Top Spin (ride)

Kieputin at the Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki, Finland.

Tornado at Dunia Fantasi Jakarta (Zamperla Backflash - Suspended Windshear)

The Top Spin is a thrill ride developed by HUSS Park Attractions, and is the generic name for a series of rides from other manufacturers that follow the same principle. The ride consists of a passenger platform suspended between two counterweighted arms. The arms are turned by motors, while the platform typically only has brakes that are engaged and disengaged at various points of the ride cycle. A typical top spin program runs the main arm motors while engaging and disengaging the platform brakes so that it will rotate in exciting ways. The minimum rider height requirement is 54 inches; maximum is 80 inches due to the seat and restraint design. The ride was debuted in 1990 with it proving an instant success with European fairgoers.

Ride experience

Huss has designed the ride so that park and carnival operators may choose one of eight preset ride "programs." Most last no more than two minutes and consist of several moderate-speed loops, flips, and face-down gondola "hangtime" before unlocking the gondola hydraulics and swinging the riders back and forth. Some Top Spin rides have the added feature of water fountains which are mainly used at the end of the ride sequence soaking the riders as they are slowly lowered face first into the un-escapable water jets. Cycles can be customized to include more intense repetitive flips and also be under manual operator control. Cycles may tend to be longer at carnivals. A world record was set with over 100 gondola flips during a cycle with a theme park model in Germany.

Variations

• The original Topspin concept has two rows of seating with self lowering lap bars and rider spotlights.
• The Giant Top Spin is a larger version of the Top Spin, seating 77 passengers in three rows on the platform. Only one park in the United States featured a Giant Top Spin, The Crypt at Kings Island in Ohio. However, its third row was removed in 2008, reducing the capacity. The ride structure was still larger than any other. It closed after the 2011 season.
• The Suspended Top Spin is a floorless version of the ride that can hold 38 passengers in two rows back to back.
• The Top Spin 2 is a smaller version of the original, designed for showmen who require a ride that fits onto a single trailer. This version enables the platform to perform almost endless loops. This version tends to have telescoping drum supports to hold the main control arms.

There are also numerous other Top Spin rides that were later developed by other companies as rivals to the Huss versions.

In addition to this, various manufacturers such as Mondial, Moser, Vekoma, and Zamperla make an improved version of the Top Spin where each individual arm is controlled separately; this results in diagonal gondola inversions. Such rides are known by names like "Wind Shear", "Super Loop on Top", "Waikiki Wave Super Flip","Super Nova" and "Discovery".

Installations

The Top Spin was once a common ride at travelling funfairs, particularly in Germany. Over time, many of the travelling versions of the ride have been sold to amusement parks. Huss also makes several models of Top Spin specifically for static locations.

Worlds of Fun's Thunderhawk about to launch.

Name	Park	Location	Manufacturer	Model	Opened	Status
Wipeout	Dreamworld	Australia	Vekoma	Waikiki Wave Super Flip	1993	Removed
Rampage	Adventure World	Australia	Moser's Rides	Maverick	2001	Operating
Buzzsaw Formerly Screamer	Walibi Belgium	Belgium	Huss	Top Spin	2001	Operating
Galaxy Twister	Galaxyland	Canada	Moser's Rides	Loop On Top	1995	Removed
Hell's Gate	Playland	Canada	Huss	Top Spin	2000	Operating
Demon	La Ronde	Canada	Mondial	Roll Over	2014	Operating
La Tornade	La Ronde	Canada	Huss	Top Spin	1997	Removed
Riptide	Canada's Wonderland	Canada	Mondial	Splash Over	2000	Operating
Top Spin	Fantasilandia	Chile	Huss	Top Spin	2004	Operating
Perfect Storm	Happy Valley Shenzhen	China	Huss	Top Spin	2002	Operating
Perfect Storm	Happy Valley Wuhan	China	Huss	Top Spin	2012	Operating
Trojan Horse	Happy Valley Beijing	China	Huss	Top Spin	2006	Operating
Kieputin	Linnanmäki	Finland	Huss	Top Spin	1994	Operating
NYC Transformer Formerly Riddler's Revenge	Movie Park Germany	Germany	Huss	Top Spin	1999	Operating
Talocan	Phantasialand	Germany	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2007	Operating
Gantu Top Spin	Serengeti Park	Germany	Huss	Top Spin 2	1995	Operating
Aqua Spin	Heide Park	Germany	Huss	Top Spin	1992	Removed
Yukan Raft	Fort Fun Abenteurland	Germany	Huss	Top Spin 2	2013	Removed
Estrugensen	Xetulul Theme Park	Guatemala	Huss	Top Spin	2002	Operating
Top Spin	Vidámpark	Hungary	Huss	Top Spin	2004	Removed
Unknown	EsselWorld	India	Huss	Top Spin	2012	Operating
GiraVolta Formerly Top Spin	Miragica Gardaland	Italy	Huss	Top Spin	2015 1993 to 2015	Operating
Tomb Raider Machine	Movieland Park	Italy	Zamperla	Windshear	2007	Operating
Double Rock Spin	Everland	South Korea	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2003	Operating
Blast Formerly Excalibur	Walibi Holland	Netherlands	Huss	Top Spin	2000	Operating
Montezuma's Revenge	Avonturenpark Hellendoorn	Netherlands	Huss	Top Spin 2	1998	Operating
Waterspin	Duinrell	Netherlands	Huss	Top Spin	1996	Operating
Hurakan	Tibidabo	Spain	Huss	Top Spin	1992	Operating
Lex Luthor's Invertatron	Parque Warner Madrid	Spain	Huss	Top Spin	2002	Operating
Top Spin	Parque de Atracciones de Madrid	Spain	Huss	Top Spin	1993	Operating
TopSpin	Liseberg	Sweden	Huss	Top Spin	1993	Removed
Rameses Revenge	Chessington World of Adventures	United Kingdom	Huss	Top Spin	1995	Operating
Ripsaw	Alton Towers	United Kingdom	Huss	Top Spin	1997	Removed
Terror Rack	Pleasure Island Family Theme Park	United Kingdom	Fabbri	Tsunami	1998	Removed
Tidal Wave	Flamingo Land	United Kingdom	Vekoma	Waikiki Wave	1993	Removed
Top Spin	Astroland	United States	Huss	Top Spin 2	2004	Removed
Cliffhanger	Lagoon	United States	Mondial	Splash Over	2001	Operating
The Crypt Formerly Tomb Raider: Firefall	Kings Dominion	United States	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2005	Operating
The Crypt Formerly Tomb Raider: The Ride	Kings Island	United States	Huss	Giant Top Spin	2002	Removed
Der Twister	Six Flags Fiesta Texas	United States	Huss	Top Spin	1998	Removed
Firefall Formerly Texas Twister	California's Great America Geauga Lake	United States	Huss	Top Spin	2008 1993 to 2007	Removed
King Chaos	Six Flags Great America	United States	Huss	Top Spin	2004	Removed
King Kahuna	Kennywood	United States	Huss	Top Spin	2003	Removed
Hang Time	Dorney Park	United States	Huss	Top Spin	1998	Removed
Lex Luthor's Invertatron	Six Flags New Orleans	United States	Zamperla	Windshear	2003	Closed
Quake	Kentucky Kingdom	United States	Vekoma	Waikiki Wave	1992	Removed
RipTide	Knott's Berry Farm	United States	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2004	Removed
RipTide	Valleyfair	United States	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2005	Removed
Top Spin	Myrtle Beach Pavilion	United States	Huss	Top Spin	2006	Removed
Shake, Rattle & Roll Formerly Avalanche	Elitch Gardens	United States	Huss	Top Spin	1995	Removed
Splash Over	Adventureland	United States	Moser's Rides	Maverick	2006	Operating
Thunderhawk	Worlds of Fun	United States	Huss	Top Spin	2002	Removed
Twister	Darien Lake	United States	Huss	Top Spin	2000	Removed
Twister	Lake Winnepesaukah	United States	Moser's Rides	Maverick	2016	Operating
Twister	Six Flags Great Adventure	United States	Huss	Top Spin	1999	Operating
VooDoo	Six Flags Discovery Kingdom	United States	Huss	Top Spin	1998	Removed
Twister	Six Flags New England	United States	Huss	Top Spin	1997	Removed
Monster Spin	Dragon Park Ha Long	Vietnam	Huss	Top Spin 2	2017	Operating
Thor Thunder Spin Ride	IMG Worlds Of Adventure	United Arab Emirates	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2016	Operating
Top Spin	Romon U-Park	China	Huss	Suspended Top Spin	2014	Operating
Top Spin	Dreamland	Japan	Huss	Top Spin	1999	Removed
Top Spin	Wiener Prater	Austria	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Removed
Vortigo	Etnaland	Italy	Moser's Rides	Super Loop on Top	2013	Operating
Top Spin Fresh	Le Fleury	France	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Removed
Top Spin Révolution	Europark	France	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Removed
Revolution	Parque de Atracciones de Zaragoza	Spain	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Operating
Revolution	Atracciones Lorente	Spain	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Galeon	Land of Legends	Turkey	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Operating
Terminator	Tir Prince Family Funfair	United Kingdom	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Miner's Revenge	Gold Reef City	South Africa	Huss	Top Spin	Unknown	Operating
Dokkaebi Wind	Seoul Land	South Korea	Huss	Top Spin	Unknown	Operating
Top Spin	E-World	South Korea	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Waikiki Wave	Lotte World	South Korea	Vekoma	Waikiki Wave	Unknown	Removed
Desorbitados	Parque de la Costa	Argentina	Preston & Barbieri	Suspended Top Spin	Unknown	Operating
Ekatomb	Hopi Hari	Brazil	Huss	Top Spin	Unknown	Operating
King Kong's Spin	Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park	China	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Apocalipsis	Salitre Mágico	Colombia	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Operating
Tornado F5	Parque Diversiones	Costa Rica	Huss	Top Spin	Unknown	Operating
Tornado	Dunia Fantasi	Indonesia	Zamperla	Windshear	2007	Operating
Luna Swing	Space World	Japan	Vekoma	Waikiki Wave Super Flip	Unknown	Removed
Huracan	Six Flags México	Mexico	Vekoma	Waikiki Wave Super Flip	1993	Operating
Top Spin	La Feria de Chapultepec	Mexico	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Closed
Top Spin	BenyLand	Japan	Huss	Top Spin 2	Unknown	Operating
Top Spin	Dream Park	Egypt	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Top Spin	Luna Park Tel Aviv	Israel	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Operating
Salto	Eram Park	Iran	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Top Spin	Joyland	Pakistan	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

See also

• Ali Baba (ride)
• Rainbow (ride)
• Tourbillon (ride)

External links

• Media related to Top Spin (ride) at Wikimedia Commons
• Media related to HUSS Park Attractions at Wikimedia Commons