Twister Rollercoaster Knoebels Amusement Park

Only a few miles up the road from Knoebels ... The Centralia Mine Fire
Smoke rises out of the ground, the smell of sulfur is in the air, the ground collapses as homes are destroyed. Science fiction? Think again.

This is Centralia Pennsylvania, where a town was destroyed by a 44 year old mine fire.

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The Twister Rollercoaster
One of the latest additions at Knoebels and the largest of Knoebels rollercoasters. Twister is a World class wooden roller coaster created from a modified 1964 design with Switchback lift hill folded on top of itself; curved brake run, curved station; in-ground tunnel.

Speed: 51mph
Height: 101ft
Drop: 89ft
Length: 3,900ft
Duration: 2:10
Type: Wooden twister
Rolling Stock: 2 PTC trains with 6 cars
seating 4 with 24 riders per train.
Year Opened: 1999

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," a 1964 John Allen design 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. 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. The "Twister" train climbs halfway up the structure on one lift hill, makes a 180-degree turn and finishes the climb on the second lift. 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. Taller and more intense than the "Phoenix," the coaster enjoys steady ridership and good rankings in roller coaster polls both formal and informal.

As dedication to the original Mister Twister Coaster, an original bolt from that roller coaster was installed and marked with a sign stating: " The Golden Bolt - Installed here is a bolt from the Mister Twister Coaster, plans from which Knoebels Twister were derived. 9 Oct. 99"

Twister facts