Hidden in the woods of central Pennsylvania is the United State’s largest free admission amusement park – Knoebels Amusement Resort. Knoebels is the perfect family friendly destination. They offer free parking, free admission, and reasonably priced food, plus an expansive picnic area if you would like to bring your own food. You are welcome to bring outside food and drink into the park. Knoebels is flat, making it easy to push strollers or pull wagons with little ones. There is also plenty of shade and lots of benches throughout the entire park.
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Knoebels has over 60 rides, many of which have won awards. Knoebels has two wooden roller coasters, Phoenix and Twister, which have consistently won top wooden roller coaster awards. Their wood roller coaster, Flying Turns, is a mostly trackless coaster meant to mimic a bobsled. This one-of-a-kind ride has to be experienced to be believed. Your small coaster train whips around twists and curves, and since it is trackless, each ride will be slightly different based on the wight distribution of the riders. The bumper cars and Haunted Mansion have also won numerous awards. The Grand Carousel won Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Award for best carousel from 2007 to 2019, when the award was retired since there wasn’t any competition for Knoebels Grand Carousel. The Grand Carousel is one of the largest in the world and one of the few carousels that dispenses rings down a shoot that riders on the outside horses reach out to try and grab. Most of the rings are silver but one is brass. The person who grabs the brass ring is refunded the cost of their ride.
There are many other rides as well, including classics like the pirate ship, tilt-a-whirl, Ferris wheel, scrambler, and log flume. There are lots of kiddie rides also.
Because Knoebels has free admission, you need to purchase either tickets or ride all day wristbands to ride the rides. Wristbands are only available during the week. They offer an adult band for $53-$58 or a child (under 48” tall) for $35-$40. They also offer a sundown band after 4pm for $35 adult or $24 child. During the shoulder season they occasionally have buy one get one free deals on wristbands as well. Ride prices are listed on the website so you can easily decide if the wristband is a good deal for you personally. For some reason, the wristbands exclude the Haunted Mansion but all other rides are covered. If you feel that you won’t ride enough to make the wristband worthwhile you can just buy a book of tickets. On the weekends, everyone needs to use tickets.
Knoebels also offers free entertainment. They have interactive children’s plays, as well as many local musicians, so even if you don’t ride any rides, Knoebels is still worth visiting. They also have two small museums, one with antique carousel animals and one about coal mining, since Knoebels is located in an area that used to be a busy coal mining area. And don’t forget to pack your swimming suits. Knoebels has a huge swimming pool, with two diving boards, several water slides, and a kiddie water play area. Swimming pool admission is not included with the wristband but can be paid for with tickets.
As Knoebels is located in rural Pennsylvania there are not many hotel options close by. There are several private campgrounds, as well as two campgrounds operated by Knoebels. Knoebels Campground is located at Knoebels Amusement Resort. They offer tent and RV sites but only have electric hook-ups. Lake Glory Campground is located about ten minutes from the park. They offer tent and RV sites and have full hook-ups. At Lake Glory there is a lake for fishing, a stream for swimming, a playground, and bathhouses with toilets, showers, and coin operated washers and dryers. There is a free shuttle bus that runs between Lake Glory Campground and Knoebels. The bus has scheduled drop off and pick up times but we found that the driver was willing to provide transportation in between the scheduled times.
My Takeaway
I would highly recommend a trip to Knoebels Amusement Resort. Our family enjoys Knoebels much more than Hershey Park. It is also a great park to go to with grandparents, since they can enjoy time spent with the grandkids without worrying about paying for admission. Knoebels is affordable family fun at its best!