The first incline is staggering.īut there's more - much more. But in 1985, the endangered ride was rescued, moved and restored at Knoebels. It was called the Rocket at its first home in San Antonio, Texas. Inside Track, a magazine for amusement-park enthusiasts, rates the Phoenix the fifth-best roller coaster in the country. And the park's prize: the Phoenix, a giant rTC vintage wooden roller coaster. subjects rider to forces three times as great as the Earth's gravitational pull"). But our stomachs face other challenges first: the 16-car Ferris wheel, the Hi-Speed Thrill Coaster, the Whirlwind (new this year - the park's only upside-down event - "the only one of its kind in the U.S.A.
The Oasis is serving meatloaf, barbecued chicken, or roast pork with potato or stuffing, two vegetables, plus roll and butter for $5.25. "Still is the tallest and the widest, far as we know," the conductor says.Īfter the ride, we are tempted to eat. The 1.5-mile path loops around a small clearing, where ears of hog corn have been stuck on strips of wood to attract deer, and passes a black ash bearing a sign proclaiming it the Black Ash Champion for 1990. It's a ride to nowhere, because instead of riding through the park, the train meanders at a walloping 8 mph through the nearby woods.
We selected the Pioneer Railway (60 cents), a train pulled by an 1865 diesel engine. On the advice of my advisers among the Knoebels cognoscenti, we started our visit with a ride on one of the park's three mini-railroads. We spent a total of about $17 and, in five hours, went on 10 rides apiece. On weekends, it's pay-as-you-go, which was a bargain for us. Knoebels recently instituted an all-ride, all-day ticket (max is $16.75) during the week. Then we embarked with near-seriousness to answer the question: Are we too jaded, too sophisticated (at 40-plus, am I too old?) to have fun here?
We chose the pedestrian route, checking into one of the many inexpensive ($40, children sleep free) motels off Interstate 80, a scant 13 miles from Knoebels. There are tent sites with platforms to cushion your body from the rocks, RV sites with all the right hookups, hot showers, tile baths, a camp store and, with the right planning, you can rent a log cabin or - get this, Wild West fans - a tepee that sleeps six. If the weather had been better, we might have camped here overnight amid the tall pines.