US Thrill Rides was an entertainment design and consulting company in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. It was best known for creating thrill rides in several US locations, hence its name.

History

In 1992, William Kitchen and Ken Bird invented the

SkyCoaster Skycoaster is the name of a free-fall and flight-simulating amusement park attraction produced and managed by Skycoaster Company, LLC.. On the Skycoaster, riders in groups of 1 to 3 are harnessed in specialized Flight Suits (in a face-down, p ...

. 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 January 1, 2017. History Devel ...

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 li ...

in July 1998. The attraction received a visit by

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

. 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 Polercoaster was a type of amusement ride offered by US Thrill Rides and Intamin. An installation would have consisted of a large tower structure, featuring glass elevators to an observation deck, as well as a steel roller coaster wrapping aro ...

(in collaboration with

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...

Martin & Vleminckx Martin & Vleminckx Ltd. (doing business as MV Rides) is a thrill ride and roller coaster manufacturing and construction company headquartered in Montreal, Québec, Canada with an affiliated office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a manufa ...

acquired Kitchen's portfolio of rides in November 2022. 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, w ...

bankruptcy and quietly shuttered.

Products and technologies

US Thrill Rides specialized in amusement rides and attractions.

Polercoaster

Polercoaster was an amusement ride offered as a joint venture by US Thrill Rides and

. 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. It foreshadowed the band's extensive usage of synthesizers on '' Eliminator, Afterburner,'' and to a lesser extent, '' Recycler,'' by way of employing a ...

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...

wrapping around the tower. The model was first introduced in 2012. US Thrill Rides' Bill and Michael Kitchen invented the concept to allow

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

s 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 where it was announced the first Polercoaster (called the "Skyscraper") would’ve been the tallest rollercoaster in the world and would be built by 2017. The Skyplex project was claimed to be moving forward but had not broken ground and did not opened in 2020 as previously claimed by the developer. In 2023, Winter Park Construction (WPC) confirmed that the project was not moving forward, resulting in its eventual cancellation.

SkyQuest

SkyQuest was 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 (, ; , ) 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, in a sculli ...

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

SkySpire

SkySpire was 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 (, ; , ) 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, in a scul ...

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 was a proposed concept for lightweight

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, 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, gondola ...

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 commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, however the

Orlando Eye The Orlando Eye by Merlin Entertainments is a tall Ferris wheel at ICON Park, Icon Park in Orlando, Florida, United States. It opened on April 29, 2015. The attraction was originally called the Orlando Eye, and was owned and operated by Merli ...

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 entice them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfe ...

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

UniCoaster

UniCoaster was 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 Chance Rides is an American roller coaster and amusement ride manufacturer. Originally founded in 1961, the current company was formed on May 16, 2002, when the former Chance Industries Inc. emerged from bankruptcy. The main office and manufa ...

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

{{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 American companies disestablished in 2022 2022 disestablishments in Florida