This ride is seriously great. I know I am biased because, along with Achibabwa, I operate this ride just about every day of my life. However, the astrosphere is a fantastic ride which has been often immitated, but never very successfully recreated. The premise of the ride:
After waiting in line for an average of about 20 to 30 minutes on a standard day, guests enter a hegagonally shaped airlock chamber where they are given a slightly amusing, but informative briefing on the rules of the ride, and safety precautions. After about 5 minutes, the guests are then let in to a 60 foot, pressurized vinyl dome which holds a 36 person scrambler along with several thousand dollars worth of lighting and sound equipment. When entering, the guests are greeted by the bright green scrambler which is illuminated by an erie black-light ambiance. After being loaded in, with all pins and doors checked (something I have noticed some parks dont always do on their scrambler rides), the ride starts up and gets up to its maximum speed of about 8RPMs...at which point the blacklighs shut off, FIRE ON HIGH starts playing over the speakers and the bubble is illuminated by multi colored stars. Unlike most rides whihc include a light show, this is different each time you ride. Since the entire show is run BY the operators, and each operator has their own unique touch, you never see the same show twice. This ride is truly the heart of FunTown and I hope it stays in the park for many years to come. Unfortunately it is growing incrasingly difficult to find 60 foot vinyl domes, and the current one is at LEAST 10 years old, (it may be the original from the 70s I will have to check next summer) Saco, Maine may lose its most exciting attribute in the future.
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