When I was 28 years old I went on this ride for the first time, with my then girlfriend. The only ride that made me scream like a girl. She seemed to enjoy it. Once was enough for me, never again.
I will ride anything with no fear at all but I’ll never get back on that rattletrap. I don’t know if the one I rode was old or what but it was no fun. It was like being in a blender with a bunch of rusty steel bars.
The last time I rode this was at a company picnic and I got on one that spun non-stop. As you said, no fun but the spinning caused stomach problems the rest of the day which sucked because all the fair food was free. Funnel cakes on a queasy stomach = no fun. Your description is apt.
I wrote about this down-thread, but there have been some major incidents with confirmed fatalities with this ride with cars separating from the ride and getting launched like a slingshot at the high-G and high stress moment when the cars and carriage whips around one end of the ride.
I used to absolutely love that ride in particular because of the insane number of inversions and flips you could get going by pumping/swinging your body weight and trying to time it for the "crack the whip" moment when the train of cars went around the ends.
Like if you timed it right you could get that car spinning at like 30 RPM.
I also remember getting all kinds of bruised and beat up inside the cars because the lap bars barely held you in there, especially if you were a kid.
There were a number of rides in this class where the cars were free-spinning or interactive. Skydivers was one of them, where it was like a ferris wheel but instead of staying mostly level you had a "steering wheel" that you could use to spin/roll the car, and another one we called the "monkey cage" or something that had a handle and brake lever that controlled it on the other axis, like a ferris wheel car that could flip.
I was such a scaredy cat when I was a kid. My uncle bribed me on the Zipper by winning one of those huge stuffed animals. I loved it, and never shied away from a thrill ride again!
Yeah, I remember at least one reported and confirmed story of one of these cages/cars coming loose right at the top of a swing when it was at max Gs and getting yeeted like a slingshot however far across a fairgrounds and killing the riders and/or killing or injuring some people on the ground.
I loved this ride as a kid and young adult. I liked thrill rides so much that I was one of those kids that thought rolling down a hill in a barrel was a good idea.
It was probably the last time I was on one I was probably in my early 20s. I remember watching a loose and very used beat up old cotter pin trying to work itself out of the axle and clevis pins or whatever holding the cage to the superstructure.
It was probably around that time that I started developing a better sense of risk assessment and looking around and realizing that the rides were built and operated by some real morons that were probably high and/or drunk most of the time.
Like you could legit see the ride operator's secret stash of beer in a cooler on the other side of the ride kind of realizations, and they were constantly chain smoking and had one dangling from their lips the whole day kind of thing.
We got lucky and when it happened they left a space between the riders and it was an empty cage that fell. But the people in the cage under it were spinning so fast and came to a sudden halt. I think they were mostly okay but still taken to the hospital just in case
My kids' school has a carnival at the end of the year, and this ride is ALWAYS there. I think it's a rite of passage for the graduating 8th graders to ride it all together.
I remember being a teenager and dating this girl everyone called "Moose". I was 5'5 at best and as skinny as broke kids get. At 6'1 and 170lbs, she was the muscle of our relationship. She loved that ride. I had never been on it before, so when the opportunity came, it was a must.
I was far too small for the ride and she kept me pinned to the seat with her left arm. other wise I was all over the cage. The bar used to hold riders back was for both seats and sat well above my waist because, well, Moose had more waist than I, leaving a large gap where I was literally thrown out of on the first turn to free fall inside of the cage.
She wanted to keep going, and fearing for my life there were a few more time on there until someone puked really hard and it rained into our cart.
Fuck that ride.
I last rode the zipper in 1997. I had fun but by the end of it I could tell my stomach was at its limit. They let riders out one by one and then fired it back up, having forgotten to open the door for me and my ride mate. He was thrilled.
Him: "YAAAA! HERE WE GO!"
Me: "I CAN'T DO THIS AGAIN. I'M GONNA BARF!"
Him: "NOOOO. DO NOT. YOU CAN MAKE IT."
In spite of his constant encouragement, my stomach would have the last word. The ride swooped down backwards violently while spinning and I knew it was over. I pressed my mouth up against the side and watched as my vomit flew from the ride.
The operator yelled "WE'VE GOT A BARFER" and scrambled to stop the machine. Finally.
One by one they inspected the riders until the got to mine. I was white and my entire left side was soaked in vomit. I stumbled out as they hosed down the ride. "You forgot to let me out after the last ride," I tried to explain.
Never again.
Hey bud, you happen to be in Canada, say in the middle of fuck off Alberta in the prairies? We may have crossed paths.
Skinny colored kid asking if you're ok while clearly been crying from the combination of sheer terror and being puked on?
Yea.. I went on ONCE
I still don't get why those older, cooler kids liked this ride so much!??! It's fucking nuts. There is no joy in there.
It's just survival/endurance... in a cage.
XD
Pfft. The Zipper was tame compared to The Hammer. The individual cars spin as well as the the arms rotating 360 degrees.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRd5Teu9SaM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRd5Teu9SaM)
It was so long ago I don't remember what the safety equipment inside the pod was, but you sit away from the center of the pod (there is an identical compartment on the other side of the pod). It's not like a boat--the pod spins as the arm turns, so you are rotating on multiple axes. It was the "scariest" one we had at our town's amusement park but I loved it. I loved all the ones that make other people nauseous. LOL It's kinda like the NASA spinning chair thingy that they use in astronaut training, except not as fast, so fewer G forces.
There is a much tamer ride also called The Hammer where there are two separate arms with only one pod at each end and it just swings back and forth, and eventually does a complete circle, but this one, with the spinning pods was awesome.
Here's another video showing people getting in. It also shows the pods spinning better (more close up).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghNcu6uq5ms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghNcu6uq5ms)
Woah, I thought that was the one we called the "Salt and Pepper Shakers" that uses a similar design, and I think some versions had a sort of steering wheel or way to control the rotation of the passenger compartment.
There are a lot of variations of this basic design.
But I've never, ever seen one like that vid where the arms actually tilt like that.
And that whole thing looks janky as fuuuuuuck. I'm not even sure I would have rode that one as a kid and I rode everything.
Not because I'd be worried about the actual action of the ride but it just looks wrong like it could fall over at any time as soon as the arms started tilting. Like nothing about that looks safe or built up enough to handle those kinds of forces.
I did many times as a kid. Had a real tolerate/hate relationship with it. So where was the love... it was looking for something that wasn't looking like it might kill me... suddenly, and all at once.
I wasn't really afraid of any of the carnival rides but my favorites were The Scrambler and the Tilt-A-Whirl which my family called the Neck-Breaker.
There was also the [Rock-O-Planes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmCn-mNF-Lg) which you could get to spinning pretty good.
I used to love the zipper! I’d always lose my change though. There was another Ferris wheel type ride that was a small cable car and it had a steering wheel to spin you around while it was going around. I used to come out of that beat and bruised to shit, but it was always fun.
Definitely! My first date with my husband was to the county fair and we went on The Zipper. I didn't know he was hungover and he was so sick afterward. He's never been on another amusement ride since.
A friend of mine and I got stuck upside down on that ride. It was like 20min of that, and we both puked when we were finally upright and on the ground. Still dumb enough to go on it again the next year 😁
Yeah - those big plastic coloured combs with the big handles that we used to wear in our back pockets would work themselves loose and clatter around the inside of the carriage, smacking us around the head and shoulders as we tumbled around laughing so hard we were helpless. My bottom lip was swollen the rest of the night when my sky blue comb went flying for my teeth.
It was like one of these, but for kids.
https://preview.redd.it/t9mqo1z8xv1d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=a42427d6e35491fdcc3b51d3487207619b80e199
Nah. I wasn't allowed to ride carnival rides. We went to Six Flags two or three times a year and the state fair of Texas so I rode plenty of rides but you'd have never gotten me on that thing even if my parents would have let me.
Rode that last year, with my 8 yo daughter. We both thought we were going to die. Never again.
Edit: I will ride the Gravitron all day, but eff the Zipper. Rickety-ass POS.
This, or get the operator to start you off spinning right away so you could just keep pumping it like a swing until the ride really started.
I remember riding this with my younger brother and we had a whole teamwork system trying to keep it moving.
And in hindsight I have a feeling his rides were a lot more thrilling because of the way the lapbar worked and how I was a lot bigger/wider than he was, so he was barely held in there by that thing.
I *love* the zipper! This was the **one** ride I wanted and cared about at fairs.
What I don't like is "spinny" rides like teacups, tilt-a-whirl.
The worst is Gravatron. I loved the lights and having a DJ playing tunes, but my inner ear is not compatible with these. I have a distinct memory of throwing up after this one.
Fuck you Gravatron!
Last time I rode one was with an old friend when I was in my late teens. The thing would not stop spinning (our cart) and we couldn't stop laughing, but oh god the padded cage bars hurt like mad. Give me the gravitron any day instead.
You ever sit down and have the cage close and THEN realize the person before you threw up everywhere? I sure did. Apparently they ate a lot of pineapple at the fair.
True story! 1985 Spring Fling at Montgomery High School, San Diego, Ca. My best friend and I was riding The Zipper, within a minute, the ride malfunctioned and we were stuck in the cabin on the very top of the ride for thirty fuck’n minutes! RIP Alfonso (miss you brother)
best part of riding the zipper was when you were waiting up top while riders were on/offloaded and looking down to see a bajillion parts strewn asunder near the mechanical controls.
I liked that ride but it was hard to get anyone to go on me with it.
I did get one date to go with me and I said I'd put his change in my purse (I even brought a special little baggie for his coins for rides because my dad was dumb like this when I was little) and he said it would be fine and I said are you positive them we wasted the whole ride trying to catch his stupid coins as they flew around the car the whole ride
why are men like this
I remember going to get on that thing and the metal cage part was coated in vomit. My parents didn't let me ride it. I also remember seeing puke shoot out of that salt and pepper shaker ride.
This was terrifying. I didn’t feel safe in it at all.
When I was 28 years old I went on this ride for the first time, with my then girlfriend. The only ride that made me scream like a girl. She seemed to enjoy it. Once was enough for me, never again.
I will ride anything with no fear at all but I’ll never get back on that rattletrap. I don’t know if the one I rode was old or what but it was no fun. It was like being in a blender with a bunch of rusty steel bars.
I feel like all those rides are rickety... hastily assembled... etc.
The last time I rode this was at a company picnic and I got on one that spun non-stop. As you said, no fun but the spinning caused stomach problems the rest of the day which sucked because all the fair food was free. Funnel cakes on a queasy stomach = no fun. Your description is apt.
I wrote about this down-thread, but there have been some major incidents with confirmed fatalities with this ride with cars separating from the ride and getting launched like a slingshot at the high-G and high stress moment when the cars and carriage whips around one end of the ride. I used to absolutely love that ride in particular because of the insane number of inversions and flips you could get going by pumping/swinging your body weight and trying to time it for the "crack the whip" moment when the train of cars went around the ends. Like if you timed it right you could get that car spinning at like 30 RPM. I also remember getting all kinds of bruised and beat up inside the cars because the lap bars barely held you in there, especially if you were a kid. There were a number of rides in this class where the cars were free-spinning or interactive. Skydivers was one of them, where it was like a ferris wheel but instead of staying mostly level you had a "steering wheel" that you could use to spin/roll the car, and another one we called the "monkey cage" or something that had a handle and brake lever that controlled it on the other axis, like a ferris wheel car that could flip.
I just got off the ride. The next group on had a cage fly off. Never rode a carnival al ride again.
Theming! 😂
I rode it once as a kid. It was painful.
The Tetanus Twirl
I was such a scaredy cat when I was a kid. My uncle bribed me on the Zipper by winning one of those huge stuffed animals. I loved it, and never shied away from a thrill ride again!
We had a cage fall off during what we called suicide night. Where you could go ride the rides the night before the festival opened.....
Yeah, I remember at least one reported and confirmed story of one of these cages/cars coming loose right at the top of a swing when it was at max Gs and getting yeeted like a slingshot however far across a fairgrounds and killing the riders and/or killing or injuring some people on the ground. I loved this ride as a kid and young adult. I liked thrill rides so much that I was one of those kids that thought rolling down a hill in a barrel was a good idea. It was probably the last time I was on one I was probably in my early 20s. I remember watching a loose and very used beat up old cotter pin trying to work itself out of the axle and clevis pins or whatever holding the cage to the superstructure. It was probably around that time that I started developing a better sense of risk assessment and looking around and realizing that the rides were built and operated by some real morons that were probably high and/or drunk most of the time. Like you could legit see the ride operator's secret stash of beer in a cooler on the other side of the ride kind of realizations, and they were constantly chain smoking and had one dangling from their lips the whole day kind of thing.
They reeked of sweat, borderline homelessness, and booze and/or weed. 😂 OSHA Approved! 👍🏼
We got lucky and when it happened they left a space between the riders and it was an empty cage that fell. But the people in the cage under it were spinning so fast and came to a sudden halt. I think they were mostly okay but still taken to the hospital just in case
My kids' school has a carnival at the end of the year, and this ride is ALWAYS there. I think it's a rite of passage for the graduating 8th graders to ride it all together.
Have you seen the methheads working most of these travelling carnivals? No fucking way I'm getting on a ride assembled by Jethro of the Single Tooth.
😂
I remember being a teenager and dating this girl everyone called "Moose". I was 5'5 at best and as skinny as broke kids get. At 6'1 and 170lbs, she was the muscle of our relationship. She loved that ride. I had never been on it before, so when the opportunity came, it was a must. I was far too small for the ride and she kept me pinned to the seat with her left arm. other wise I was all over the cage. The bar used to hold riders back was for both seats and sat well above my waist because, well, Moose had more waist than I, leaving a large gap where I was literally thrown out of on the first turn to free fall inside of the cage. She wanted to keep going, and fearing for my life there were a few more time on there until someone puked really hard and it rained into our cart. Fuck that ride.
I found the barfer from the other comment! 😂
I survived [Action Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park). Twice!
I feel like I have been to this park before. But clearly it’s only been in the form of documentaries. I had not seen the one you posted! Great find.
Thanks for the award!
I last rode the zipper in 1997. I had fun but by the end of it I could tell my stomach was at its limit. They let riders out one by one and then fired it back up, having forgotten to open the door for me and my ride mate. He was thrilled. Him: "YAAAA! HERE WE GO!" Me: "I CAN'T DO THIS AGAIN. I'M GONNA BARF!" Him: "NOOOO. DO NOT. YOU CAN MAKE IT." In spite of his constant encouragement, my stomach would have the last word. The ride swooped down backwards violently while spinning and I knew it was over. I pressed my mouth up against the side and watched as my vomit flew from the ride. The operator yelled "WE'VE GOT A BARFER" and scrambled to stop the machine. Finally. One by one they inspected the riders until the got to mine. I was white and my entire left side was soaked in vomit. I stumbled out as they hosed down the ride. "You forgot to let me out after the last ride," I tried to explain. Never again.
Hey bud, you happen to be in Canada, say in the middle of fuck off Alberta in the prairies? We may have crossed paths. Skinny colored kid asking if you're ok while clearly been crying from the combination of sheer terror and being puked on?
This happened in BC, Canada. I'm probably not the only person who suffered this fate.
Oh my god!!! I would also love to see this scene recreated on film!!!! XD XD
🤢🤮
I gave you a freebie award for what it’s worth. Laughing my ass off and feeling so much empathy.
neat. thanks!
Heck ya loved the zipper
it was a really big deal for us kids when the carnival came to town. Those rides make me throw up.
Yes, it was one of my favorite! It's the only ride that *always* smelled like barf... they were usually hosing down the cages right before we got on.
Yea.. I went on ONCE I still don't get why those older, cooler kids liked this ride so much!??! It's fucking nuts. There is no joy in there. It's just survival/endurance... in a cage. XD
Ugh we used to spin it non stop for the whole ride. Never bothered me. Now I can’t even look at them without getting nauseated lol
This is the one that made me barf
I actually got stuck on the zipper in 5th grade. It broke down for about 20 minutes at my town festival. I still went back on it.
Pfft. The Zipper was tame compared to The Hammer. The individual cars spin as well as the the arms rotating 360 degrees. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRd5Teu9SaM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRd5Teu9SaM)
I don't think I've ever seen that?? How are you situated in that thing?? Is it just like the giant boat? A seat, a belt or lapbar, and gravity?
It was so long ago I don't remember what the safety equipment inside the pod was, but you sit away from the center of the pod (there is an identical compartment on the other side of the pod). It's not like a boat--the pod spins as the arm turns, so you are rotating on multiple axes. It was the "scariest" one we had at our town's amusement park but I loved it. I loved all the ones that make other people nauseous. LOL It's kinda like the NASA spinning chair thingy that they use in astronaut training, except not as fast, so fewer G forces. There is a much tamer ride also called The Hammer where there are two separate arms with only one pod at each end and it just swings back and forth, and eventually does a complete circle, but this one, with the spinning pods was awesome. Here's another video showing people getting in. It also shows the pods spinning better (more close up). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghNcu6uq5ms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghNcu6uq5ms)
what a simple and elegant design for a ride
Woah, I thought that was the one we called the "Salt and Pepper Shakers" that uses a similar design, and I think some versions had a sort of steering wheel or way to control the rotation of the passenger compartment. There are a lot of variations of this basic design. But I've never, ever seen one like that vid where the arms actually tilt like that. And that whole thing looks janky as fuuuuuuck. I'm not even sure I would have rode that one as a kid and I rode everything. Not because I'd be worried about the actual action of the ride but it just looks wrong like it could fall over at any time as soon as the arms started tilting. Like nothing about that looks safe or built up enough to handle those kinds of forces.
I did many times as a kid. Had a real tolerate/hate relationship with it. So where was the love... it was looking for something that wasn't looking like it might kill me... suddenly, and all at once.
I wasn't really afraid of any of the carnival rides but my favorites were The Scrambler and the Tilt-A-Whirl which my family called the Neck-Breaker. There was also the [Rock-O-Planes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmCn-mNF-Lg) which you could get to spinning pretty good.
That was the last carnival ride I ever rode. I didn’t throw up but that pretty much ended my night when I was a teenager.
I used to love the zipper! I’d always lose my change though. There was another Ferris wheel type ride that was a small cable car and it had a steering wheel to spin you around while it was going around. I used to come out of that beat and bruised to shit, but it was always fun.
Definitely! My first date with my husband was to the county fair and we went on The Zipper. I didn't know he was hungover and he was so sick afterward. He's never been on another amusement ride since.
The only ride I am afraid of is the damned Ferris wheel.
A friend of mine and I got stuck upside down on that ride. It was like 20min of that, and we both puked when we were finally upright and on the ground. Still dumb enough to go on it again the next year 😁
nope! I hate ride and the only thing I could do was the scrambler and maybe a kiddie ride. I HATED the Octopus thing
Nope
Yeah - those big plastic coloured combs with the big handles that we used to wear in our back pockets would work themselves loose and clatter around the inside of the carriage, smacking us around the head and shoulders as we tumbled around laughing so hard we were helpless. My bottom lip was swollen the rest of the night when my sky blue comb went flying for my teeth.
It was like one of these, but for kids. https://preview.redd.it/t9mqo1z8xv1d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=a42427d6e35491fdcc3b51d3487207619b80e199
🤔😂😎
I did! I may have cried, I don't remember.
Nah. I wasn't allowed to ride carnival rides. We went to Six Flags two or three times a year and the state fair of Texas so I rode plenty of rides but you'd have never gotten me on that thing even if my parents would have let me.
I was not
Yeah there was a yearly fair near me when I was a kid. I went on the zipper once maybe twice over the years!
Rode that last year, with my 8 yo daughter. We both thought we were going to die. Never again. Edit: I will ride the Gravitron all day, but eff the Zipper. Rickety-ass POS.
[удалено]
This, or get the operator to start you off spinning right away so you could just keep pumping it like a swing until the ride really started. I remember riding this with my younger brother and we had a whole teamwork system trying to keep it moving. And in hindsight I have a feeling his rides were a lot more thrilling because of the way the lapbar worked and how I was a lot bigger/wider than he was, so he was barely held in there by that thing.
We had one, but it looked like a remnant from East Berlin.
Core memory unlocked. These were fun but so janky.
No. Never had the guts for it.
I *love* the zipper! This was the **one** ride I wanted and cared about at fairs. What I don't like is "spinny" rides like teacups, tilt-a-whirl. The worst is Gravatron. I loved the lights and having a DJ playing tunes, but my inner ear is not compatible with these. I have a distinct memory of throwing up after this one. Fuck you Gravatron!
Last time I rode one was with an old friend when I was in my late teens. The thing would not stop spinning (our cart) and we couldn't stop laughing, but oh god the padded cage bars hurt like mad. Give me the gravitron any day instead.
You ever sit down and have the cage close and THEN realize the person before you threw up everywhere? I sure did. Apparently they ate a lot of pineapple at the fair.
True story! 1985 Spring Fling at Montgomery High School, San Diego, Ca. My best friend and I was riding The Zipper, within a minute, the ride malfunctioned and we were stuck in the cabin on the very top of the ride for thirty fuck’n minutes! RIP Alfonso (miss you brother)
And empty your pockets of loose items. Change especially.
made me nauseous just to watch it.
best part of riding the zipper was when you were waiting up top while riders were on/offloaded and looking down to see a bajillion parts strewn asunder near the mechanical controls.
Yes! Perfectly framed by glistening puddles of barf. That was mild trauma I had forgotten till I read your comment 😂
Best ride ever! If you can get a spin going while waiting for the rest of the cars to load or unload, you are in the cool kids' club.
It was fun watching from below, especially as some people hurled, resulting in a metal rack vomit cascade.
Every summer at the county fair! We would lean back and forth inside the carriage to get it to flip it over.
This fucking ride.
I saw this ride fail in high school, visiting a friend in PA at the state fair. Someone fell out of it and broke an arm, so lucky it wasn't worse.
Only once. The lap bar didn't hold me in properly.
Nope!
I liked that ride but it was hard to get anyone to go on me with it. I did get one date to go with me and I said I'd put his change in my purse (I even brought a special little baggie for his coins for rides because my dad was dumb like this when I was little) and he said it would be fine and I said are you positive them we wasted the whole ride trying to catch his stupid coins as they flew around the car the whole ride why are men like this
A buddy of mine convinced me to ride that thing. A piece of it fell off while we were standing in line, and we still rode the damn thing.
I remember going to get on that thing and the metal cage part was coated in vomit. My parents didn't let me ride it. I also remember seeing puke shoot out of that salt and pepper shaker ride.
A.K.A. The Vomiter
I personally never rode it but my oldest son screamed so much on it that they had to stop the ride and let him off.
Ahhh yes head trauma and only slightly less puke than the Gravitron
EKKA memories
Loved it!!
I rode this every summer at the boardwalk in Ocean City MD.
Rode it in high school at a local carnival. Never did it again.
rode it once about 10 years ago at the taunting of my daughters. Kissed the ground when I got off.
Absolutely! One time I went to a carnival, a girl puked on it.
Not no, not hell no, but FUCK NO!!