It was cool riding the up the tower inside the ring. I did it many times.RandyV wrote:Now that would be really freaky riding up the tower that way.Tech Services 1 wrote:We used that to get to the "inside" ring of the cabin, which was little more than a catwalk out in the open air.Very cool.
So, does the stairwell that starts at the base of the tower go all the way to the top?
And exact how did they place the American flag up there? Do you ride the cabin up, or is there a doorway at the top withstairs leading up to the "crows nest"?
It was my understanding that the stairwell went all the way up the tower; it was a means of access for maintenance and for emergency evacuation should the cabin get stuck at the top.
There is access to the crow's nest at the top; that's how they get to the flag pole. There's a picture of a group of mechanics and others up on the catwalk on dwolo's Gurnee Show Ops Reunion site:
http://www.mgareunion.com/pages/PhotosGurnee8.html
The flagpole has a ladder on it, to allow access to the navigation beacon at the very top (and to attach the Christmas lights in winter).
Near the end of my tenure at the park, I found out there weren't very many maintenance employees who would volunteer to climb to the top to change the beacon. I wanted nothing more than to climb up there to change the lamp, and of course take my camera to get some really cool pictures.
I convinced the electrical supervisor to use me for the next scheduled lamp change. Man, was I psyched
!!As the opportunity neared, I looked in to renting a fish-eye lens for my camera. My idea was to hold the camera over my head, and above the tip of the flagpole, aiming straight down at me. The picture would have been awesome! I also planned on shooting a complete panorama from that vantage.
Sadly, I left the park before my chance arrived.
This is one of the more painful lost opportunities I remember. I sure wish I had thought of doing that a year or two sooner.PPG