Chance Toboggans

I was wondering the following:

1. How many people fit in each car?

2. Do they have transfer tracks?

3. Any airtime on the end bunny hops?

4. Are they fun?

5. Would one be more fun if it were enclosed & themed (ala Disaster Transport)?

6. Would a used one be a good choice for small parks?

Thanks!

I've only riddin the Toboggan at Lakemont Park and it can be fun.  Certainly not the evil torture device some people make them out to be.
1) Two average size adults should be able to fit into a car.  At least me and my girlfriend did without too much effort.

2) I don't believe so.

3) Sort of, my head contacted the roof of the car at least once.

4) They are fun for what they are.  Don't ride one and compare it to a "normal" roller coaster, ride for the experience and the chance to go on something weird.  Riding most any ride is more fun then not riding a ride, but it probably isn't something you'd want to go too far out of the way for.

5)I don't know. I do know that is kind of neat to be able to watch the car in front of you and wonder if you are going to hit it (which happened to me at Lakemont - probably the only coaster where this can happen and it doesn't matter).

6)I don't know about the maintenance or reliability of the ride but it could make a unique addition, especially for parks that are geared towards children.  Kids will really think they are riding something large and scary and it is more exciting than a lot of kiddie coasters.  t is not a replacement for a true roller coaster however ('m not comfortable calling this thing a roller coaster).
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everything's better with a banjo*** This

*** This post was edited by millrace on 10/4/2001. ***

Chance Toboggans are a trailer mounted carnival ride. The cars seat two. I don't recall a transfer track (I doubt that there is one), and air time is non-existent. Add to this the fact that this ride wasn't a big seller (it is VERY heavy and has a low rph) and is now out of production.

Ummm, a new Toboggan rid just opened upback in Europe this year. What do you mean by that? JW. Not meaning to sound mean if I do sound like that.
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Formerly SFMMANIAC

1. I (5'11" 180lbs) was snug in my car by myself.

2. No.

3. Finer than any woodie at Cedar Point, IMO

4. They are great for what they are.

5. It would have to be a damn good theme job.

6. No. Get something new & modern.

I rode the The Swiss Toboggan @ Little A-Merick-A a small park outside of Madison Wi The vertical lift was fun it had a cone on the outside of it (ok theming for a old traveling carnival ride) the bunny hills were a bit pain full. Not as bad as the bunny hills on the old mouse coaster that was there.  1. 2 people can fit in them (my head touching the roof) 2. No it did not 3. not really 4.they are ok rides like I said the best part of the ride is the vertical lift 5. I think I would be cool if it was pitch black. 6. Yeah i think they would be perfect- Little A-merrick-A uses it!

Advice for riding a Toboggan.....
Do not sit with your legs stretched out in front of you. Instead, put your feet flat on the floor so that your legs are sticking up; this will put pressure on the underside of the lap bar.
This will hold you down in the seat when you go through the dips at the end of the ride, you won't bump your head against the car roof.
The same tactic works on the Larson Ring of Fire to keep you from hitting your head when the car stops inverted.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I can remember when they were the newest thing in the fair cicuit. That must have been the early 70's.

And I don't think any of them have been repainted since!

If you don't like tight spaces,  I'd suggest not riding. 

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So many coasters - so little time.

Chance Toboggans bring back a lot of memories for me. I grew up in Washington near Seattle until I was 12, and some of the first coasters I went on were(besides Disneyland)at the Fun Forest in Seattle (which used to have a Galaxi and a CLASSIC Schwarzkopf dark ride) and the Western Washington Fair, which had an old Allen Woodie, a Wild Mouse(I think it gets two wild mice per  year these days), and a Chance Toboggan. That Toboggan was my favorite ride, when I was about 5 I thought I was the bravest kid alive for riding it by myself, lol. Of course I eventually realized the other coasters were better, but it was so unusual it would stick in my memory. Oh, and riding it with two is only possible with fairly small adults, or an adult and a child. Those cars give new meaning to the word small, almost the smallest enclosed cabins I can think of, besides the Crazy Train/Hi Roller, another classic fair ride the fair had...

 

-djansi

To answer the questions...

1) 2 people can fit into each car
2) No transfer track that I am aware of, just stack up the cars on the main track
3) Air time on the hops... perhaps if you were not pinned to the floor of the cars like a moth in a bug collection.
4) Define fun? Compared to a root-canal with out novacane... yeah, loads of fun. Compared to just about anything else... no.
5) More fun if enclosed and themed? Hmmmm... think of the above mentioned root canal in total darkenss with a strobe light... nah... doubt if theming would help much. Then again, with the torturous fit of the cars and the jarring at the bottom, perhaps one could be quite convincingly themed with a "Spanish Inquisition" theme... just for the sheer pain.
6) Only if used for decoration and not an actual ride.

If you have gotten the impression that I do not like these contraptions, you are correct! I have only ever encountered two of these little gems. The first was at Hersheypark in the mid 1970's (they operated two side by side there). I was a little guy then... and I found the ride to be slow and boring and the jolting at the bottom on the bunny hops threw me around so bad that I swore I would never ride one again! Well, last year I encountered another one at Lakemont. Well, I rode it. No longer being a little guy, I was pinned to the bottom of the car by that overly "padded" (if you can call it that) lap bar. The ride was still slow and plodding until I got to the bottom. Being pinned to the floor board by the bar, I was not thrown around as I was when I rode Hershey's years ago... instead I thought my internal organs were being rearanged when my upper torso and legs wanted to fly upward but my mid section was pinned in place by the bar.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

Does anyone have a picture of what one of these looks like?
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"I'm eccentric, I can do whatever I want"- Rat Race

go to JoyRides and check out their lakemont park section. Also, I believe the RCDB has a picture of the Toboggan at a park called Little America or something like that.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

LOL at SLFAKE.

You hit the nail on the head with that description. I remember hating these things so much as a kid at the county fair that I had to pass on the one at Lakemont.

Check out CoasterGallery.com for Toboggan pictures.  There are several...

http://www.coastergallery.com/GA/lakemont.html

http://www.coastergallery.com/2001T/LA.html

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Joel Rogers
CoasterGallery
www.CoasterGallery.com

There was one of these at a funfair (Americans will call that a carnival...) in Hull  UK, last year, and my head touched the roof to. Its kinda claustraphobic being in enclosed cars, and very scary from an " is this going to collapse/derail?" point of view. Fun none the less.

The cars on a Chance Toboggan remind me of those used on their old SkyDiver wheels... which I did not enjoy as they were very confining. I've seen Toboggans in the past and never rode one, and to be honest, if I ever get to Lakemont Park or anyplace that does have one, I may have to pass on riding. Chance must have liked encapsulating riders in caged-up cars. The Zipper, SkyDiver, Toboggan, Rock and Roll (not the Matterhorn ride they have now), and the extremely nasty Turbo all had cars that made riders feel as if they were in some sort of jail cell.

And djansi, I HATED the cars on the Hi-Roller. Not only were they small, but there was a plexiglass shield in front of our faces... which made for a very claustrophobic ride. I guess it's a good thing to have though in case the people across from you decide to lose their lunch (which is entirely possible on that torture device!). As long as I am out in the open, I'm fine.... but lock me in a cage-like car and I am not a happy camper!

progray: lol, i was not exactly saying I liked the extremely confining cars, I was just trying to see if anyone else had ridden a hi-roller, since everyone else was complaining on how small the cars on the Toboggan are. Now the Hi-Roller is a REAL torture device, when you go around the curved edges, the wedge-shaped cars come ridiculously close, until you can see nothing but the guy in front of you pressed up against the plexiglass (unless you are on one of the ends.)

 I prefer open-air rides as well, but sometimes I miss the older, more rickety fair rides, especially my personal fav, the Zipper. I actually like the old Sky Divers too, or the Rock o' Plane (tumbling ferris heel), just because you could flip yourself silly on them. Actually, the true gem of those is the old Looper, the only one I've been on is in Enchanted Village in Washington. With two people working together, you can turn that ride into a clothes dryer!

-djansi

*** This post was edited by djansi on 10/4/2001. ***

I rod oene years ago it;s probably been oh 7 years give or take and I was substatally smaller, 18 inches and 70 punds smaller to be exact. and it was a bit tight. and was one that as a permannent instalation at trimpers rides in ocean city maryland. Iev also done a numbe rof laps on thier boomerang in many diferent summers since. maybe next time I go up there I will ride again.
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All at once the ghosts come back reeling you in now.