The Zamperla Balloon Race is a tilting, circular motion amusement park ride manufactured by Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. The ride makes its way up a structure, and at a certain height, it starts tilting. [1]
Twelve balloons with gondolas hold up to 4 passengers each. This ride also comes in 8 balloon and 12 balloon versions. There is also an essentially identical ride with pirate ships instead of balloons. Seat belts and locking doors provide safety. At some installations, a rider may exit themselves, while in other ones, an operator must let them out.
The Chance Morgan company manufacture a version of the Balloon Race, which is similar except the balloons are much bigger.
A smaller version of this ride called Samba Balloons is also in existence. The ride does a similar motion, but the 'balloons' can be spun by riders. This version of the ride is often found in areas of amusement parks, and at traveling carnivals.
Number of balloons or pirate ships is in parentheses.
Six Flags Darien Lake is a 1,200-acre (4.86 km2) amusement park and resort located in Darien, New York, off of Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Rochester. Six Flags Darien Lake features a theme park, water park, campground and lodging. It is owned by EPR Properties and operated by Six Flags.
A pirate ship is a type of amusement ride based on pirate ships, consisting of an open, seated gondola which swings back and forth, subjecting the rider to various levels of angular momentum. A variant where the riders must pull on ropes to swing the ride is known as a swing boat.
Carowinds is a 407-acre (165 ha) amusement park primarily located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the park first opened to the public on March 31, 1973. Carowinds straddles the state line between North and South Carolina, adjacent to Interstate 77, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The park has a sign telling guests where the state line lies. It was constructed at a cost of $70 million following a four-year planning period led by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall. Carowinds also features Carolina Harbor, a 27-acre (11 ha) water park that is included with park admission. Annual events include the Halloween-themed SCarowinds and the Christmas-themed WinterFest.
Casino Pier is an amusement park situated on a pier, in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The pier opened in 1932 and formerly extended approximately 300 ft (91 m) into the Atlantic Ocean from the narrow strip of the Barnegat Peninsula, including approximately six blocks within Seaside Heights.
The swing ride or chair swing ride is an amusement ride that is a variation on the carousel in which the seats are suspended from the rotating top of the carousel. On some versions, particularly on the Wave Swingers, the rotating top of the carousel also tilts for additional variations of motion.
Camp Snoopy is a Peanuts-themed area for children at several Six Flags amusement parks.
The Enterprise is an amusement ride, manufactured primarily by HUSS Park Attractions and Anton Schwarzkopf beginning in 1972. The HUSS ride was an adaptation and improvement of a design produced earlier that year by Schwarzkopf, with an increased passenger capacity. Despite not owning the original incarnation of the ride, HUSS was issued the patent.
Flambards Theme Park was an amusement park on the southern outskirts of the town of Helston in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1976 as the Cornwall Aero Park by Douglas Kingsford Hale MBE. The parks final season was 2024, with the closure announced on 4 November 2024.
Pendulum rides are amusement rides based on the motion of a fixed pendulum. The Ali Baba, Looping Starship, and Pirate Ship are some examples.
The Wipeout and Trabant are models of amusement rides manufactured by Chance Rides. Often seen at fairs and traveling carnivals, their design consists of a giant wheel which tilts at a steep angle, fluctuates in a wavelike manner, and spins at various speeds. There is a motor underneath the ride that makes both of these rides raise up and down.
The HUSS Swing Around is an amusement park ride formerly manufactured by HUSS. It was HUSS Maschinenfabrik's first ride model, debuted in 1969. It is not manufactured by the company anymore, but there are a handful of known units left around the world. The ride rotates in a circle, and the arms swing out, and then come in. They keep on doing this during the ride, in bigger and bigger increments until the very end, where they all swing out, using pneumatic pressure. Most parks require riders to be 42 inches tall to ride; anyone under 48 inches tall must ride with an adult.
Rockin' Tug is a flat tugboat ride manufactured by Zamperla. The ride is manufactured in both traveling and park versions. It is the first of a line of new "halfpiperides". Zamperla's Disk'O is another popular ride from that "family". The difference is that the Rockin' Tug has a friction wheel, while the Disk'O is powered driven.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is a 135-acre (55 ha) animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, off of Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento. The park includes a variety of roller coasters and other amusement rides. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has been part of the Six Flags chain of amusement parks since 1999.
Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion is a Scooby-Doo-themed interactive dark ride series created by Sally Corporation based on Hanna-Barbera's long-running animated television series. The ride transports guests in a vehicle equipped with light guns that are used to shoot at various targets to collect points throughout the ride. At its peak, the ride model was located at seven amusement parks around the world including Canada's Wonderland, the location of the first installation that debuted in 2000. Initially known under a variety of names, the ride's Scooby-Doo theme has been replaced by Boo Blasters on Boo Hill at several locations and removed from others. The last remaining installation is La Aventura de Scooby-Doo at Parque Warner Madrid in Madrid, Spain.
Fantasilandia is a Chilean amusement park. The park opened in 1978 and is located in a corner of O'Higgins Park in Santiago, Chile.
Through its history, Hanna-Barbera has operated theme park attractions, mostly as a section in Kings Island, Carowinds, California's Great America, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and, recently, Six Flags Great America.
Planet Snoopy is a Peanuts themed area for children at several Six Flags amusement parks.
Red Baron is an amusement ride that is primarily intended for small children. It's a common kiddie ride at many amusement parks, carnivals, and fairs. The rider can move the gondola up and down manually. Many ride manufacturers make this type of ride; the Zamperla's "Mini Jet" is a common model of this ride. The "Mini Jet" ride comes in various themes such as bees, dragons, elephants, airplanes, helicopters, spaceships, etc. Some of the Red Baron kiddie rides are restricted to only children under 54 inches tall, such as the ones in Cedar Point Amusement Park and in Kings Island Amusement Park, or the one in Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California. In quite a few other "Red Baron" type kiddie rides, adults and parents are allowed to ride on the rides, such as "The Busy Bees" and "Amazing Flying Elephants" at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, or at the Red Baron Ride at Funderland in Sacramento, California. Another place where adults can ride on a Red Baron type ride is at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, where Dumbo the Flying Elephant has been a perennial favorite of not only toddlers, preschoolers and young children, but teenagers, adults and seniors as well, for many years.
Boo Blasters on Boo Hill is an interactive family dark ride designed and manufactured by Sally Corporation. The ride opened in 2010 at four Six Flags amusement parks — Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Kings Island. The ride was a slight alteration and replacement of Scooby-Doo! and the Haunted Castle after Cedar Fair chose to remove all Hanna-Barbera branding from each of their parks by 2010.
Abby's Flower Tower is a flower-themed spinning samba tower ride located in Sesame Street at SeaWorld Orlando in Orlando, Florida, United States. Manufactured by Zamperla, the ride lifts and spins riders to heights of 30 feet in the air. Jazzy Jellies was opened to the public in 2006. It closed in 2018 to retheme the ride to Abby's Flower Tower as part of the changing from Shamu's Happy Harbor to Sesame Street Land.