Cost of Flying Scooters?

Those Flying Scooters at LC have a long story behind them. Originally they were at West View Park near Pittsburgh. When that park closed, Idora Park in Youngstown bought them and moved them to the Ohio park. Several years later Idora closed and eventually Kennywood bought the ride.

KW overhauled this ride with a new drive system and placed the ride in the newly opened Lost Kennywood section of that park. It was located in the middle of the helix at the end of the former Steel Phantom. They called the ride the Phantom Pflyers. Later they were to move the ride to Lake Compounce. where it is now. The Pitt Fall drop tower now stands in KW where this ride used to be.

I think your very wrong Arthur. The kennywood flyers are the ones at KNOEBELS!

LC had their own set.

Matt, I will take a spinney mousey and a drop tower please!

-TIna

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Arthur Bahl said:
Some of the bigger parks should consider having TWO sets of flying scooters. The reason: capacity. This is a family-friendly ride but the capacity is so low that many larger parks don't bother with them. The cost is not a major issue but there can be the concern about the footprint for two of them. Nevertheless, if a park has the space, a pair of the rides could make sense.

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Dueling scooters? I love it! ;)

-Tina

Bumper flyers. When you snap, you collide with the other set!

*** Edited 8/24/2006 12:09:34 PM UTC by Michael Darling***

Kinda like Frank and me on the yo-yo at IB last weekend. Hehehe :)

Ahh, but that doesn't kill the possibility that 30 years ago, Kennywood already had a replacement set, and Knoebels was using Kennywood's previous set. ;)

Charles, maybe we are both right. KW had another set of Flying Skooters back in the 1950s and 1960s. It was originally called the Dipsy Doodle after an expression used by a local sports announcer during baseball games. It was removed for a couple of years in the early 1960s, refurbished (typical of KW) and returned to the park as the Flyer.

Maybe that was the ride that ended up at Knoebels but I am not sure.

Knoebels website doesn't make any mention of their Flyers coming froma different park, and if that was the case, it would probably be noted as the site lists the original site of all rides relocated to Knoebels. All I know is that the LC flying scooters did come from Kennywood and that they're miserably slow. I hate to say it, but they are by far the worst scooters I have ever been on.

Were they that bad at Kennywood?

Don't know... I've only ridden them at Lake Compounce. I can't imagine they were always that slow. Is that the way the ride is, or can the park control the speed of the rotation?

I was talking to a friend about that at Holiday World. He thought that Holiday World's are geared to that speed and would require modification to speed them up, so maybe LC's are set up the same way, and it's not just as simple as cranking it up. Wish we could get an adult set of flyers at HW...and everywhere else for that matter. ;) *** Edited 8/24/2006 2:33:39 PM UTC by Acoustic Viscosity***

I didn't know there were "adult" flyers... I thought they were all the same? Unless you're talking about intensity?

I know nothing about how those things are geared. I do know that LC's set is different from most because it's tire-driven. I wonder if that makes a difference?

Maybe he means a 10 tub park model scooter (i.e., Knoebels) as opposed to the 8 tub port-a-scoot (i.e., Conneaut Lake).

I think the speed of Holiday World's scooter is proportional to the spped at which the ride op loads and unloads the tubs...;)

I was thinking that, just making sure!

Don't call me a liar but in 2002 the motor was replaced with a smaller one on HW's scooters and in 2005 the control panel was replaced.

In 2001 (After SRM mind you) we visited on The Amusement Today Awards day and I smacked the tree by the restrooms so hard I freaked myself out. I was so out of control that the next rotation I did it again, BACKWARDS!

The rest of the day we made several stops at the flyers and all snapped at some point. Much like Strickers set today.

In 2002 I remember the op going out the the box and doing something prior to ERT but this was after the smaller motor. I've only managed a few light snaps since.

Chuck

So where are the good flyers these days? Knoebels is the only set I've been able to really snap hard (been on HP's, PKD's, LC's, Seabreeze's).

Fun Spot, PCAR, Knoebels for ten tub models and PKD's are very snappable, They just wont let you most times.

Conneaut, PGA, Strickers Grove, Hershey, Camden, IB for eight tubs.

The only flyers I can, or could *consistently* get good snaps were PKI's old version (haven't been to PCar since the move), and Knoebels'. Occasionally on others I've gotten a decent ride, but never anything to compare to those two.

Fun Spot and Conneaut were next most snappable...

The recent trip, after failing miserably tio get *anything* on Fun Spot's and IB's, I've decided on taking "Remedial Snapping 101" during PPP.

Take Chucks flyers school.

The trick to the ones with the cable loops going sideways is to not let the tub get to far pointed out or in. Continuous big swoops Turn in before reaching the top, Turn out before reaching the bottom.

Or the lazy begginers way, Keep your wing turned about three inches inward till you start snapping by yourself.

Chuck, who thought Lesourdsvilles were unsnappable after the fiberglass tubs but after seeing a car snap by itself (No rider)just by the wing being turned slightly in. Learned they were very, very snappable. Knoebels, the same. 8 tubs are the same but your really gotta turn out before hitting the bottom of your swoop.