US Thrill Rides is an entertainment design and consulting company in Orlando, Florida. It is best known for creating thrill rides in several US locations.

History

In 1992, William Kitchen and Ken Bird invented the SkyCoaster. Kitchen founded Sky Fun I Inc. that same year to sell the product to amusement parks. Canadian firm ThrillTime Entertainment International purchased the company for $12 million in mid-1998, renaming it SkyCoaster Inc. All 12 employees kept their jobs, with Kitchen remaining linked to the company as a consultant. Kitchen's next invention was that of the SkyVenture, sold under SkyVenture, LLC. The first installation opened across from

Wet 'n Wild Orlando Wet 'n Wild Orlando was the flagship water park of Wet 'n Wild owned by NBC Universal, located on International Drive in Orlando, Florida. It was founded in 1977 by SeaWorld creator George Millay. It closed on December 31, 2016. It was the ...

International Drive International Drive, commonly known as I-Drive, is a major thoroughfare in Orlando, Florida, United States, and is the city's main tourist strip. I-Drive is located several miles southwest of proper Downtown Orlando in the southernmost limits ...

in July 1998. The attraction received a visit by George H. W. Bush. Kitchen next founded US Thrill Rides. US Thrill Rides has since developed the UniCoaster flat rides and SkyQuest transport rides, as well as the SkySpire and Polercoaster (in collaboration with Intamin). On December 21, 2022, US Thrill Rides filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy.

Products and technologies

US Thrill Rides specializes in amusement rides and attractions.

Polercoaster

Polercoaster was an amusement ride offered as a joint venture by US Thrill Rides and Intamin. An installation consists of a large tower structure which featured glass elevators to an observation deck, as well as an

El Loco ''El Loco'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1981. The title means "The Madman" in Spanish. The band's guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons has said that the recording of this album was the first time the thre ...

steel roller coaster wrapping around the tower. The model was first introduced in 2012. US Thrill Rides' Bill and Michael Kitchen invented the concept to allow amusement parks with little available space to be able to design a full-size roller coaster. By November, 2014 Kitchen had licensed the Florida rights for his invention to

Skyplex Skyplex is a proposed and planned entertainment complex, It would be located on a lot at the northeast corner of Sand Lake Road and International Drive in Orlando, Florida. Plans for the complex include a tower which would feature the world' ...

where it was announced the first Polercoaster would’ve been the tallest rollercoaster in the world, (called the "Skyscraper") and would be built by 2017. The Skyplex project was still claimed to be moving forward but had not broken ground and has not opened in 2020 as previously claimed by the developer.

SkyQuest

SkyQuest is a

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

introduced in 2010. The cable-car style ride utilizes covered platforms and

gondolas The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hul ...

to move rides either around the track or from one platform to another.

SkySpire

SkySpire is an amusement ride offered by US Thrill Rides. An installation consists of a large tower structure which features glass elevators to an observation deck, as well as a ride featuring fully enclosed

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

s wrapping around the tower in the shape of a double helix. Skyspire was chosen as one of the five finalists to anchor the San Diego Bay revitalization project. Skyspire won the contract with 1HWY1 who took primary ownership of redesigning the initial concept and implementation, but encountered numerous obstacles that have hindered development to the present day.

SkyView

SkyView is a proposed concept for lightweight

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

designs with heights between and and able to withstand strong winds. The wheel itself does not turn like a conventional Ferris wheel, instead a chain-like mechanism is used to move the gondolas around the structure, which could be constructed in shapes other than the traditional circle. In 2009, ''Park World Online'' reported that US Thrill Rides planned to erect and operate tall SkyView rides in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, however the

Orlando Eye The Wheel at ICON Park is a tall giant ferris wheel at ICON Park in Orlando, Florida, United States. Under the name Orlando Eye, it opened on April 29, 2015. The wheel was reported to be in the early stages of planning in March 2011, at which ...

and

High Roller A high roller, also referred to as a whale or cheetah, is a gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish " comps" from casinos to lure them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfer ...

giant wheels have since been constructed in those cities. No SkyView rides have yet been built.

UniCoaster

UniCoaster is an amusement ride with a small footprint designed to mimic the experience of a looping roller coaster. The design was licensed exclusively to Chance Rides until 2020 when Kitchen cancelled the exclusivity and began marketing variations such as "Unicoaster Roulette" to casinos in an attempt to mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19 theme park shutdown.

Notable installations

References

External links

* {{Roller coaster manufacturers Amusement ride manufacturers Roller coaster manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Florida Companies based in Orlando, Florida Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022