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Now, I am far from a "Knoebelian", or a major Knoebels freak. I get the park. I understand what is going on there. Its just not completely my kind of thing, not my scene. Im not overly into the mountain boys running around and the whole unpolished feel, but it does remind me of a really good carnival, which makes it worth visiting once in a while. When I first went to the park about 5 or so years ago, I got on the Flyer. Seeing the exterior of it made me a little hesitant considering it did not necessarily look overly safe. It did, however, look quite enjoyable, so I gave it a shot. I got it to snap a couple times, which made me quickly stop what I was doing in complete and utter fear that I was breaking the ride and I was going to fall 20 feet to a none to be desired death. I continued riding the ride on my visits, just not with the ungodly fury that I had on that first go. However, upon reading up about the ride, and finding out what it is all about, I figured that I would give it a try once more. I knew how to snap the Flyer, but it had just been a while. I got to the park and met up with Nathan and Larry and Joe and got on the Flyer. The first ride was fun, but nothing overly spectacular in terms of my snapping skills. It had been a while. However, throughout the course of the day, the old timing and wrist action that had eluded me was coming back just like riding a bike, or swinging a golf club. I was back, swooping across the trees, swaying the flyer scooter like nothing. I was flying through the air and cutting through the wind like a bird. Not to mention, snaping like I was going to rip the motor out of the ground. What a fine ride, with many more to come. There is nothing like having Nathan yell from the car in front you me "Geeze Jay.", with a smile on his face and a look in his eyes as if Im a lunatic but in a good way. And another guy saying "Man, it will take two rides to get my snaps on that guy." And even gaining the respect of the ride ops along the way, with one actually shaking my hand later on in the evening as the sun was starting to set in the foreground. With all of this said, I cant get the same experience on this as a great coaster, making it hard to put in my Top 10, but it is truely a unique ride and experience once you get it down and can truely appreciate the greatness that the Flyer is, along with the macho pride of getting the thing to snap. I will take a good scrambler or swinging ship any day, but what the Flyer brings to the table is remarkable. The shear terror that can be had is crazy. It is one of the few rides that you will actually fear for your life, but that makes it what it is. Each ride is different and you are in control of your own destiny. I am not a major Knoebels person, but the Flyers really exemplifies what is Knoebels and what flats are about and what they should be. There is nothing like the Flyer, and it is only at Knoebels. Now, there is only one thing left to do: Hi, my name is Jay and I am a Flyer addict.
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