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Twister (Knoebels Amusement Resort)

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Coordinates: 40°52′37″N 76°30′15″W / 40.877058°N 76.504094°W / 40.877058; -76.504094
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Twister
Knoebels
LocationKnoebels
Coordinates40°52′37″N 76°30′15″W / 40.877058°N 76.504094°W / 40.877058; -76.504094
StatusOperating
Opening dateJuly 24, 1999
CostUS$ 3,000,000
General statistics
TypeWood
ManufacturerKnoebels Amusement Resort
DesignerJohn Fetterman, 1999;
from John Allen's 1964
"Mister Twister" design
Track layoutTwister
Lift/launch systemChain lift hill, split
Height101.5 ft (30.9 m)
Drop89.6 ft (27.3 m)
Length3,900 ft (1,200 m)
Speed51.5 mph (82.9 km/h)
Inversions0
Duration2:10 min
Height restriction42 in (107 cm)
Twister at RCDB

The Twister is a wooden roller coaster located at the Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. It is a recreation of the famous "Mister Twister," a 1964 John C. Allen design.

History

In 1998, Knoebels began a new wooden roller coaster project. Seeking to preserve another classic ride, the park looked into acquiring the defunct "Mister Twister", which had been abandoned when the entire Elitch Gardens amusement park was relocated in Denver, Colorado. This time, when space constraints made physically relocating the ride impossible, Knoebels purchased the blueprints and set out to rebuild the roller coaster from scratch, modifying the design to fit the space available.

For the new "Twister," ride designer John Fetterman created a modified mirror image of the original "Mister Twister" layout, compacting the ride but preserving the highlights of the old design and Allen's original mathematical model. These highlights included the large double helix, which now wraps around the ride's curved station, and a large swoop curve at the top of the lift hill. To keep the swoop curve in the new design, Fetterman created a split lift hill. To achieve this, the train climbs halfway up the structure on one lift hill, makes a 180-degree turn and finishes the climb on the second lift, stacked directly above the first one. While several roller coasters use more than one lift hill in their layout, Twister's zig-zag lift is unique.

"Twister" opened on July 24, 1999. The first rides were auctioned off to raise just over $8,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.[1] Taller and more intense than the "Phoenix" the coaster enjoys steady ridership and good rankings in roller coaster polls both formal and informal.

Statistics

  • Trains - 2 PTC, 24 passengers each
  • Design - 1964 original and 1965 modifications - John C. Allen; 1999 modifications - John Fetterman
Golden Ticket Awards: Top wood Roller Coasters
Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Ranking 15[2] 20[3] 22[4] 21[5] 25[6] 25[7] 29[8] 30[9] 32[10] 31[11] 32[12] 20 (tie)[13] 33[14] 39[15]
Mitch Hawker's Best Roller Coaster Poll: Best Wooden-Tracked Roller Coaster[16]
Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Ranking
13
24
32
32
33
34
33
35
43
45
45
49
46
52
55

References

  1. ^ Knoebels Amusement Resort History
  2. ^ "Top 25 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. August 2000. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  3. ^ "Top 25 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 6B. August 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  4. ^ "Top 25 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 6B. September 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  5. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 10–11B. September 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  6. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 14–15B. September 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 3, 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  7. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 22–23B. September 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  8. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 30–31B. September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  9. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 11 (6.2): 42–43. September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  10. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 12 (6.2): 42–43. September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  11. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 13 (6.2): 38–39. September 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  12. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 14 (6.2): 38–39. September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  13. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 15 (6.2): 46–47. September 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  14. ^ "Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 16 (6.2): 46–47. September 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  15. ^ "2013 Top 50 wood Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 17 (6.2): 40–41. September 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  16. ^ "Best Steel Roller Coaster Poll 19 year results table". BestRollerCoasterPoll.com. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
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