Sky Wheel Review, Belle City Amusements Classic Ferris Wheel | Is This a Thrill Ride?

The Sky Wheel is a dying breed. This was a unique  double Ferris Wheel. Almost all of these have   been removed, but I recently encountered  one at the Florida Strawberry Festival. I   wasn’t sure if this would simply be a scenic  attraction or if it would have some thrills.   And I’ll go into my experience in this review. The Allen Herschell Company purchased the patent   for the sky wheel in 1960 and fabricated several  of them, most commonly for carnivals and showmen.   In 1970, Chance Rides acquired Herschell’s  assets, including the sky wheel. They would   continue to fabricate this ride for another  decade, but the ride slowly lost popularity.   Carnival operators place a high priority on  throughput. Since most carnivals operate with   pay-per-ride options, the more guests that  ride, the more money the showman makes.   Sky Wheels had a pitiful throughput due to  their set-up. The ride had two small Ferris   Wheels on the end of a long arm. You can  only load one gondola at a time. This is   still common with a lot of Ferris Wheels, but  this issue is compounded on the Sky Wheel since   there are two separate wheels to address. Only a handful still remain. The easiest   Sky Wheel to encounter is the one owned by  Belle City Amusements. This ride makes an   annual appearance at the Florida Strawberry  Festival. This is a large fair held around   late February or early March. It’s located  in Plant City, which is 20 miles east of   Tampa and 60 miles southwest of Orlando. This ride looks incredible. The ride stands   80 feet or 24 meters tall, making it one of the  tallest rides on the midway. It’s mesmerizing   seeing the two wheels rotate through the air.  All the axes of rotation makes it look more   like a thrill ride. And the version owned  by Belle has an awesome lighting package   at night to make it even more impressive. Some notes if you want to ride this one.   Belle’s Sky Wheel costs 5 tickets, meaning  it’s $5 per ride. I think that’s well worth   it. But there are two notable restrictions. First, no single riders are allowed. This is   common practice on most Ferris Wheels nowadays. Second, the gondolas hold a max of 450 pounds.   There wasn’t a scale onsite, so  I’m not sure how this is enforced.   The gondolas feel similar to those on  an Eli Bridge ferris wheel. You have an   open-air carriage that can rock. Then  you’re restrained by just a lap bar.   The ride has 8 gondolas per wheel, so 16 total.  That means this ride holds 32 riders per cycle.   The operators work as fast as possible to load  this attraction, but it still takes roughly 5   minutes to load. So when you factor in the  ride cycle, this ride can accommodate roughly   200 riders per hour at best. But the load  process is at least enjoyable for others.   While one wheel loads, the other is high in the  air still rotating. So the great views continue.   Then you get a bit of a thrill on the lower arm.  Every time the wheel advances to load another   gondola, it needs to stop suddenly. This causes  the whole structure to very noticeably sway,   which can freak a lot of riders out. Once the ride is loaded, both wheels   will be rotating. Then the central arm begins  to rotate as well. This allows both sides to   take turns getting the views at the apex. There  were also cool views when you’re buried within   the structure of the wheel, seeing all the moving  parts in front of you. But what really surprised   me were the thrills this ride offered. The rotational speed of the small wheels   and large arm weren’t too fast on their own. But whenever the rotation of the large arm and   smaller wheels sync up, two things would  happen. One, you’d get a weightlessness   sensation. It wasn’t as strong as a drop tower.  It felt more like if you traveled over a hill in   a car a bit too fast. Two, the gondola would  very noticeably rock. You’d never come close   to inverting, but that motion paired with  the weightlessness was quite exciting.   Getting some thrills like that while also serving  as an observation ride was a game-changer. I   really wish this type of ride was more common. The main cycle was roughly 3 minutes in duration   at the 2024 Strawberry Festival. But the overall  experience was closer to 8 minutes when you factor   in all the time spent during this ride’s tedious  load and unload process. This fair was very busy.   The midway was shoulder to shoulder. Sometimes  fairs increase ride cycles at quieter events,   but I’m not sure if that would  happen with the Sky Wheel since   the load procedure requires so much time. So what would I rate the Sky Wheel? I would   give this ride a 9 out of 10. This is easily one  of the best ferris wheels out there because of its   uniqueness and added thrill element. The visuals  on a portable one are dependent upon the event,   but usually carnivals have bustling midways  with great lighting packages at night.   If you are in Florida around the time  the Strawberry Festival is in town,   I definitely recommend the event. There is  so much to do between the music and shops.   Then the midway is gigantic. It features  a handful of roller coasters and some   exciting flat rides. But the crown jewel for  amusement park historians is the Sky Wheel.   I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to experience  one of these, but I’m glad I finally did.   So those are my thoughts on the Sky Wheel. What  are your thoughts on this ride? Have you been on   one? Let me know down in the comments. If you  enjoyed this review, I would appreciate it if   you gave this video a like and you considered  subscribing since there will be a lot more   roller coaster and amusement park videos here  at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!

Channel: Canobie Coaster

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Id: 5B2mRzPhGFM

Length: 6min 10sec (370 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2024