Knoebels hinting at 2006

Knoebels updated their Whats New page with Kosmo!

Flying Turns for '06? I thought they were still in the concept phase.

Rumors have hinted at it being open by as early as mid-2006, so with Knoebels now putting this up, I'd keep an eye on this..

+Danny

Good. Hopefully it will be open for "06,although I would rather see something else. Oh well, it will be something different for the park.

You'd rather see something different than the only ride of it's type in the world?

OK

Chuck

Well some of us are holding out for the launched mega-giga-hyper-squared running up the hill aside the Sky Ride. ;)

If they are talking about opening the Turns for 2006, I guess the issue with the cars was solved AND they built the time machine to let them go back into the past to find the lost technology. :) :) :)

I can't wait for my Turn either. I just hope it comes in 2006.

Intresting, new coaster in 06' or 07', either way I'm sure they won't let us down.

More turns for the rest of us! :)

My good friend Jeff and I were talking about this very thing the other day. We think many challenges are ahead for the boys at Knoebels to construct an all wood Turns, and I'd be surprised to see one in '06.

First of all, does anyone here know if they have any plans drawn yet, or if they have a design in mind? It seems logical that they would draw from a previously existing ride, but i'm not sure if any such plans exist.

I imagine I'm one of the few here fortunate enough to have ridden one of the original Flying Turns. (Euclid Beach) I can say a few things about the ride in general. First of all, the ride was extremely short, and I'm talking maybe 30-40 seconds from the top of the lift to the brake. That model was one of the largest, too, and was the tallest structure at the Beach. After a couple short "starter" dips it ran continously downhill from there with no level spots and certainly no blocking break. One of the last features was a spiral where the trains met with a "crowd" rail that forced the trains to the bottom of the chute and into the final sled-style brakes.

The turns themselves were tight and close, much more so than the Intamin or Mack versions found today. The Mack coaches are the closest thing I've seen to the original, perhaps they are small and flexible enough to be used on Knoebel's all wood ride. The wheels actually have to touch the wood chute, though, no metal rails existed on the original rides. I remember a wide stripe of paint on the track that followed the path of the train, perhaps it was to increase the durability of the wood. The original tracks were constructed out of cypress wood, I don't know how expensive that would be these days.

If anyone out there can successfully recreate a Flying Turns, the folks at Knoebels can, and they should be admired and thanked for the effort. Whether it appears in '06 or later, you all need to get there and try it. Even though my experience was "back in the day" it remains in my memory as one of the most thrilling rides I've taken.

My good friend Jeff and I were talking about this very thing the other day. We think many challenges are ahead for the boys at Knoebels to construct an all wood Turns, and I'd be surprised to see one in '06.

You vastly underestimate the folks at Knoebels. They've been wanting to do this project for some time now and have done a lot of research. The only thing previously holding them back was finding someone to build the trains and I believe that has been accomplished. Someone told me footers are already being poured although I cannot confirm that. I predict by Phunphest 2006 we'll be riding the Flying Turns.

The last I heard they were removing the concrete slabs that the Whirlwind was sitting on. That was around Halloween when they had the Phoenix and Antique cars open weekends! I couldn't see for myself because they had barriers up to keep people from wandering into the park.

I honestly see this as could happen for O6 and heres why? The track is troughs The structure is used in some cases three times durring the ride. Meaning there isn't a ton of Bents per sey. Dig the holes like Telephone polls, Concrete em in and then If they have sections pre built. Lower them into place.

Might not be as hard as folks think it will be. Then again, What do I know?

Moosh, Did you read his whole post? He did't underestimate them.

I did...I only meant that he underestimated that the park can get the ride open next year.

ok :P

Thank you, Charles.

And you're right, the structure of such rides allows for lots of layering, as the track tends to figure-8 and/or zigzag it's way toward the ground.

Perhaps Knoebels has been working on a design for years, I have no way of knowing. As I look at pictures of the old rides, though, I can't imagine that construction of such a track wouldn't be the most difficult and labor intensive thing we've seen in a while. They just don't build 'em like that anymore.

There's been talk since the early 80's of recreating the Turns, and so far attempts by steel coaster producers have fallen short. Mack comes closest, Intamin nowhere near. Even Arrow had a concept, but no one picked it up.

All's I was a-sayin' is... I'm glad Knoebels will give this a shot, and if anyone can do this it's them, and if it's by the '06 Phunfest I'm all the happier. I can't wait to see the details.

Moosh- do you know who will actually build these trains?

Moosh, I know who WON'T be building the trains! ;)

My dad was lucky enough to ride the Flying Turns. If this comes to fruitation i can't wait to see and ride these suckers. He always tells of how sweet they were. He said he was always a bit scared of them, because they looked so primitive, but he said that there was never anything like em.

Lets just say it can be done, and it will be an experience like no other, ladies and gentleman. *** Edited 12/5/2005 4:09:58 AM UTC by MagnunBarrel***

I'd tend to think that Knoebels had a pretty good idea what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it before they even announced that Whirlwind was to be removed.

Dick Knoebel just doesn't strike me as the type to shoot from the hip and announce something he isn't able to back up. At PPP he said he didn't know WHEN construction would begin, not IF, not when plans would be ready.

Just think... this one corner of the park will have a reconstructed original Looper and a re-created (not sure if that's the correct word to use) Flying Turns. It makes me wish there's some room left over to install more gems from the past.

What sucks is that the design was never dupicated over the years to keep the idea fresh. Was Euclid Beach the only park to have them. Also what sucks is that most of the parks rides were burned or were destroyed quickly after the demise of the park in 69. But they were unique no doubt, you only had to live in cleveland to really know. And you have to be about at least in your 50s. I have seen alot of things on them, be it books and a motion video of the Turns on a video my dad picked up years ago.