Amusement Park Mom

Jennifer Gish at timesunion.com has posted a wonderful article on Knoebel’s full of pictures and information that show why Knoebel’s is a hidden gem in the middle of nowhere and WELL worth the trip. 

Check out the full article here including a photo essay of some of Knoebel’s best rides.  To get even more information, visit Knoebel’s online here.

In an article posted on goerie.com, Waldameer’s Ravine Flyer II is listed as one of Paul Ruben’s top 10 rollercoasters.  Mr. Ruben is the editor of Park World magazine and is said to have ridden over 800 coasters.  For the short, complete article, go here.

Never been to Waldameer?  Want to see what the Ravine Flyer II holds in store?  Check out the ride video here. 

The Waldameer website lists the ride details as:

• 120 foot first drop
• 3000+ feet of track
• speeds 60+ mph
• 6 tunnels
• 165 foot arched bridge taking you over a freeway!

Seems everyone wants to get a story on Knoebel’s new Black Diamond, but nobody gets a whole lot of details out about it.  The lastest article to surface is in the times-tribune.com here. 

This article states as others has that the track and trains will be the same, but the theme will move from gold country to coal country – as is appropriate for Knoebel’s Pennsylvania location.  This is the first article that I’ve seen though that indicates the ride will be a slower moving family ride. 

Hmm… makes you wonder how they’ll pull that off, right?  Well, we’ll have to wait until 2011 to find out.

Since Kennywood promises the Sky Rocket to provide a comfortable ride so park guests can ride over and over, they have made the rule that riders over six feet tall are unable to sit in the last row.  This is due to limited leg room in this area.  If you’d like to see the full story from WPXI.com in Pittsburgh, read the full article here.  This information is not yet available on Kennywood.com.

An AP Mom reader forwarded me information on the Pepsi Refresh project which gives money to community projects and Conneaut Lake Park is on their list for voting this month – only through July 31, 2010.

If you are a fan of old wooden coasters, of old amusement parks or you just need something to click on today the link to the Pepsi Refresh Program is here.  If you’d like more information on The Blue Streak and it’s restoration project, check the Conneaut Lake website here.

Again, if you’d like to help raise money for the Blue Streak restoration project, click here every day now through July 31, 2010.

Jim Futrell THE Amusement Park Historian of PA is mentioned in an article for ABC news discussing the remaining trolley parks in the United States and Pennsylvania is well represented.

If you aren’t much up on the history of small amusement parks then you may not realize that many parks began as a drop off point for a local trolley company.  The trolley companies would build these parks, or sponsor them, for their employees to enjoy during their leisure time to raise ridership of their street cars and trains on weekends.  Industrial towns did not have much going to having a beautiful outdoor place to gather and picnic was a definite perk in drawing new people to a town.  Many of these parks eventually grew into small amusement parks featuring simple rides and food vendors.

Most of these trolley parks are no longer in existance, but Pennsylvania still has four:  Kennywood, Dorney Park, Waldemeer Park and Lakemont Park.  If you like to find out more, check out the article here.

Pennlive ran a very interesting article about how Hersheypark tracks incoming weather to the park and stadium here. 

The most interesting quote to me was this one, “At least 60,000 people pack Hersheypark and Hersheypark Stadium on summer nights when both venues are full. On those occasions, this small plot of Derry Twp. is turned into the biggest city in Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.”

That’s a pretty neat thing.

The article details how Hersheypark tracks the weather and what it means to the venues.  It also indicates that HersheyPark/Stadium  is only one of six industrial and commercial sites in PA that have StormReady certification from the National Weather Service.

Just got an email from Hersheypark that they are running a special coupon promotion – you can save $15 off a regular admission and $5 off a junior/senior admission by accessing the coupon here and printing it out and taking it with you.

With a bunch of big acts coming and going in Hershey at the Giant Center or the Star Pavilion or the Hersheypark Arena, I wanted to make sure everyone remembered the Hersheypark ticket discount for those attending a concert.

You can purchase a single day ticket for Hersheypark for $33.95 by showing your ticket stub for a performance at:  The Giant Center, The Star Pavilion, Hersheypark Arena or the Hershey Theater at the Hersheypark gate from May through September for ages 9-54.  This discount is good for the day before, the day of or the day after the concert.

For complete details, check the Hersheypark website here.

Zoo Tube at ZooAmerica

Checkout the ZooAmerica website here to read about their newest exhibit featuring ocelots Nib and Bean.  (Well, what else would you name them in Hershey PA?)  They are located in the Great Southwest section of the park.

When I was strolling through ZooAmerica in June I noticed the new Zoo Tube video kiosk above on the pathway near the deer and turkeys.  This kiosk contains an interactive video screen that displayed a high quality video tour of ZooAmerica plus other clips about animals and the environment.  Be sure to check it out next time you visit!