of a restroom stop along the way, I forgot to take any pictures of this ride up close. All I have is one taken from the top of Flying Turns later in the day.

 

 

Now onto my review of Phoenix. As we approached it, I did not realize how such a simple coaster could be so much fun. With no seat belts under the lap bars, the airtime was intensified! With airtime all the way through on a fast paced and smooth ride, the night time ERT helped Phoenix made its way to #2 in my top woodies list only behind Boulder Dash! Yes, El Toro fanboys, you read that correctly!

 

 

The Haunted House dark ride was the first of many certain types of rides that would come throughout the day and prove to be "best of their kind"

 

High Speed Thrill Coaster (did Cedar Fair name this one?)

 

 

 

This made its way up the list into "best kiddie coaster!" Insane airtime! I think the weight of all us adults in the train, combined with the lift running on a faster setting for our group made this especially thrilling! It will be sad to see this great coaster go.

 

 

 

It's a Bouncy-Bouncy ride! Extreme lateral G's too!

 

The park has a mini-railrod ride that goes far out into the woods. Here we see the base of what looks to be a ropes course or zip-line or something.

 

And by "far out" I mean far out.

 

A large group of us came back after dark, which turned out to be even greater!

 

They have so much potential for Halloween theming out here in the woods!

 

Passing by...

 

Here are some very well hidden water slides. I saw people carrying foam mats up to the top of these slides.

 

Our last group meal.

 

*sniff*

 

I remember this being one of the better tasting of the catered lunches on the trip. Knoebel's also wins the award for "best amusement park food."

 

 

It's Dick Knoebel himself!

 

I think he and his family are the only ones who have ridden Flying Turns already. He gave us a brief talk about the ride and about the park!

 

 

After his visit, we headed over to Flying Turns for our tour of the ride. We entered through the gates where we were given a brief talk before getting into the ride.

 

 

This maintenance area is the low spot in the ride where we got in. Mike Austin actually looks interested. I guess this coaster won't turn out to be "rubbish."

 

From here, we were basically given a free walk of the track. Most of us headed up the track to the highest point first!

 

Backwards POV shot!

 

Someday we will see trains full of happy riders on these tracks!

 

This was one of the most interesting and exciting perks of the trip!

 

From the top of the main lift, I got my only shot of Phoenix.

 

Looking back down through the support structure!

 

Adam and Matt give the tour a thumbs up of approval as I take our picture!

 

Josh Turner won the "most likely to be put on a hit list" award"

 

So at lunch time, we had the first annual TPR Pointless Awards ceremonies. These awards were given out to those whose personality fit best. There were many interesting ones such as "trying hardest to be a TPR celebrity and failing miserably" - which Tyler won. "Most likely to be used as a boob credit." - not sure who won this, but it's one of the girls, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who. Adam won "Biggest Robb and Elissa fanboy." I don't remember much else, but I do remember Max won the "least likely to get laid" award. This was quite an entertaining lunch session!

 

 

Sometime at lunch, one of the guys from GCI came over and talked to us about our visit there later.

 

 

 

 

Back to the pictures.

 

 

 

One of the only good pictures of myself from the whole trip.

 

Not sure where in the ride this is, but I think it was near the end.

 

Uh oh...This won't be good when the ride opens.

 

And into the brake run. We only got to walk about half of the track, but it was still awesome!

 

After the Flying Turns tour, we got on the busses and headed over to the GCI factory.

 

At first glance, I wondered why we were stopping at someone's small house in the woods. But then when I saw the sign, I realized this was the place. I pictured it bigger. Before the tour, we were explicitly told not to discuss anything we saw inside. So I will just say that what we saw was amazing!

 

 

This was just about as great as the Flying Turns tour. Definitely a one of a kind experience!

 

After we got back to the park, many of us headed over to the Flyers - which you can actually "snap." I was new to the whole "snapping" thing, but I somehow managed to do it several times. Some of our more experienced group members nearly broke the thing!

 

 

Behind the Flyers, we saw Flying Turns testing!

 

Knoebel's also has the "world's greatest bumper cars"

 

These things were awesome. The cars are much larger than normal bumper cars, and weigh about as a Volkswagon Beetle. So if you can imagine the force and impact of a real life car crash, that is how the ride is! Several of the GCI guys came back with us and participated the TPR takeover of the Bumper Cars!

 

Other flat rides in the park included a "musik express" style ride in a dark building with strobe lights, audio and fog effects. Also better than your typical Musik Express. There were some bumper boats that we had quite a good time on after dinner. Oh and on the subject of dinner, the Pizza was awesome! They also have a chairlift that goes up the mountain and gives some great views of the park.

 

Another exciting experience for me was my first brass-ring carousel. Instead of like in the old days when getting the brass ring meant winning a free ride, they just loaded up with rings and we all collected one each time around!

 

After dark, we went back for one last ride on Twister before heading over to Phoenix for the ERT after park closure.

 

 

For a second-hand ride, it was fucking great!!!

 

This was the last ERT session of the trip. As the park closed, the end of the trip was just beginning. The ride at night was even better than in the day. I had not seen so much energy among the group since our Boulder Dash ERT. So many rides on this. For the last few minutes, the park turned off all the lights on the coaster, so we were in complete darkness. I finished off the trip by riding with Robb in the back. What could have possibly been better than ending the trip with such a great and memorable ERT session?!

 

 

 

Phoenix night, or Boulder Dash night? Which was better?

 

 

As the day came to an end, we got on the buses which took us back to Philadelphia where we started. On the bus ride home, Robb collected our memory cards one last time, and I won a "TPR bag of crap" for winning Elissa Bingo.

 

Knoebel's was one of those parks that beat out my expectations. It's no SFGAdv or anything, so I guess that is why my expectations for these smaller parks were lower. This was one of my favorite parks on the trip. Much better run than some of the big parks we visited. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I rate Knoebel's as better than Disneyland. No heavy crowds and no corporate feeling to it.

 

 

Here are the contents of the "bag of crap." Note my foot was NOT part of the contents.

 

 

 

 

After we arrived at the hotel around 2:30AM or so, I packed up my bags and just hung out in the lobby area with others as we said our goodbyes since I had a very early flight home; just a few hours after arriving at the hotel.

 

 

I'd like to thank Robb and Elissa once again for organizing this amazing trip! It was the most fun I ever had on a vacation in my life!

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

The end.

Thanks so much Sam for your dedication in posting these TPR's. I enjoyed reading every one of them! I'm happy you won the bad of Crap and that Knobles turned out to be one of your favorite parks. These smaller parks never seem to get much love even with great coasters. Oh and you guys were so.....lucky you got to go to the GCI house!

Sam...this trip report was AWESOME!!! Thanks for bringing back many good memories -- flooded bathrooms and all!

 

Speaking of which...

 

I'll have to admit that my roommate did make my trip a bit more interesting in an offbeat sort of way. And for that I thank him for making the whole experience that much more...uh...what's the word...not "weird," but "surreal!" That's it...surreal!

Great report Sam,

 

At first I didn't feel Knoebels that much, but oh boy did Phoenix melt me!

Now if only Boulder Dash would have buzzbars, that would be heaven.

That may be the best bag-of-crap TPR has ever awarded. They must be running out of really crappy stuff.

Great end of trip update Sam. That Phoenix Ert was AMAZING! I remember getting the last ert ride of the trip Knoebels rocks & I'm going when Flying Turns opens (if it opens ).

Well, you had me glued to my PC for however long it took for me to go through all nine pages of your TR.. Probably since your post to the other TR earlier today (wild mouse)!! Thanks for posting! I only wish I could attend a TPR trip in the future! They look like loads of fun!!!! I have been wanting to go to Williamsburg.. I have heard good things about that park. Maybe next year... Here's to hoping!!

Thanks for posting this entire report Sam. I just read through the whole thread and enjoyed it quite a bit!

I've been seriously bad about checking the boards for updates this week... I have to admit that Knoebels was awesome. Probably my favorite day of the trip with all the general randomness and crazy rides.

 

I still remember when we were riding Twister talking about the fact that after riding a good version it would be damn hard to go back to the Elitches one. Still makes for really fun memories. (BTW where was the 'Golden Bolt'? I was looking for it and didn't spot it.)

 

Thanks for posting all the great pics. All these memories have been great with the off season upon us.

 

I really want to say thanks again to Robb and Elissa and everyone on the trip. It was insane but awesome! I hope you are all well and that we can meet again soon.

Being one of the employees who worked at the Boulder Dash ERT, I can say that we had almost as much fun as you guys did! Thanks for that memorable night, your enthusiasm and excitement was unprecedented!

Being one of the employees who worked at the Boulder Dash ERT, I can say that we had almost as much fun as you guys did! Thanks for that memorable night, your enthusiasm and excitement was unprecedented!

I don't think words can express how crazy fun that night was. My only regret about that day was that I decided to ride Boulder Dash only during ERT... I feel like I really missed out since I didn't see it during the day.

 

If you are still in contact with the other people running the ride that night please thank them for such a great experience. I will truly NEVER forget that night because everything was truly incredible.

Darn it! I came in a bit too late and missed out on the Knoebels pictures! Photobucket (or Photo*uckit as some has called it) couldn't take the heat!

 

 

(BTW where was the 'Golden Bolt'? I was looking for it and didn't spot it.)

 

The "Golden Bolt" is on a bracing member for the high jug-handle turnaround leading to the first drop. It's right next to the entrance/exit.

Awesome trip report Sam (and all of that shizzle)!

 

I'm still cherishing my "Least likely to return to America" award.

All your pictures say "bandwith exceeded, upgrade to pro now".

*ugh* Sorry Sam - I have to pull your TR off the front page unless you want to upload your photos to TPR using the attach file tool.

 

FYI - This is exactly why we have the rule that we don't normally link to TR's on the front page or park index where photos are located on another server because no one wants to click a link and see photos that aren't there anymore. If the photos are uploaded to TPR's server you *know* they are going to be there when you click the link.

 

I've been a little lenient about that rule lately because some people have given us crap about it, but I think you all can see this is exactly why we have the rule.

 

--Robb

The photos are back up for those who didn't get to see them when the links went bad last month.

I really don't get whats so bad about KD's coasters. they seem fine to me. Maybe the Vekomas spoiled your trip.