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By the time I got back to Kissimmee, most of the ACEers had already left. I wandered about the small park, got a ride list, and bumped into Brian and Jonathan, who are now working for Universal. We talked of rides and coasters, then rode the Windstorm.
Windstorm
This is a pretty incredible coaster, given its size. I'm pretty sure it is about
the size of a Galaxi or a Looping Star, but nothing Pinfari builds
is quite like this. The cars are very confining...meaning in this case that
all seats have high backs, high side walls, and lots of padding. I sat in the
front row of the last car for my first ride. Because the car is so closed in,
the view is quite restricted. Now, the ride starts out like a Galaxi,
only with higher curve banking. Then there is a spot where you go around a curve,
then straighten out to head across the structure in a big figure-8, just like
on a Galaxi.
Except that's not what happens.
Instead, the train falls right off the edge of the curve, dropping down an impossibly twisted, very steep drop banked at an angle that has to be approaching 90 degrees. I wasn't expecting that! Wow! The train took an incredibly tight spiral, then crossed over, spiraled again, and headed for the unloading platform. SDC...or Stengel, or whoever did the engineering on this ride (anyone know for sure? All I know is that it is "German engineered and Italian built," introduced by SDC before they went bankrupt and then licensed to and built by S&MC and (in this case) Zamperla). The other thing I noticed is that many of the curves seem to be overbanked, meaning that I was falling towards the inside of the curve instead of being thrown outwards. It seemed to me that the ride was engineered to go significantly faster than it did, but I wonder how much of this was because the train was not fully loaded...in fact, wasn't even close to a full load.
The rest of Old Town is, well, interesting to say the least. It is a narrow park, with a bungee tower, Eli Aristocrat wheel (with a beautiful light package), Zamperla Flying Carousel, Zamperla Mixer, and an Eli Scrambler out front. Between the Wheel and the Flying Carousel is an uninspiring-looking go-kart track. Behind this, that is to say, away from US-192, are two large buildings. These contain specialty retail, apparently independently owned, including the kids play area someone else mentioned with the roller slide extending noisily between the buildings. Other tenants include a haunted house, and two arcades. One of the arcades features a simulator box (I'm guessing a Doron SR-2; I didn't look real close); the other has a laser-tag arena and a set of Majestic bumper cars with floor pick-up (no power pole). Other stores are merchandise, but not the kind of merchandise you associate with an amusement park. This is more like mini-mall stuff instead. Interesting, though I think there are a couple of semicasual restaurants up near the big rides.
Right in the middle of the street (it looks more like a street than a midway) is a sit-down Orbitron, which is one of the most evil machines ever conceived. No, I didn't ride this one. I also failed to ride the Ejector Seat located also in the middle of Old Town, and about in line with the Skycoaster next door at Million Dollar Mulligan's.
The shops continue for another block, and then you encounter the kiddie rides. These include a Zamperla Mini-Jet 6 (with tea-cup tubs), a Wisdom Dragon Wagon, a Zamperla Rio Grande train, and a small portable carousel. I'm not sure, but I think it looks like a Chance 28' Americana, but it may be even smaller. Behind that, anchoring the back of the park, is the Windstorm. It's an odd place for the coaster, really, first because it is tucked away with all the kid rides, and second because you cannot see it from US-192. On the other hand, there really isn't space for it up front, and the Eli Bridge 16-seat Light Tower is probably more recognizable at night than the coaster would be. Speaking of 'night', I am pretty sure Old Town does most of its business in the evening, after the Disney Compound parks close for the evening. Granted, I was there during the shoulder season, but consider the hours for the various parks--
Disney/MGM Studios: 10am-7pm
Magic Kingdom: 10am-8pm
EPCOT: 10am-9pm
Old Town: 12nn-11pm or later
By the time I left Old Town at about 6:00pm, they were just starting to hang the ropes on the Ejector Seat.
Of course, any visit to Old Town would be incomplete without a stop to gawk at the big white A-frame next door at Million Dollar Mulligan's. The fabled 300' Skycoaster was up, and it was operating, though it was not carrying "real" people just yet. No, I didn't ride it. In fact, this trip featured a lot of things I didn't ride. I did notice some interesting features of this Skycoaster. First, I noticed that it is very noisy, the wind humming loudly as the riders zoom past. Second, perhaps Sean can tell us his exact sensations as he flew through the centerpoint of the ride, but it looked to me almost like the riders hit an invisible wall, losing LOTS of energy as they passed through the centerpoint. Hmmmmmmm...I also noticed an interesting engineering problem resulting from the extreme height of this ride.
As you are probably aware, the Skycoaster system involves basically four cables...two extend downward from the A-frame; those support the riders. A third cable...I'll call it the launch cable...extends from the top of the launch tower and connects to the support cables in order to lift the riders to their highest point. Finally, a fourth cable...again, I'll call it a guide cable...extends from the center of the A-frame to the end of the launch cable. This cable is to force the launch cable to come down at an angle to return to the loading platform. The trouble is that with the 300' tower, the weight of the launch cable causes it to droop in a graceful curve...and land far short of the loading platform. Sky Fun 1's solution is to grab the launch cable with a long hook and pull it back to the platform. As Skycoasters get taller, it will be interesting to see how this problem is ultimately addressed. As for how tall Skycoasters could eventually become...well, broadcast towers of 1,000 feet are not unheard of... 8-)
Old Town is an interesting park, and it looks to me like it fits in very nicely with the larger Southwest Orlando resorts. And it scores over the other FEC-type facilities in the area, simply because it has that neat little coaster.
Next trip: EPCOT
1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
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--Dave Althoff, Jr.