Tilt-A-Whirl/Waltzer Rides Information and history - Flat Ride Of The Week 12
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- Tilt-A-Whirl/Waltzer's are some of the most fun rides ever made, but a lot of modern coaster enthusiasts know nothing about these awesome rides!
Tilt A Whirl POV by InsaneCoasterJunkie: • Video
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you mentioned that the operators were banned from spinning the gondolas while the ride was in motion was banned in 2007, and i don't doubt that, but i live in the uk when the fair comes each year to my town there are always operators walking around the spinning platform spinning the gondolas...
Underscore yeah I think they do it anyway
But are you going to complain
Slovis Celery no cos they make it much more fun!
It goes so much faster when somebody is pushing the cars
yeah they walk the waltzer
Tilt-A-Whirls are the perfect example of rides that are way more fun to ride than they look like they are.
For sure!
Agreed, it's especially fun with multiple people and at least one is screaming. It's hilarious.
It’s my favourite ride 😂😂
I remember, as a teenager in the UK, whenever a travelling funfair came to town, the Waltzer was the place to be. The steps leading up to the ride were difficult to navigate past the smoking teens that would sit there until there was room on the rides walkway. All the popular lads and girls would congregate on the walkway, whilst the ride was in motion. The Waltzer would always be the ride with the LOUDEST speakers and be equipped with multiple strobe lights and a smoke machine. And there'd *always* be 3 or 4 staff-members leaping from one gondola to another, spinning them like crazy (especially the cars with the prettiest girls in!). It was THE place to hang-out :)
- ̗̀A Bacchus ̖́- to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same fair came to my town, I had the exact same experience!
I was always fascinated with Tilt a Whirls. And they are NOT the same without that overhang. Also, must be red! :-)
I agree red with the clown faces on each side. Also another ride similar to the tilt-a-whirl in the 50’s & 60’s was a ride called The Twister which had open cars that could fit 2 people in front & 2 in the rear of the car. They had high head rests in the rear part of the car and would rotate around the track platform and the cars would spin in different elevated parts of the ride. The cars ran on long steel poles under the car and had one large wheel that ran on the steel track platform. There weren’t many built, I think maybe there are only currently maybe 6-8 left operating in the world. The one I remember ran at Playland at the Beach in San Francisco (1928-1972) and it ran on a gasoline engine. And the tilt-a-whirl was red with the clown faces on each side of the cars. Fun times remembering these old rides
Shaaaaaark!!!!!
-a kid on at least one aquatic themed Tilt-A-Whirl out there in the world, no doubt with the biggest grin on their face.
The one I was in there where staff running around on the ride and gave the gondolas some extra boost
You can also get extra fast spinning by having the heaviest rider (or single rider) in each gondola to sit to one side. The weight imbalance means more likely to have high speed spinnin'.
To me, the old school Sellner Tilt A Whirl is the one I like the best, when I was a kid, I'd always ride the Tilt A Whirl, and I NEVER got sick when I rode it, I've never gotten sick on any carnival rides, whether it was the Tilt A Whirl, the Scrambler, or even the Octopus/Spider, guess I was used to how the rides moved that I didn't get sick riding any of the rides I mentioned
I have so many fond memories of the Waltzers, especially the ones on Brighton Peer. I do recall they have the locking lapbars, and one of the ride assistants would walk along on counter-rotation to spin the individual cars. Getting a really good spin on these is the absolute best!
I've been riding these since I was little. My family took me to Knoebels and it's one of my fav flat rides and every time I play a theme park game I always have to put them in as soon as I can.
I live in the UK and everytime I've been on it, theres been an operator spinning the gondolas. It makes the ride so much better, especially when you see the operator spinning the one next to you, because you know youre next!
This was my favourite ride as a kid, even though it's not the highest or fastest... I think it's the unpredicatability - you never quite know if you are about to spin, which way you will go and if it will be a fast spin or a slow one. Also in the UK these are at all travelling fairs and they almost always have one or two Ride Ops walking around the ride spinning the gondolas hard!! They will ask you if you want a spin and won't do it if you say no/there are scared riders/small children in the gondola... I'm sure this is dangerous but they seem so used to the ride's momentum that they walk around as if they were on flat, still land! Coupled with this is another Ride Op with a microphone shouting things like "scream if you wanna go faster" for which they will obilge you by speeding up, slowing down and then speeding up again to make you spin as unevenly as they can.
OMG I forgot until now that one Waltzer I rode as a kid was COMPLETELY enclosed, in the dark, with a few UV striplights, lots of UV decorations hanging from the ceiling, UV paint on the walls, ceiling, gondolas and the ride it's self, lazers, smoke machines and crazy music!! Rode it twice in a row as it was the end of the night - best Waltzer ever!!
I remember LOVING the tilt-a-whirl at dutch wonderland when I went there as a kid
These rides are so fun, if you shift in the direction it spins, you'll spin like crazy... maximum force!
Tilt-A-Whirls are a lot of fun.
Thank You, GP, for bringing this video about my all-time favorite thrill ride. I always ride a Tilt-A-Whirl whenever I go to a fun park or fair. It's amongst my go-to thrill rides when I play OpenRCT2.
I'm in the UK, and the travelling fair that comes around every year in my town has a waltzer. Every year they seem to get faster and faster. The carts would spin fast by themselves, but then a ride operator will come along and spin you which makes it even faster. Last year me and my friend were literally pinned against the back when it spin at one point because it was so fast.
I still remember one point a few years back that we were on it, and this guy on the cart in front of us jumped off the ride halfway through, jumped over the line fence and threw up. They just continued the ride afterwards like ot didn't happen. These rides are wild.
I love Tilt-A-Whirls! I've been on the CP one countless times in my younger years as well as Waldameer. I may be missing one or two, can't remember every one exactly.
I was supervisor of Camp Snoopy in 2018, and tilt a whirl was my favorite flat for exactly the reasons you listed. Up until that year, I thought I was more sensitive to spinning than I actually am. One day my crew forced me to test ride, and now I love it! Thanks to this ride, my world has opened up to many more spinning based rides too
This ride is damn good if you ride it with more than 2 persons, I once got a full 4 ride with my friends and it spun like crazy
This was my first favorite ride as a small child before I started to love rollercoasters
Its the best "starter" for any kid
My favorite ride of all Time. When I was young, I was lucky enough to ride a gas powered Tilt a Whirl. It was much faster than the hydraulic version of today. Thanks for Talking about one of the greatest rides of all time!
HELL YEA! TILTAWHIRL! do you ever just try and lean to make it spin faster?
This is my favorite ride at my home part and every time I go I love to ride it
I've ridden quite a few Waltzers now and they're really fun. The Waltzer was invented in 1920 by Dennis Jefferies and originally named the Whirligig. A later Waltzer was built by R.J. Lakin in 1933 (It still travels with the same family). Scottish firm Maxwell are probably the most well known Waltzer manufacturer. KMG also makes a version of the fun factory called the Speed Buzz.
I’m living for the Waldameer footage. That’s the big park I’ve always gone to growing up. I have ridden that very tilt-a-whirl so many times!
I never knew until I watched this video that there were other versions of the tilt-a-whirl made. I have only ever seen or ridden the old classic ones with then on-licking bars and we could pile a bunch of people in one car.
Bloody love the waltzers here in the uk. It’s literally! But the ones that we get seem to be bigger that the ones you had shown also people do still stand and push to help. The waltzers that we get ate literally like a massive disco. I have also been on a waltzer thus been in complete darkness with a space effect projection in the dome. It was epic
I worked tear down at the Pensacola fair one year, and got assigned to the tilt-a-whirl. Gotta admit, that's one of the most fun things I've done. The simplicity in the architecture is quite astonishing. Just a giant steel outer track, and a massive hub (it took 7 people to lift it). Then the deck sections are laid on one by one, then the cars on top of that.
These are one of the few rides that make me nauseous.
Same! Ugh these make me so naseous. That spinning positive g force feeling you get from these really presses hard on my stomach
The Coaster Roaster I remember riding one when I was like 4 and I couldn’t eat the pizza that was for supper that night XD. But since then I rode one a few years ago and was fine. Since that time though I haven’t made a trip to the park which is Lake Winnie in Tennessee
Same! I LOVE this ride, but if it goes on long enough I ALWAYS get sick.
Bummer!
Same although it’s not every ride but if we are spinning heavily yep
I was at a fair once and was on one for like 5-7 minutes
Tilt-A-Whirl is my very favorite ride. If you can lean the same direction the car starts to spin, you can keep it really "whirling"! And I call the cars "Clam Shells" 'cause that's what they look like to me. Thank you for your great information! 🥰❤👍👌
Tilt-a-Whirls are a blast
Decided not to sleep in to watch this
Also the tilt a whirl has lap bar activated brakes. As the lap bar is being raised to the fully open position it applies a manual brake under the car. As an operator you should have been instructed to only apply the electric bike once the car is settled into the lowest spot. The electric light is not made to stop the car on The high side of the Bull plate.
i live in the uk and a love the waltzers! every year that ive gone to it ive always gone on it in multiple times in a row
I made a GP To Enthusiast subreddit!
This has always been and will always be my favorite ride! Its my go to at the Iowa State Fair and Adventureland!
My sister & I LOVED any tilt-a-whirl we came across as kids! We still love them. No two rides are the same, because how the gondolas crest each incline and let gravity spin them, is largely up to the luck of timing. The combination of gravity on the track's crests and in-motion momentum can give you some REALLY thrilling sequence of fast spins, in any given ride-through. Great ride to keep running back to re-ride on mid to low-crowd days, too; for the efficient rider load turn-arounds that you mention.
Anyone, if you haven't ridden one before; do so! It's one of those rides that flies under the radar for not looking too thrilling, upon first glance. But I don't think I've ever had as many laughs on any other type of ride. I've screamed more & had higher adrenaline rushes on others, but the Tilt-A-Whirl is just pure fun! Great family ride, too!
this brings back memories of being young in ireland going to the funfair and about 6 of yous piled up on the waltzer and the operator in an angry birds hat sending you spinning you faster than youd think possible ahahaha health and safety isn't priority in ireland anyway
I’ve loved this ride all my life! This video was great to learn the history of this truly classic ride! ❤ Nice Job 👍
I used to operate one of these at my home park before they removed it in 2018. It was a lot of fun and everyone who operated it misses it. We had an older model that had a big lever (yeah, the cliche one in all the cartoons) that we would push as the speed toggle. It was also the break/parking break in the off position. Tilt-a-whirls will always have a special place in my heart.
I’ve had a cycle on a tilt a whirl that lasted five minutes without stopping doing the super fast spinning tilt a whirls sometimes do. I have sworn to never do that ride again because it made me sick enough I couldn’t visit the next amusement park we were going to that day
I absolutely love Tilt-a-Whirls and so does my mom. I try to get at least one rotation where it spins all the way around and I will occasionally get lucky and get a ride where it spins almost the entire ride cycle. That only seems to happen on a Selner ride with the overhangs on the gondolas. Does anyone here try and lean certain ways to try and get it to spin like I do?
Of course!!!!!!!!! 👍
I very remember riding many times over on the tilt a Whirl and getting them to spin just at the right moment to go spin very fast which brings a smile to many smile's at at fair even to mine but then when you showed a picture of the Waltzer this ride reminds me of the U.S version of the Thunder bolt just different designed cars that don't spin around but same design but yet they moved the guy who runs it off to the left side of the ride while the ride is in motion.
My grandpa always said the best tilt-a-whirls were controlled by a lever. And if you made friends with the guy operating it, he'd give you an extra good ride by pumping the lever at the right time to get you really spinning. Grandpa and Grandma went on the tilt-a-whirl every year when the carnival came to town.
I've ridden one Tilt-A-Whirl once, at a state fair. I was much younger and more scared than I would be now, but I got some serious Gs on the ride. I'm pretty certain the operator was doing a good job.
I always have to go on this ride when the fair comes to my small city. That, and the Sizzler. Both fantastic rides.
We have a Waltzer in the travelling funfair Tivoli Sariola, Finland and it's amazing. The operators manually spinning the gondolas, non locking lap bars and all. And, of course, lights and music.
Again, I am such a GP. I have ridden Tilt-a-whirls a handful of times, and I've liked them okay. But my reason for commenting is that like 19 or 20 years ago when I was a poor college student, the half week of the local county fair, the traveling carnival hired some local "greenhorns," and I was one of them. At that time in my life, I really needed the money I got for those 4 days of work. The attraction that the carnival actually used me on to operate while the fair was open was just a giant slide, but I was used for parts of the assembly or disassembly of several different rides before and after the fair's operating dates. And I can still remember some of the slang that the pro carnies used for different roles in assembling a portable Tilt-a-whirl, like "You're going to be the Ground Squirrel", or to a different person, "You will be our Monkey in the Middle." Terms like that.
This is my favorite ride at any fair! In jest I often call it the "Tilt-A-Hurl." It's a great ride to get your stomach flipping in a satisfying way, if that makes sense. But if there's a fair with this ride, it's the one I make sure I get on.
OMG I call it the Tilt-and_Hurl lol
Was a maintenance mechanic at a park and the lap bars on Tilt-a-Whirls are actually connected to small brakes on the wheels. If you lift the bar it applies the brakes and if the maintenance guys have been doing their job the brakes will slow the spinning for those that want to. The brakes also hold the car still when loading or unloading.
I'm Canadian and the traveling amusemant park that travels to my town has a tilt a whirl. I totally agree, this ones the most fun. I think it's because as a passenger you can interact with the ride by making it spin slower or faster. I think flat rides should try and implement passenger interaction more often, I'm curious if that increases popularity.
Spinning the cars may be banded in the UK but tell that to the traveling showmen. Best waltzer out there and has atleast one man per two cars spinning. Type in Albert Evans atmosphere creator. Pisses all over your tilta whirls in America it make them look like a kids ride
I think its more theme parks, as they don't spin them
My favorite! My sister and I once rode one five times in a row. After that, we were so dizzy, we couldn’t stand in line anymore.
Ive operated a tilt-a-whirl for almost a year but have yet to ride one
A core memory is watching my little sister walk off the ride with a nosebleed when she was little because it spun so fast
I feel so omnipotent. :)
Thx for this video!
Aight, so I gotta tell a story here. There is a fair that goes around Finland yearly and they actually have a Waltzer. It is absolutely my favorite ride.
So the operators are allowed to spin the gondolas here and this story is actually about one of the operators pushing around the gondolas. Instead of just pushing it he would do a kick off the gondolas to spin them and it made the ride even better than it was! I spent most of the rest of my day riding the waltzer over and over again because oh him (and the lack of a line).
He really set off my love for flat rides.
Thanks for this video! Me and my dad always used to go on the older Selner Tilt-a-Whirl at Kiddieland in Melrose Park, IL. Used to teach me how to make it go EXTRA fast. One of my best memories.
Omg!! Love the tilt a whirl! Myself and a family friend would ride it for hours. We could time it just right and shift our weight maximum spin.
Tilt a whirl and waltzer are two very different rides. Only the newer waltzers have locking bars and and your still aloud to wallk the platforms to spin the cars. The waltzer are normally full with lights and loud music making it more like a night club
My friends and I (in the UK) used to go on the waltzers every time the fair came to our local park in the 1990's/early 2000's. You'd get more spins from the guy standing on the rides if you wore a low cut top and that lap bar was pretty loose but we used to get trapped in the seats by the force of the spins.
This was my favorite ride as a kid. Rode it over and over. Now this was a while ago, but I was at a fair once and while some kid was getting in the gondola (the old fashioned ones.. well, not old old.. the late 80s..) the lock disengaged and the gondola came swinging around and hit right into them. Felt so sorry for that kid. Those things felt like they weigh a ton. Sent the kid tumbling off the side of the stage thing. He was screaming and the medics came and got him. I still went on them after that, but got off and on very carefully. Since you have worked the ride, do you have any idea what would have happened to cause that? The safety of temporary fairs then was much worse than it is now. And now is not great..so it could've been whoever put it together was wasted.
Sounds like operator error as they are supposed to engage locks when the ride stops to prevent them spinning while people are getting off or on.
The tilt a work is so much fun... but you should look at the old Chance rides “Twister” similar to the tilt a whirl but the operator uses a hand break to speed up and slow the ride down to get the cars spinning faster
We had both a tilt-a-whirl and the Twister ride at my home amusement park in San Francisco called Playland at the Beach (1928-1972) what I remember most about the Twister was that the cars fit 2 people in front and 2 in the rear. Very similar to the tilt-a-whirl, but the one at Playland ran on a gasoline engine and I remember the wheel on each car ride making a loud noise as it ran over each section of steel track on the ride platform
Yeah we definitely still walk the ride & spin the carts here in England
They have a Selner Tilt original in Seaside Oregon Coast, and they keep it up in exultant condition. They have it in a building on the main drag and it is fun to ride.
I love the Tilt a Whirl. Especially when you get a real twirly one. Cracks me up!
I once did a waltzer ride that was perfect and I would literally do anything to have that experience again
i love the waltzers! they make me feel a little sick in my old age but you just HAVE to ride the waltzer! the english ones have SUCH an incredible atmosphere its hard to describe but with the music pumping out loud, the ride hosts rushing you off and on at the end of each cycle its just fabulous. also the spinning of the gondolas by someone on the platform is very much still allowed in the UK! its only not allowed at amusement parks but funfairs they spin you till you cant move! my favourite one is Avalanche which goes to London’s Winter Wonderland! its owned by english showman William Thurston!
When I was growing up, my best friend Darlene and I use to ride the Tilt A Whirl every time we went to a carnival or amusement park. One time we rode it twelve times in a row. We got sick. Walked home and took stomach medicine.
Well this is a video to watch at 3 am
There was one close to me at an arcade but then it shut down and I was sad because that tilt a whirl was really old and it was iconic to the locals
My favorite flat ride ever. I still ride it at cedar point every season!
You should talk about the Huss booster in one of these episodes.
And before the kicked us to the streets around Central Park instead of in the park
It was the most beautiful midway I've ever seen thank you ChucksAmusments
There's one here in Seaside Oregon that has been there for many years. It is indoors on the promenade and is like new, they keep it so nice. Now Oaks park here in Portland Oregon had a Seller but they replaced it with the Larson cars and it's ok but our local Carnivals in the NW still have the original Tilts.
This was my favorite fair ride!
I loved this ride as a kid
We need an entire episode on the whacky shack. It's what this world needs.
There are 2 types of tilt a whirls. There's the old cable driven one, and then there's the "electric 7". Cable driven ones are more fun to operate as you can double clutch them at the right time to get the tubes whipping faster, they are more work to set up though.
Yes! Tilt-A-Whirl is so fun and one of my favorite flat rides
I looove Tilt-A-Whirls! So simple, yet so fun.
Me and my brother used to get the gondolas spinning really fast because we used to calculate and lean into the spin and I have ridden a fun factory but it was called the hurricane and it’s basically a sizzaler and a tilt a woorla mixed it’s really fun
I have never ridden a tilt a whirl before. The park I went to as a little kid, Memphis Kiddie Park, didn't seem to have these rides. Did you ever go there when you were younger?
so many memories going to st patrick's day parades as a kid and getting my once a year waltzer ride as there weren't many travelling fairs that had them, at least in my part of ireland!
You aint lyin. These Tilts are super fun to operate AND ride!! I got to run one at a small amusement park and LOVED it! Still......some are better than others depending on the set motor speed. Too slow and it will spoil the effect. Not sure if cable driven or motor drive is better or not.
The first ride i ever went on aged about 7 was the Waltzer. When it finished i threw up, then went right back on lol My Grandmother taught me a trick... sit the heaviest person on one side and it'll spin like crazy! As for operators spinning the gondolas, like many other comments have said, that still happens here in the UK but usually only on travelling fairs not so much static sites.
9:45 the kmg tango also needs a crane to set up the Crain is needed to attach 2 of the gondolas
Waltzers are such classics for UK parks, like every small park I've been to has a waltzer, almost every pier, boardwalk park and travelling fair all have waltzers, out of all the parks I've been to, I've only seen one Tilt-A-Whirl at Funland Amusement Park near Portsmouth, yet I've seen plenty of waltzers across the UK.
I used to LOVE tilt a worlds when I was young, but in the last year they’ve made me very nauseous
I rode a tilt a whirl at electric daisy carnival in Vegas whilst on acid. highly recommended.
The cars always looked like eggs to me. There is one of these operating indoors in Seaside, Oregon.
This was my favorite ride as a child and I would ride it over and over again at the fair.
If you wanna ride the KMG version and live in the US. It's usually at the Minnesota state fair. That's if you are a flat ride junkie of course.
most waltzers in the uk were manufactured by maxwell in the 20th century, whilst most modern waltzers are manufactured by fairtrade services, such as the one shown at 9:25
I remember riding a version that were apple shaped. However, there were no bars just a steering wheel in the center riders could use to spin the gondolas as they wished.
A lot of the “fun factor” in many rides is unpredictable motion. The Tilt-A-Whirl, Octopus, Zipper, and others shift from ho-hum to OMG in a heartbeat. I’ve operated one Tilt and ridden many. On the old gas engine Tilts, the operator could induce more motion on the tubs by “goosing” the throttle. Of all the rides I have operated, the second most challenging was a 16 seat Eli Ferris wheel, the old cable drive. That’s where I learned to always wear a hat when a kid who had eaten too many sno-cones leaned over the side from the top and barfed on my head. By far the most challenging ride I have ever run was a 15” gauge Crown steam train, a coal burner running around just under a mile of track. The cab is only big enough for one, so you must be both engineer and fireman, plus keeping an eye of the riders. Challenging, yes, but also the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Waltzer seems like a name someone would name their child to stand out
It's like Walter mixed with seltzer with a touch of very high class and stuffy dancing event
I think it gets the name for the "1-2-3" motion of the cars, which seems to differ from the American Tilt-A-Whirls.
Would you consider a Huss Magic a modern version of a tilt a whirl? Also, Carowinds had a waltzer back in the day for a season I believe. I didn't ride the tilt a whirl at Cedar Point, but I got a very awesome ride on the Monster there.
I rode one of these while tripping on acid at EDC in Vegas, and the guy I was riding with (also on acid) said that during the ride I turned into the devil and he thought he was going to die. I had a blast though❕
There was a no ban as I rode the Waltzer after 2007. Having those operators on the platform; it gives the ride a powerful punch with the spin.
I rode the Tilt a Whirl w the covered canopy's at the Cheboygan County fair growing up. Wonder if that's the exact same one as it looks so familiar.