What's up with GL Lately?

I think calling Zodiac a 'Ferris wheel' is a bit of a stretch.

You have to remember the different histories of the two chains. The Paramount chain was very much intended to emulate the initial successes at the original Six Flags parks. It's no accident those Eiffel towers so much resemble oil derricks.

Six Flags in turn was modeled after the success of Disney. What Walt writ on a national scale, Six Flags attempted with regional parks. These new, "modern" theme parks all tried to hide their carnival roots by downplaying "carnival" type rides and emphasizing new attractions out of the range of carnivals.

Your ferris wheel is your quintessential carnival-type ride.

Cedar Fair, in contrast, was grown (at least initially) organically, sweeping up one park at a time. Many of those parks preceded Disney and Six Flags, and often had "carnival" type rides that were more in line with pre-World War II parks.

Even so, Ferris wheels are hardly earth-shaking acquisitions anymore. Not to mention they have (except for the largest models) horrible capacity. Not a lot of parks who have survived without one are going to pick one up in the future.

Yeah, but it is a great family family ride that is gentle and all ages can enjoy. I hear that complaint from many that there needs to be more family type rides (how about bringing back Tumble Bug). Love that ride at Kennywood and was fortunate to ride the one at KI many years ago.

I very much agree. I love Ferris wheels.

I remember as a small kid at KI, riding Tumblebug and gazing over at Racer, scared by the prospect of riding it but still somehow attracted...

Hard to believe I ended up as an enthusiast.;)

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LdScotsman said:
Then again, CP has that gigantic one and I can't remember the last time I saw them loading that thing to full capacity.

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I actually witnessed it when I rode it closing weekend of all things. I can't say it was rare, because I guess I never paid attention.

On the night of Boo Buzz the giant wheel was being loaded at full capacity...

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Ensign Smith said:
Even so, Ferris wheels are hardly earth-shaking acquisitions anymore. Not to mention they have (except for the largest models) horrible capacity. Not a lot of parks who have survived without one are going to pick one up in the future.

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They don't have that low of capacity. The century wheel which is a medium wheel, and not the largest one has 64 capacity if you manage to fill in all the cars with 4 people each. One of the smaller ones has 24 capacity, but yet how many amusement parks have a Scrambler with that small capacity too?

However, not only do the LARGEST of the LARGE have the highest capacity. You are only talking about the real small ones like the Hy5 that have low capacity. Even, the Eli Eagle has a high capacity of 40.

Spinout - you're confused...as always, it seems. I often find myself scratching my head and thinking "huh?" when reading your posts.

A Scrambler that can hold 24 people and a Ferris Wheel that can hold 24 people will not offer the same hourly capacity. The difference: the time it takes to load/unload riders. A Scrambler can load all 24 at the same time whereas a Ferris Wheel cannot. Because of this the Scrambler will have more riders in an hour (i.e. higher capacity) than a Ferris Wheel capable of seating the same number of riders each ride cycle.

It's very rare to see a large Ferris wheel operated at capacity. Ones I've seen at Cedar Point, Morey's Piers and Great Adventure are never completely full, despite a line. Come to think of it, the only large Ferris wheel I've ever seen filled to capacity is Coney's Wonder Wheel.

Americana would be the perfect backdrop to the Eifel tower at KI, That and a lighting package on the tower is the BLING that CF is all about imho. As much as I diss CP for removal of the trees and some of it's atmosphere, The lighting packages at night are pretty cool. KI has none of that.

Chuck

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Ones I've seen at Cedar Point, Morey's Piers and Great Adventure are never completely full, despite a line.

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Most wheels under-load explicitly to keep a little bit of a "slack" line. Otherwise, you run the risk of unbalancing the wheel if you get to a new section without any guests to occupy the cabins.

The only other solution is to wait at load/unload until you have enough guests to continue.

^ Thanks Brian, I was getting ready to explain that myself. *** Edited 2/8/2008 12:38:02 AM UTC by manofthechurch***

What's common sense about that? I'm guessing most people don't know anything about the mechanical capabilities of a ferris wheel.

You would if you've operated one, But like you said, Most people. The worst are the eli bridge cable jobs. You can really get yourself and your passengers into trouble if your not careful in both the way you load and unload but how you balance it. I seen one guy litterally put five cars on one side loaded, get half way up and that thing backslid at the speed of light, I have no idea how nobody got hurt. (Srickers early 80s)

The giant wheels will do the same but because the cars are suspended in most cases from a central pole. They will not tip as hard or as far.

Chuck

My favorite Ferris Wheel is the one on Santa Monica Pier by far!

Here's a break down of all the relocations:

Dominator -> Kings Dominion
Kidworks -> Cedar Point
Shipwreck Falls -> Celebration City
Steel Venom (Voodoo) -> Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
Texas Twister (Firefall) -> California's Great America
Thunderhawk -> Michigan's Adventure
YoYo -> Carowinds

^^ Ditto that! And it's the only solar powered Ferris Wheel in North America. Very cool.

I didn't know that. Has it always been?

Not sure if it was designed that way or retrofitted later on. My source is Tim O'Brien's Amusement Park Guide, 5th edition...I think it was published in 2002 or so.

keeping the wheel balanced was always a pain...it slips and doors tend to die

Like Jim Morrison? ;)