SF Elitch Gardens - CoasterBuzz

Does anyone know the history of this park? I've heard it used to have a pretty good woodie (Twister?) before the park was moved.
It apparently has a lousy location, so why would a good park with a good location move into a tiny spot and sacrifice a decent coaster?

The thing was that it had out-grown its location. The original park was only 26 acres or something like that. It was also outside od Denver city limits. Apparently, the owners said that the move to Denver would "ensure the future of the park' whatever that means. As for the coasters, it had two great woodies. The first was the Wildcat which was not moved. The second was arguably the greates woodie ever built, Mr. Twister. This coaster was so well known around the metro-area so they decided to keep the name. The reason it wasn't moved was for financial reasons (it costs a lot to move a coaster) but, as for the new design we can only guess.

Twistamaniac,
You wouldn't happen to know if there were (or are) any operating woodies that are clones or near clones of Mr Twister, would you? There's a million different versions of the Coney Island Cyclone you can ride, but I'd love to get the chance to ride a replica of Mr Twister...

Yes,there is. Knoebel's Grove used the original plans of Mr. Twister and built a coaster. There were a couple of changes that had to be made, due to the foot print it had to fit. From what I have heard it does it's namesake justice. I have ridden the original Mr. Twister and the word intense pretty much describes the experience.

The Knobel's remake, is supposedly excellent (never ridden it) but it uses a double lift.

The new Twister II at the new Elitch Gardens is supposedly pretty bad, though.

I've ridden Twister II myself and yeah, it pretty much sucks. It's very rough, and way too short. Then again, SFEG doesn't really have much to offer, and this is one of the few original rides the park has.

I rode Twister II this year, and was expecting a lot more out of it. After hearing all the positive remarks last season about the ride, I must admit I had high hopes for it. I think that the layout is extremely creative and that the ride had a lot of potential. One of my biggest problems with it is that the second chain lift idea sucks, it really creates a moment of downtime in the ride. The two best parts of the ride have to be the helix around the station, and the tunnel. I had no idea that there was a tunnel on the ride and that took me by surprise. Overall, good coaster, but by no means as great as most people place it.

Eyelikevag, are you talking about the Knoebel's Twister or the one at SFEG. Twister II is the roughest ride I have ever been on. Don't get me wrong that rough is not good but this is rough in extremis. The original was my first coaster and now every other ride isn't quit as good as Mr. Twister because I started out on the best.

biggs said:
"Twistamaniac,
You wouldn't happen to know if there were (or are) any operating woodies that are clones or near clones of Mr Twister, would you? There's a million different versions of the Coney Island Cyclone you can ride, but I'd love to get the chance to ride a replica of Mr Twister..."

Knoebels Twister did use the same plans although they tweaked it to fit the land. All the banking and turn radiuses are the same as the original. The main things Knoebels changed are the lift (folded) and the helix they put thru the lift instead of keeping it to one side like the original. I believe they also lowered the second high spot on the double helix to lessen a slow spot on the original.

I think it's a fantastic ride. It delivers lots of strong laterals and has a few spots of air. My favorite is the enterance to the double helix there you experiance lateral and negative G's at the same time! It feels as if it's trying to throw you out of the train.

One site that has great pictures of both coasters is at: http://www.hometown.aol.com/bobcoaster/index.html
also www.knoebels.com has a great aerial photo of Twister on their site. Just go to the rides and find Twister.
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