Richard Bannister

Adventure Park USA is a small family entertainment center located, broadly speaking, in the middle of nowhere. It features an amusement arcade and a small selection of rides, including a Schwarzkopf-built Wildcat (#1504). Though officially the cars can seat four there wasn't a hope of that on this model; I was only just able to shoehorn myself into the entire back seat by crossing my legs, and even then it was a very tight fit. The lift hill seemed to be having quite a bad day too, with a rather unpleasant lurching throughout. From the apex of the lift however things returned to normal, with a smooth and enjoyable ride. As a little aside, this ride once operated at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, though it was removed around the time of my third birthday. I am getting old.

 

The Cedar Fair Platinum Pass includes free parking across all included parks, in stark contrast to the annual passes offered by a certain other well known theme park chain. This allows enthusiasts to make a quick visit for a single coaster without feeling terribly guilty about it. We were able to walk through a not terribly crowded park directly into the station of Posessed, a ride which marked my two hundredth coaster a few years ago in its former home. Those responsible for the move have done a good job; it seems unlikely that anyone would guess that the ride wasn't built new for Dorney.

 

The roads leading towards Knoebels can be a bit of an endurance test at the best of times, all the more so this evening with multiple police cars hiding at the bottom of hills with their radar guns at the ready. It's a real shame that officers feel the need to entrap motorists in this fashion; even with a foot on the brake it is difficult to sustain an exact limit on a thirty degree hill!

Knoebels remains for me one of the nicest amusement parks in the entire United States. There have been only a few changes to the park since my last visit four years ago. The much anticipated Flying Turns is still unfinished, though things are much further along now. The park is also building a fifth roller coaster called Black Diamond, which last operated as the Golden Nugget at the now defunct Dinosaur Beach in 1992.

New since my last visit is Kozmo's Kurves (#1505), a family coaster that replaces the late and lamented High Speed Thrill Coaster. Many enthusiasts (including this one) were really sorry to see the old ride go, despite the persistent Internet rumour that Knoebels' maintenance were refusing to do anything else to keep it going. Whatever the true case, the new coaster doesn't have the spectacular airtime of its predecessor but it does at least have the same fun factor, especially on the last turn back into the station.

With the credit out of the way, we checked in on the two wood coasters. Twister was a little shaky this evening, but Phoenix was everything I'd remembered (and more). The front seat had enough airtime to be slightly terrifying, albeit in a good way. We found the optimum location to be row two, giving all the airtime of the front seat with a fraction of the queue time.