History
Sky Whirl resembled a huge tree with three arms, each arm supporting a giant wheel. Two wheels were always spinning while the third was on the ground loading. It gave park guests a chance to relax and get a cool breeze. It was a ride for the whole family. Today, neither Sky Whirl operates. The one in Santa Clara, California closed in 1997 and the one in Gurnee, Illinois closed in 2000. Coincidentally, both were replaced with Vekoma Inverted Boomerang roller coasters. Both rides are greatly missed, and roller coaster enthusiasts criticized the roller coaster at Six Flags Great America, called Déjà Vu, for taking the Sky Whirl's place. Ironically, due to constant malfunctions and down time this replacement ride was not popular with most park guests; it gave its last rides on October 28, 2007 before being removed.
The Sky Whirl ride at the Gurnee park reached a height of 110 feet.
The first of these types of rides, the Astrowheel, located at the former Six Flags Astroworld, had only two arms and was built in 1969. A similar ride was located at Hersheypark, called the Giant Wheel, however it had two wheels instead of three. It was removed in 2004. A double wheel called the Galaxi was built at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but it was removed due to space constraints. Another double wheel was built at Kings Island, but was relocated to Wonderland Sydney in Australia.
The Santa Clara ride was featured in the movie Beverly Hills Cop III.
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