Carnival & Fair News

Zippers, Century Wheels, Pharaoh's Furies and a host of other rides by Chance Rides have been signature favorites on midways throughout America for more than half a century. But following the early 2000s, the company's involvement with the portable market was relegated to servicing the hundreds of pieces still in operation by the mobile amusement industry with only a few portables rides built.

The company continued to design and manufacture equipment for amusement parks and other outdoor venues. Through long-established accounts and interactions with carnival company owners at industry trade conventions such as IAAPA, asking for new portable Chance machinery grew, especially after the pandemic lockdown.

“The very strong reason, the very first reason, for re-entering the portable market is that our carnival companies are requesting Chance rides” said Jay Aguilar, Vice President of Global Business Development, Sales & Marketing, and Chance Rides. “You should be getting back into the portable market they kept telling us. We're always listening to the market and mobile amusement companies are asking for Chance rides.”

Multiple Factors

The factors fueling the renewed demand for Chance portable rides included not just the company's earned reputation for timeless and essential crowd-pleasing midway equipment, but the disruption in shipping and manufacturing of foreign amusements rides instigated by the global lockdown. Nearly every carnival company shares the same lament: backorders piled up to near crisis levels – factories stayed closed or opened understaffed with reduced capacity – lead times kept getting longer.

Even as other sectors of the global economy settled back to a situation closer to the previous normalcy, the problems with ride manufacturing persisted through 2022 and 2023, long after the worst of the global crisis subsided. To expand, grow and stay fresh, carnival companies require a sustainable source of new rides. Three or more years lead time has become the norm, frustrating many carnival companies facing another season waiting for equipment to be delivered in time for an optimized revenue stream.

Future midway planning has been stymied by the supply line crisis just as carnival companies, most coming off a strong 2024, were poised for a buying spree and confident in the economic future promised by the new administration.

Tariff Wars

However, that future got off to a rocky start as the stock market and other economic indicators reacted negatively to Trump's new economic policies, the least of which has been the tumultuous tariff wars and discussions of retaliatory fee-hikes.

How exactly these policies potentially will worsen an already damaged international amusement ride situation is unclear, but the prognosis seems less than optimistic. Aguilar points out that another looming fear has been the gradually plummeting dollar. Making foreign purchases more costly, on top of global inflation.

“The changing currency conversion rate is going to affect everyone,” said Aguilar. “Inflation has already affected the value of the dollar. We are competing with European manufacturers. We see huge benefits for our carnival and showmen working with a domestic manufacturer.”

USA MADE

Aside for more advantageous pricing, the reliability of a domestic manufacturer not only eliminates most shipping woes but brings other benefits. “We are here in the middle of the country, so we are local, we can respond to needs, such as delivering parts, quickly. We also remove the risk of the global uncertainty, which gives a little bit more peace of mind to the buyer.”

The other major plus for taking on a reenergized portable market is the expertise Chance offers to its clients. “ Chance Rides is the only company with a team of experts with technical knowledge and engineers who are on call 24-7. The company proudly operates at the same facility company founder Harold Chance started, now spanning 250,000 –square-feet where the company's team of 130 skilled workers, from welders to artists, some serving Chance Rides for more than 35 years.

Chance Rides is believed to be the largest of the handful of domestic manufacturers of amusement rides still active in the market. The company started as Chance Manufacturing Company, Inc. in 1961 with the signature product, the C.P. Huntington train, a classic design based on an 1863 locomotive. The C.P. Huntington Trains are used as rides, tour vehicles, and parking shuttles. But innovation has always been a company trademark, and the company founder soon entered the portable ride market.



“We are our excited about returning to the portable market,” said Aguilar. “That's where our roots are, with portable rides. Our customers are excited as well because we're removing the risk of the current global marketplace.”

Those roots include a product introduction that changed American midways – the Trabant – the first trailer-mounted amusement ride from the company – reportedly available in different themes ranging from Mexican Sombrero to Roulette Wheel, Chance sold a reported 254 Trabant rides between 1963 and 1990. By 1991, Chance introduced the Wipeout, an updated version of the Trabant with faster speeding and multidirectional seating. Other notable portable Chance Rides produced during this era included the Zipper, YO-YO and Skydiver.

Service & Support

The revived line of portable Chance Rides features updated controls, electronics, machinery and other aspects of the signature classics. In addition, the company has expanded its tech support to seven individuals, making the team available 24-7. This improved tech-support system is part and parcel with what the professionalism the industry now expects.

“That's something many overseas manufacturers do not offer, a team taking and fielding questions and offering support 24-7,” said Aguilar. “We have seen in the last seven years, a steady demand for tech support. When the season starts, you're getting a lot of phone calls and it is kind of steady throughout, we have a demand for support, but we also make proactive phone calls, checking up with the machinery and maintenance protocols. That's the only way to trouble shoot. In addition, our tech support team knows the rides intimately and can communicate easily with our customer's maintenance teams. We recognized that post COVID maintenance and expertise may have changed, and the need for additional service and support is needed.”



Constant communication between Chance and its carnival company partners has been a constant in the continued servicing the hundreds of Chance Rides on American midways every year. The company was acquired by Missouri-based Permanent Equity, a private equity firm, in 2023. This acquisition provided opportunities for innovation and the resumption of manufacturing portable rides. According to Aaron Landrum, President & CEO, “This transition has created new opportunities and options for both Chance Rides and our customers. We are still Chance Rides with a strong legacy and dedication to our industry, owners, operators, and the millions of annual riders. By resuming portable ride manufacturing, we aim to strengthen existing relationships and establish new ones while ensuring our customers can service their riders”

But as pendulums inevitably do, the Chance Rides return to making its signature rides indicates the time is right for a possible resurgence of American manufacturing of mobile amusements. “The next generation of carnival professional is taking over the mobile business. Their mindset is a little different, and they are very welcoming of new ideas. They were the ones asking us why don't you get back into the portable business?”