Bayern Kurve Back at Kennywood

I found one on Youtube that has the tunnel feature that I was used to.

Click here.

^ Ok, that was different. I don't recall ever seeing a BK with a tunnel. All of the ones I remember had the full blown Olympic theme and it had that center piece with the electric cord that ran right to the middle car(I'm sure there's a technical term for it) that would prevent a tunnel from being built. The one in that video seemed to be a completely different model that I have never seen before.

Tom

I rode Cedar Point's in '76 or '77. And I believe it was gone by '84.

Didn't make my first K.W. trip till '87. But I have seen it come and go twice up till now.

I've never seen one with a tunnel either. Also, the people on this one are sitting side by side. On the one at SFMM (Sierra Twist, aka, Swiss Twist), you sat in a single row. I always thought of it as a "coasterlike" ride. Swiss Twist and Enterprise were the only flat rides I rode at SFMM on a consistent basis when they were there. I wish they would have kept those two.

Yeah, the tunnel must be an in-park modification. Don't think that Schwarzpopf sold them like that.

I wish we returned to the Olympic theme with each car representing a different country, but at least the ride will run again.

Here we go. This is the actual ride that I grew up with at SFGAm called the Yukon Yahoo and it had the standard cars. In this pic you can see the train coming out of the wooden tunnel (themed to Yukon territory of course). This was a Schwarzkopf model.

Click here.

Here is a distant shot of the tunnel which is shaped like a wooden house.

Click here.

This page has a couple of shots of California's Great America Berserker equivalent to SFGAm....

http://www.ryan-gluesing.com/travel/parks/greatamerica.htm

Richie Reflux said:Also, there was a different ride in Wildwood that had a similar feel to it, though it ran in sort of a "figure 8" pattern. Ididn't go on it for some reason, but wanted to. When I went back to Wildwood a year later it was gone and I think Canyon Trip was in its place.

Richie, there was a ride at Jenkinson's last year called Tornado that was a powered figure-8 coaster. Knowing how rides migrate along the Jersey Shore, have to wonder if this could be the ride you're referrring to? http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=9930ww&s=5

Another shot: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=efgbr6&s=5

rsscbell said:
I rode Cedar Point's in '76 or '77. And I believe it was gone by '84.

It was at Cedar Point from 1970 to 1984

Rollergator - - - > Nice photos, but that wasn't the ride. That one looks more like a real coaster, and less like a Swiss Bob. I recall the one at Wildwood had a green track.

Did Wildwood ever have a Blauer Enzian? That may be what you're thinking of, it's kinda figure 8-ish, but spiraly, too. Powered the whole way. Thunder Run at CW is their old Blauer Enzian moved from ground level up into the mountain, if that gives a.clue. http://www.rcdb.com/ig63.htm?picture=2

The one at Cedar Point had the full blown scenery package.

When the ride was new, it had an electrical bus bar attached to the base of the track on the inboard side, and a set of brushes on the center of the train. The electric was to drive the lights on the cars, and to operate the motors that control the car tilt. This allowed for the tunnel at the upper part of the ride, which, if I remember correctly wasn't really a tunnel, in that it was open on top, but the cars travelled behind a scenery panel. In the middle of the oval were additional scenery pieces, including a tall pole, I'm going to say it was about 10' tall, with a basket on the top. This pole was located off-center. The midway side of the basket sported the Schwarzkopf logo, along with his address and telephone number, and inside the basket were two animated figures (if you call bouncing up and down "animated"). At Old Indiana, the pole and basket were present, but were moved out to the midway instead of erected in the ride's infield. This is because the ride had been converted to slip rings. That's the ride last seen dismantled at Fun Spot.

Most of these things lost their bus bars and got the long extension cord with the slip ring assembly in the middle of the ride. The last one I saw that still had the bus bars was at Canada's Wonderland, but it didn't have the Schwarzkopf scenery package; instead it had a concrete mountain and a complete tunnel. I hear that ride got bulldozed.

There is a photo from a Schwarzkopf catalog on the Schwarzkopf coaster site HERE.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Great news! I always loved the thing!

Not going to miss the Wipeout much. I never cared for the way it slams you into the side, although always liked the Trabant...go figure.

Losing the Wipeout at Kennywood doesn't bother me too much because Waldameer has one that runs a full cycle (forward and backward) compared to the half cycle that was run at KW. None of the other parks aroun KW has a Bayern Kurve, however.

I plan to visit both of these parks this year. I want to get those rides on both Phantom and RF2.

I was glad to hear the Kennywood BK was making a comeback. I love those things!

-Tina

Here's the one at Kennywood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia56VeDli3Y

I'm pretty happy to see it coming back. I was pretty bummed when it disappeared and even more disappointed to see they moved the Wipeout to takes its place. That's a ride I won't miss.

BK is one of the few spin rides that's more exhilarating than nauseating. I have a lot of great memories on Kennywood's over the years, too.

Thanks for the video. It reminded me of how freekin' fast that thing is.

Now for a funny question. Is there anyone here who counts this as a coaster?

^Uh oh here we go. ;)

Let the floodgates open! :)

Actually the thought did cross my mind a few times but I still think of it as a flat ride.

-Tina

Carrie M. said:
BK is one of the few spin rides that's more exhilarating than nauseating.

So true, and yet I was never sure why. There are only three or four spinning rides that have never left me feeling ill, and BK is one of them.

The only one I've ridden was at Kings Dominion, and used to use for its tunnel a separate, smaller mountain (seen here on the far right) from the Lost World (which now houses V:TBC). The Bayern Kurve was called Mt. Kilimanjaro, and I'd always thought it opened in 1979 along with the other rides in the Lost World. I've heard other accounts recently that the ride itself may have already existed prior to the Lost World being built, and the smaller mountain was constructed around it. My first visit to the park was in 1978 when I was 5, so I have no memory of whether or not the Bayern Kurve was there that year. Anyone have the facts on Kilimanjaro?