My amusement park visits in 2024 have been limited to this point. My only trip prior to this was Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) back on Monday, May 20. With my birthday falling in early June, I wanted to sit my butt on a few more coasters and get back into the swing of things. I got busy making plans and asked my friend Karah to come along.
Originally our plans were to visit Hersheypark on Monday, June 3 and then stick around for the WWE Monday Night Raw show afterward at the Giant Center outside the park. That changed, however, when I saw how ridiculous the extra fees were per ticket trying to checkout. The price practically doubled. I said, “No way!”
Back to the drawing board I went. A few days later I decided to make my birthday excursion a little longer by adding a second day. Hersheypark would move to Tuesday, June 4 and Monday, June 3 would now be a visit to Knoebels. That would mean more coasters and it would be Karah’s first ever time visit Knoebels. I’ve easily taken about 100 people to Knoebels for their first times between small trips like this and the ones I’ve planned for my workplace. Never had one person dislike the park either. Many have gone back and some even go back regularly.
School Trips Aplenty This Week
Going to a park during the first week of June usually results in a lot of school trips. This visit was no exception. Some of the lines were a little longer than the usual spring/summer visits I’ve had in the past, but what surprised me is both Phoenix and Twister were only running one train. I heard people in line complaining, thinking this was due to staffing. I saw this last year during my weekday visits to the park too, but both those days were much slower than this one, taking place later in June once schools were out.
Adding a second train to operations wouldn’t require extra staff. I believe this was done to limit the number of ride cycles and the wear and tear on the trains. There was also a theory proposed to me online that the park does this during the days when they offer the unlimited rides wristband, but on the weekends when visitors must purchase ticket books, they run two trains. Basically, two trains would allow for more income via ticket purchases. Lines would constantly move with more people in the park. It’s a plausible theory, but still just a theory.
Regardless of everything I just mentioned, Karah and I rode most of the major rides and managed to hit two of them twice. You can see what we rode in the final ride counts box below. Here were some of our highlights from the day.
Haunted Mansion
Our first ride of the day was on Haunted Mansion. I love roller coasters, but I’m a sucker for a good old-fashioned dark ride. I grew up riding some of the ones found on the boardwalks of Ocean City, Md., Wildwood, N.J., and Rehobeth Beach, Del. It didn’t matter how scary, or even how cheesy they were. I always wanted to ride and re-ride them each and every visit.
All that said, Knoebel’s Haunted Mansion is one of the best old-school dark rides I’ve experienced. In a world where dark rides have adopted new technology like 3D and blaster guns, I still prefer the classic dark ride. Give me the slow-moving carts that bang into black-painted doors, that roll around on wooden floors on a steel guide rail, and feature handmade props any day.
Karah enjoyed the Haunted Mansion as well, even though she squeezed the heck out of my left arm the entire ride. Good to know she thought I could protect her from all the harm before her.
Flying Turns
Speaking of rides Karah enjoyed, Flying Turns ended up being her favorite ride of the day. She thought it was so unique and loved the sensations the cart provided rolling up on the side of the wooden tubes. She had never been on a bobsled coaster before and there she was getting the most unique one in the world.
We ended up riding Flying Turns twice. Once early on in the day and then again before leaving the park. We met a couple from the United Kingdom in line during our second ride. They asked me where I bought the 50th Anniversary Haunted Mansion shirt I was wearing. I told them it was bought the previous year, but pointed out which shop it came from in case they still had some in stock. Long story short, the two of them were on an amusement park tour in the region and we ended up exchanging lots of coaster enthusiast nerd talk during our time in line. I hope they had a good trip and made it home with some great memories.
Phoenix
I always love seeing the expressions or hearing the emotions coming from someone riding Phoenix for the first time. I didn’t tell Karah anything about this ride other than it’s the park’s most popular coaster. I made no mention about the airtime. I made no mention about the buzz bars. And I made no mention about the fact that her butt was going to be off the seat about as much time as it was going to be on it. I figured why not let her find out for herself?
Well, needless to say, Karah was stunned. I could hear her screams and laughter throughout the entire ride. When the train pulled back into the station, she was laughing so much saying how crazy it was. With her not being a coaster enthusiast, if you will, I was interested in seeing her reactions. They were everything I thought they’d be and more. We rode in the back seat too, so she got the full airtime experience.
We did go back and ride Phoenix again one more time before the park closed. We waited for the front seat that time. The airtime hit just as good, but Karah found the front to be a bit smoother and ended up liking the ride even more the second time around.
Final Ride Counts
Black Diamond (1)
Flying Turns (2)
Haunted Mansion (1)
Impulse (1)
Phoenix (2)
Pioneer Train (1)
Twister (1)
The Rides Enthusiasts Tend to Overlook
Knoebels turned out to be a good way to kick off my birthday trip. Getting to spend some time with Karah was great. I often visit these parks with fellow enthusiasts, but sometimes it’s great to see how my non-coaster nerd friends feel about the rides we all rave on and on about online. Like with the first park I visited with Karah last year, Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv), Karah’s favorite coaster ended up being one we all look past for the bigger, badder, and more forceful ride. Flying Turns is a fun ride, but hearing someone say it was their favorite ride isn’t something I’m used to hearing. And do you know what? That’s awesome. If you’re wondering what ride Karah liked the most during our SFGAdv trip, it was Medusa. Again, a quality ride that most of us coaster nerds look over for El Toro, Kingda Ka, Nitro, and Jersey Devil Coaster.
With that, the first part of my birthday trip with Karah was in the books. It was time to head to our hotel for the night and do it all again the next day at Hersheypark.
Knoebels Amusement Park Photo Gallery - June 3, 2024
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
