Different Types of Carousels

There are many types of carousels. Owners and designers of amusement rides always try to invent something different so they could offer their costumer a unique and a more thrilling ride than competition.

• Classic carousel is an amusement rides that has seats in shape of animals (the most often are horses but there can be others) on a rotating circular platform.
• Roundabout is a playground toy – a simplified version of a carousel. It has no mechanism and often no seats. It is just a rotating platform with bars on it that act as hand-holds.
• Balloon Race is a carousel variant made by Antonio Zamperla S.P.A. It has twelve balloons with gondolas that carry up to 4 passengers. Carousel lifts balloons up to certain point and then tilts them. There is also a variant with pirate ships instead of balloons.
• Breakdance is an amusement ride invented for the first time in 1985 by HUSS Park Attractions. It consists of a rotating platform which has four hubs, which in turn carries four cars with two seats. Cars rotate on hubs, hubs rotate on the platform and everything is tilted.
• Booster is also invented by HUSS Park Attractions and is a variant of Breakdance where cars rotate around horizontal pole.
• The Hurricane has six arms that have hydraulics and on end of which are cars that can carry four riders. Arms rise and fall under the centrifugal force and hydraulics. This ride was invented by the Allan Herschell Company in 1940s and is also known as Saturn 6.

• Swing ride is a carousel that has swings as seats for riders that are suspended from the rotating top of the carousel.
• Flying Scooters , or Flyers, are a variant of a swing ride. They have seats that have large metal sail that can be manipulated by a rider and rider can (to an extent) control movement of the chair.
• The Caterpillar is a ride that consists of motorized cars that are connected end-to-end and they move in circle. It is a classic ride but it is very are today.
• The Cliff Hanger is a ride that simulates hang gliding. It has gondola cars with kite tops that are designed to hold 3 people in a laid position. These cars are connected to the rotating top via flexible hand and can spread under the centrifugal force.
• Round Up is a sort of upside-down carousel. It has a rotating platform whose center is on a hydraulic hand and, on top of the platform is a vertical cage-like wall around the edge. Riders enter the cage and are placed against the wall. High centrifugal force pushes them against the wall which allows the platform to stand almost vertically at the highest speed without anyone falling.
• Troika has tree arms (name means “group of three” in many Slavic languages) and at the end of each is a star holding seven gondolas of which each has two seats. It looks like a carousel that has three carousels that revolve around their centers and around common center.
• There are many other types of modern carousels and other types of amusement rides.