Special Features: You'll go nuts for S&S's Screaming Squirrel

Posted at 9:36 PM EDT (0136 GMT)

Oct. 19th, 2003 -- S&S Power premiered their new mad-mouse style coaster Thursday. Our editor-in-chief, Steven Heicher, was invited to give his take on this very unique coaster, which gives riders an unusual upside-down feeling, but has them craving for more.

When we usually think about S&S Power, we usually think about their tower rides, such as Power Tower at Cedar Point or the Big Shot on top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. We may even think of the many installations of its Frog Hopper or its themed variants. Why do we tend to think of S&S in this way? The answer is simple; there are over 120 tower ride installations in the world alone.

That is why S&S has been making an effort to diversify themselves via acquisitions and strategic moves in order to better position themselves in the industry. In 2000, they unveiled their Thrust-Air 2000 coaster, which only have two installations in the world: at Paramount King’s Dominion with Hypersonic XLC, and at Fujikyu Highlands with Dodonpa. In 2002, they brought in Denise Dinn from the former Custom Coasters International to start a wooden coaster division, which completed its first coaster in June of this year (Timberhawk: Ride of Prey at Wild Waves and Enchanted Village in Washington state) and have a few more in the works. It also purchased Arrow Dynamics, which was in chapter 11 bankruptcy, and absorbed the best of Arrow into S&S, including its best engineers such as Alan Schilke, who is currently designing coasters for its wooden division. It also came up with other ride types, such as its Sky Swatter and Sky Sling (a revamp of the original Absolutely Insane ride, which received bad press after a part of it collapsed at Cedar Point and was subsequently removed at all Cedar Fair parks).

Sensing a need to cater to the family market, Stan Checketts came up with an idea that would do just that; yet retain his ability to create such a seemingly insane ride. With that, the Screaming Squirrel was born.

About the Squirrel...

An overivew shot of the Screaming Squirrel

The ride climbs up a 65-degree lift (a traditional chain lift I might add) at about 5 mph up to about 88 feet, and then begins like any other wild mouse… coasting along a straight section of track at a lower speed than other coasters (following the entire path at a speed roughly between 7-18 mph). That is where the similarities end. After the straightaway, you hit the first drop, which is a whopping 180 degrees, hanging upside-down for about 7 seconds. Then, you return to horizontal. This repeats two more times until you hit the safety brakes at the bottom. The only horizontal turns you make are as you leave the station for the lift and before the station. This may not be the case if a park decides to create a custom version of the ride, however.

The ride time, from the time you get in, to the time you get out, lasts approximately 75 seconds. Riders experience no more than 2g’s and aside from being vertical, do get a small pop of airtime after the second inversion.

Steven experiences the Squirrel…

We got there about 9:30am local time. I say “we” as I was in a group that included Ed Hiller from Ride Entertainment Systems, Lance Hart from Screamscape, Paul Reuben and his wife, and a couple of others. Most of us went into a meeting room to discuss the ride at hand, from the statistics on the paper, and from what we saw on a video that was playing.

In the video, there were some who looked like they were not enjoying it, and then there were some who were having the time of their life. What was funny, though, was that those who did not seem to enjoy themselves wanted to ride again. It managed to get a few laughs.

After discussing the ride over some coffee and maybe a danish, some of us got a tour of the entire operation, including where they manufacture some of the components of their rides. I even got a chance to test the new seats (since I am a larger person and cannot fit on some rides, including Wicked Twister and Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point). Thanks to S&S thinking about the American population (if you remember all of those reports about Americans getting bigger), I fit with flying colors!

Stan Checketts giving his Speech

While I talked with the others, I observed what the other guests were doing. Many of them were getting on, riding (and scaring others in the process by their screams), and once the ride was over, they got off, and made a mad dash for the entrance again. Eventually, the lines started to die down, and I caught Lance to see if he would be up for another ride. Since him and I were both big people (46” waist and around 260 pounds for myself), it was, in a way, proof that the ride can handle big people.

Screaming Squirrel car going up the lift

The Screaming Squirrel was definitely an awesome ride… I rode it my standard three times throughout the day. The second time, Lance and I were stuck at a 135-degree angle for a couple of seconds at the first drop… while he was filming. We were told that it did it intermittently, but that some of the buyers want it to do that every time, and we definitely concurred with their opinion. After all, there are only two other coasters that stop you before the first drop. They were both B&M dive machines. On my third Screaming Squirrel ride, I got to sit next to an eleven year old girl who had already ridden the ride 15 times (and rode it once more after that ride). She had not ridden any other coaster in her life, yet she was clearly enjoying the experience this ride gives.

Why Steven went Nuts…

Riders get hangtime while they are upside down on the Screaming Squirrel

Despite the fact the restraints on the Screaming Squirrel do look like what Togo uses, they really are comfortable, and fit the rider a lot more (instead of the rider fitting the restraints). S&S went all out for comfort and to make sure more guests could ride their rides. Not once was I forced to deal with discomfort or pain during the ride.

Currently, the minimum height requirement is 50 inches. However, one of the things that we actively discussed was lowering it to at least 48 inches, as it would attract more guests and be easier to add among other rides (there is not too many rides with a 50 inch height restriction). In addition, the restraints were already designed with a minimum of a 48-inch guest in mind.

At an installation cost of under $2 million, the Screaming Squirrel packs an awesome punch, and the cost is very easily justified by the ridership it has the potential to satisfy. It provides an excitement and intense level that is unique yet the whole family can enjoy. So far, the ride has been sold to at least one Asian park, and I can only say that if you want to experience the ride, encourage your local (or favorite) park to consider adding this ride. I am sure you will go nuts after riding the Screaming Squirrel!

All Photos © 2003 Steven Heicher and ThrillNetwork, with the exception of the S&S logo (© S&S Power, Inc.)

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