How many parks still have sky rides?

San Diego Zoo, this one is pretty high in spots. Great views of the zoo!

Sky Rides (overhead cable rides) Are very costly to operate and are very suseptible to wind & weather. The detatchable grip type gondola has to have the main grip and J arm totally overhauled about every 3000 hours of operation. Most of these were made by Von Roll in Switzerland (now owned by Dopplemeyer) The cost to do this is horrendous. Cable changes are very expensive. If the ride goes down and can't be moved it's a logistical nightmare to get eveyone off the ride. Recently the Rossevelt Is. tramway in NY had an electrical problem and the cabin was stuck for many hours.

The best skyride IMHO is the one at "Busch Gardens Europe" (I hate that name). Despite the high maintenance involved, it's worth it. I also miss CP's Frontier Lift, the northernmost station of which is still there just off of Mine Ride's exit.

"Costly" is something that parks, and guests, view differently..it's the VALUE of the rides that counts, and skyrides have something very different to offer (as well as making for some AWESOME photo ops)....and once again, a shout-out for the rides that get you from here to there. :)

Lake Compounce's, it just took me on a ride to terrified and back....yikes!

ZeroG, Sea World San Diego too.

When I was in Jr. High, I used to go to the library and check out books about ski lifts. They have some really cool ones in Switzerland.

Hersheypark deserves some special mention here.

Skyview is still there. Takes you on a short roundtrip across the creek with a nice "fly by" of the Great Bear the timing is right.

They removed their "one way / transport" Sky Ride back in the 1990's. This was the 100ft (or so) tall skyride that took you from near the entrance of the park to the back of the park (where, I believe, Great Bear's station is now located).

Reason I heard for the removal... the height made it a very tricky ride to operate... always having to monitor the winds (as stated above). Also, its height made it very difficult to "evacuate" in the event of a break down.

While the relatively low Sky View can still break down, it's much closer to the ground and wouldn't require a massive "rescue effort" to get the people off of it in the event of a break down. Also, being low, winds would not play as much with it.

*** Edited 5/9/2006 5:18:21 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

The Iowa State Fairgrounds has two skilift style rides, one of which was just installed a few years ago. The old one starts at the edge of the midway and climbs up the hillside, taking you to the camground one-way or round trip. The new one is south of the midway and doesn't really go anywhere exciting. Not sure what they were thinking there, but it is cool to see a new skyride in very recent years.

Adventureland's is still my favorite. I think of it as the signature ride at the park. Flying through the trees is always fun, and it's a great way to get to the Tornado from the front of the park. :)

It's not just wind and breakdowns to worry about. I'm sure a skyride isn't the best place to be with a thunderstorm heading your way. At least now, forecasting and warnings are much better than they were 20-30 years ago. They have more time now to get people off of those things.

Anyone here been on the on at the San Diego County (Del Mar) Fair? It is kind of spooky because it is a temporary installation. They put it up for the fair and take it down after the fair after it is over. Normally one thinks of these things as permanent installations.

I'm glad Adventureland still has it. There was talk of removing it after the accident with the park employee.

Maybe I missed it, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the most "famous" scene in a movie with this type of ride. One hint: PKD.....

Rollercoaster?

Centreville amusement park in Toronto, Ontario has one:)

Have any of you ever ridden Camden Park's in West Va?

It is one of the most comical things ever. It' only goes up about 20 feet off the ground. And along it's path you encounter several large bushes and/or trees. If you have long legs, you literally have to lift them up as you pass over.

Shaggy

^ Canobie's went a little higher (not much). :)

Maybe its centimental early childhood memories, but I allways loved Canobie's sky ride not only because it went just above the trees but because it was relaxing. For some reason the noise is dampered down up there to the point where there is near slience most of the ride.

I like how on IB's you can almost tap LoCoSuMo with your foot as you pass over.

I think it'd be great if HW had one from Christmas down into Thanksgiving.

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Rob Ascough said:
Waldameer's skyride is an example of a "go nowhere" ride. Still, it's nice to float over the midway..

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I agree. That's where my latest profile pic was taken. :-) You can literally see everything in the park from that ride!

I LOVE skyrides. Cedar Point's and SFOG's skyrides are my faves....you can get some awesome photos from up there.

I remember King's Island's skyride. I had no idea they had problems with people getting stuck, though. I always wondered what happened to it.

The Camden Park skyride is the most strange out of all of the ones I have been on. I would not want to live near that park....having people come within a few feet of my house. :-) Still, it's quite a ride!

-Tina

*** Edited 5/13/2006 5:01:37 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

I completely forgot about SFOG's skyride until you mentioned it, Tina. It is a great way to get up the hill from Deja Vu. All skyrides are on my must ride list for any park, but there are not a whole lot of them around compared to how they once were. It would be nice if Magic Mountain would build another one to have some way to get up the mountain from the back of the park.

The most pointless one is Sea World San Diego's. It's fun to go out across the water, but they charge extra for it. You just go out across the water to another station where they tell you to stay seated, push the car through the station and you head right back to where you came from. Maybe when it was installed in 1967 that was one way to get into the park?

I just rode San Diego Zoo's Skyfari again for the first time in a few years this week and it was amazing. Not very many get that high off the ground or have that long of spans between towers. It does have a weird vibration through the ride that I've not found on other Von Roll skyrides.

The only skyride that I like as much as SD's Zoo is BGW's. That one is functional and has some amazing views.

^Oh I agree! I forgot about the BGW one! I love the height on those things. :-) The higher the better!

Knoebels has to be the best, though.....GOTTA love that hill!

-Tina