Dissapointing Flat Rides

I'm surprised the flyers haven't come up. Don't know if they qualify as a "flat" but I would put a good set of flyers right up there with my favorite coasters. They're interactive, they can have sick air/forces, and people are in awe if they're never seen them flown well. What more could you want?

I think Adam knows reasonably what he's talking about when it comes to racking the Jump. It's not a small ride by any means, really, and probably has significantly *more* structure than the KMG rides.

The Soriani and Moser Super Loop on Top racks on something like 6 trailers and Jump, I'd argue, is about that size -- if not bigger.

Not only does it have more structure than the KMG Tango, it was never intended to travel the U.S. Like the Afterburner, the Tango was built with both the U.S. and European markets in mind, which resulted in keeping the entire structure on two trailers. Barring the fact that we do not know what kind of condition the underbelly of the ride is in, it would definiltey take some conversion to get the Jump in road condition for the U.S.

The biggest question would be if the main boom structure even comes apart enough to keep the wieght load down for interstate U.S. travel. It could be like the Top Spin and have a main piece that is just too big. The bottom line, IMHO, is that even if you could make the Jump road legal on four trailers (plus a crane), why would you? I would bet than an operator could make more money with a Top Scan or Shake, which each need 4 trailers, if they wanted a signature piece, a Zamperla Turbo Force if they wanted a high-dollar ride or a Bertazzon Music Express if they wanted a high-throughput ride. There are just a lot of better economic options for rides to buy new, or used with a better maitenance history, than this particular Jump.

Adam

Agreed. I visited the park 15 times last season, and saw the ride operating just once. I do not see why any operator would want to even think about putting it on the road in hopes of actually getting it to run. There are far better options out there.

My wondering is when the Jump will make its way to Astroworld ;)

Ok, I found something very similar in size to the Jump, and it's the Huss Flipper (one of these days I'll get off my lazy ass and post an even better picture than the one I posted on the flatjoint.com), owned by Reithoffer Shows. According to the flatjoint.com, it takes four trailers to transport it, and it has substantially more gondolas than the Jump (they're also a similar size), plus a similar-sized loading platform and operator's booth, not to mention a large backdrop.

When you visit the Huss website, the schematic shows the Jump trailer and main boom assembly as all one piece. So that's probably one trailer. Take off the gondolas and that could be two trailers. And then maybe the the operator's booth and floor are on a third/fourth trailer. Of course I'm totally guessing, but the ride obviously didn't walk to Great Adventure.

I know I'm totally hypothesizing, and that the ride may never see the light of day again, but damn that was a great ride, and I really want to see someone put it out on the road again.

I've got you covered with a nice clear picture right here. Rode their Flipper just a few weeks ago, very fun ride, and I hadn't seen it in years, so I was happy.

I think, as Adam said, the biggest problem would be the boom that it sits on. It may still be just too heavy. I think the problem still lies in the fact that if they couldn't get it to work in a static location, I don't see how it could be gotten to work on the road. Wishful thinking, yeah, but it is unrealistic.

Aren't Dartron Hurricanes pretty much the same ride experience as jumps? Those are fairly fun, and HIGHLY Lateral inducing. Plus, they fit on many less trailers than the jump.

I'll tell you a fun ride. Rock-O-Planes. Those are so silly!

"Of course I'm totally guessing, but the ride obviously didn't walk to Great Adventure."

True, but it didn't travel there like it was racked and owned by a carnival. Most likely it got there like a lot of rides did- shipped to the port in Newark and sent in shipping containers (or laid directly) on flatbed trucks to Great Adventure. Nitro was shipped via truck, but I wouldn't call it a portable coaster.

Adam

Black 7, first of all, very nice picture of the Flipper. The one I have is a night shot that came out really well. By the way, they were running a six-minute program that was making people revisit their dinner. If you want to see the ride motion of the Jump, you can hop over to the Huss website were they have a simple animation showing a side view, and an over-the-top view of the ride in motion. The Dartron Hurricane is similar, but in a league of its own. That motion goes up and down until the hydraulic or air cylinder is exhausted (my best technical guess). Downdraft at Knoebels (another Dartron ride) is very similar. The Jump goes up twice and the gondolas spin around at the same time.

The last thought that'll I'll have on the Jump is "How do we know that they ever really tried to get it working?" It's not like having all the flats running at Great Adventure was ever a priority, which explains why they removed the Frisbee this year. Not once out of four trips over the course of three years did Evolutuion (the ride now known as Excalibur) ever run. They move it another park and it works. In comparison, I got two rides on the Jump. *** Edited 6/12/2004 9:56:14 PM UTC by Intamin Fan***

I the case of the Jump we don't know whether or not SFGAdv tried to get it working. Conversly, there is no doubt that the thing is a pain in the butt to maintain and keep in operating condition. The Distel family has traveled Germany with one for some time (http://www.flatrides.com/Ride%20Index/HussJump2.jpg) and have had to put a LOT into the ride. They annually put a lot more man-hours into keeping the thing up and running than other owners of larger pieces because the main system that raises the sweeps (I beleive it is hydraulic) is very tempermental. On our side of the pond the financial and time burdens keeping a Jump running would put on an indepedent operator like Demas or Wood would be tremendous and definitley out of the question for a full carnival.

Adam *** Edited 6/13/2004 3:41:38 AM UTC by LONNOL***