1996 Trip Report index
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Note: The I-X Indoor Amusement Park is an annual event held in the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Really, it's a show date for the Bates Bros. Carnival and a few book-in rides. This trip report is really only of academic interest since Sunday 4/28 was the last date of the event.
GETTING THERE: The I-X Center is adjacent to the Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and the route from the freeways is not marked very well...though the building is big enough that it is hard to miss. And the Ferris wheel sticking through the roof (in a glass barrel-vault) is a dead giveaway.
GETTING IN: General admission was $13 for a P-O-P good for twelve hours of carnival fun.
GETTING AROUND: The I-X Center is a large convention hall, well-filled
in this case with a large assortment of carnival rides. A partial list (from
memory) includes:
All of those run a bit like your typical carnival ride, so I won't get into
it. There was one other, though, that deserves special mention 'cause I'll bet
most people here haven't seen one let alone ridden it. Yes, after much debating,
I finally rode the @#$! thing:
Chaos is the newest offering from Chance. A large wheel is laid flat on a center
pivot, with two-seat tubs arranged around the rim of the wheel. These tubs are
pivotally mounted, facing outward. There are brakes on the tub pivots, which
is a good thing since they are mounted in such a way as to be top-heavy. Riders
are restrained with over-the-shoulder lap bars, and a secondary bar which drops
down and lays across the lower legs.
The ride action is as follows: The wheel rotates counter-clockwise, and the
boom to which it is attached tilts upward in the style of a Huss Enterprise.
At the end of the boom, just below the wheel axle, there is a secondary pivot
which simultaneously pivots back as the arm rises. In other words, as the wheel
rises, it remains level. With the tub brakes released, the tubs pivot outward
so that riders heads are towards the center of the wheel. Once the ride reaches
full height, the arm is straightened out causing the front of the wheel to drop,
bringing the wheel to a nearly vertical position. This action causes the tubs
to begin to oscillate and sometimes to flip completely over. the ride runs this
way for a while, then drops flat and stops.
What it feels like: Suprisingly, Chaos doesn't produce particularly strong or sudden forces in any direction, so it is remarkably rideable. But the name is appropriate since there is no pattern to the ride motion. At any moment you can be facing in any direction, and the rotation of the tub and the wheel create some truly wild views and angles. If one comes to your town, you might want to check it out.
COASTERS:
There were two coasters at the I-X Indoor Amusement Park this year, appropriate
since 1996 is the International Year of the Roller Coaster. These were the usual
" ", a Pinfari Zyklon;
and the Pinfari "Looping Star", booked in from Ray Cammack
Shows. I didn't ride the " " this year; I've ridden it before (and even shot video
on-board) and it has proven to be a consistent performer...and consistently
had the longest line in the building apart from the permanent Ferris wheel.
The Looping Star was my first exposure to a Pinfari portable looper. It looks a lot like a Zyklon apart from the 28' vertical loop. It was running three three-car trains, each car seats four riders in two molded seats equipped with headrests and over the shoulder U-bars which lock in place (do not ratchet down) when the train leaves the station. As much as I hate shoulder restraints (and the Looping Star gave me reason to complain), the Pinfari train is so tight I really can't see securing riders any other way in this dinky little car. The train makes a 90-degree right-hand turn and heads smoothly up the lift and slowly around a right-hand turn. Then there is a sudden Zyklon-style drop through a first figure-8, under a low bit of mid-course trackage. In the back of the train, there is lots of air-time on this drop, which means that your shoulders get intimately acquainted with the unpadded U-bar. This sudden drop is followed by a left-hand elevated turnaround and a sudden drop into the 28-foot vertical loop. Coming out of the vertical loop there is a rightward twist followed immediately by a left-hand swooping helix that looks like something off of the low-end of a Jet Star. This is where the front-seat passengers have their chance to get beaten up 8-). Once around this, then back over that hill over the first drop and through a right-hand swooping drop followed by a sudden curve through the center of the ride and around the back-end (below the turnaround at the top of the lift and above the swooping helix out of the loop) to the brake run. It's a short ride, but is it ever intense! It is almost as smooth as the Schwarzkopf portable loopers, and a lot more violent. Watch for my observations of the Pinfari Looping Star wheel assembly. This is an awesome little ride. If you get a chance, RIDE IT! This portable ride has just a little bit of everything, and it rides better than some park rides I can think of (the now-defunct Geauga Lake Corkscrew comes to mind...).
NOTES: The I-X Indoor Amusement Park is now closed. But watch for the Looping Star, , and Chaos at a carnival near you!
Next trip: Cedar Point
1996 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
Back to Dave's page
--Dave Althoff, Jr.