THE STORY OF THE TENNESEE TWISTER:
(Also, please comment! It would mean a lot to me!)
By 1983, a small park in Wyoming named King's Paradise had been operational for 12 whole years. But however, it was expected that soon, the Anders family, who owned the park, would experience financial trouble in maintaining the park. Seamus, Patrick, and Cathy all knew it was going to happen, but not this soon and not the way it did. Then, they had to make a very desperate move to get money back into their pockets. Regrettably, they were forced to sell one of their major attractions.
Sadly, they chose to sell Corkscrew. The park's first steel coaster and equally as legendary as their wooden coaster Racer. Over the years, this coaster had become the most expensive to maintain, so by selling it, the park saved tons of money to build bigger and better things. Most people find it sad that it had to require getting rid of a great ride...
After the 1983 season came to a close in September, park employees were granted one final ride on Corkscrew.
Deconstruction did not take long, seeing as how Corkscrew is a small coaster.
Soon, by November of 1983, all that remained of Corkscrew was the loading dock, entrance queue, and exit, which the park saved, and used for their new stand up coaster Venom Rail.
Corkscrew at Kings Paradise was sold to another amusement company just a week after it was removed from the park. However the buyers for some reason, kept the track and supports in storage for an extended period of time for unknown reasons...
The buyers of Corkscrew were the owners of an amusement park named FunSpot in the small town of Peppin, Winsconsin. FunSpot is a medium sized park with a few roller coasters. A Vekoma Hybrid (wood and steel) Mine Train coaster called the "Rock N' Roll Express" an Arrow Shuttle Loop named "Lazer Loop" and a tiny Wisdom Rides "Dragon Wagon", In 1991, Corkscrew was finally built and opened to replace the aging Pinfari "Galaxi" coaster.
In 2000, Corkscrew got new trains built by Vekoma and a new yellow and black paint job. It was also given a new name, "GravityMAX".
However, the tanking economy was not kind to FunSpot and they lost enough money to be forced to sell a roller coaster. Coincidentally, GravityMAX(Corkscrew) was beginning to show it's age as people complained of headbanging on the restraints and high amounts of roughness. In 2009, FunSpot's owner thought it would be best if he pulled the plug on the ride.
GravityMAX was replaced by a looping roller coaster built by the Italian manufacturers Sartori Rides, who is known for building the Cobra inverted coaster at Tivoli Friheden. The new coaster's name is Python and it's compact layout includes an Immelmann and a Cobra roll. However, Corkscrew was not scrapped (Thank God)... and in some state carnivals around the US, people reported seeing a black and yellow steel Corkscrew coaster with Vekoma trains operating under the "Corkscrew" name...
Finally, in 2011, the park known as Six Flags Smoky Mountians purchased the coaster, and relocated it to the park. It was first called GravityMAX, but or 2014, it was renamed to Tennesee Twister. The colors also changed, from black and yellow, to all grey, sans the corkscrews, which kept their black and yellow colors.
Now, Tennesee Twister is likely the most historic coaster at the park, and we can say that it will continue thrilling guests for years to come.