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Sep 10, 2012
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Didn't see a thread for this wonderful attraction so here it is.

Last night my daughter and I were riding the carousel and a strange thing happened. There was a loud grinding noise and a lurch within seconds of it starting to spin, and again as it was stopping. I asked the ride operator what was going on? Did this just start? Should I be concerned, etc.? She didn't seem to know what to do, but since I seemed concerned she said she was going to call maintenance. That was the last I heard on the matter.
 
This carousel has quite a history. It was built in 1919 by the Philadelphia Toboggan company I believe. It was abandoned in Dallas, Texas. It took six months for fifteen craftmen to restore it and its 36 horses. Now it sits at Busch Gardens. :) Maybe that is the sound, old age. :p
 
I wonder how hard it would be to acquire a band organ for use at the carousel? The ride would be greatly improved with real music. What do you guys think?
 
Don't get me wrong, I love Wurlitzer organs, but unfortunately there is no way to mask the loud noise produced by it. Busch Gardens has always been and still is very good at sound design. I have a feeling that the park would have loved to have a real working Wurlitzer. Instead, they play recorded music of a Wurlitzer organ, and they also have an authentic shell of a real Wurlitzer. This way, the park can project the sound towards the riders, so it doesn't disturb the tranquil atmosphere outside the area of Kinder Karousel.
 
What if they made the carousel like what they were when they first came out. If you don't know, the riders had rings that they would try to throw into the mouth of a clown picture. I am imagine that it would add fun into an already fun carousel, but maybe they could theme the clown to something else, like a horse or something. :)
 
I also think the old ring thing looks fun. The sad thing people are dumb and I see ring shaped injuries and crying little sisters being harassed with sanctioned projectiles. The best we would get today are Nurf rings. Who wants to throw those? :(
 
It does indeed look like they have a Wurlitzer 146 that had been gutted out long ago. As for the noise of a real band organ, it depends. Newer band organs can be custom made for different volume requirements. But on most band organs, different types of pipes can be switched on or off to further regulate the volume. There are even construction plans online to build a small Wurlitzer 105 band organ such as this (recognize this tune from somewhere?) http://youtu.be/VLkneZ8E2u0
 
I always thought it was a tune composed specifically for the built-in organ older models generally had.

If I'm not mistaken, this one once had a functioning organ system but was eventually replaced by a recording instead (likely due to expense of parts and high maintenance requirements).

Otherwise, sorry I can't help with finding the music for it, but now I have the RCT2 theme in my head so there's that
 
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Anyone know the specific Wurlitzer organ songs played or the album that the music is from?
The Album played on ride is called "Catch The Brass Ring" if that's what you are asking for
It's on Apple Music and some selections are on this playlist
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