The Amusing Ads Archive - Premier Rides 1997-98
This week's ad is more of a flyer of sorts, so we'll choose to think of it as a first cousin to a regular magazine advertisement. That work for you guys? Great!
Premier Rides was really getting in the groove of things in late 1997 - it had already opened several large rides at American parks, and a few more were planned to open (though just a weeeee bit late) for the 1998 season.
You know a manufacturer means business when they include math equations and a Leonardo Da Vinci quote on their ads!
Not many would argue that when Premier came on the scene their niche market was launched rides. Specifically, linear induction motors that sent trains rocketing from zero to some great speed in just a few seconds.
The company first put their toes in the launched ride waters when they opened the Flight of Fear coasters at Kings Dominion and Kings Island in 1996, also opening a similar ride in Japan.
After those rides were up and running Six Flags placed an order for some more unique rides - all launched, tall, and quite unique. The two Mr. Freeze rides went to Six Flags over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis, while the Chiller was constructed at Six Flags Great Adventure.
Sadly, all three rides were slated for a 1997 debut, but were pushed back to 1998 (for their first full season, at least) due to issues with the ride's launch systems.
Take note of the companies that Premier worked with to create rides: Force Engineering, Giovanola, Waagner Biro, and Werner Stengel. Talk about a dream team!
Premier had more to offer than just fast coasters - they also were able to make some crazy looking flat rides, indoor family coasters, and observation towers. The company's ride catalog has expanded greatly since then, with more coaster designs, flat rides, and other projects having been successfully completed.
5 comments:
I've been enjoying Flight of Fear at Kings Island for quite some time now. Love the flyer. Thanks!
Hey Mike, do you know whatever happend with the Chiller over at Six Flags Great Adventure? I was watching an old In The Loop video over at coastercrew.com (it was the IAAPA 2007 Day 2 video) and they were interviewing "Skyline Rides", I think that's how it is spelled. They had a robin car on display from the chiller and mentioned about restoring the ride and selling it to a park that could properly maintain it.
Ya know, when I was writing that I was wondering the same thing about Chiller. There were plenty of rumors that it had been sold, but I've heard nothing since of if that actually happened.
If anyone else knows, fill us in! I loved that ride.
I checked Peter Schnabel into a hotel I was working for back in the winter of 2007. We had a great conversation as I got a little giddy when I chekced him in and we struck up a conversation about Chiller and the pending Xanadu Ferris Wheel Project.
He stated that Premier made several attempts to work with Great Adventure to rectify the situiaton. He said the with the barrel rolls weren't on the forward launch but as the train entered the second launch on the spike. Schnabel went on to say that the park was lauching the trains further up the spike than was necessary for the train to make it back through the course and that was causing stress to not only both trains but injuries to riders as well.
He stated the park would not listen to the settings placed on on the ride by the manufactuer and the park damaged the ride.
He went on to say that if the park would've ran the ride as it wss intended to run in the first place, there never would've been an issue.
After Premier fabricated the S bend to replace the barrel rolls, which was against the advice of Premier, there were a number of issues with the trains and how they reacted to tracking along those portions of the track.
Schnabel was very adamant about Chiller being torn down and because of his tone, his demeanor, and just really angry about it, I never had any reason not to believe him.
Wow thanks BnM Lover for the info. It really is a shame and not a suprise either to what happened to the chiller. From looking at the pictures at greatadventurehistory.com you can see the lack of upkeep on the theme elements and special effects on the ride. Do you think they had any power issues as well with the LIMs? Thanks again.
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