 Welcome to the fifth installment of the series, Whatever Happened to. In this episode, I am going to be discussing the Bobsled roller coaster model, my thoughts on why they were initially so popular, why I think they declined to popularity, and whether I believe we could be seeing more built in the future. Stay tuned. From the years 1929 to 1941, 12 wooden Bobsled coasters, which were referred to as flying turns coasters, opened up at amusement parks across the US. All of these flying turns models were closed by 1974. Kenobals in Ellysburg, Pennsylvania actually constructed and opened a brand new flying turns for the 2013 season, and this is the only wooden Bobsled coaster in operation in the world. However, we are going to be looking more specifically at the much more modern steel counterpart to the flying turns, simply called Bobsled coasters. Despite this, many of the same thoughts I have about this model can simply be applied to the flying turns model as well. The first modern steel Bobsled coaster opened in 1984. This was Sarajevo Bobsleds at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Manufactured by Intamin, their version of the ride was referred to as the Swiss Bobs. And five of these Swiss Bobs would be manufactured in only two years. Four were relocated at some point. Three are still in operation today, but unfortunately, there will soon only be two. As Bob at Efteling is going to be closing in August of 2019, the other two that are still currently in operation are La Vibora at Six Flags over Texas and Alpine Bobsled at Great Escape. McRides would introduce their own version of the Bobsled coaster model in 1985, just one year after Intamin. This version is just called Bobsled. Six of these McBobsled coasters would open over the course of 16 years. The first one being at McRides' very own Europa park in Russ, Germany called Schweizer Bobbin. All but one of the six McRides Bobsled coasters to be built are still in operation. The only one which closed being the Munich Autobahn at the now defunct Kobe Portopia Land in Japan, which was closed as a result of the park closing. Both steel versions of the Bobsled coaster being introduced right about the same time were initially very popular and many of the Intamin models were ordered extremely quickly. These models were apparently pretty successful for these parks since so many were built so rapidly. I believe this popularity was gained for a couple reasons. First of all, these are family coasters and they provide a great thrilling but not intense experience that the whole family can enjoy together. These were very unique at the time being a modern version of a defunct classic coaster model and not utilizing any rails for the wheels of the train to run along. Instead, these Bobsled coasters would rely on a circular trough to guide the cars along. The cars could glide up along the edges of the trough which would also make these all the more thrilling. So if these were so popular, why did they decline rapidly leaving only 7 to be in operation as of August 2019 and no new ground up steel Bobsled coasters being built since 2001. I believe that eventually, like many once popular rides, these were exceeded in popularity by more popular models that were able to do more with the layouts. Since these Bobsled coasters only featured a trough, they are reserved to more tame ride layouts and basically just descending shallowly into many mild twists and turns. I also think that these may have been a bit of a novelty at the time. When they were introduced in 1984, there were no other Bobsled coasters in existence since they had all become defunct, resulting in these modern versions being a sort of retro throwback. In conclusion, I don't see any real chance of a park ordering a brand new Bobsled coaster at any point in the future. At this point, the model seems so dated and is so limited in what it is able to do, even as a family coaster and the novelty seems to have worn off on these, though there are still fairly unique rides. So what do you all think about the Bobsled coasters? Have you ridden any and did you enjoy the unique ride experience? Do you think there's a possibility that more of these could be built in the coming years? Make sure to let me know your thoughts about this topic in the comment section below and let me know what model you'd like to hear me talk about next and whatever happened to. Like and subscribe for more roller coaster and amusement park content every week from CoasterDaddy. Thank you so much for watching, bye.