Flying Turns Update

Interesting, not as restrictive as I imagined, but then again these are only prototype. Thanks for the pic! Very nice to be able to have some grasp on any visual data about these trains.

Ooooooo what a tease!

It sure doesn't look like the original cars, at least from this angle. It looks like they're going for a wood theme, if this is actually what they end up going with. I don't know if the seats were even fastened to the car, the workers were wiggling them a lot. Since I was underneath it, I couldn't see if there were any restraints yet but I doubt there were.

Regarding the rest of the ride: the transfer switches aren't even started yet, I couldn't tell if there was any metal on the track at all even though I had heard that there was, one small section of chain was laid out in the chain guide on one lift, the beams that could be seen on the webcam before it went down are the station floor, poles are mounted on all the lifts for lights, the pole I mentioned at the top of the big lift is holding two items that I can't tell whether they're tiny cameras or photosensors, there were at least two connected chassis without seats sitting at the junction of the after-brake turn and the third lift, one more chassis was being test-fit on the big lift with a crane, and the queue entrance under the third lift was receiving an archway made of trough rings :)

^Couldn't really look much like the original cars. THOSE were built when liability meant the company could trust you to be *sensible*, and they'd be held accountable only if their ride/vehicle were SERIOUSLY defective and led to bad injuries. Now, different times. They get to shoulder the additional responsibility of having to protect riders from the riders themselves....

Man, that car sure looks tall. I wonder how close to the floor riders will sit? The cars I rode were the same as Steeplechase's Flying Turns cars, they basically had a pad on the floor, a real lowrider affair. I think they went that way to improve from the first generation cars, wanting to get the center of gravity and riders much lower in the car and therefore closer to the trough walls.

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Jim S. said:
and the queue entrance under the third lift was receiving an archway made of trough rings :)

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Nifty little touch, but I wonder if it was planned as that or "hey we have some of these leftover what should we do..." last minute thing ;) With Knoebels I'm betting the later, which is why Knoebels has such a neat atmosphere to it lol.

^^ I hope the seats aren't TOO low, or else I may need the one with the power lift chair option. :)

I assume the deep seats, if they are actually deep, are an attempt to keep people from hanging their arms over the edge of the cars and getting them mangled. (They really don't want to have to use shoulder restraints.)

Perhaps they should just use a modified version of the Mach bobsled trains.

I have recently uploaded some new Flying Turns pictures. They are from June and can be found at the bottom of the page. There are no captions on them yet but they are from JUNE. Click on them to get the full pic. Lots more to come!
direct link:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7jc8q/id14.html

main site:
http://www.placeswecouldgo.com

The webcams are back up. The first one has been tilted down a little to give a fuller view of the station, which already has a roof over the entire loading side. (I was there Friday and there was no roof at all.)

Sorry to be a pain but I just thought I'd let you all know I have uploaded even more pictures and one does have the loading area (at least it looks like the loading area) with a full roof over it as of June 7th. All pictures I uploaded today are as of June 7th and are now dated as such. Enjoy and as always there's more to come and not only from Knoebels.

Main site:
http://www.placedwecouldgo.com

Direct link:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7jc8q/id14.html

I can't wait for this thing to open already but I do realize this is a hand made object. Is it me though or is attendance off at all parks this year? I've been to Dorney, Hershey and Knoebels all on prime days and they don't seem to be pulling in the crowds at any of them.

PS: Make sure you click to get the big pic. Save them if you want. It's a piece of history you know. No other park has this ride. *** Edited 7/17/2007 12:11:54 AM UTC by robert mosley***

Robert, I think you need to fix the spelling on the link to your main site. Also, the area shown under roof in your one pic I believe is the brake run, not the station. But they're still great pics. Thanks for posting them.

They have new pictures up on the site: http://www.knoebels.com/whats-new.asp

it shows pic of them testing the trains as well and also if you notice at the top of that webpage says: Storytellers In production, Flying Turns Resuurecting a Legend" coming on DVD. wonder what that is all about??? can't wait!

I'm not sure if it's related, but there was an independent film crew at the Eastcoaster site visit this past winter. They said they were going to try and sell their production to PBS in northeast Ohio and Western PA.

Nice pics all around, and interesting about the DVD, The construction has been going for quite some time so It could be a good thing to look into if you want to "re-live the anticipation", or then again which will come out first the DVD or the ride ;)

*** Edited 7/18/2007 7:07:36 PM UTC by P18***

Wow! Can't wait for this. Looks great.

Does anyone know more about the trains? Looks like, from the pics, the care are single seaters.

There's supposed to be two individual seats per car, 5 cars per train, if they stick with the original plans.

Yippee! On the long shot from the lift (final photo), that car is right where it's supposed to be...90 degrees. Excellent! We are in for OnE wILd rIdE!

With TWO new Woodies opening there next year I have a STRONG feeling I will be spending next years Vacation in Pennsylvania! :)

Answer my Prayers, Overbook my next Flight!