The Craziest weekend imaginable. PPP, GCII tour, Lakemont, and Kennywood in 2 days!

Katie · #1 10-10-2005, 10:11 AM

This was THE weekend of the season. On Friday, April and Tina arrived at my house, We planned on hitting up Kennywood this night, so we had a laid back weekend. Well, that didn’t happen. We found out by 1pm that Kennywood was closed for the night. BUMMER! By 3:30 it had stopped raining, and there was none in site. We were pretty ticked off, but would figure it in Sunday night instead.

The forecast was all rain all day long for Elysburg. We knew there would be minimal crowds all day, and boy were we right. We checked the forecast at 5am and packed the car and off we went. This was my first visit to Knoebel’s and I was so excited. We wanted to get there first thing. We were staying in Danville, and stopped by the hotel and unloaded our car. We called our escort for the weekend, Gary, and had him stop by, as he would follow us to the park. We got to the park in a steady drizzle. But that didn’t deter us crazy enthusiasts! First thing we did after walking everywhere to get registered was hit up the crowd favorite, Phoenix.

I chose the back seat for my first ride. We got some pretty decent air back there, and because it was almost a walk-on, except the front seat, we got off and walked back on for a 1.2 ride. This would prove to be the sweet spot for the afternoon. This would change later on! We finally found our friend Bill, and a new friend Coastin’ Steve. We hit up one more ride on Phoenix. We got off and headed towards Looper. We got to watch 2 cycles before we got on. Some of the guys were NUTS getting these to spin like mad! Some even got some mad hang time along with it. It looked insane. My friend, Tina and I got on it, and had a hell of a time getting it to get moving. This crap was hard work. We didn’t get it to go a full 360* but had fun trying.

Off we got stumbling and headed to THE flyers. Now I have only been on one other set and that was Stricker’s Grove. I really didn’t get to snap those, but was guaranteed to snap these. We got on, after watching some Pro’s, Ted I didn’t see you all day long! Where were you man?, and got some major snappage on these babies! I was fearing for my life. The flyers were running in SICKO mode. It was OMG yum yum yum snappage! Hell, even April got a snap or two. Anyone can snap these. And there were a few guys that were snapping incredibly! I was in awe at all the professionals.

We took a walk to get my cherry popped on Twister. I wasn’t expecting much from this coaster, but it was a lot of fun. The track was slippery all day long, so it was running pretty fast. I got a few PTC bar bruises, but it’s all good. We also hit up Fandango and the Antique cars when we got back. We got to preview what the haunted ones would look like for tonight.

Gary and I stopped for hot chocolate and talked for awhile, trying to keep warm. We finally met up with our group and found Cesari’s pizza. We got a few coupons for registering for PPP. 2 slices of pizza, a free drink, a free skyride, and one other thing I can’t remember. Well this pizza was soooo good and so big, we had to fold it New Yorker style. Fast forward to ERT time!

6pm arrived and after changing sweatshirts we were soaking wet all day, tried to get the High Speed Thrill Coaster. No Ride Op in site. Bummer! I didn’t get my credit this day. Oh well, next time. We headed over for Twister, and it was running even faster then earlier in the afternoon. What a great ride. It sure delivers its name. We got off and the rain having not stopped all day, no one was on the flyers, we headed towards Phoenix. We got some incredible rides on it this night. 1.1 is the sweet (diva) seat on ERT mode. Hell I even have bruises on my knees from so much air on this bad boy! We then at 8pm got in line for the haunted Antique cars. We heard people were jumping on the cars, and were all excited. And the cool vampire dude eyeing people in line came up at me, and stared. So I asked for a kiss. I ended up having to kiss his hand. Meh oh well. The ride was good and had a few people TRY to scare us. We ended our night on Phoenix and had an awesome time at the park. We got back to the hotel room, and drank, and talked for awhile. Hey we had a GCII tour in the morning.

We got to GCI at about 20 after and got to see the Power Park photos and Beech Bend. We each got “nailed” and got a coaster. (One to put your drink on) flyers and a tour of the tool room, and got to sit in Beech Bend’s train. It was about 80% done and was very nice looking. GCII wouldn’t let us take pictures inside the factory and met Dan and Chris. We got some awesome time with the train, and ran into the next group taking the tour. We got out of there, took a few group photos in front of the GCI sign, and with our nails.

Then off we were to Lakemont’s ridefest. We got there at 2pm, just missing our Tobaggon credit L. We got a very nice lunch with about 75-100 people in attendance. We had lasagna, salad, mixed vegetables and desert. We ate, they picked the door prizes and off we were to get some credits. I got my Leap the Dip’s credit, they got a lot of work done on it this past summer, and was fun to ride. We hit the kiddie coaster. Got 2 station rides, and headed off to SkyLiner. I had a few great rides on it towards the back. Took a ton of pics and headed back over to the kiddie coaster, where we met up with a few friends. Western PA’s asst. regional rep. Lisa had her greyhound Jazz and he LOVED chasing the kiddie coaster around the track. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

We left Lakemont around 4:30 and headed back to my house to unpack the car, had a belching contest and I soooo won. Yes diva’s do this. It was quite amusing let me tell you. We got to my house at about 6:30 and got a few things needed for PFN and off to Kennywood we go.

We got there at 7pm and promptly forgot that Magee Hospital had their party there that day. I wondered why I saw a ton of LITTLE kids. I bet they were scared to death. We saw kids with trash can lids scaring the crap out of teenagers, and we just had to laugh. It was so damn funny. We got to Phantom first thing and saw our friends on the train pulling into the station, and we got an obligatory ride in the backseat. Well, instead of one ride, we got a triple ride without getting off. Oh yeah baby! That is now the diva seat. I got so much air, I was standing. We hit up Pittfall, and they were holding it about 10 seconds on the top of the tower. Sweet. Great ride! We were almost out of Lost Kennywood and here comes the infamous Jason Character right towards us, and decided last second to scare the living daylights out of some 15 year old girls. I couldn’t help but cracking up. We hit up the Thunderbolt after meeting up with April and Pete. Got a sweet ride, and walked around watching children getting scared to death.

We walked past the racer which is down for rehab again this season, and got a ride on the Jack Rabbit. 2nd to last seat the air was still friggin amazing. Headed back for a complete pitch black ride in the backseat, and was the best of the night. We then headed towards Exterminator and waited about 45 minutes, but we had the best spinning ever. We spun so hard we were pinned in the seat and laughing hysterically. That was my last ride for the night as the park was closing at 11, so we walked out, laughing at more kids, and saw Michael Myers in the haunted cemetery. We didn’t do any haunted houses the lines were so damn long. I wasn’t about to waste 90 minutes in a line, to be semi-scared. We left and had one hell of a weekend. I am glad I took it off, and had a great time. I thank all of the people that I met, they were incredibly nice to me, and everyone that hears In The Loop we appreciate the listeners. Next year for sure, we will be at PPP again. It was the best weekend I have had in a long time! Thanks for the memories. Pics will be up soon!

Sir Willow · #2 10-10-2005, 03:46 PM

Sounds like a great trip. I did something similar for the 2001 PPP, where we did Cedar Point, Dorney, Knobels, Lakemont, and just missed SFWoA in a 3 day span. Was a great trip.

Did you try 1.3 on Phoenix? That was the money seat in 2001.

Looking forward to seeing your pics.

Katie · #3 10-10-2005, 05:01 PM

Actually 1.3 (which I was told it is the sweet spot) was jarring a lot on Saturday. 1.2 and 1.1 were the sweet spots all day long. I was never disappointed in either. 1.3 was a little too much for me to handle.

Katie, who is dreading uploading pics on a dial-up modem!

jimths08 · #4 10-11-2005, 10:42 PM

Sounds like the independent parks are some of the best! Can't wait for pics. I'm surprised that Phantom isn't rough.

Katie · #5 10-12-2005, 07:31 AM

Phantom is NEVER rough, it only get's better with age. Pics should be up later today.

Katie

**Marcus** · #6 10-13-2005, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoastinKatie

Actually 1.3 (which I was told it is the sweet spot) was jarring a lot on Saturday. 1.2 and 1.1 were the sweet spots all day long. I was never disappointed in either. 1.3 was a little too much for me to handle.

This is indeed true. 1.3 is a wheel seat and will always be quite a bit rougher than your 1.2 or 1.1. Steel coasters, or coasters that are extremely smooth usually have the best 1.3.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoastinKatie

We got on, after watching some Pro’s, Ted I didn’t see you all day long! Where were you man?, and got some major snappage on these babies! I was fearing for my life. The flyers were running in SICKO mode. It was OMG yum yum yum snappage! Hell, even April got a snap or two. Anyone can snap these. And there were a few guys that were snapping incredibly! I was in awe at all the professionals.

Sigh, I could not attend this year to give my performance to the crowd. I swore one day to snap a flyer so hard that I would just break off the chain and fly away into the sky. Last PPP, I snapped it so hard, I got a mild applause from others waiting in line. I mean at one point the car was vertical and that's when I decided it was best to take it down a notch.

Great trip report, looks like you really enjoyed yourself.

Ta2KX · #7 10-13-2005, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoastinKatie

We took a walk to get my cherry popped on Twister.

Wow, I'd Facebook you if I could.

Anyway, yeah I loved PPP last year, first time at the event, 2nd visit to the park. I hate to say, with Phoenix and Twister running so outrageous at the event, The Flyers might still be my favorite part. The sequences you get with like 5-6+ realll hard back to back snaps, it hurts, it really does, but you keep laughing, even though you probably just reptured something internally.

The park hosts a superb event, not quite as unearthly as Stark Raven Mad, but it comes close. Props to Mr. Knoeble and all the tirelesswork he has over the years. I look forward to the return of the real flying turns.

Katie · #8 11-18-2005, 04:54 PM

Ok sorry for the bump but I figured there would be some people that would enjoy seeing some of the pics. I have been lazy and working a lot but most of the pics were of Lakemont due to the evil weather at Knoebel's. Two pictures came out of Knoebel's. Oh well Still had a great time.

Here ya go!

http://www.photobucket.com/albums/y259/CoastinKatie

Katie