S&S Factory

Day 19 was the last day of the full trip and we would say goodbye to Thomas in the morning and Tal in the evening before Christof and I headed to Las Vegas. There were no new parks today but I had found a couple of different things to visit and we had the option of spending some more time in Lagoon if we needed it. I didn't want the guys to miss out on any of the rides in Lagoon so had planned 2 days here, but they'd ridden everything on day 1; a testament to how the park runs their rides perhaps.

The first of the random things was a trip to the S&S factory and offices in Logan Utah, a short ride north of Salt Lake. In planning the trip I thought I'd give contacting them a go and was so surprised when told they'd love to have us visit. Like the museum this was something away from the parks that the group were buzzing about when I told them it had been organised.

S&S are more famous for their drop tower rides and giant swings but have made some foray into the rollercoaster market. On this trip we'd ridden Powder Keg and Batman 4D but over the years I've ridden many of their creations. They used to be owned by Stan Checketts, the guy who's now doing well for himself with the Screaming Eagle zip lines.

In breaking from Stan however they're now owned by Japanese company Sensei.

The exterior.

A model of the Batman 4D coaster. They do have a bigger model of the ride but so far there has been no orders for that. This mid-sized one is the one that Six Flags are buying.

We were met by Gerald Ryan who is their Executive Director of Sales and Marketing, so not only were they allowing us to visit but we were getting to spend time with one of the Senior Leadership Team, wow! We had a brief chat discussing who we were and where we'd been, before Gerald gave us a tour of the facility.

This is their Free-Fly coaster of which only one exists currently, in Sweden. We complimented Gerald on this unique ride as we'd all ridden it and loved it. They're pleased with it too but said the feedback around the perceived slow throughput had meant they had to revisit at that element of it.

In the facility the make everything but the track.

Some seats for a drop tower.

This reminds me of metal work class at school.

Some pieces ready for shipping. We've no idea where to!

The company is looking to relocate away from this site to one close by. The final part of the move away from Stan is to cease sharing the land.

More metal

The paintshop.

They build their own shipping boxes.

Following the tour we went back to the office to talk about what's coming up. On their big 4D rides of which 3 exist currently they said the only country likely to buy that model was China. It's a very big expensive ride as I'm sure those familiar with the ones in China, Japan and California are well aware of.

They did mention that they have a new model of ride which hasn't been seen yet, and which has been ordered by various parks around the world including Europe so watch this space on that. Perhaps after IAAPA in November. We also talked about where we thought future opportunities lay. China is the obvious place as is the middle east. I personally really think Turkey and Iran are going to be places to watch. It was a great 2-way conversation.

As for why we were allowed to drop by (I did ask), S&S really see the value in the views of the enthusiasts and acknowledge we can give positive PR for them in addition to the work they do. This I agree with, I often write reports like this where I'm happy to say if a ride is good or not; we all have our opinions and views...Now if Vekoma need references for their SLC rides please get in touch. I'm your biggest fan!

As a final thank you to us the guys kindly gave us some free merchandise which was a very pleasant surprise.

(Photo is Tal's)

So I'd like to give a huge thanks to Gerald and the team at S&S for making this visit so worthwhile. If you're considering the same for your trip do reach out to them early and definitely don't just rock up unannounced. It's just polite :)

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