Space Spiral tribute video (break out the tissues!)

Small error in the video... power was cut on the 11th, not the 10th ;)

That's what the video said.

The tower was raised for the last time on the 10th and power cut the next day.

"The good lord grabs it by the stick." Best quote evar.

JuggaLotus said:That's what the video said.The tower was raised for the last time on the 10th and power cut the next day.

i stand corrected

I wish threads would quit telling me what to do. ;)

I loved seeing how the explosives were placed, and how the structure was weakened with the cutouts at the base.

I know some people are all teary-eyed that it is gone, but blowing stuff up is just cool.

I'm surprised how few here rode Space Spiral. I rode it most of my trips to CP. It was a *great, relaxed view of the park, and fun to judge the parking lot crowd levels and hunt for some no-wait lines. It was also cool to see behind-the-scenes stuff, like watching the Halloweekends parade start, being bunched up in the corner by DT...or to see what rides were down park-wide.

*Note that I usually skip most of the hot, summer season, so the muggy cabin was usually not an issue. Additionally, the yellowed plexiglass was never nearly as bad as they let it get in the final weeks this year.

We rode SS most of our trips to the park. It was a nice way for us to have some downtime and relax. Really hated to see it go, but I'm looking forward to the future.

Are observation towers dead?

Thanks Jeff for that video. It was sad to see it go, but for sure a ride never to be forgotten...

Tennessee_CP_Fan said:
I loved seeing how the explosives were placed, and how the structure was weakened with the cutouts at the base.

I know some people are all teary-eyed that it is gone, but blowing stuff up is just cool.

Where did you see that???

The video by the demo company that Walt posted earlier in this thread.

Ffej said:
I'm surprised how few here rode Space Spiral. I rode it most of my trips to CP. It was a *great, relaxed view of the park, and fun to judge the parking lot crowd levels and hunt for some no-wait lines. It was also cool to see behind-the-scenes stuff, like watching the Halloweekends parade start, being bunched up in the corner by DT...or to see what rides were down park-wide.

*Note that I usually skip most of the hot, summer season, so the muggy cabin was usually not an issue. Additionally, the yellowed plexiglass was never nearly as bad as they let it get in the final weeks this year.

My family too. We rode it almost every time so the kids missed riding it this year and trying to find our car in the parking lot.

In all the years SS was in service I cannot remember a single instance of mechanical failure while someone was on board that prevented them from getting off the attraction in short order.

Compared to the Windseekers (at several parks), it had a very good record of operation. The failure of Windseeker at Knotts the other day left the riders at the top for over three hours, and there have been multiple similar issues at other parks in the chain in their short existance.

I can appreciate the fact that they shut down on safety related issues, but being stranded at 300 ft for that long is another problem. The two rides basically work on the same counterweight concept - except you are totally exposed to the elements on Windseeker. If it were to get stuck, and then a storm were to move in - that would really suck.

There was one major incident. It happened on May 18, 1985. The ride was stuck for about seven hours with 10 people inside. A gearbox jammed with the cabin about three-quarters of the way up and they were not able to lower it. Eventually, they decided to raise the cabin to the top with counterweights and those inside were brought down with a harness through the inside of the tower.

There were also other times when the ride was stuck because of power outages, perhaps for an hour or so.

Has anyone been up to the park during HW to see if they have a piece of it in the graveyard?

There wasn't any part of the cabin in the graveyard last Sunday when I was there.

Walt said:
Eventually, they decided to raise the cabin to the top with counterweights and those inside were brought down with a harness through the inside of the tower.

Ooooh. I would've paid good money for that experience.

^^ You and me both.

Paisley said:

My family too. We rode it almost every time so the kids missed riding it this year and trying to find our car in the parking lot.

Awww, thanks for that memory. I forgot that I used to hunt for our car every time as a kid as well.