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Does anyone remember this old flat ride from Kings Island,Wonderland, and Six flags great america?  I do It was a Double Sided Ferris wheel that would rotate. It starred in a movie beverly hills cops 3. It was called the monster in the movie but it had 3 sides. I wish I could get to ride this if you got to ride it let me know! It was also known as The giant wheel at hershey park. I don't think that there are any of these rides still out there but if you know tell me I would like to ride one! Some of the rides were left sitting abandoned for a while. Then they were gone this ride came to Kings Island in 1975 as Troika then taken out in 1986. If you look at The Bat pov in 1981 there are some sightings of the ride moving! Although this ride does look like a spider I have a model of this it's at rollercoastermodels.com it's called the giant wheel hershey park. So if you have rid this or know if there is still one out there tell me! @Vortex_fan pkidiana14.jpg

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2 hours ago, Vortex_fan said:
Does anyone remember this old flat ride from Kings Island,Wonderland, and Six flags great america?  I do It was a Double Sided Ferris wheel that would rotate. It starred in a movie beverly hills cops 3. It was called the monster in the movie but it had 3 sides. I wish I could get to ride this if you got to ride it let me know! It was also known as The giant wheel at hershey park. I don't think that there are any of these rides still out there but if you know tell me I would like to ride one! Some of the rides were left sitting abandoned for a while. Then they were gone this ride came to Kings Island in 1975 as Troika then taken out in 1986. If you look at The Bat pov in 1981 there are some sightings of the ride moving! Although this ride does look like a spider I have a model of this it's at rollercoastermodels.com it's called the giant wheel hershey park. So if you have rid this or know if there is still one out there tell me! [mention=11343]Vortex_fan[/mention] 
5

 

Yes, I rode this back in the day. It was a fun ride and could be a little scary on a windy day. The ride was always known as Zodiac at Kings Island since it’s installation in 1975. Zodiac operated until 1987 and was SBNO until 1989. It was relocated to Sydney Wonderland in 1989 and operated until the park closed in April 2004.

Zodiac occupied the very same space as the new Kings Mills Antique Autos.

 

The version at Great America was a Tri-arm variation and both manufactured by Intamin.

 

Another note, Troika is the previous name for Shake, Rattle, & Roll.

 

 

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This was one of the best non coaster rides ever at the park.  It was a nice long ride, with high-capacity and short lines, and a fantastic loading system.    It was a ride that almost anyone could ride  as you were secured in a cage   

 One of my greatest memories of Kings Island when I was a kid was riding this ride and hearing the disco music from the Coney Island disco. Anytime I hear a disco song now I think of the zodiac 

I remember you could see the zodiac from international street   As you began your day   

The traditional Ferris wheels are some of the worst rides ever as far as loading systems. Continuous stop and go then a short ride in motion.  

 

It’s a shame that this ride is not the standard for Ferris wheels Instead of the low capacity ( because they only use 1/4 of the gondolas ), slow loading wheels That parks have now  

Kings Island”s Zodiac  was shipped to Australia and operated at Australia’s Wonderland until it closed in approximately 2004-ish 

I believe that Hershey remove the arrows in 2005-ish. 

 None of these rides exist in the United States anymore and maybe not anywhere at this point   What a shame   

 

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The larger wheels that seem to use only a few of the cars are due to the balancing requirements.  They are very strict and filling the wheel and then unloading it the proper way would eat up a line to the point where it would take way longer to load and unload than the short wait the ride is

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This was one of my favorite rides in the park when I was young.  I remember being very upset when it was taken out.  Very similar memories of it as [mention=11250]super7[/mention]'s post above.
 
You can catch a couple of quick glimpses of it on this Defunctland episode on YouTube:  
 


You will definitely see more of it in Kings Island: 50 Years of Memories.


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On 2/16/2019 at 7:29 PM, Oldschool75 said:

Zodiac operated until 1987 and was SBNO until 1989. It was relocated to Sydney Wonderland in 1989 and operated until the park closed in April 2004.

...

The version at Great America was a Tri-arm variation and both manufactured by Intamin.

Zodiac actually ceased operation after 1986 and was removed afterward. It never co-existed with Vortex, despite what many online sources say.

Here's a shot of the area from 1987, shared by KICentral user @Kenban in May 2017.

https://KICentral.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2017_05/592445468a6b4_KingsIsland136_87.thumb.jpg.fa4be84d5ec9cffdde1d1f34a7a0a3c2.jpg

Also splitting hairs here a bit, but Intamin only sold the giant wheels. They were manufactured by Waagner-Biro. Here's an excellent article on the ride model: https://amusementparkives.com/2018/02/08/waagner-biro-double-and-triple-wheels/

 

On 2/16/2019 at 9:18 PM, Oldschool75 said:

1975, it was renamed Shake, Rattle & Roll the next year. #18 on the map

Photo Credit: Kings Island: 50 Years of Memories 

[Image]

I've always wondered about that... that same map depicts Zodiac as "Giant Double Wheel" too, but is it possible the park just referenced the rides by their model names on the map their first year? I've yet to find picture/video of the attractions from 1975 that depict a sign, so I've yet to find an answer to that.

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On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 12:07 PM, TombraiderTy said:

 

Also splitting hairs here a bit, but Intamin only sold the giant wheels. They were manufactured by Waagner-Biro. Here's an excellent article on the ride model: https://amusementparkives.com/2018/02/08/waagner-biro-double-and-triple-wheels/

 

Thanks for the link to that article.  

There were also 2 other versions of this ride that I am aware of.  The Astrowheel at Astroworld and the Galaxy at Magic Mountain.   I wonder if they came from Waagner-Biro as well.   Both had "bent" arms instead of straight arms.  The Galaxy was really fantastic as each wheel had 4 smaller wheels on it and double rotation.

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1 hour ago, super7 said:

Thanks for the link to that article.  

There were also 2 other versions of this ride that I am aware of.  The Astrowheel at Astroworld and the Galaxy at Magic Mountain.   I wonder if they came from Waagner-Biro as well.   Both had "bent" arms instead of straight arms.  The Galaxy was really fantastic as each wheel had 4 smaller wheels on it and double rotation.

Amusement Parkives actually has an answer to your question in another article, here: https://amusementparkives.com/2016/04/14/giant-wheel-1973-2004/. Astron International Corporation manufactured those two.

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On 2/16/2019 at 6:15 PM, Vortex_fan said:

Does anyone remember this old flat ride from Kings Island,Wonderland, and Six flags great america?  I do It was a Double Sided Ferris wheel that would rotate. It starred in a movie beverly hills cops 3. It was called the monster in the movie but it had 3 sides. I wish I could get to ride this if you got to ride it let me know! It was also known as The giant wheel at hershey park. I don't think that there are any of these rides still out there but if you know tell me I would like to ride one! Some of the rides were left sitting abandoned for a while. Then they were gone this ride came to Kings Island in 1975 as Troika then taken out in 1986. If you look at The Bat pov in 1981 there are some sightings of the ride moving! Although this ride does look like a spider I have a model of this it's at rollercoastermodels.com it's called the giant wheel hershey park. So if you have rid this or know if there is still one out there tell me! @Vortex_fan pkidiana14.jpg

Not only do I remember it, I rode it a number of times and watched The Bat operate next to it!

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Thanks for mentioning my articles! I'm Harry and I had the opportunity to operate Giant Wheel at Hersheypark when I worked in ride operations back in the day. Unfortunately, I never rode another double wheel (or a triple wheel) but having the chance to operate one definitely makes up for that. Operationally, it was very simple. There was just a switch that enabled which side to go up and down. It was not on a timer, so we could let it go as long as we wanted. In the last hour the park was open, there typically weren't any long lines for the ride, so we would let the ride cycle longer. 

I do miss Giant Wheel, though by 2004, the ride was definitely on its last legs. It was a rare ride to begin with, Intamin discontinued support years earlier, and parts were non-existent. 

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^Thanks for writing such thorough, in-depth articles! Lots of great content on your site.

I never had the chance to ride one, as I didn't visit Hersheypark for the first time until 2008. Zodiac's ultimate fate is still a mystery - some sources claim it was sent to Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia but never constructed. Even if true, that was 15 years ago and I'm confident it'd have been scrapped by this point.

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13 hours ago, The Amusement Parkives said:

Thanks for mentioning my articles! I'm Harry and I had the opportunity to operate Giant Wheel at Hersheypark when I worked in ride operations back in the day. Unfortunately, I never rode another double wheel (or a triple wheel) but having the chance to operate one definitely makes up for that. Operationally, it was very simple. There was just a switch that enabled which side to go up and down. It was not on a timer, so we could let it go as long as we wanted. In the last hour the park was open, there typically weren't any long lines for the ride, so we would let the ride cycle longer. 

I do miss Giant Wheel, though by 2004, the ride was definitely on its last legs. It was a rare ride to begin with, Intamin discontinued support years earlier, and parts were non-existent. 

To echo what @TombraiderTy said: I really love your work and appreciate the time and effort you put in!

Quick followup question regarding this quote from your Double Wheel article: 

 

The final double wheel installed was Double Wheel at Kuwait Entertainment City in 1984. During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, the park fell under occupation of the Iraqi military. Several cabins were removed from Double Wheel and sent to Baghdad. When the park reopened after the end of the Iraqi occupation, the ride was removed.



Any idea why they took the cabins?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/16/2019 at 8:52 PM, IndyGuy4KI said:

I know this Huss ride model is Troika, (meaning group of 3) but what seasons was SR&R called Troika at KI?

It was called Troika Years ago I think they changed the name when paramount sold the park to Cedar Fair here is a photo of a woman standing in front of the ride when it was the troika Related imageImage result for troika kings island

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44 minutes ago, Vortex_fan said:

It was called Troika Years ago I think they changed the name when paramount sold the park to Cedar Fair 

Was it really not that long ago? I could've sworn it was called SR&R in the 90s. 

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  • 1 month later...

Bumping this thread a bit, but...

On 3/11/2019 at 6:36 PM, Vortex_fan said:

 

It was called Troika Years ago I think they changed the name when paramount sold the park to Cedar Fair here is a photo of a woman standing in front of the ride when it was the troika [Image]

The smaller image, with the Troika name on the ride, isn't our ride. That's just a generic shot of the ride model. If our ride was ever named Troika, it was only 1975... newspapers and publications called it Troika that year, but they also called Zodiac "Giant Double Wheel". I think they just referenced both rides' model names. I'm still searching for a 1975 photo of Shake, Rattle, and Roll with its sign though - one of my many Kings Island white whales :rolleyes:

On 3/18/2019 at 9:58 AM, Vortex_fan said:

Here you go I found one!

[Image]

That's the Giant Double Wheel at Kuwait Entertainment City. Zodiac was not SBNO at Kings Island for years, as a lot of sources incorrectly claim - it operated for at least part of 1986, then was completely removed by 1987. It re-opened at Australia's Wonderland in 1989, and was ultimately SBNO there for a short while after the park closed in 2004.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 1:11 PM, Oldschool75 said:

 


You will definitely see more of it in Kings Island: 50 Years of Memories.


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Enjoyed the video glimpse of the ride in operation during the presentation and viewing of the teaser trailer for Kings Island: 50 Years of Memories Friday evening!

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