December 18, 2013
While it has gotten cold and snowy long the Eastern Seaboard we have been hard at work on 2014. While IAAPA and Thanksgiving created plenty of downtime we have been getting ready for next year’s exciting attractions. In Massachusetts Entertainment Management Group and Funtime team members were there setting the embed for the 403-foot StarFlyer (top picture). The ride obviously has a gigantic concrete foundation, but we actually place a large, steel piece into the foundation that acts as an anchor for the entire ride. The embed, which is “embedded” in the concrete, is the key piece that transfers the load of the rides into the surrounding concrete and earth, so obviously every dimension involving it is critical and we have tolerances in millimeters. The piece weighs 23,000 pounds, so obviously assembling and concreting a piece this large is no small task. Over in Gurnee (halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, not a warm winter spot) we took apart the Zamperla/Reverchon Spinning Coaster in less than a week. The ride should be arriving in Maryland as we speak. Because it was pinned the ride came down very quickly and the only jack hammering required were for a few columns embedded in the concrete in the station area.
Our parks and carousels have been doing great. We just wrapped up running the Greenway Carousel in Boston for the year and in Baltimore the Charm City Carousel has been open weekends as the weather permits. The great German-style Christmas village has been open in the Inner Harbor along with a photo spot for kids to get their pictures taken with Santa, so there has been plenty of family activity in Baltimore.
I spoke with David Galst, who runs Ride Operations Group, the REG operations team. He said, “For the 2nd year in a row, we are bringing in Todd Goings (world-renowned carousel expert from Carousels and Carvings) to do an annual check-up on the Forest Park Carousel. We feel it is good to have an outside pair of eyes give the carousel a once over to make sure all mechanical components are functioning properly and that all proper maintenance has been done to keep the carousel spinning for the upcoming season. Also, we have repainted the center of the carousel’s floor.
Over at Fantasy Forest at the Flushing Meadows Carousel, we have removed the Corona Choo-Choo from its tracks and covered all vehicles of the Queens Himalaya (bottom picture), Fantasy Frog Hopper, and Corona Cobra Coaster. The games have been winterized and the VIP Party Tents have been taken down. As part of our maintenance plan, we are preparing to remove the rollercoaster train of the Corona Cobra to disassemble the undercarriage of each vehicle and have certain parts undergo NDT testing (non-destructive testing). This annual maintenance procedure will allow us to find things that the naked eye can’t find during our normal daily inspections. Finally, we are bringing in Todd Goings to review the Flushing Meadows Carousel, also so he can make recommendations as to keeping this ride running in top-notch shape.”
-AFS