Space Spiral

Why at Cedar Point with Space Spiral, and other parks, do they park the carrige halfway up the tower at night instead of at the base, or all the way up the tower? Is it a weight balance issue?

There's a counterweight on the inside of the tower. Then the gondola is halfway up the tower the counterweight is halfway down the tower.

So, yes. It's a balance thing.

I'm guessing what they do is release the brakes or whatever and let the two balance themselves out(the cabin and counterweight)

I think it is to keep the cables from banging into the tower all night (from the wind). Makes a heck of a racket, and I'm sure it's not good on the cables or the tower. And I thought sail boat masts were bad... lol. The 'balance' of the counter weight and the car itself is the same whether at the top, middle, or bottom. There is some minor weight differences based on how much cable is on which side of the pulleys, but that difference is insignificant compared to the combined weight of the car and counter-weight. Cable elevetors work on the same principle. The counter weight is there to make it easier on the motor to move the car up and down.

CPL

*** Edited 6/10/2005 9:45:47 PM UTC by CPLurker***

cplover34 said:
I'm guessing what they do is release the brakes or whatever and let the two balance themselves out(the cabin and counterweight)

So basically instead of normal slow lift its like a launch up then and let it balance.

i dont think so

Actually, a bunch of homeless people used to break into the park at night and sleep inside the cabin. Hence, the staff parks it out of reach now. lol ;)
*** Edited 6/11/2005 1:07:09 AM UTC by kylepark***

damn those homeless people. but hey, at least they got to sleep in the park. Hmmm .... IDEA!!!

this isn't really on topic, but wouldn't it be cool if they replaced the space spiral with a REALLY tall one? like, 500' tall or something?

they should put a/c in the new one too. :-) the space spiral is a fun way to get a view of the park, but its SO short compared to everything else on the skyline now. *** Edited 6/16/2005 3:24:36 AM UTC by halltd***

So short compared to anything else in the park? If I am not mistaken, the only thing taller than it is Dragster, everything else is shorter than it. Space Spiral is 330 feet tall, Power Tower is 300, MF is 310.

but does the cabin go all the way to the top? i thought the antenna was the official height measurement. i guess it just SEEMS short.

Yeah, the cabin doesn't go that high. I personally think MF looks more massive than TTD, so for sure the spiral is dwarfed, with PT, MF and TTD. Definantly not what it once was.

It takes you up 285 feet (If you're riding on the top level).
The tower is anchored 30 feet into the ground.
The top aircraft beacon is at the 330 foot level.
I bet it must be fun to change-out the top beacon, and side-markers, let alone servicing the cellular antennae at the top.

Are you kidding? That's gotta be one of the easiest towers to service the beacons on.

You get a ride to the top. Then everything up there has a handrail. Tower crews would love to have an easy job such as that.

The regular, every day run of the mill 1000 foot towers are the tough ones to service. Takes a good climber a couple of hours to scale one 1000 foot tall. Just think about if he's carrying tools and equipment.

I am just glad that is not my job. I dont mind 400 ft. tall roller coasters, but climbing a 400 ft. tall tower would be another story. No thank you!