That's a flagpole? wow, after all these years i never knew that. Yeah, i get VERY excited too, when i see the Rainbow cloud over the top of a building. LOL 🙂 When on the way to check in to the Yachtsman Hotel down at Myrtle Beach, dad always cruises by the Pavilion to see what's happening, and just before we get there, you can see the Rainbow sometimes moving and you see the gondola over a building, it's awesome to see it running sticking up over those buildings, when you haven't seen it in about a year or two. lol (: Their Rainbow runs fast too, and Ken McMichael that lives down there said they've started adding seatbelts to the Rainbow. Let's see, yeah, i think last summer i rode it with the seatbelts on the gondola.
But, while the gondola started to go into the sky, i took my belt off, lol. No sense in a Rainbow having seatbelts, that way you can't get the "airtime"....the floating feeling the ride gives you when dropping over the other side. The Rainbow doesn't sit far from the Carousel at the Pavilion, and it looks as if you're going to hit it down below sort of, yet just does miss the top of the Carousel. I've never seen a Rainbow get stuck either, but did see the Pavilion one hot summer, after i woke up one morning, i walked down to the Pavilion and saw them doing maintenance on the Rainbow before the Pavilion opened at 1 pm that day.
The Rainbow was going super slow, and they stopped the gondola on the very top, they were checking that flag pole possibly, or the lights behind the cloud down below...not sure what they were doing. What i wonder is if they check the motor sometimes to make sure everything is well, and how in the world does the ride run by sitting on just that 1 pole that holds up the whole ride & motor?? It looks like Huss would've added outrigger posts, similar to the Pirates' that holds up the ship & whole ride.
What i mean is, Huss should've added outriggers, welded them to the large pole that is under the motor & holds up the whole ride. Doesn't that put alot of stress on that pole?? That thing must be made out of something super strong to withstand that g-force and all that weight, my goodness!
~Ben