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Park Hoppin’ with Paul Ruben


Swimming with fishes An old friend A W


going to go to Pennsylvania’s PoconoMountains, which is best known for its skiing and other outdoor activities. I don’t ski, and I’m not going to stand outside in freezing January temperatures. I had a better idea. I was going to Kalahari Resorts Poconos where they have a giant indoor waterpark to splash around in during the day and adult beverages waiting for me in the evening. I was headed to Kalahari to experience their new underwater virtual reality


hile visiting the Senator John Heinz History Center in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I reconnected with an old friend. It was an original car shown here from the Kennywood Racer, which I first rode in 1980 or ‘81, I forget exactly when. I didn’t expect to find a coaster car in a history museum. Let’s face it, I didn’t expect to find myself in a history museum, but in a weak moment there I was.


snorkeling experience, DIVR by Ballast Technologies. Read about it on pages 46 & 46. Inside the waterpark the temperature was a toasty 84º F (29º C), the perfect alternative for a winter day. While amusement parks may have a variety of low capacity attractions that can be offered for an upcharge, before now waterparks have not. DIVR changes that.


Among other exhibits, the Heinz History Center has an impressive collection of artifacts from Pittsburgh’s amusement parks, including this original car from the second Racer roller coaster built at Kennywood. The first was built where today’s Steel Curtain coaster now stands. The car has four benches with leather padding and original lap bars. Built by Dayton Fun House, these operated from 1927 to 1982, when they were replaced by the current cars from PTC.


It transforms any pool into a fantastic adventure where guests can go deep sea diving, flying, or on a spacewalk. It combines the weightlessness of being in water with the immersion of virtual reality, resulting in an unprecedented full-body sensory experience. Ballast’s partner, Sub Sea Systems, is hoping to upgrade some of these systems to the DIVR+ version with thruster and sensory bubble effects. Arriving at the DIVRsite within the


The Racer is a wooden racing roller coaster built by Charlie Mach in 1927 and designed by the legendary John A. Miller. The Racer features a Möbius loop layout, in which both of its trains travel along one continuous track. Each train returns to the station on the opposite side of which it began. For each cycle, each train travels half the track. In rare situations, a Möbius loop coaster train will travel the entire length of the track before returning, such as with Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain.


Kalahari waterpark, I was fitted with a waterproof virtual reality mask, which consisted of two eyepieces, a large screen smart phone, speakers, and an attached snorkel to breathe through while in the water. A very helpful attendant, Nate Olsen, gave me a single-use mouthpiece that I placed on the end of the snorkel, and fitted me with a floatation belt around my waist. Tethered to an anchor at the bottom of the pool, the belt helped me keep comfortably afloat. Kalahari offered three different video experiences, with more planned in the


While in Pittsburgh I also visited Kennywood and, of course, rode the Racer with the current PTC trains. But it was disquieting to find that old friend, the original Racer car that I once rode years ago, now sitting serenely in a museum. It made me feel old, too.


I especially enjoy Möbius loop roller coasters in part because they are so rare. There are only five in the world, including three wooden and two steel coasters. Perhaps the best known wooden one is the 1935-built Grand National at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, England. I enjoyed riding it, and only wish I had been there two years ago to witness their claim to a Guinness World Record. On March 2, 2019, the Grand National broke the world record for “most naked riders on a theme park ride” when it was ridden by 195 people. Those riders’ mothers must be so proud of them. In addition to Kennywood’s Racer and the Grand National, the third Möbius loop woodie is Montaña Rusa at La Feria Chapultepec Mágico in Mexico City. It was erected in 1964 by the National Amusement Device Company. In 2011 Preston & Barbieri built Max Adventures Master Thai at Mirabilandia, Ravenna, Italy. This steel Möbius loop coaster has riders board both halves of the track simultaneously. Twisted Colossus at Magic Mountain, Valencia, California, was reimagined in 2015 by Rocky Mountain Construction from the 1978-built Colossus. Unlike other Möbius loop coasters, Twisted Colossus has one station and trains go through both sides of the Möbius loop on one cycle. The original Colossus was a traditional two-track racing wooden coaster.


future. In the first I was swimming with ocean fish. I believe this is computer generated imagery, and as I turned my head left and right the scene changed appropriately. Then I thought I would test it to see if my hands and arms would appear if I waved them in front of my face; this is virtual rather than real reality, so they did not. At the end of the video I stood up and Olsen transferred a second, and later a


third video. These were fascinating, too. In one I was floating in outer space at an abandoned space station, watching the planets float by, and in the second interacted with a whale and an octopus back in the ocean. All the time there were four or five other guests in the pool, all tethered in place, enjoying their own adventures. So, what did I learn from this? For one thing, being weightless while


experiencing virtual reality enhances the experience. Second, DIVR is a sure-fire addition to any waterpark, indoors or outdoors. Third, while breathing through a snorkel tube, one should always keep the tube’s upper end above water.


ll the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey, so what am I going to do on a winter’s day? One thing I wasn’t going do is to start singing California Dreaming by TheMamas and the Papas. No, I was


SPRING PART 1 2021 MARCH 2020


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