Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania is a free-admission, pay-per-ride park with a small coaster collection that punches far above its weight. What it lacks in count it makes up in quality: the best airtime machine on the planet, the only modern wooden bobsled coaster anywhere, and a coaster dark ride hybrid you cannot find at any other park.

1. Phoenix

Built in 1947 by Herbert Schmeck, trucked from San Antonio to Pennsylvania in 1985, and still the airtime king of wooden coasters. Simple buzz-bar lap restraints and a low, fast profile mean you float over every single hill, and the double-up and double-down near the end produce some of the most violent ejector air in the world. It routinely tops industry polls for best wooden coaster on earth.

• Height requirement: 48 inches to ride alone, 42 inches with an adult
• Best seat: any seat floats, but the back rows float longest
• Best time: after dark, when the train runs faster and the surrounding trees go black

2. Twister

Knoebels rebuilt the legendary Mister Twister from Denver's Elitch Gardens using the original designer's plans, splitting the lift hill in two to fit the hillside. Where Phoenix is pure airtime, Twister is force and disorientation: swooping drops, a tunnel, and a double helix finale that keeps pulling.

• Height requirement: 48 inches alone, 42 inches with an adult
• Best seat: back car for the strongest whip
• Best time: evening, when the structure lights up

3. Flying Turns

The only modern wooden bobsled coaster in existence, hand-built by the park over seven years. Trains freewheel down a wooden trough with no track, banking wherever physics takes them. It is not intense, it is simply unlike anything else in the world.

• Height requirement: 42 inches with a supervising companion, and crews balance riders by weight
• Best seat: wherever the crew puts you, every seat rides differently
• Best time: the first hour of the day, loading is slow and the line crawls by afternoon

4. Impulse

A 2015 Zierer with a vertical lift, a 90 degree first drop, and four inversions packed into a tight footprint. Smooth, snappy, and the park's only inverting coaster.

• Height requirement: 48 inches
• Best seat: front row for the straight-down view on the lift
• Best time: late afternoon, once the morning coaster crowd disperses

5. Black Diamond

Half coaster, half dark ride. Knoebels rescued the old Golden Nugget ride from the Jersey Shore and rebuilt it as an anthracite coal mining story, complete with drops in the dark and scenes you will not catch in one ride.

• Height requirement: 42 inches
• Best seat: front row for the scenes
• Best time: midday or during rain, the whole ride is indoors

6. Kozmo's Kurves

A gentle starter coaster for kids, and a perfectly respectable first credit for a future enthusiast. Adults ride along without shame at Knoebels.

• Height requirement: 36 inches with an adult
• Best seat: back
• Best time: whenever the kids demand it

How pay-per-ride changes your strategy

Each coaster costs a few dollars in ride tickets. On days when all-day wristbands are offered, usually weekdays, marathon riders should grab one. On ticket-only days, buy a large ticket book up front, it is cheaper per ride and keeps you from rationing laps on Phoenix.

First-timer order

1. Flying Turns at opening, before the line builds

2. Phoenix

3. Twister

4. Black Diamond

5. Impulse

6. Phoenix again after dark, the single best thing at the park

Enthusiast order

1. Flying Turns at open for the rare credit

2. Alternate Phoenix and Twister laps through late morning

3. Impulse and Black Diamond in the afternoon lull

4. Kozmo's Kurves if you count credits, no judgment here

5. Phoenix night laps until the closing announcement, as many as your ticket book allows