Knoebels Campground and Amusement Park

We have been hearing about Knoebel's for years from friends in family.   It's been on our "to do" list forever.  So when Rob started talking about actually buying a pop up last spring, his exact wish was, "I want to be camping in our pop up at Knoebel's for my birthday in June."  That was about early May and I didn't think it would happen.

Never under estimate a determined husband.

So June rolls around, we've got two camping weekends under our belt, and off we go to Knoebels.  Two concerns, would it be hard to pull the pop up up all those big hills/mountains?  (OK, I know most east coasters don't consider the Poconos hills mountains, but this Illinois raised mid westerner would disagree.....)  And there was no water hook up...that's a lot of water to haul, right?

Part of the draw of Knoebel's is that there is a great amusement park there with no admission.  That's right, you can walk right in, no gates, no fences, right from the campground.  You just buy tickets for the rides you want to ride.  Great money saver since I really don't ride much.

So anyway, Rob decides to take off  Friday so we can get there, and set up and take advantage of discount night.  You can ride all the rides you want from 6pm - 10pm for just $10. Had I been thinking, I would not have bought myself a pass, and just bought tickets for the two rides I think I rode....

We left timing wise, that we would get there pretty close to our 3:00 check in time.  The drive was pretty easy, the mountains being no trouble.  I tell you though, I will not miss that little "bump" the camper does sometimes to the Van.  If I had to recommend these things to anyone, I'd say no matter what your owner's manual says, tow these things only if you have a tow package.  I did read on a board that one owner said he really thought he was burning through his van at a quicker pace than if he didn't tow his pop up.

We found Knoebels pretty easily.  We stayed at the camp site that was right there on site.  There is not at all a lot of room to park to check in, so bigger rigs, beware. We actually couldn't figure out what to do with ourselves, but we finally found a spot to pull over.

It was not hard at all to find our spot using the map, but hold onto that map.  I lost it over the course of the weekend, and had a couple of long walks back because I couldn't find the short cut paths.

We were on "British Columbia" street.  At first I was upset because I didn't want to be right next to the restroom.  But it worked out well.  We were really kitty korner and couldn't see it at all, nor most of the foot traffic.  Most people walked on Manitoba ave.  And it turned out to be quite convenient.  They had a nice dish washing station that was quite handy since there was no running water at the sites.

While much closer to the amusement park, the "states" avenues were much more crowded together and more wooded - completely shaded.  Where we were was more open and had less trees.  There was plenty of open space for the kids to play.

Wooded

our site on British Columbia Ave

plenty of room to run and play.

I'm afraid I didn't take any front pictures of our campsite or of the restrooms.  The rest rooms were very clean and easy to use.  There were several outside entry private stalls that were co-ed.  I never had a problem with a dirty stall.  Then they also had your typical indoor restrooms with the rows of stalls and showers at the end.  The showers were free, although somewhat annoying.  You'd pull a cord and the water would run for about a minute.  But the pressure was good, it was nice and hot and the stalls were clean so I'll take it!

If you aren't close to the amusement park, there is a fun bus that goes around regularly to pick you up.  

It really did go around about every 20 minutes or so, very reliable.  We opted to walk most of the time, as we are not "sit around and wait" people.  The walk was pretty easy. Right at the entrance is a little playground.  To my knowledge, this is the only playground.  Kids enjoyed it.  Beware, it's not mulch, but rather sand.

I can't say enough good things about the amusement park.  There was something there for everyone.  There were plenty of fast scary roller coaster rides for the older kids, and plenty of smaller kiddie rides for Noah and lots of in between rides all three kids could ride together.

One interesting thing, Knoebel's has one of only 18 Merry go rounds with the old fashioned brass rings.    Too hard for kids, but it was fun watching the adults try for it. Beware, the merry-go-round goes *fast* and the brass ring dispenser is hard.  Rob banged his finger up pretty badly.

Overall, it has been our favorite place to camp all summer.  Points off for a very grumpy staff, no water and virtually no gluten free food options in the amusement park. But points added for clean, quiet sites, good rest rooms with an excellent amusement park right on site. 

My final grade:  A-.  Definitely recommend this campground to others.

It doesn't hurt that my kids said multiple times "can we camp here every time?"  Happy kids make for a happy weekend!