When I first launched We Were Inverted I was working a job where I had been for 24 years. Shortly after launch, I decided to leave that job and try my hand at something else. Long story short, those things didn’t work out and a few months ago I returned to that job.
During my time at this job it became an annual tradition for me to arrange amusement park trips for the staff in June. It started off as a small group of friends and I going out for my birthday every year. When others heard about our trips, they asked if they could come along. With my birthday falling at the start of June, I was also asked if we could push it back a week or two so they could finish up with their classes. I agreed and as the years progressed, more and more people would attend these trips. Many of the Flight Crew members I met through this job.
Less than two hours on the floor on my first day back on the job back in May, someone asked me if I would be arranging a trip for this year. I guess people really liked the trips. I said sure and made the choice to go to Knoebels on Monday, June 26. I hung up a sign-up sheet and about 30 signed their names.
As June 26 drew near, however, we found ourselves in the midst of almost daily rain showers and thunderstorms throughout the region. Most people decided not to make the trip because they didn’t want to risk driving almost three hours to face ride closures. I don’t blame them. There was 10 of us, however, who said “screw it,” and decided to take our chances.
While we did encounter a passing storm upon our arrival, the skies cleared up two hours later. We had favorable weather the rest of the day and made the best out of a questionable situation.
Grabbing Rides & Missing POV's
Throughout my numerous visits to Knoebels I’ve been able to film a handful of POV’s of the park’s major rides. Not all of them turned out as nicely as I had hoped and a few rides were also down on the days I brought my GoPro. Prior to this visit you could find POV’s for Twister, Phoenix, and Giant Flume on the We Were Inverted YouTube channel. I have been waiting to grab some footage while on-ride for both Flying Turns and Impulse and give Black Diamond and Haunted Mansions another try. With both those rides being in the dark, my original tries weren’t usable.
While it rained, I was able to jump on both Black Diamond and Haunted Mansion since they are indoor. I filmed better footage on both and will be adding them to the channel soon. Once the rain passed, it was onto Flying Turns and Impulse, but I didn’t only film them, however. Nope. I also decided to grab some footage while riding Downdraft, Sklooosh!, and some back row POV’s on Phoenix and Twister. I figured, “Why not?”
The majority of the footage I grabbed will make it onto the channel soon, with Flying Turns already published. And speaking of Flying Turns…
Flying Turns
The last time I rode Flying Turns was in 2019, which was also another workplace trip. That visit saw over 75 people attend and all the park’s rides were opened. In 2020, however, when this site launched and when I purchased my GoPro, Flying Turns was being re-tracked. I missed out filming on the ride twice that year and then again in 2021 when it was closed during another visit. My long wait was now over.
Due to this ride having assigned seating my two rides came in the second and third cars of the train. I decided to film both rides and thought the footage might look nice with the cars out in front of me swaying throughout the wooden bobsled track. I turned out to be right. The only reason I decided to publish the footage from the second car over the third was due to the train being stopped for a minute or two on the final chain lift. I still might publish it too. I haven’t decided yet. I do hope to get a front row ride at some point to get an unobstructed view.
As for the ride itself, everyone in the group loved this little ride. Some had experienced Reptilian (formerly Avalanche) at Kings Dominion, but for about half the group, this was their first bobsled. I, myself, have always enjoyed this little ride. It’s far from my favorite in the park, but I appreciate it for what it is – a one-of-a-kind throwback to rides long gone.
Impulse
Unlike Flying Turns, I did have a couple of chances to film Impulse during my 2020 and 2021 visits. During both of those visits, however, I I decided to focus on having fun and leave the GoPro at home. Since I also enjoy photography, I often feel the internal fight between both hobbies wanting to take center stage. On this day, however, I was letting the photographer in me go to town.
While my all-time favorite vertical lift coaster is Fahrenheit at Hersheypark, I’ve always found Impulse to be a decent ride. I certainly like it better than most Gerstlauer Eurofighter models, to which Impulse resembles. Impulse also gives Knoebels a ride vastly different than anything else they offer. My only complaint about the ride, and it was hopefully just on this day, was one train operations. Yes, than means only eight people were loaded and/or riding at most. Granted the park wasn’t busy, but even a second train to load/unload while the other is out on the course would have been nice. I’m not even saying to run all three. Having just one kept the line moving at a snail’s pace. After losing a couple of hours due to the storm, a second train would have been nice so people could move from ride to ride to catch up on missed time.
Twister
When it comes to Twister, let me give massive praise to Knoebels. I’ve always loved this coaster and find it to be much better than most. As of late I’ve been seeing a lot of people claim to like it better than Phoenix, especially this year. Well, I think I found out why. The park did some re-tracking on Twister and it is running better than I have ever experienced. It’s so smooth and is running so fast. While I do rank Phoenix above Twister, at this time, it isn’t by much. This recent track work has me wondering if I might join the “Twister > Phoenix” camp. It’s that good.
About half our group had never visited Knoebels and all of them preferred Twisted to Phoenix. So this idea it’s not just crazy enthusiasts with a hot take. These are every day people who love parks and pay money just like the rest of us. While they might not be as ingrained into our hobby as we are, they are all people who love a good coaster and for them, Twister was their favorite coaster of the day.
Final Ride Counts
Black Diamond (1)
Downdraft (1)
Cosmotron (1)
Flying Turns (2)
Giant Flume (1)
Haunted Mansion (1)
Impulse (2)
Kozmo’s Kurves (1)
Phoenix (3)
Sklooosh! (2)
Twister (2)
Heading Back on July 17th
Since so many of my coworkers were deterred from visiting the park due to the rain, I promised them we’d do a second round sometime in July. After some discussion, we’ve decided upon Monday, July 17. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will stay clear. I want to bring my new Sony A7 IV and lenses this time. I left it in the car on the June 26 visit because I didn’t want to chance it getting soaked in the rain.
After the photos I recently took at Hersheypark, I want to do a round in Knoebels as well. When I do, I’ll be back here to share the results and give you an overview of that day too. Until then, I hope you get a chance to visit a park or two and ride some amazing coasters.
Knoebels Photo Gallery - June 26, 2023
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
Eric
Lieutenant
New Credit(s): n/a
