"The Bell" - Very bizarre new swing-ride

Meanwhile in Vienna: FunTime, the inventors of the StarFlyer, where building a new ride for Prater Park. The project was called "Kupferlady" (copper lady) and was announced as a giant swing in the form of a church bell with people riding on the clapper.

Even after looking at blueprints it was not exactly clear what this ride was all about and why someone would build anything like this.

Well, it opened yesterday as "Die Glocke" (the bell) and I still don´t know why would anybody would build anything like this. It sure looks impressive! but still...

See for yourself:

construction:

http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID39&om=1843&omm=65&viewmode=

looks like early 1901:

http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID39&om=1843&omm=71&viewmode=

first riders:

http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&forum=DCForumID39&om=1843&omm=89&viewmode=

Obviosly this ride is a real eyecatcher. But like all FunTime products it has a ridiculous capcity for such a massive ride. I heard that the ride cycle lasts for about two minutes right now.

When the ride is in full swing there is an enormous bell sound with each swing. The seats rotate and the clapper has a delayed swing, just like a clapper in a real bell.

Wow, that's wacky! It's kinda like SFMM running a single train on Colossus. ;) All that "ride" and just a little bit of capacity.

ridiculous capcity

LOL...that's an understatement!

Well, ain't that the oddest thing. Must be a hell of an upcharge for them to afford to run such a huge ride with what- six seats? five?

Everyone knows how cool bells are, who wouldn't wanna ride one? ??

We need to direct them to the Huss catalogue.

Funny ride and I really mean it, I'm actually laughing out loud at the sheer silliness of that thing. Feels like something out of a slapstick comedy - "And the passengers, they are attached to a clapper inside a huge bell! Amazing, eh?"

Edit: Prater can of course tolerate low capacity better than most parks as it's pay as you go, but still... couldn't they get any more seats on it?
*** Edited 8/26/2005 9:02:35 PM UTC by Drift***

I said this on another forum and I'll say it again: Have you ever seen a ride with more of a straight-out-of-RCT look?

It would have been much better as a real bell. They could hand out earplugs to the riders and further reduce capacity by only ringing it on the hour.

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Drift said:
Prater can of course tolerate low capacity better than most parks as it's pay as you go, but still... couldn't they get any more seats on it?

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Actually, capacity tends to matter more to pay-per-ride parks because the fewer riders they get, the less money they make. When you go to a canival, you see them cranking people through the rides because they know more riders means more money. You'll never see that kind of capacity on POP flat rides.

-Nate

I have to agree with the RCT comment. I can't imagine what the cost of that ride was and I mean, it's kind of cool to look at but, I think it's just WAY over the top and completely inefficient. That's simply an empirical opinion though.

LOL...the RCT resemblance is just too true. Can we agree that it looks like something out of Wacky Worlds?!

I forgot to tell you that admission is €4 (ca. $5) per ride. And from what I heard the ride sensation is alledgedly very good and thrilling. The seat rotation and the "delayed" swinging seem to offer a unique ride.

"Holy Land Experience" should get one...or three!

LOL I laugh every time I see that thing yes this is 100% RCT comes to life lol. Whats next a giant shoe swing called Athletes foot hehehe j/k

What a beautiful city, and what a weird ride.

Still, I suppose besides the obvious eye candy effect, there might be some unique thrill in heading straight for a moving brass 'wall' while swinging back and forth in circles.

Too bad the capacity on this thing sucks because I could see it fitting in HW's 4th of July section with a Liberty Bell theme.

Ooooohhhh. That would rock hard.

Still, even if they DOUBLE the capacity it still has lousy capacity.

Still interesting to look at, though. But more pretty than effecient.

Although, I'm sure if a park wanted one with much higher capacity, FunTime could build one with much higher capacity. Money talks.

(Rubs eyes) Really? That's real? (lol)

^Yeah, really! WTF is THAT?

For a second there I was questioning as to whether the riders were actually SMACKED against the insides of the bell. ;-)

-Tina

Tina -

That would be the SFI mod to the ride.

-Steve

At CP: Estimated Wait in line for Bell:The Ride, 62 days.
I didn't know anyone still made rides with a capacity less than 20.

But hey just think, what if this type of theming was affixed to the outside of a Giant Frisbee? Tell me you folks wouldn't be lining up to ride it. Come to think of it, Paula, maybe that's something your folks out there would like to consider.
lata, jeremy