Ark in the Dark in the Park

[vovat]

Last weekend was our trip to Pennsylvania. The original plan was to drive to Pittsburgh on Friday, go to Kennywood on Saturday, and then to Knoebels on Sunday. The thing is, Knoebels was only open for four hours on Sunday. We'd checked it before, but got confused. So instead, we went to Knoebels on Friday, when it was also only open four hours, but late hours rather than early ones. It was also raining on and off all evening. Still, we managed to ride most of what we'd wanted to. It was the first time either of us had ridden a Roll-O-Plane, which they called the Satellite.

They've also installed a Rock-O-Plane, but they haven't trained the employees to operate it as of yet. This is something Beth has been looking into recently, and she told me that these and the Loop-O-Plane are three different kinds of old rides, but the Roll-O-Plane is sometimes called the Salt and Pepper Shakers. I'm not sure how that name makes sense, but I guess the "shake" part is accurate enough. We also rode the Flying Turns, which is sort of a combination wooden roller coaster and bobsled track. On the sled parts, it rides up pretty high on the sides. They had scales set up to make sure the cars balanced out properly. I forget which ride it was that made me feel a little queasy. Beth said the Impulse bothered her, but I was fine with that one. The Antique Cars had a special setup for Halloween, as did the Pioneer Train.

They call this time of year "Hallofun," and while I probably would have included the W, nobody asked me.


Kennywood is 125 years old this year, and has a few attractions that are billed as the last of their kind. The Turtle was closed, but we did ride the Kangaroo for the first time. The gimmick to it is that part of its cycle goes over a ramp to produce a hopping effect. It also makes springing noises.

Noah's Ark is a walkthrough that's also the last of its kind in operation, and we did the Halloween version that was entirely in the dark with people jumping out at you.

I felt they let us in too close to the people in front of us, so most of the scares were spoiled. On the other hand, we could follow their voices, so it was a mixed blessing. Ghostwood Estate is a haunted ride that doesn't only run during Phantom Fall Fest (their name for the Halloween season), where you're supposed to shoot at targets to scare off ghosts. I wasn't very good at it. There's a guy who guides you through it named Lord Kenneth Ghostwood, but did he have that name when he was still alive? There's a new ride called Spinvasion, which has an alien theme and cars that swing while the whole thing spins around.

We walked through two of the haunted attractions, the zombie-filled Kennyville Cemetery and Malice in Wonderland Unleashed. What we didn't get to do was ride the Auto Race, which broke down while we were in line.They had a lot of Halloween decorations, and these prizes at one of the games kind of reminded me of Dragon Quest.

I guess there's nothing particularly DQ-related about spherical creatures, but that's where my mind went.


I had originally wanted to drive maybe halfway home after this, but since it was an exhausting day, we instead stayed in Altoona and went most of the way on Sunday. We did stop on Saturday night at a place called Dean's Diner, after ruling out an understaffed Denny's and a closed Applebee's. I overheard a kid at the diner mention that there was a shooting in Indiana, which is where I went to college. We ate on Saturday afternoon at a cute restaurant called Fox's Diner, which served only breakfast on weekends.

And on Sunday, we had a meal at a surprisingly crowded Perkins. And I guess that's just about it for amusement parks this year, although we do still have tickets to Hersheypark.