Park News
Tourbillon ABC turns carnival upside down
Swiss manufacturer ABC Rides’ new Tourbillon Flyer made its public debut recently as a headline attraction at the Tung Wah Charity Carnival in Hong Kong. The huge, hydraulic-driven gyroscope style device comprises a 24-
seat Top Spin-style gondola attached the smallest of three squares within squares, which are clamped between two lifting arms. Multiple combinations of rotation are possible as the gondola is turned in all directions and riders are subjected to G-forces of up to 3.5. The minimum rider height is 1.35m. It may look like an incredibly intense experience, and that’s certainly
how it was perceived by some when a video of the ride’s test runs went vital last summer, but according to ABC Rides CEO Urs Zimmermann, it’s actually very smooth. “It’s a runique feeling,” he tells Park World. “It’s really nice to move in this pattern.
Riders may be relieved,
however, to learn that the attraction has been programmed to spin at just 35% of its full capacity, moving at between 4 to 12 rpm with either a 50 or 75 second ride programme. Just as arresting as its ride pattern is the LED lighting the Tourbillon was equipped with for its debut in Hong Kong, the carnival operators using this as the inspiration for additional decoration around the entrance to the site at the former Kai Tak airport in Kowloon . Occupying a footprint of 20 x 16m, the ride should be well-suited to the carnival
circuit but with five trailers and 85 tonnes of steel required for the main structure alone, Zimmermann concedes it’s not for every operator and indeed the original French customer for the ride pulled out due to concerns over its power consumption. There has since been interest from showmen in China, North America and Mexico, and also some parks. “Maybe if we can sell three then it would be an attractive proposition,” adds Zimmermann. The Tung Wah Charity Carnival was one of two funfair events held in Kong Kong
over the Christmas and Chinese New Year period, finishing on March 28. The Tourbillon will now go on to appear at other venues with the operator Global Star Carnival in Asia.
Funtime builds half-a-kilometre of tower rides for 2016!
Star Flyer pioneer Funtime has a number of new tower-based attractions planned for 2016. Already open at Terra Mitica in the popular Spanish tourist resort of Benidorm is an 80m-tall Star Flyer. Nigloland in France has just opened a 100m Skyfall drop tower (pictured), which appears at the
family-run park in the Champagne-Ardenne region together with a Zierer family tower. The rides are named Donjon de l'Exteme and Tour des Petits Fantômes respectively. In Iran, Funtime will supply an 80m Skyfall tower to Eram Park in Tehran, while in Israel an 80m Star Flyer is heading for Luna Park in Tel Aviv. The Swiss showman HP Maier, who sold his earlier Skyfall tower over the winter, is to get a new 80m version with the added feature of a rotating gondola, as well as the world’s tallest mobile Star Flyer, an 80m version using the same tower construction method as the Skyfall. Photos of some of these tofollow in du course.
rides in due course. 14
Donjon de l’Extreme at Nigloland, France
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