Sky Screamer Up-Front Info
- Thrill Scale (0=Wimpy!, 10=Yikes!): 8
Wild height and G-forces - Freefall tower type: Compressed air-launched. It is a double-shot ride that both launches from its base and drops from its top.
- Height restriction to ride: 48 inches
- Height of tower: 320 feet
- Sky Screamer and other Marineland of Canada Rides Photo Gallery
Pause seems like an eternity
Just getting to the Sky Screamer is a bit of a challenge and helps build the anticipation. It sits in the middle of the park atop a 150-foot hill. (Non-riders may want to make the trek just for the view of Niagara Falls at the tower's base.) The ride has three towers, which can theoretically accommodate a lot of passengers, but Marineland often runs only one or two of the towers at any one time.Riders pull the over-the-shoulder harnesses down and latch them into the buckles. After the ride operators check to make sure everybody is secure, they activate the ride. The ring of seats slowly rises, providing a bit of a nerve-rattling false start, as the compressed air builds in the tower. The seats then lower slightly and pause for what seems like an eternity as passengers' hearts race and palms sweat.
Sky Screamer makes riders wobbly kneed
Then...yeeeee-ahhhhhh! The ride blasts off like a bullet and soars to a nosebleed 300-foot height. That's at least 100 feet taller than most tower rides, and the difference is striking. As riders (at least the fear-filled ones like me) hang on for dear life, the intense free-floating negative G-forces are both exhilarating and terrifying. The ride then drops and rises a couple of times to deliver some more G-force jolts before it slowly rises to the very top of the tower--and hangs there for what seems lie an eternity and a half.At 320 feet in the air (plus another 150 feet for the hill upon which Sky Screamer sits), the view of Niagara Falls is breathtaking. Anticipating the ensuing drop, and attached to an open seat, with legs and arms dangling, however, it's difficult to appreciate the view. Without warning...ahhhhhhh-yeeeee! The ride drops nearly 300 feet, then bounces a few times up and down the tower before mercifully returning to the base. Riders emerge, wobbly kneed, to make the long trek down the hill.
