AT: Tim Baldwin

VIENNA, Austria — With more than two decades of frightening passengers and delighting onlookers along midways with its Booster attraction, Funtime is making headway into the larger theme park market with this thrill ride. The company’s StarFlyer has already been a huge seller and is seen in parks around the world. This year, the Booster attraction will be installed in two theme parks in the U.S. The Great Escape and Six Flags St. Louis will be introducing the towering, rotating thrills of the classic Booster to its audiences and the park skyline.

But now comes a twist.

Funtime has introduced Booster Unhinged. The first was introduced at Prater Park in 2019. The concept is now ready to expand and become bigger yet.

Booster Unhinged takes the proven extreme concept of the original Booster and revs up the adrenaline with another level of chaos. Riders experience three separate motions all at once: the rotation of the main boom, powered rotation of the seating rigs, and the free-flipping gravitational motion of each individual seat. 

“After over 20 years of success with our original Booster rides, Funtime felt the time had come to re-imagine the concept and deliver yet another dimension of thrills that our clients and fans expect from our company,” said Hannes Lackner, Funtime Group’s general manager. “Booster Unhinged exceeded all expectations as eager guests lined up to experience this world’s first experience. Our entire team was excited to introduce the new concept at the famous Prater Park, which has become one of our favorite locations to debut prototypes given its proximity to our factory in Dölsach.” 

One of the strengths of the ride is the unobstructed visuals of its spectacular views from great heights. Booster Unhinged arcs through the sky at a height of 164 feet (50 meters) and has a top speed of 62mph (100 km/h).

Funtime is represented in the U.S. by Ride Entertainment. 

“Booster Unhinged takes the proven extreme ride experience of the classic Booster and ratchets the thrills up another notch!” said Mark Rosenzweig, managing director, business development, Ride Entertainment. “With the controlled rotation of the seating rigs coupled with a gravitational side-to-side flipping motion of each individual seat — both occurring while the main ride boom is also rotating — this monumental attraction leaves riders wondering which way is up.” 

The Prater Park installation has a capacity of eight riders per cycle with four riders on each end of the boom. However, Funtime reports that for properties needing greater capacity on the ride, 16- and 32-seat versions are also available.

“The different seating options allow clients to install the ride as a standalone upcharge or include it in a pay-one-price option,” noted Rosenzweig.

“Funtime continues to increase the capacity on amazing extreme rides so they can work in traditional theme park environments. The debut of Booster Unhinged at Prater and the new rides at Six Flags properties show that there is still an appetite for unique thrills like this,” said Lackner. 

This article appears in the MAY 2020 issue of Amusement Today.
View the entire issue for FREE with our digital edition!