By working together, our innovation, design and engineering teams created the Orbiter so family and friends could share in the experience of a high-thrill ride while also providing excitement for the spectator. Inspired by our 360-degree looping AquaLoop, we challenged our team to create a family raft ride that could provoke a similar, thrilling sensation. While 360-degree inclined loops are not a new feature to waterslides, the idea that we could create a 6-plus person raft that could rise to traverse them is. And today’s your lucky day, because we are sharing a peek behind the scenes into the story of the Orbiter’s origins. A first for the waterslide industry, the Orbiter offers high capacity and throughput, thrilling and unique ride experience and impactful visual presence to the park and its guest. Several of the rides are between 20 and 30 years old, and age-related wear and tear was not a factor in the accident, he said.A completely new waterslide and ride experience, the Orbiter opened this year at OCT FABLAND in Xiangyang, China. The Orbiter seats 36 people and is roughly 10 years old, according to Pringle. "These rides are gone over with a fine-toothed comb daily," he said. The exact mechanical cause of the fire was not yet known, Pringle said. The Orbiter was manufactured by Tivoli, a European company, and will be inspected at the company's Texas factory, said Howard Pringle, director of operations with Conklin Shows Inc., the fair's main amusement ride contractor. In 2002, a 13-year-old boy lost the tip of his finger while riding a mechanical bull, and a toddler's thumb was cut off in 2001 when the boy's hand got caught in the rotating turntable of a kiddie fun house. Last year, five people were slightly injured when a startled cow jumped a fence and ran down Southern Boulevard. During the opening weekend, a man broke his arm on a roller-coaster ride, fair officials said, but state inspectors determined he failed to follow the ride's safety rules. This wasn't the first time injuries have marred the two-week fair, which includes animal exhibits, concerts and amusement rides. The damage to the Orbiter, valued at $100,000, was estimated at $50,000, officials said. The ride, which spins passengers seated at the end of its rotating arms, was shut down, and the fire is under investigation. Next year I'll think twice before I put myself or my son on a ride," she said. A girl emerged with a burn on her arm, Grimail said. Grimail saw rescue workers scramble to the flames, while deputies held the crowds back. Then the fire slowly crept its way down and ate up the whole Orbiter," she said. "At first there was this ball engulfed in flames and people were just running from it, children, everyone. The 20-year-old West Palm Beach resident was on a nearby ride with Amber when she saw flames curl up 50 feet away from her.
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Teresa Grimail, with her 12-year-old sister, Amber, in tow, had been bracing for the fast-spinning Orbiter, which was to be their last thrill for the night. Two people sustained minor burns and were transported to Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee, including one whose eye was sprayed with hydraulic fluid during the incident. About 20 people were evacuated from the ride. during the fair's late-night extravaganza, Midnight Magic, on its site west of West Palm Beach. With only one day left in the South Florida Fair, three people suffered minor injuries early Sunday morning when a popular ride caught fire.Ī leak in the hydraulic system of the Orbiter caused oil to spill onto the heated areas of the ride and spark flames, which were extinguished minutes later, fire rescue officials said.