The heat wave started last Friday and I had the grass to cut. I started mowing a little after 9 and with sweat pouring down my eyes and my clothes soaked with sweat, I thought I would never leave by 2pm, to beat the Philly traffic.
I left at 3. I was hoping nobody would be heading towards Philadelphia. I was cruising along 30, 295 and 676 until I hit Philadelphia! At the botttom of the bridge, out-of-towners sat and merged and criss-crossed into their lanes. There were cars from Missouri, Ohio and Hawaii.
Then it was smooth sailing on the Skuylkill. If you know this road, you know this feels good! Then I hit the King of Prussia Mall and had it handed to me. I sent Matt text messages with my location on 422 every half hour. It only takes a half hour to drive 422. At least the beautiful skyline across the turnpike kept me occupied.
After 2 hours on 422, I was at Matt's place. Matt drove to Kevin's house in Pottsville, and on the way we stopped by Sheetz. It's the area's answer to Wawa, with cooler lighting. I got a 12'' turkey hoagie and...OMG, do you really care?!
422 to 222 to 61; We drove forever through quaint towns of PA and reached the bustling town of Pottsville. Up the hill, avoid crashing into the mountain and driving too far past the fire hydrant...these were our directions. So, we called Kemely and met him at the base of his road.
There was a deer at the edge of the property, looking as if planted there by Geico. We didn't however notice the presence of Kevin's busy, but friendly neighbor, who we were told to avoid. We piled into Kevin's car and drove around the hills, curves and valleys of 901, 61 and 54 to Elysburg PA.
The point for me making the trip was to find the glasses that I lost on opening weekend. I've grown tired of squinting... and I needed to get back to Knoebels.
We got to the park at 8:15 and they didn't have my glasses. So we celebrated on the
Log Flume.
You may remember how this went for us before. On opening day we had 11 to 1200lbs piled into one log. We climbed the lift hill, crested the top, and zoomed down the drop. Just when I thought it's safe to be sitting in the front seat, here came a wall of water, but I kept my mouth closed this time. We took in water from the left and we took in water from the right. Then we drug along the trough. We moved ao slow that boats were backing up behind us.
Emily, Kevin and Matt looked for their dry spots but I didn't bother. Mine was back in the car.
We celebrated by doing it again! Then we dried off on the
Flyers. Matt, Kevin, Emily and I flew around and got our snaps in.
They wanted to ride again but I sat this reride out. I get dizzy on rides with a large swinging circumference and stopped in the Stony Gables fudge shoppe. I bought a chocolate covered marshmellow and sat down to watch Matt flop around like a dying fish in his Flyer. He got yelled at by the operator.
I needed Cesari's pizza. The service was slow but the pizza is so much better than PPP's pizza soup.
We sat in the woods of the mountains while we ate. At night, Knoebels is a beautiful place with neon lights glowing under a canopy of trees on old-fashioned amusements. The howling wolf coming from The Haunted House made me feel like a night in the Appalachan mountains.
We rode the
Haunted House. I rode with my sunglasses on. I jumped every time we banged through another set of doors. That sheet metal BANG in the attic gets me every time. Dark ride-age!
We thought it would be fun to ride the
tilt-a-whirl. The ride is as fun as a park?s best coaster. That?s right, $hapiro. But, we weren?t riding any coasters. The best part was watching Kevin switch around to get his car to spin. No such luck. This tilt-a-whirl was too slow.
The last ride of the night would be an almost pitch black ride on the
train.
Still wet, we drove back to Kevin?s house and then back to Matts. As soon as I was dry, I would be going to bed.
I slept until 8:30 and I read that Hell Cat was opening. I couldn?t tell Matt. I would never get to Dorney. I finally told Matt. He had not been to Dorney for a full day visit in 10 years and he was looking forward to going too.
I was starving. The 5 packs of Smarties I ate wasn?t getting the message across. I walked out to the car to get Matt moving.
We stopped by Angelo?s Diner on Route 100 in Newberlin. We got to Allentown around 1pm. Matt led the way to South Whitehall and I led the rest of the way, once we got around the corner from the park.
The regular parking lot was about filled and we parked in the back corner by Laser. It was pretty toastie and Matt took a bath in sunscreen.
With the new season passes, you can walk right into the park without making a stop at Guest Relations. We admired the main pier and the bright colors and we walked past a closed Wild Mouse and topspin. We were drawn to the orange and blue
Talon which had a short wait starting at the bottom of the steps.
Talon has great small elements like Batman, with more run track between elements. It?s smooth and quiet and filled with sand. We rode in the front to avoid the G?s in the sun. It ties Batman as my favorite invert. Matt and I enjoyed it allot.
We went over to
Thunder Canyon, the waterfall river ride. It didn?t have a terribly long line. It was wrapped around three queue rails. The crew was moving rather slow but I don?t blame them because it was almost 100 degrees.
Matt thought he might come off dry, but no deal WHOOSH! A waterfall jumped out of nowhere! SWISH! No deal Matt. SPLISH! There are waterfalls everywhere! SPLASH! The arm of my sunglasses came off. SLOSH! Matt?s glasses fell off. ZONK!
We sloshed down to
Thunderhawk. I had time to dry off while I talked with a one of the bluegreen guys. This is one of the guys who hang out in front of Houdini and try to sell you on vacations getaways. They have timeshares near Hershey, Busch Gardens Europe, Six Flags Great America, Mt Olympus, Six Flags Over Georgia and Walt Disney World? as only a coaster enthusiast can tell you. I think I will take an hour and a half away from Water Country, USA for $50 at a hotel in Williamsburg for three days and two nights. The Getaway Guy said he would throw in a $50 spending card; Not a bad deal, so far. I may have to spend an extra $50 for booking on the weekend. I look forward to trying this out.
We found our way to Dorney?s lone woodie and sat in the Schmeck seat: row three. The crew filled all the rows in one train. We dispatched and made a right turn toward the rest of the park. We crested the lift and plummeted down the first drop and sped on the long, wide speed hill. We climbed onto the high turn, slow down on the fin break. Millenium Force! We slow down on the once great turn into the twister section. Blah Blah Blah Eh, CF took away my motivation to type the rest of the ride, but it?s still fun. Just not as much as before.
We walked toward a beautiful site; a shiny yellow spike beaconing on the horizon, with a twist in the distance.
Voodoo had been closed, but began testing when we came towards it. A train went, making the oddly familiar scream impulses make. I used to hope this ride would make it close to home. Soon we entered the queue. I choose the front row! We launched into the twist, and rolled back and launched through the station and into the spike. We rolled forward and launched faster and further into the twist (NICE) and rolled back and launched into the holding break?one awesome element?and the locals loved it! One more launch into the twist and we rolled back into the station. This was my #1 steel coaster for quite some time. It?s still worthy of a top 10 spot.
My former #1 steel coaster, S:ROS took back it?s top spot just two years after dropping down to number 2, after a ride on Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great America and a return home trip to SFNE.
Laser is the portable coaster made by Schwarzkopf. It has two loops and two helicies. It looks like Medusa, but it knows when to finish. The first drop is quick like a B&M invert. The loops make you brown out. The turns come at you like an Arrow transition.
We walked over to
Steel Force. Running three trains, we were on in no time. It?s one great big mine train, and I love it!
One more good ride on Laser, and we decided that Revolution and Monster were out of the question. We rode the
Krazy Kars for the first time. They kinda blew. Cedar Creek Mountain had a short line, but without a turntable, it moved too slow. I was worried about the time, so we high tailed it out to Clementon.
Matt followed me in his truck. Some creep got in front of him and when the lanes merged, they were beeping at me. Their lane merged; they were behind me; they gave me the middle finger. NJ trash!
We ate at Friendly?s by Clementon and had some of the best French fries ever. They were hot out of the oven and seasoned. I don?t even remember what else I ordered. Quesadillas, I think? Matt also had?Anyone? Anyone? Cherry something.
We got to Clementon around 6:30 and parked in the shopping center down the street. Note to Clementon?s new owners?you?re not a big themer. Cut the crap.
The buildings were painted, including the admission booths, which looked just fine before. The new owners added windows to the top of the booths, which reminded me of the pavilions at the Columbus Farmer?s Market. Otherwise, the park is an ocean pier or an FEC with less games and more rides. We headed straight for
Hell Cat. Tomorrow?s ride will be better. I just have a hunch. Back seat on rough coasters!
We tried to upgrade to a season pass, but the computers went down and we grew tired of waiting it out. We left for my parent?s house to drop off Matt?s truck. I went to Commerce to go to tap MAC for the second time in one day. I filled up on gas at $3.89 a gallon. It was $3.77 when I filled up the day before at the same station.
I got a glass of water and we headed for Ocean City. We listened to Nemo from the Wonderful World of Disney on the radio. When I lost 88.7, we listened to the soundtrack to Superman: The Movie.
Note, take the 1st Exit for Ocean City heading south and the 2ND Exit when heading North. Not the other way around. Otherwise, the AC Expressway and The Garden State Parkway would get us there in 45 minutes.
Stopped at Gillian?s Wonderland Pier for the
Flume and
Runaway Train. We met up with Kevin and Emily and left Mehville.
We went to Playland?s Castaway Cove, got our ride tickets and rode
The Flitzer! It?s a fun, twisty ride. We all took separate cars. I would love to have someone put one of these in a box!
I had to try the
Cyclone. It?s a Technical Park Street Fighter
It?s a pendulum ride. It tested the last time I was here. It is awesome! It swings so high. You can make funny faces on it.
Ch Ch Ch Ch (
Tidal Wave). Fun Fun Fun Fun. It?s a Santori Techno Jump. If you like laughing on a ride from beginning to end, this is the ride!
Now this is a
Tilt-a-whirl. It is fast! Matt and I spun almost non-stop from beginning to end.
We walked through the
Fun House. We had a lot of fun laughing at each other while going up the declining steps, walking on the shaker boards, on the buzz floor?it?s a free footsie wootise, the seesaw bridge, and rollers that sent Matt flat on his rump. I almost rotated on the barrel of fun until I chickened out.
Emily and Kevin chilled while we rode the
Log Flume. If we all went for the ride together, we would have been soaked. It?s not a bad flume for a carnival ride. Row, row, row your boat!
Matt and I rode this Crazy Ride. It?s the Moser
Twin Flip. It?s a lot of fun at first. We flipped around upside down like we were on a Powersurge or Chaos. Then the operator broke the cycle, and it started making us sick. It became like Great Adventure?s Top Spin, moronic and pointless.
We went to recover on the
Double shot. Not only is it a triple shot with a great view of the ocean and boardwalk, but the ops start the cycle over again. The ride delivers allot of air at the top, and the spiel encourages us NOT to hold on. We tried to reach forward to touch our toes. These smaller rides are so much better than their Dominator and Power Tower counter parts. While we chilled on the benches in front of the ride, we watched another cycle. We saw a camera fall from the Heavens and the operator went under the ride to pick it up. The funny things you see when it isn?t your camera.
On the way out, we stopped at Dairy Queen and relaxed by the crashing waves on the boardwalk and watched the beach replenishment project. I got the Kit Kat Blizzard. Like all coaster enthusiasts favorites, let?s all say it together kids, ?It was overrated!?
Did I hear Matt say, ?I don?t know??
Well, it was about 11:30. We were in three parks in three different media markets in less than twelve hours. Not bad. On the way back to my parents house, we listened to ?It?s a Bird, It?s a Plane, It?s Superman?, Superman, the musical. It put Matt fast asleep.
The next morning, after looking through some Great Adventure memorabilia, I saw a map of the Safari. I knew Matt had never been through there and I knew it was too hot to do any yard work. So I asked a couple of our other friends if they were interested in meeting us up there. They were going to the water park and I thought that was a bad idea after two days in the heat, so I passed. When we got up there, I couldn?t tell if it was crowded, but the Safari was air-conditioned.
The animals were just as hot. Each group sat under their respective trees or played in their own ponds. The bison were all under the water with their heads poking up to breath. The elk and the deer chilled out by the fences. The elephants hung under their huge umbrella. The giraffe would have come up to us but they were feeding. The black bears just lay around but the brown bears walked around. We even saw some cubs playing in a pond. The birds were all outside of their sanctuary. The lions lay around like usual, and even the tigers were passed out. With all of this heat, only one animal took action on it. He chased his mate and ran almost right into an old mustang. The ending was not quite the same without the baboons running around and they didn?t seem too happy about it. Like all things liberals touch, they ruined it. But it was still a fun adventure.
We went over to the
Exploration Station and spent more time watching Kingda Ka and Rolling Thunder than looking at the birds and snakes. It was cool to see two parts of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in two days. Once with Voodoo, and the other with the birds at Exploration Station. We were going to go into the park to ride some 80?s classics, but it was so hot.
We went over to the Mexican eatery on 537. It would have been great food on a nice day, but it was 100 degrees.
We decided to head back south and process our season passes at Clementon. I thought about stopping by Seasame Place, but I decided to save that for a cooler day in the Summer. On the way, I drove by the indoor
Sahara Sam?s Oasis ?water park,? SaharaSams.com. You should check out the website to see the preview video of the slides and flow rider. It will have an attached game room and a retractable roof. The indoor water park at the Marriott in Mt Laurel (
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phlla-mt-laurel-marriott/ ) was further along, with slides visibally sticking out of the water park building.
This was the first time either of us drove to a
Ritas. Matt got a blueberry Italian Ice and I got a Blendini (
http://www.ritastbd.com) with chocolate and vanilla twist ice cream, Oreo cookies and blueberry water ice. It was the employee?s favorite and it was pretty good. I liked it so much I worse some.
We went to Clementon and parked at the Clementon Lake Shopping Center. We walked over to the park. The parking lot and the overflow was virtually filled, but not a school bus in sight. We got in line at Guest Relations and just like yesterday, the computers were down. We waited about 15 minutes until the computer came back online. We paid for our season passes and walked down to get them processed.
After an hour of waiting and listening to people whine and complain, we had our season passes. We met Tom over at
Hellcat. Tom and I rode in the front while the masochist rode in the back. The ride so much better in the front! There isn?t as much air while ridding in the front on the camel backs, but there is some air on the bunny hops. The helix is enjoyable too.
We rode the
C.P. Huntington for a new view without Jack Rabbit. There appeared to be room for a couple of spin rides or a compact steel coaster/ wild mouse, or a dark ride. (Yeah, I can dream.) Some of the Hallowscreams props were still in the woods behind Hellcat. The animals along the tracks appeared to be repainted. It was a quick ride and relaxing diesel engine ride.
Now that we were season pass holders, we saved the Flying Pharoah ?swings,? the Sea Dragon ?pirate ship,? the Thunderbolt ?flying bobs,? and the samba tower for a later visit. King Neptune?s Revenge Log Flume and the Giant Wheel were closed, and the Clementon Belle is not listed on the website. Unfortunately, the park kept the evil Kite Flyer and removed the Turtle Whirl and Falling Star. The deal is still great. They gave us a free ticket to use anytime, a 1/2 price ticket to use anytime and 2 free tickets two use on selective dates. In addition, we got 2 Bring-a-Friend passes for $15, 2 for $10 and 2 for $5 for use on selective dates.
http://www.clementonpark.com/ It was time to bring this weekend to an end. This was a nice way to spend a few hot days. I would spend the next few days inside. I went home for dinner and Matt went home to take a much needed shower.
Thanks for reading.
Topic: Knoebels, DP, CAP, OC, Safari, CAP (Read 2617 times)