Noah4040

Hello all, stopped by the grove today. So i thought I would share some of the Impulse construction pics I took. I would have taken more but the temp with windchill was about -2F.....

As someone who has operated the bumper-boats, i will glad to see them go.. haha

Hello all, thought I would post a few from Knoebels. As a ride op going on 12 years I find panels interesting, not just in the course of my job but also in the technical aspect and comparison to other parks and how their sop's differ from ours. Here are a few I have off hand at the moment..... Sorry about the photo quality I only had my crappy Kodak point and shoot, and the dreary winter weather didn't help either. Black Diamond Panel This is the mail panel... Ride scenery control Located to the right of the main panel. Exit Panel Located at the end of the station. Twister Main Panel Like the Phoenix, the Twister also uses manual braking. Phoenix Main Panel Very simple controls, no non-sense skilled operations at it's finest.. Phoenix Life Panel

Sorry about the delay in the update but there was'nt any progress last week because of the holiday weekend. But I'm back with more, the roof trusses are finally up and should be undercover by the end of the week. That's it for this week

The top floor is finally going up, the roof should be started by this weekend. That's all for this week.....

That depends how many days you want to spend in each park, I would give at least 2days for Knoebels. It's not a huge park, but it's bigger than it looks and you won't want to rush thru it. And you could probably use 2 days for Dorney, depending on whether or not you go into the water park part of it. Knoebels has their 2010 brochure and map for download at their website. Not sure about Dorney thou. As far as hotels are concerned, I would start with what park you plan to visit first and look at hotels in that area. A lot of hotels in central PA have very reasonable rates, just keep in mind that if you plan to stay in a hotel when visiting Knoebels, the nearest hotels are about 15-30 min from the park, and Dorney has some very close, but they charge more and the rates most likely go up on weekends. You might want to hit-up the visitors bureaus for each of the areas you are visiting and they can give you a good idea of what lodging to expect. Here is the link for the area around Knoebels: http://www.itourcolumbiamontour.com/visitorInfo/accommodations.aspx http://knoebels.com/index.asp And here is the link for the area around Dorney: http://www.lehighvalleypa.org/visitors/specialoffers/travelpackages/dorney_deals http://www.dorneypark.com/ Hope that's of some help to you.

Also keep in mind that the track it's-self will most likely have a steel support structure, what you see at the moment is just the basic support structure. You will see sturdier building components once the track is acctually ready to move in. Think of kind of like expedition everest at Disney. That ride has 3 separate structures: The outer houseing, the track, and the maintainence and evac access passages. Not on the same scale, but it kind of gives you an idea of what they are doing.

Here is the latest as of Sat May 15th: As far as I have heard the main goal at the moment is to get a roof over the struture so they can start on all of the infrastructure stuff. That's it untill next week.

Knoebels is definatly your best bet, Dorney is pretty much like anyother theme park in the northeast. Hershey is good park that retained a little bit of it's heritage. But Knoebels is a unique experience that you can not find anywhere. 2 Awesome world class woodies, the best food you could hope to find the middle of no-where, and classic rides that other parks have just "thrown away". So if you only have time to visit one park, Knoebels will not disapoint. I live about 30 min from the park, so if you have any questions about the area or the park feel free to ask.

Beware the hairy grapefuit of doom!!!! Just don't ask me how it got hairy. But on the other hand the tangerines are smooth as a babys bottom.

You are probably right, if the whole train development situation is not resolved by next season, It's safe to say that an all out riot to turn the FT into firewood for the campground. lol Hopefully I will have more pics to post at the beginning of next week.

Hello all, I have a short update on the Black Diamond to post up. There really is'nt much to see or tell at the moment, but when I get more info or pics I'll post them asap. This is the foundation on the side closest to the minning museam. Which is located to the left in this picture. Here is a broader shot, you can see the new eagle habitat in the background. Same kind of shot, but with a view down the end of the ride area. Here is a view looking toward the museam back in late Feb, there is a floor under there somewhere. Car from the soon to be BD, you can see how big of a job restoring and updating this ride is going to be. Close-up of the door release. Apparently this what passed as lap restraints in NJ during the 60's. lol That's about it, more to come as I get it.

Just a note for all of you camera sneakers, not only do parks have policies about taking cameras and other loose articles on rides and coaster. Most states also have some sort of laws about rider responsibility. And being someone that works for a park as a ride Opp, I reiterate what people have already said. Just ask. If we say no it's only for your safety and the safety of your fellow riders. So don't get pissed off and make a big deal out of it. We are just looking out for you and the park.