Ferris Wheel Question.

[gldude]

I have always wondered why many parks will only run their ferris wheel's at limited capacity. I once asked a Americana employee and they said it was to even the weight out, but wouldn't the have evenly distributed weight if all the carriages were filled? It doesn't make much sense that a ride that is designed with 24 carriages should only have 8 opened.

[HEADCHEEZ]

I have always wondered about that.

 

Chaos at The Adventuredome operates like that too! 8 out of 16 cars open.

[John Peck]

There are many reasons....

 

On most wheels you should have the weight as even as possible, and it's even more important on the older Eli wheels.

 

Another depends on the line, you cant fill the whole ride up if your going to have redistribute the weight every few cycles because everyone has cycled through (the line gets shorter).

 

Others are profitability, maintanence and labor, the more times you start and stop the wheel, the more you have to work, load people, put stress on the gears and brakes and wait for people to board and unload.

 

Nowadays, in terms of operations, is that on the larger wheels, they will load about 4 cars at once, turn it to load the opposite 4 and then run the cycle. The less stops, the better revenue in the end even if more of the wheel is full.

 

Thats why rides like the Sky Wheels are not as common anymore. The sky wheel could only load 2 seats at a time with a max of 3 people each, plus the ride took 2 trailers and with diesel running $4.50 a gallon, Sky Wheels will even be more rare now.