Freakish Carnie Rides

Chance sure seemed to enjoy encapsulating riders in tiny, claustrophobic cages. The SkyDiver, Zipper, Toboggan, Rok N Rol, and Turbo all had vehicles that would make any prisoner feel right at home. Eyerly's O-Plane series (discussed in another thread) also had rather confining ride vehicles.

The Larson Hi Roller/Crazy train is another ride that is not for the claustrophobic. Cramming into one of those seats just inches from the plexiglass shield did not make for a fun ride. Actually, the ride motion isn't much fun either!

The Dartron Hurricane (and its newest model Downdraft) is the only flat ride that has ever made me physically ill. I can ride a Huss Swing Around, which has a similar ride action all day... but put me on a Hurricane and you'd better bring a bucket of sawdust.

Other freakish carnival rides you don't find very often (at least here in Northern Ohio) include a Watkins Rampage, Reverchon Himalayas (those things were just sickeningly fast), Venture Rides Scat, and those god-awful human-powered contraptions known as the Swingin' Gyms. You could break several bones in those if you tried too hard to get the cage over the top!

ray p.

The ride motion on the Hi-Roller didn't look like fun, either. The idea of traversing an oval loop while being spun on an entirely different axis looked more nauseating than enjoyable.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Trust me, the Hi Roller is not a fun ride. After riding several extreme flats (including the KMG Tango) at the Frederick Fair in MD, we had to stop after the Hi Roller. There's just no orientation of whether you're up, down, or sideways.
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If someone makes a post and you post-quote it right beneath it, you're wasting bandwidth. Think before you press the button.

That's actually what I liked about the Hi-Roller. If a ride is going to be crazy, I'd rather be entirely disoriented (a la Hi Roller or Zipper) than just spun around in circles until I lose a previously consumed funnel cake, slice of pizza, or other such carnival cuisine.

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-Mike Buscema

'No matter how skilled the designer is, every time we push the envelope we learn new things about coaster design.' --Dana Morgan
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Awesome site Jan!

Forgot about a lot of those rides. The Roundup is still probably the most intense flats/carni rides I have ever experienced without a doubt!!! The last one I rode was Coney Island Ohio and the G's were so insane that I thought my spine was going to realign itself. lol.

The Zipper is pretty sick too. The Breakdance is just pure f'd-up FUN!

To this day two of my faves are Chaos and the good ole' fashioned Tilt-A-Whirl (when you can get one to actually spin). The old Demon Drops are the best!

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!
*** This post was edited by coasterqueenTRN 10/8/2003 4:54:40 PM ***

ProgRay said:

The Dartron Hurricane (and its newest model Downdraft) is the only flat ride that has ever made me physically ill. ------------------
LOL, the *only* ride at Knoebels I can walk right by without a bit of remorse. Tried it at our previous PPP, and I came off pretty nauseous....no thanks, Updraft! ;)
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We're whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon, but there ain't no whales so we tell tall tales and sing a whaling tune...

The RoK N Roll looks like a nice way to lose your lunch.....YIKES!

Hey! What about the Musik Express????

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!

Yeah the Scat is really odd. I was gonna go on it at a small fair in South Jersey but it looked really...unsafe lol.

And I also was at the Meadowlands Fair and thats where I see the Hi-Roller every year. I was going to go on it but I went on so many rides that by the time I came back to it I was real nauseous. I went on Space Roller twice in a row (after many other rides) that was a mistake! I got off and I was pouring with sweat lol. Then I went on Banzai and I had no fun whatsoever because thats where I started to get real nauseous. Then I walked over to Hi-Roller and decided to wait till next year lol

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www.zyklontribe.com

Heh, what about the Chance Twister? Ever get a 'carnie ride' on that?

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Thats right, we got the speed ya need, the rock and roll for your soul, we're gonna pick ya up, spin ya round, drop ya down, one more time, here we go! One more blast of the super-fast for your @ss!
*** This post was edited by Gruelurks 10/8/2003 6:45:14 PM ***

I rode a Scat at my local carnival. Really was just like a Round Up or Gravitron, but I got more dis-oriented on it.

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"The Mountain Slidewinder. Voted The #1 Non-Rollercoaster Ride in America Amusement Business Magazine, 1991"

I've never seen a Chance Twister (at least I don't think so). I've seen many rides named Twister but none made by Chance. Can you discribe it? or have a pic?

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www.zyklontribe.com

the KMG Tango was definately the craziest [and most painful] carnie ride ive ever been on. The ride would be 100x better if it didnt hurt the "area" so much.

Just as I suspected! I never went on Tango but it looked cool. Then I saw the bike seats... lol. I think Zamperla's version (Shocker) has sitdown seats. I could be wrong though.

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www.zyklontribe.com

Here's a page showing the Chance Twister at Lakemont Park:

Joyrides

Think "Tilt-A-Whirl" but with 2-bench roller coaster cars attached at the nose instead of half-round single-bench cars.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Does anyone know what the ride is that's like a double ferris wheel except the chairs are built where couples sit back to back and the cars freely swing almost to the point of flipping all the way upside down? I haven't seen but one of these and that had to have been way back in the mid 70's. Too bad I didn't have the balls to ride it then as I was only in 3rd grade.
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Nashville needs a theme park!

Oh thats Twister! I go on that all the time Keansburg Amusement Park at Keansburg NJ! It's one of my favorite spin n' spews actually. I didn't know Chance made it though. The one at KAP is pretty old looking though, like 1950s.

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www.zyklontribe.com

thrillerman1 said:
Does anyone know what the ride is that's like a double ferris wheel except the chairs are built where couples sit back to back and the cars freely swing almost to the point of flipping all the way upside down? I haven't seen but one of these and that had to have been way back in the mid 70's. Too bad I didn't have the balls to ride it then as I was only in 3rd grade.
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Nashville needs a theme park!

I think i've seen one actually. It looked like a double ferris wheel but it had arms to hold the cars instead of that framework that most small ferris wheels have. You sat facing outward too but I didn't see it in motion.

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www.zyklontribe.com

Speaking on old carnie rides, does anyone remember the Sky Wheel? It was a double ferris wheel.... kinda like a see-saw, except each end had a small ferris wheel that rotated as the entire structure rotated. I haven't seen one of those things in years!

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

I haven't seen a Sky Wheel in years. Didn't PKI have one or am I thinking of something else?

I am thinking the last time I saw one was at a state fair or carnival...years ago. What a freaky ride that was!

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!

Here are some great pics of a completely restored Sky Wheel. I forget what year it is though, but it looks really sharp. It travels mostly around the Michigan area with McDonagh's Amusements.

Sky Wheel Pics