Tornado at Wiener Prater is one of the most unique flat rides I have ever ridden.
Built by Funtime, this is an imposing swing ride with some tricks up its sleeve.
The ride has 3 distinct movements that work together to create a thrilling ride experience.
You have the motion of a traditional swing plus a rotating arm and a rotating gondola.
But is the ride as crazy as it looks?
Find out in this review of Tornado.
Wiener Prater’s Tornado opened in 2007.
I believe this is a prototype from Funtime and I couldn’t find a second installation
of it anywhere in my research.
If this is incorrect, definitely let me know.
I’d be happy if I’m incorrect since that means there are more versions of this great
ride out there.
So why aren’t there more of these out there?
I think one of the biggest reasons is the ride’s capacity.
Tornado has just a single gondola seating 4 riders per cycle.
I feared this would have a massive queue line due to its limited throughput, but it surprisingly
was no more than a 2-3 cycle wait on a summer weekend night.
The pay-per-ride pricing structure of Wiener Prater prevents most rides from generating
queues.
I believe each ride on Tornado cost roughly 5 Euros and the ride crew is incentivized
to load this attraction as quickly as possible to maximize their revenue.
4 riders are seated in a row.
And the attraction features a snug over-the-shoulder restraint.
If you’ve ridden a Funtime Slingshot, this harness is identical.
Tornado begins with the first motion.
The lightning bolt shaped arm rotates in a circle, which rises the gondola off the ground.
Shortly thereafter, the gondola performs a super slow flip.
And then the third motion is introduced as you start swinging back and forth.
One of the things that surprised me was that the flips were precisely controlled.
I would have thought they would have been inertia driven.
Instead, the rotations of the gondola were controlled- both in terms of speed and when
they occur.
Each rotation occurs at a gradual rate, which maximizes the hangtime.
And the visuals are particularly sweet when this flip occurs at the apex of a swing.
There are a dozen flips in total and since they don’t occur consecutively, you can
never quite anticipate when you’ll experience one.
This kept me on my toes and prevented the ride from becoming monotonous, which is the
number one thing that can derail a flat ride for me.
Now let’s talk about the swinging.
The motion isn’t as strong or forceful as a Screamin’ Swing or even a swinging ship.
You will not get any airtime at the apex of a swing.
Due to the ride’s height and speed, you do get strong positive Gs on the downswing
though, on par with the best frisbee rides out there.
And you also get a refreshing breeze.
Tornado has a satisfying 2.5 minute long ride cycle, which was longer than I expected given
how few riders it can accommodate per cycle.
I definitely felt like I got good bang for my buck.
And the ride is also theatrical between the flashy lights on the structure and fog that
is pumped in from the base.
So what would I rate Tornado, I would give this crazy looking flat ride a 9 out of 10.
While the ride wasn’t as intense as it looked, it was a ton of fun.
The quantity of rotations combined with the copious amount of hangtime was heavenly.
If you love hangtime, this is the ride for you.
Those flips were paired with strong positive Gs on the downswings for variety, amazing
visuals, and good speed.
It’s a shame more of these haven’t been built since they’re really neat.
So those are my thoughts on Tornado at Wiener Prater, the rare Funtime flat ride.
What are your thoughts on this ride?
Have you experienced it?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this ride down in the comments.
If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered
subscribing since there will be a lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here
at Canobie Coaster.
Thanks for watching!