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KNOEBELS Amusement Resort
Elysburg, Pennsylvania

Park News - (8/3/2024) Good news, as one of our readers just reported in from Knoebels yesterday that the park had finally finished their restoration project on the Giant Flume ride and reopened it yesterday.

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    (7/6/2024) Screamscape is hearing that a nasty storm passing through may have caused some minor damage to Knoebels, with some trees down, or at least large branches. According to an unverified report, some branches may have struck Twister. While the park has yet to open for the date, we have not seen anything posted on their website about this, so any damage to the park may be minor and doesn’t seem to be preventing Knoebels from opening.
 
    (5/28/2024) A progress update from Knoebels posted on social media last week confirms that the park will be able to offer about 55 rides to guests this season. They also mention that currently they are working on five different restoration projects, including the Giant Flume (expected to open in July), Rock-O-Plane, Paratrooper and then they’ll decided if they want to go ahead and finish the Bayern Kurve project or PowerSurge.

 
    (11/18/2023) Knoebels has announced the return of the “Joy Through the Grove” drive-through Christmas light experience. Look for it to open from November 24 through to December 31st, but will be closed on Dec. 24th and Dec. 25th.  Guests will be able to drive through a 2-mile long course past over 500 lighted displays, including some brand new scenes added this year.
 
    (9/2/2023) Knoebels has confirmed that they have taken down the park’s PowerSurge ride and will soon begin building a new ride! As rumored, Knoebels will welcome a classic Rock-O-Plane ride to the park, obtained from the former Joyland park.

2024 - New PowerSurge & Bayern Kurve - (9/24/2023) While the PowerSurge at Knoebels is being replaced by the classic Rock-O-Plane the park purchased from Joyland it was confirmed that Knoebels has retired their old PowerSurge. According to this article Knoebels is working with Zamperla to design a new updated version of the PowerSurge that will feature electric motors rather than Hydraulic systems like the old one had. According to Knoebels, “Our PowerSurge had existed longer than any other PowerSurge” and they decided that due to age and complexity of the systems, it wasn’t worth keeping any longer.
    However… this article confirms that not only is the new electric motor based PowerSurge returning to the park next March, but when it does return it will also be set up back on the same site as the old PowerSurge. The Rock-O-Plane will then be moved to another location in the park for the 2024 season.
    Speaking of 2024, Knoebels is still working out the kinks on opening their new Bayern Kurve ride, which was refurbished and assembled from the combined parts of two former Bayern Kurve rides. Knoebels says the process and complexity of the ride’s systems are taking longer than expected to get running at the level needed for operations, so look for it to hopefully arrive on the list of open attractions next season on the site of the former 1001 Nachts ride, near the Pioneer Train.
 
    (7/22/2023) According to a park guest, there has been little to no further progress at Knoebels on opening the restored Bayern Kurve ride since early June. So obviously there are some items on the checklist that still need to be worked out, but hopefully they’ll get it up and running before too long.
 
    (6/10/2023) A reader dropped by Knoebels the other day and sent back a couple of pictures of the park’s new Bayern Kurve as they prepare to get it ready to open to guests in the near future. (Photo Credit for 6/10/2023 additions: Jeff Y.)
 
    (4/30/2023) Knoebels has posted a great look at their new Bayern Kurve ride. They confirm that it wont be ready for riders until this Summer, but when this restored 1963 ride opens it will become the ‘fastest ride in the park!”
    It’s great to see one of these back in action, as there are so few left in the world today. On a personal note, I remember frequently riding the one that used to run at Six Flags Magic Mountain for years, opening in 1973 as The Swiss Twist, and later renamed Sierra Twist until it was removed in 2008. Trust me, the G-Forces on these are intense, even by today’s standards.

 
    (2/25/2023) Knoebels has confirmed that their crews are busy putting together the park’s newly refurbished Bayern Kurve ride that will thrill guests this season. As we have previously reported, Knoebels purchased a pair of older retired Bayern Kurve rides previously and has been working to combine the best parts from the two to create a completely refurbished ride for guests to enjoy for years to come.
    According to the article, the park’s new Bayern Kurve is expected to be ready for guests during the park’s opening weekend, slated for April 29th. Back when I was young, rides like these Schwarzkopf creations were fairly common and theme parks everywhere, offering a high speed (up to 70mph) and G-Force intensive experience on the highly-banked track. Over the years, they have slowly been retired, one-by-one, until there were only three left: One in France, one in Belgium and in North America only the Beserker at California’s Great America remains, but that will change this Spring.

 
    (3/3/22) Knoebels has confirmed that they will debut a Bayern Kurve ride at the park in 2023. As we’ve previously mentioned, the park has bought the remains of two former such rides and has slowly been refurbishing them in order to create one fully functional ride to open at the park. If all goes as planned, look for the Bayern Kurve to be set up on the former site of the 1001 Nachts attraction.

    (10/24/21) For those wondering, we’ve been sent a lot of info about the Bayern Kurve spotted at Knoebels and what’s going on. As I speculated, this is a long-term restoration project that the park is performing, and they’ve actually bought TWO Bayern Kurve attractions with the intent to eventually restore and merge them into one functioning ride for the park.
    As mentioned before, one of the ride units is indeed from Indiana’s closed Fun Spot park and the other one came from Amusements of America, which used to travel under the name “Swiss-Bob”. The rides have been at Knoebels since at least Fall of 2020 and are set up in various states in the lot so they can work on them.
    Again, there is no timetable on this restoration project, so definitely don’t expect to see these ready to roll for the 2022 season. But it will be fun to see this eventually added to Knoebels ride collection for future generations to enjoy.
 
    (10/13/21) A reader sent in a picture of the Bayern Kurve sitting in the lot at Knoebels, back when they spotted it on a trailer in August. Based on this, we can say that this is not the one from Kennywood, and is also a portable model. According to another source, some believe this might be the Bayern Kurve that used to sit at Fun Spot in Indiana before that park closed. We’ve also heard reports that this same Bayern Kurve was spotted in the lot at Knoebels around this same time of year back in 2000 as well, but it never operated.
    Perhaps Knoebels may have purchased the old ride with the intention to refurbish it themselves whenever they have spare time.
 
    (10/11/21) Anyone been by Knoebels lately? A Screamscape reader reported in this weekend, claiming to have seen a Bayern Kurve ride sitting in plain view in the parking lot, with the train sitting on a trailer next to the track.
    Bayern Kurve rides are pretty rare these days and the last time one was in the news was when Kennywood announced that they were going to retire their Bayern Kurve in late 2020 along with three other older attractions. It makes me wonder if Knoebels, known for maintaining an older selection of rides, decided to make a play for the old Kennywood ride. If anyone has spotted the ride at Knoebels this weekend, I’m curious if the colors match the old Kennywood ride.

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