(Knoebels Amusement Resort – Elysburg, Pa.) The year 2020 has been cruel to the amusement park industry. Most parks across the United States delayed opening to the end of June and into July, with some deciding to remain closed for the rest of the year. For those who did decide to open, they’ve made the best of the cruel hand that was dealt to them. One park who is using this time wisely, however, is Knoebels Amusement Resort (KAR), located in Elysburg, Pa.
Knoebels opened for the 2020 season on Wednesday, July 1. Like most parks, Knoebels was not able to open with its full compliment of rides and attractions due to staffing and preventative measures related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Thankfully the parks big guns, if you will, Phoenix and Twister, are currently operating. These two rides are the largest wooden roller coasters at the park. Their smaller sibling, Flying Turns, however, is not currently open and is undergoing a retrofit.
For those who are unfamiliar with Flying Turns, it is what is classified as a bobsled coaster. A bobsled coaster resembles exactly what you see when you turn on the Winter Olympics. These coasters feature no fixed track, except for the lift hills and brake runs. The cars move through the long, winding half-circle shaped structure freely, allowing them to sway side-to-side. (see photo above)
The fact that Knoebels Flying Turns is made of wood makes it a unique attraction in today’s amusement park industry. Only eight total bobsled coasters are listed as currently operating on the Roller Coaster Database (RCDB). The remaining seven bobsled coasters are all made of steel and only three of those are located in the United States. Those include: Alpine Bobsled at Great Escape (Queensbury, N.Y.), Avalanche at Kings Dominion (Doswell, Va.), and La Vibora at Six Flags Over Texas (Arlington, Texas),
Knoebels certainly one-upped the rest of the industry when they built Flying Turns, catching the attention of many. The park’s intention was to pay homage to and construct a ride based on the bobsled coasters built back in the 1930’s. They succeeded.
The 2020 season, however, sees Knoebels taking advantage of the smaller crowds to complete a much needed retrofit to Flying Turns. According to Knoebels Amusement Public Relations Director Stacy Ososkie, the reason for the ride’s retrofit is to improve the rides overall functionality. She said the change being made to the ride is the addition of a fourth lift hill. This lift hill will serve as a means to better move the ride’s trains into the final brake run and back to the loading station. Osokie explained that during morning testing and certain weather conditions, the ride was prone to issues completing the course. These improvements are designed to remedy that problem.
When asked if the retrofit will also include any type of extension of the ride’s course overall, Ososkie said no.
Knoebels is no stranger to putting in some work on Flying Turns. Construction on the ride began in 2006, but the ride would not open to the public until 2013. It took the park seven years to get this ride operating how they envisioned. President of Knoebels, Dick Knoebel, and ride designer, John Fetterman, never gave up. They would keep pushing, making alterations to the structure and ride vehicles until it was just right. They would not be defeated.
For the last seven years, Flying Turns has been a favorite ride for many visiting the park and a credit that coaster enthusiasts crave. For those not into coaster enthusiast lingo, a “credit” simply means riding/experiencing a roller coaster. For some enthusiasts, they crave the unique credits and Flying Turns is just that. Those enthusiasts will drive countless hours to Knoebels to experience Flying Turns at least once in their life. No distance is too far for them to be able to say, “Hey, I rode Flying Turns.”
Most park-goers aren’t enthusiasts, though. They’re at Knoebels with their family, a group of friends, or on a school trip. For them, Flying Turns is also one of their favorite rides. The bobsled coaster regularly has some of the longest lines at the park on any given day. Although some of that can be attributed to its slower operations and smaller train size, no one can deny that Flying Turns has been a crowd-pleaser for Knoebels.
Right now, with the ride closed for construction, those lines are non-existent. I’m sure once this ride is ready to go again, the lines will resume and visitors to Knoebels will be happy to line up for another ride on this unique coaster. Coaster enthusiasts will resume their treks to Knoebels, to experience Flying Turns, while also riding other stalwarts like Phoenix, Twister, and popular rides like their Haunted Mansion dark ride. Once Knoebels announces that operations on Flying Turns has resumed, there will undoubtedly be lines wrapping out of the queue once more.
Hopefully 2021 brings some normalcy back to the world and the amusement park industry. This is destined to be a down year for every park, no matter how big or small. For those of you able, or comfortable enough, support your favorite parks as they go through this tough time. And in Knoebels case, know that they’re already getting a head start for their 2021 season as this summer comes to a close.
