Setting up the Gravitron Ride: 👽 Alien Abduction

so I'm back out on the Carnival lot with Majestic midways to see how a few more rides are set up this week I'm going to focus on the setup of the Gravitron ride this ride has been a Mainstay of carnivals for nearly 40 years the first version appeared at Maurice piers in 1983. manufacturing rights were assigned to wisdom rides where they still build them to this day the Gravitron has even entered popular culture appearing in shows like stranger things on Netflix [Applause] [Music] [Music] here we go first step is to get the ride jacked up off its wheels and leveled wisdom is offered the Gravitron with many different scenery packages and names over the years but the ride's always basically the same the ride being set up in this video has the alien abduction scenery package Gravitron or some derivation of Starship are probably the most common names I love seeing how these rods are engineered to fold up and the Gravitron is another major ride that fits on a single trailer these Outriggers hold idler wheels that help support the deck The Idler wheels are also used to break the ride there are three Outrigger braces the solid braces go on the left and the turnbuckle braces go on the right the deck is braced for travel on all four corners of the ride shelves are provided for a bottle jack to lift the deck enough to remove the braces foreign and here that bottle jack from earlier is used to help level the Outriggers a few pieces of the scenery are attached to the underside of the deck for transportation these have to come off before lowering the deck sides thank you and whatever's done to the front side of the ride is repeated for the rear side this is a pretty good shot of those air brakes that are used to stop the ride just a few more pieces of scenery coming out of the nose of the trailer these are installed before the front facade is raised the wings of the facade are also folded out and braced at this time [Music] the top is raised just enough to access a few more scenery pieces hiding underneath [Music] foreign [Music] process is controlled from an operator station above the ride at the rear of the trailer some wind braces are then added to the facade and finally those last two scenery elements can be added foreign the deck is secured for transportation with some turnbuckles these are removed and the decks are lowered the deck is then rotated to give access to the remaining pieces in the nose of the trailer foreign panels will be used to enclose the base of the ride once it's set up there are 14 nested panels that need to be moved into position wisdom provides an overhead Beam with a chain hoist to lift the panels This is similar to the method wisdom uses to move Tubs on the Himalaya ride the major difference is that on the Himalaya the beam stays in place during operation to hold lights and scenery on the Gravitron the beam is removed once the ride is assembled if you haven't seen our Himalayas set up video I'll put a card up here foreign the panels are lifted one by one and placed over pins on the perimeter of the deck panels are secured to the pins on the floor and overhead sweeps with wedges and clips it's hard to get a good shot of these so I'll share this drawing from a wisdom rides Bulletin all right the last panel on each side has to be finessed into position between a stationary panel in this case the door panel and the rest of the wall that was just built once one half is done the second half is built up the same way I've also seen this ride built up where it was staggered building up both halves at the same time now that the wall panels are all set up we can take a quick peek on the inside these blue sweep pads were installed off camera they cover all the wedges holding the panels to the sweeps is the operator station with all the ride controls plus the audio system the rod looks pretty much together but there's still quite a bit of work that needs to be done these racks that held the panels need to come up off the floor the door side panels need to be installed the seats need to be raised the center fence installed and the tarp stretched over top the sections of circular fence are inserted into holes in the floor and secured with Clips underneath the deck electrical connections need to be made behind the seats to tie every panel together so the external lights on the saucer work this shot also shows the way the seats are lifted into position it's hard to see how this is done from inside the ride so I'm going to rewind Back to Before the panels were installed [Music] the seats are hinged at the bottom there's a brace called the seat truss that folds up to support them then a panel called the tumble board is folded down to cover the space behind the seat it might be easier to visualize this with a drawing incidentally tumble boards were not added until September of 1985. this scene from stranger things was supposed to be in July of that year these tumble boards should not exist there's a cable around the perimeter of the top canvas this is pulled over the side and into a Groove in the fiberglass panels a few more safety bolts to install these anchor the deck Wings to the center panel of the deck foreign the side panel racks are out and the I-beam for the chain hoist has been removed while we're back here I'll give you a quick look at the ride plaque pause the video if you want to read it we're nearing the end now need to install the skirting panels to keep people out from under the ride then install the steps the fencing and the floodlights [Music] only thing really left to do is give it a test run if you like seeing carnival rides set up or you enjoy seeing vintage carnival rides restored click that link to the left and come along for the rides

Channel: Pete Rondeau

Views: 245,953

Keywords: Gravitron Ride Setup, the gravitron, gravitron fair ride, gravitron carnival ride, gravitron ride inside, gravitron ride, alien abduction ride, alien abduction ride at the fair, gravitron ride outside, starship 3000, starship gravitron, amusement ride setup, amusement ride, Pete Rondeau, starship 2000, alien abduction, starship 4000, starship area 51, Glory Days Amusements

Id: WuHfg-UIsSw

Length: 12min 32sec (752 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 10 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Crannynoko]

Oh this channel is wonderful. Definitely good material to eat to

[u/gunnerxp]

Oh man I fuckin' loved the Gravitron. Once at the Fall Fair, me and my buddies rode it like 5 times in a row, until one of my buds barfed, and the carney was like, 'I think you boys've had enough...'

[u/RumpIe4sk1n]

Youtube seems to have picked up on the "alien abduction" in the title and is showing me misinformation info