Valleyfair announces 230-foot North Star

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

Thrill seekers, get ready to reach for the stars as Valleyfair announces plans for a 230-foot-tall Starflyer ride in 2017. North Star - named to celebrate the region’s affinity to being “up north” and the great outdoors - is a 230-foot-tall tower that will spin riders more than 20 stories above the ground. Seated in two-person chain-link swings that will allow their feet to dangle, riders will slowly begin rotating in a circular motion reaching speeds of up to 40 mph as the swings ascend and descend the tower.

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Valleyfair!

Anyone surprised it's not a Mondial Windseeker? Not me. If it weren't for the horrible capacity, I would rather have one of these at Cedar Point. :-)

884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube

Doesn't matter to me. Both scare me to death.

I think the Windseeker must've been some package deal, then it all went south with the mid-air downtime and the subsequent construction of those evac contraptions. (Which I've never heard of one put to use yet, have you?)

As far as CP goes I'd guess the wind-provoked closings would be even more frequent with a Star Flyer. And true, there's the crappy capacity.

I could be wrong as I really don't know. But, I wouldn't think the wind affects the star flyers much more if any. There's fewer seats that are spaced out more.

884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube

^Star Flyers seem to have a less complicated design than the windseekers. In the end it's the same experience.

"The term is 'amusement park.' An old Earth name for a place where people could go to see and do all sorts of fascinating things." -Spock, Stardate 3025

Physically yes. Mentally, some people are freaked out by the fact that star flyers are held up by chain. Even though 1 of those chains is probably enough to support both riders.

884 Coasters, 34 States, 7 Countries
http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com My YouTube

Interesting that Funtime and Cedar Fair kissed and made up. These are great rides.

I half expected them to go for the Zamperla variant - which if you haven't seen it, it's weird. The swings are 'fixed' to the tower and the whole tower spins around, rather than the swings spinning around the tower - video.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

From Funtime.com
The StarFlyer™ can operate in high winds unlike many other Tower rides as it has been TUV certified to operate in a wind speed of force 8 (74Km/h)1. (Translation = certified to operated safely in Winds up to 45.9 mph)

Rick_UK said:
I half expected them to go for the Zamperla variant - which if you haven't seen it, it's weird. The swings are 'fixed' to the tower and the whole tower spins around, rather than the swings spinning around the tower - video.

Wow that is weird looking. It's also a bit more visually spectacular to see that whole tower spin though.

"The term is 'amusement park.' An old Earth name for a place where people could go to see and do all sorts of fascinating things." -Spock, Stardate 3025

There are a couple of companies that make tower swings that way. Usually they're portable and shorter, and for that it's a more sensible design.
I can't recall if Holiday World's ride is a Zamp, but it's the same.

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