The amusement park I visited yesterday was Knoebels, a top-notch park with some equally as good rides! I'll likely be taking a closer look at some of these in the future, but here's a small sampling of some of the fun flat rides in the park.
The Looper is a different kind of ride that's the last of its kind. Knoebels brought it back from the grave about 15 years ago; it really goes to show the park's commitment to preservation. Sometimes called the "Hamster Cages," riders use personal effort along with a foot pedal to control their "wheel," so they can flip as many or as few times as desired. Here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSbMoq6ReEI
The Roto Jet is a ride where you can control your own height. It's much more forceful than your typical Dumbo-style ride!
One of the park's true highlights is one of the last sets of genuine Lusse Skooter Bumper Cars. Named the "best bumper cars in America," these things really slam!
I'd been on several Flying Scooter rides before, but I was not expecting the intensity of these things. You barely move the rudder of your car, and it starts flying all over the place! By far the most extreme "snapping" I've ever experienced.
Knoebels' whip is on the small side, but the building is a nice thing that Kennywood's ride of the same name hasn't had since 2002.
The Looper is a different kind of ride that's the last of its kind. Knoebels brought it back from the grave about 15 years ago; it really goes to show the park's commitment to preservation. Sometimes called the "Hamster Cages," riders use personal effort along with a foot pedal to control their "wheel," so they can flip as many or as few times as desired. Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSbMoq6ReEI
10 comments:
This looks like a fun park! I always wanted to go on a "Looper" ride. I've seen them at fairs and even saw one in Japan, but I've always been with people who didn't want to go on it! Can a person ride alone, or does it throw off the balance on the cage/wheel. That Roto Jet ride looks a lot like Disneyland's old Astro Jet ride!
That Roto Jet is beautiful! Love the color styling and graphics. Glad to hear you got to do some major "snapping" on the Flying Scooter. As for The Whip, I'd love to ride any kind of vintage Whip ride regular or junior size as I've never ridden one before.
I was looking forward to this post and looking forward to more on Knoebels. It's a great park for classic ride preservation. Thanks for sharing about it, Andrew.
The Looper and small Whip bump Knoebels up another notch on my wanna list! Would you say the smaller one is less intense than Kennywood's Whip?
My dad didn't want to ride the Looper, so I got paired up with someone who agreed to ride twice (and we were constantly flipping...), so no, you need a partner, likely because of balance reasons.
And yes, the similarity to Astro Jet is definitely there.
It sure is a model for ride preservation; even in the past decade they've been reopening restored or recreated ones!
Just come to Pennsylvania, and you'll find no issue in getting on a Whip! There's the one here, as well as ones at Hersheypark, Kennywood, and Dorney.
Probably a little less intense due to the smaller turntable size, but certainly still fun.
I'll probably never make it there to see in person, but you should check out Carter's Steam Fair. It's a traveling fair with nothing but restored rides and equipment from pre-1950.
I rode a bumper car like that once, probably at Santa Cruz.
I have never seen anything like the Scooter before.
Thanks Andrew!
JG
That's cool; they're nearly impossible to find nowadays.
Thanks for stopping by!
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