Sky Whirl downside

[Shockwavegirl]

When I worked at the park we had a couple names for Sky Whirl. One Was ---- buckets. I left the first word out for obvious reasons, but I hear that vomit was not the only thing that was occasionally cleaned out of the buckets.

I had mentioned that as well in a different Sky Whirl topic. It's scarey what young people can do with 15 mins of solitude in a cage!

[SFGAmfreak4life]

I heard about the _ _ _ _ buckets name the last year it was up. I can't imagine kids actually doing anything while on the ride but I don't doubt it. I would like to know what you guys have heard or seen people doing. I know this shouldn't be discussed here but I can't help but be interested.

[PGA ROCKS]

When I worked at the park we had a couple names for Sky Whirl. One Was ---- buckets. I left the first word out for obvious reasons, but I hear that vomit was not the only thing that was occasionally cleaned out of the buckets.

I had mentioned that as well in a different Sky Whirl topic. It's scarey what young people can do with 15 mins of solitude in a cage!

I am very disturbed now.

[WestBurbs14]

I could see how it would. It had much more of the up-down motion that tends to cause motion sickness versus just a horizontal spin. Plus, it was about 15 minutes long so it could get to even the toughest people.

I remember reading a review of the park in which the writer said the Sky
Whirl was eight minutes long. That makes much more sense to me than fifteen minutes. It took only four minutes to load each wheel. So after your wheel was lifted, they'd load wheel Two, which was then lifted. Then they'd load wheel Three, so you were up during that process. Then your wheel would be lowered.

Remember that the beauty of the ride was that all cabins of a wheel would be on the ground at the same time, allowing people in all twelve cabins to disembark simultaneously. There's no way the unloading/loading process took 7.5 minutes per wheel.

[Killian]

Hi All!

My first post on here! Nice to meet you!
Living in Wisconsin, I made several trips to the Gurnee Great America when I was a kid (late 70's and early 80's). I haven't been to the park in 7 or 8 years now, but I have TONS of fond memories of the place.
For some reason, the Sky Whirl *always* made me a little queasy, but nothing major. The last time I was there (the mid to late 90's), a friend of mine threw up on the ride. Thankfully, he was in another car at the time. One of the friends I was with in my car NEVER gets sick on rides, and he swears that he almost threw up, too.
We've called it the "Sky Hurl" ever since.

[steven]

Hi, Killian,

Welcome! Nice to meet you, too. Thanks for sharing your Sky Whirl memories.

Steven

[Cheesehead Dave]

I could see how it would. It had much more of the up-down motion that tends to cause motion sickness versus just a horizontal spin. Plus, it was about 15 minutes long so it could get to even the toughest people.

I remember reading a review of the park in which the writer said the Sky
Whirl was eight minutes long. That makes much more sense to me than fifteen minutes. It took only four minutes to load each wheel. So after your wheel was lifted, they'd load wheel Two, which was then lifted. Then they'd load wheel Three, so you were up during that process. Then your wheel would be lowered.

Remember that the beauty of the ride was that all cabins of a wheel would be on the ground at the same time, allowing people in all twelve cabins to disembark simultaneously. There's no way the unloading/loading process took 7.5 minutes per wheel.

How long did it take between starting one arm and the next one coming to a complete stop on the ground? Maybe two minutes?
Start of ride to first position: 2 min.
Spinning while the next arm loads: 4 min.
Move from the first to the second position: 2 min.
Spinning while the third arm loads: 4 min.
Move from the second position back to the ground: 2 min.
Total time: 14 minutes.

[WestBurbs14]

Cheesehead Dave, I hadn't thought of the time repositioning the arms from one position to the next, so I see your point.

[Glorfindel7]

I could see how it would. It had much more of the up-down motion that tends to cause motion sickness versus just a horizontal spin. Plus, it was about 15 minutes long so it could get to even the toughest people.

I remember reading a review of the park in which the writer said the Sky
Whirl was eight minutes long. That makes much more sense to me than fifteen minutes. It took only four minutes to load each wheel. So after your wheel was lifted, they'd load wheel Two, which was then lifted. Then they'd load wheel Three, so you were up during that process. Then your wheel would be lowered.

Remember that the beauty of the ride was that all cabins of a wheel would be on the ground at the same time, allowing people in all twelve cabins to disembark simultaneously. There's no way the unloading/loading process took 7.5 minutes per wheel.

How long did it take between starting one arm and the next one coming to a complete stop on the ground? Maybe two minutes?
Start of ride to first position: 2 min.
Spinning while the next arm loads: 4 min.
Move from the first to the second position: 2 min.
Spinning while the third arm loads: 4 min.
Move from the second position back to the ground: 2 min.
Total time: 14 minutes.

I was the one that said the ride was 8 minutes long... but I think I left out the loading/unloading. I think I remember "timing" this with my watch and I was actually a little more than 8 minutes. (I think the differential I'm seeing is -2 for sitting on the ground while the cabins are being loaded, and it was really only about 1 minute for the rotation from position to position, not 2 minutes. (maybe 3 minutes to load and 1 minute to disembark...)

In my calculations that was about 9 minutes give or take....

[PGA ROCKS]

In my opinion, does it really matter how long the ride was? All that matters was it spun for an extensive amount of time, causing motion sickness for some riders. That's what this thread was started for.

Oh, how I miss the Sky Whirl.

[benzo41190]

I loved the ride but my mom would hate it because she would get sick. I remember my sister and dad went off the ride Demon when me and my mom went to ride something else because I was only about 4. We went on Splash Water Falls, Great American Raceway, then Skywhirl. After SkyWhirl she got a little sick and then was in the bathroom for a while. So the rest of the day me my sister and my dad rode flat rides and water rides until my mom felt better....which she really never did feel better.

But ever since then, my mom and dad would not ride it with me. So I would ride it with my sister and she would complain about it beign so long. I swear it was about 20-25 mins but I was only 9 the last time I rode it so I could be wrong.

[coaster_11]

I, too, seem to remember this ride being about 15 minutes. I never actually got sick, however, I usually felt very dizzy after coming off this ride. The dizzy feeling was no worse than the dizzy feeling I had after getting off of the Whizzer!!

[Angry_Gumball]

Speaking of what you guys recall as Skywhirl, and what I remember as Triple Wheel, and even the Spider (if you watched Beverly Hills Cop III) I do have a couple questions...

Did they actually release one of the cages and have it come crashing to the ground when filming that scene in the movie? I faintly recall visiting GA shortly after the movie came out, and seeing that one of the arms had no cage on it...not sure if that was anything related, or if that specific cage was simply under some other unrelated repairs.

[Arrow Guy]

Gumball, here's a thread that might answer your question (I think there are more photos in the gallery from filming).

http://www.greatamericaparks.com/forums ... erly+hills

[Angry_Gumball]

^Thanks! Never realized there was a topic devoted to BHC3. That more than answered most of my questions. I need to go watch it again.