Cost of Flying Scooters?

By adult flyers, I meant a set of fast ones for the adults and the slower set for the kids. ;)

Grrrr at Fun Spot for closing their flyers on Sunday due to "wind." :p

Bill, you can practice with me. Although I finally "get it," I need to keep practicing so I don't forget. *** Edited 8/24/2006 10:12:15 PM UTC by Acoustic Viscosity***

Those LC scooters were doing much better during their days at West View. I rode them many times then and they were really intense. Apperently the modifications that KW made tamed down this ride.

Back then the minimum height to ride this ride at West View was 52", Most Flying Scooters today have much lower height restrictions as long as you ride with an adult.

So not too long ago, HW's flyers were good ones, eh?

Paula, why? Why?!!?!?

Yup, I imagine you can still get some good snappage if you have a leader in front of you that can fly up and down and not sideways blocking your wind.

I'll check it out Labor day.

Chuck

Going to HW on Saturday. I am eager to push them flyers to the limit. :)

Arriving late to the party -

Knoebels Flyers came from Kennywood. Look carefully through the Jacques book on Kennywood and you can see a photo dated from the 1940s with the exact same paint job scheme as we still maintain. I recall it as arriving in 1971, my second summer of employment, and I was one of the first operators of the ride that summer.

The improvement in the ride, as compared to its previous operation, was that at Kennywood, the ride was powered with an electric motor; when Dick moved them to KG he specified the use of a gasoline engine.

100hp of gasoline engine does not perform the same way as 100hp of electirc motor. Also, the assault on the ears supplied by the gas engine adds to the excitement.

Dick Knoebel co-operated with both Chance and Larson in each's development of a modern Flying Skooter type of ride. So like the modern wooden coaster, the modern Flying Skooter also traces its lineage through this little park in the Pennsylvania Woods.

John

KG

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John Fetterman said:Also, the assault on the ears supplied by the gas engine adds to the excitement.

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In ways which are hard to explain unless you've spent some time in Pennsyl-heaven. :)

I'm getting "giddy" for PPP and haven't completed my SUMMER vacation(s) yet... ;)

A giddy-gator?

Well I knew I was right, Therefore I didn't gloat.

Im glad John came on here to confirm it tho.

I seen a picture one time of maybe (Paragon Park) that had a set of ten tub flying scooters on top of a building not much bigger than the ride itself.

I've always wondered what flying scooters would feel like being already 40 ft in the air. That was why I was excited when I heard PKI was moving theirs to the old flight commander platform as that is elevated beyond it's surroundings.

Oh well, I guess it will never happen.

Thanks John!
Chuck

^Great Idea, Chuck!
Scooters would be great off a structure like the old Rocket Ships had.

I saw the thread title & just KNEW who started it. See, I told you they weren't that expensive.

One day I'll have my little Nikker's Grove done, with a spinny mouse for Tina & me, bumper cars for the hubby, and some flyer's for Matt. Perhaps a few other things. The rest of ya will have to buy your own rides, sorry.

-Nicole

^ No Rock-O-Plane? ;)

I will work at Nikker's Grove for free if you get me an Intamin launcher! ;)

-Tina

That Knoebels ride probably was the old Dipsy Doodle/Flyer ride that I mentioned previously with regard to KW. This clears everything up. The old one from KW is at Knoebels and the other one that started out at West View and was at KW later is at LC.

Parc Safari, a small animal park 30 minutes south from Montreal, QC, right by the US border, saved in the 80's a few flat rides from the defunct Parc Belmont in Montreal. The most interesting ride they got is a 10 tubs set of flying scooters.

They're in pretty good shape and in 2003, they got a nice paint job as the "Flying Toucans". They have an electric motor and run fast enough to allow all the snapping you want! Me, a beginner with close to zero experience managed to get my tub snapping all over the place. As long as you didn't make your tub do 360's around the cables, the operator doesn't say anything.

Back from Indiana...Well, I almost snapped HW's flyers. I got a few bounces and turned practically all the way around, but no snaps. Voyage was absolutely awesome though! The first five hills are delivering a Shivering Timbers punch (riding the upstops all the way to the bottom) that was lacking at HoliWood Nights. As far as I can remember the rest of the ride was unchanged--just as great as ever.

Back on topic...Before I left for the weekend, I sent Adventureland an e-mail asking about the flying scooters I remember them having when I was a kid. Molly Vincent responded with the following details:
Yes, they had flying scooters where the Balloon Race
The ride was called the Flying Scooters.
The ride came from Riverview Park in Des Moines.
"The Flying Scooters could not be run when it got too windy, and it seemed to happen a lot."
The ride was sold to a park in Maryland.

Anyone have an idea of what park the ride may have been sold to? I guess if Adventureland removed the ride due to windy conditions, there is no hope of another set ever being at Adventureland again. :(

Nicole---ahh shucks. Thanks for getting me a set of scooters...someday. ;)

^ MIGHT have gone to Adventure World, which you now know as SFA. Or, could have gone to a beachside park (Ocean City), like Trimper's. Only guesses I have for MD at the time-frame you're looking at... "when I was a kid."

Matt means: In the days before radio... ;)

*** Edited 8/28/2006 8:48:19 PM UTC by rollergator***

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rollergator said:

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John Fetterman said:Also, the assault on the ears supplied by the gas engine adds to the excitement.

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In ways which are hard to explain unless you've spent some time in Pennsyl-heaven.

I'm getting "giddy" for PPP and haven't completed my SUMMER vacation(s) yet...

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Cool...an opportunity for a nested quote. UI just wanted to point out to certain members here that I'd imagine gas powered flyers might make it difficult to snooze. ;)

Just to clarify, the flyers would have left Adventureland circa 1986. I was 8 years old then and as far as I know, I never rode the flying scooters. I'm guessing I was one of those countless others who looked at the ride and thought it looked lame. lol :)

So the point about it being too windy makes me wonder about other installations. Is it common for wind to be an issue with these rides at other parks? Iowa is one of the ideal locations in the U.S. for wind power, so maybe it's a much bigger deal here than at the other parks with these rides?

Only durring bad storms were PKI's ever closed and I rode them in some pretty windy conditions. Really big wind only dampens the ride experience.

The biggest problem with wind is exiting or entering the ride. As for the actuall ride. A strong crosswind with kill a outward swing as much as it will improve it on the other side.

Family day at Strickers we had a two hour period where we litterally couldn't do nothing because of a breeeze.

Chuck who told you Voyages first four hills WOKE UP! Im going back Labor day :)