Sky Ride question

I see the "gondolas" sitting next to the north station. How are they moved from the upper platform to the pavement?

I see a big crane on the webcam. Is it used to lower them down? Do the "gondolas" sit outside all Winter?

They give rides to toddlers.

Jeff,

Now even I know that is not a Sky Ride gondola.

Great picture though!!!!

I don't know exactly how they do it...but the Sky Ride gondolas are detached from the haul rope when they enter the stations. They sit on pairs of flanged wheels and ride on flat steel tracks in the station, held there with nothing but gravity. So removing a gondola requires simply lifting it up a few inches, moving it sideways about a foot to clear the track, and lowering it. I think most forklifts have enough lateral motion available in the forks to do that, so in theory one could pull the gondola to the end of the station, put a pallet on a forklift, lift the pallet under the gondola to get it off the track, slide the fork sideways enough to clear the track, pull straight back from the station, and lower the gondola, on its pallet, to the midway.

Even simpler, at the parking lot end of the midway, that station has a section of the storage track that extends past the end of the station. From there, a gondola could be lifted clear of the track and lowered straight to the midway without any fancy lateral moves required. And that's assuming that there isn't a removable stop on the end of the track to allow the gondola to be rolled right off.

Again, this is all theory; I've never seen them do it. But it doesn't look like it would be particularly difficult to manage.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Pretty sure the storage track goes to the end of the station, so if it's open ended, a little push would do.

So much “gondola”. So, so much…

Anyway, I imagine a large Hi Jacker or similar scissor lift is all that’s needed to move them from and to that 2 (and 1/2 maybe?) story location. I don’t know what “large crane” the OP is referring to, but the ones I see would certainly be overkill for that project. They’re for lifting big coaster pieces and for dangling the workmen.

One of these, plus a pallet, plus the end of the transfer spur. I have watched them do this and it moves pretty quickly. That is if they even pull them out of the station though. Not sure why but some winters I have seen them leave the cabins in the station, sitting on the floor just beneath the spur lines.

Jeff:

They give rides to toddlers.

They grow up WAY too fast!

At the Corkscrew end, the storage tracks extend to the open end of the building. At the Main Gate end, at least one of the storage tracks extends beyond the open end of the building, and that's where they store their inspection and maintenance vehicle.

I presume there is a hard stop on the end so that they don't accidentally drop any tubs when they don't want to!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

A New Look For Sky Ride

Two things. 1) My daughter said they look like popcorn buckets now. The design is ok I guess, I've seen it change 4x during my visits to the park over my life. 2) Even in the blog entry , I wish they would get the debut year right for these things. I'm a stickler for this stuff. The Sky ride debuted June 1962, a year later. There was a big portable model of the Double Ferris Wheel in the middle of the midway (150th anniversary paver brick area) in 1961, the Sky Ride wasn't there then. A permanent model of the Double Ferris wheel was moved toward the entrance gate in 1962 because of the Sky Ride's debut in that year. Just sayin.

Not a fan of the new look. Liked the old buckets way better…. Along with the old CP sign as you entered CP drive. The new logo is just so meh.

Creativity is lacking very much lately and I don’t suspect it getting any better with SF in the mix.

Eagerly awaiting CoasterHawk's opinion on this.

But also I don't mind the new look. It's got a retro feel, which makes sense for the ride. I love a good cruise a sky cabin. Let's just be glad the SF merger hasn't resulted in bright pink & purple Bubble Yum marketing on all of them.

Six Flags would want Axe body spray adds on them.

Oh, so this is why it wasn't running yesterday.

I, for one, hated the solid color Skyride cabins. They looked cheap. The new look is welcome in my book. Still waiting for that Iron Dragon refresh with original paint colors though.

CPfan1976:

My daughter said they look like popcorn buckets now.

But are they Dune popcorn buckets?

Jeff,

I'm good.