As opposed to the foot elevation of your average wave swinger, WindSeeker takes riders up 30 stories to a place usually reserved for high-rise office workers, hovering helicopters and thrill-seeking coaster riders. Only the foot-tall Supreme Scream drop tower stands taller than WindSeeker. With a inch height requirement, WindSeeker is perfect for the tween set in search of thrills. My year-old daughter, Hannah, loved WindSeeker because it combined the spinning swings of a wave swinger one of her all-time favorite rides with the enticing height of Supreme Scream minus the death-defying drops, which terrified her.
Earthbound visitors can enjoy the impressive nighttime spectacular from anywhere in the park. The last-minute change put a serious crimp in plans to open WindSeeker by Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of summer. As is common with any prototype ride, technical issues arose as WindSeeker opened during the summer at the other Cedar Fair parks. Brady MacDonald is a freelance reporter and former senior producer for latimes. Sequoia National Park, charred by wildfire, to partially reopen Thursday.
Foreigners scramble to get U. New U. All Sections. About Us. WindSeeker is a foot-tall 92 m swing ride at several Cedar Fair parks. The rides are Wind Seeker models manufactured by Mondial.
The three-minute ride features 32 suspended twin seats 64 seats altogether spinning around a central tower. A lighting package was installed on all four WindSeekers, [13 ] consisting of strips of LED lights mounted on the arms that support the swings and except at Knott's Berry Farm [14 ] colored floodlights to illuminate WindSeeker's tower from above.
Canada's Wonderland was the first of the four parks to open its WindSeeker in On May 24, , the ride was only open for a brief time before problems caused it to be closed for repairs; [1 ] it re-opened the week of June On their Facebook pages throughout August , several Cedar Fair amusement parks hinted frequently at a new ride to be opened in Kings Island's WindSeeker was originally scheduled to be the first to open, on April 30, , [26 ] but the opening was delayed because of bad weather [27 ] and eventually took place on the morning of June 21, At the beginning of October , the hydraulic dampers used on the Knott's Berry Farm model were added to reduce the amount of swing movement even more.
Throughout August , the Carowinds web site had six different QR codes , each of which led the user to a web site giving a clue as to what the attraction might be. August 24". Aside from the many minor problems all WindSeekers had in , the first major accident occurred on June 2, on the Cedar Point model.
According to numerous news and rider reports, WindSeeker operated normally as the gondola made its way up the tower. Attached to the tower and gondola are a set of electrical cables that are located inside a plastic casing and are secured by two side panels to prevent the cables from moving around. At the top of the tower, winds were reportedly strong enough to push the electrical cables out of the socket on the tower causing the cables to move around freely.
According to a rider riding WindSeeker at the time of the accident, as the gondola made its way back down the tower, the cables got stuck in the rotating gondola. The plastic casing began to be ripped apart as well as the cables causing the ride to come to a complete stop just over half way up the tower.
Because the electrical cables had been damaged, Cedar Point employees had to manually bring down the gondola. Riders were stuck on the ride for over an hour and no one was injured. WindSeeker at Cedar Point remained closed until the cause of the accident was found and fixed. The four WindSeekers opened in are based on the same prototype design by Dutch amusement ride manufacturer Mondial Rides. The WindSeeker at Canada's Wonderland was the first to be completed and thus the first to be tested.
It was discovered during testing that the swings could rock back and forth once rotation reached full speed, and were close to hitting each other in some cases. Therefore hydraulic dampers not included in the original design were added to all four WindSeekers to reduce this rocking. In one reported case, a rider had to extend his leg to stop the seat in front from hitting him.
In another, a car collided with the kneecap of a rider who had closed their eyes. When the swings reached the top of the tower, the seats began swinging and hitting each other. As the ride continued, Breakfast Television hosts Kevin Frankish and Dina Pugliese asked whether the seats were supposed to touch each other, but received no response.
Additional problems were discovered when the ride opened to the public. The WindSeeker at Canada's Wonderland underwent repairs for just over a week when it was discovered that one of the 32 pairs of seats had been removed for an unstated reason. In another case at the same installation, riders were stuck at the top of the WindSeeker tower for 20 minutes when the swings did not come down.
All six WindSeekers consist of the same parts in an identical structure. The foot-tall 92 m center tower is made up of eight parts. The base section is different from the other seven tower pieces because it supports the rest of the tower. On top of the eighth tower piece, there is a steel platform where workers and mechanics can observe the operation of the ride and perform maintenance.
Above this platform is an element called the "red UFO" or the "Crown". The gondola itself has a number of parts. In the middle of the structure there are wheels that allow the swings to rotate as they go up and down the tower. The gondola is raised and lowered by cables linking the gondola structure to four sets of yellow wheels, each attached to a different section of the steel platform at the top of the tower.
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