By Brad Plothow

December 21, 2005 | Cache Valley is wont for skyscrapers, but one structure south of Logan is reaching for the sky.

"It's too scary for me," Kathy Archer said of the "Sonic Boom," a 350-foot thrill ride at the S&S Fun Park, between Wellsville and Logan.

Archer, manager of marketing and administrative services for S&S Worldwide Inc., has been on the park's other thrill rides, so what makes the 350-foot behemoth so daunting?

"I've heard that if you hold a penny at the top and let go (as the ride drops you), the penny will drop (at the same rate) as you fall," Archer said.

The Sonic Boom is one of four prototype thrill rides that began popping up south of Logan in early 2005. Stan Checketts, world-renowned ride designer, opened the Fun Park to "let Cache Valley be some of the first people in the world to try some of his crazy ideas," Archer said.

Checketts' ride ideas have been the fodder for hundreds of designs and patents held by S&S Worldwide Inc., which he partly owns. Checketts and his wife, Sandy, opened the park as their own company and began to build prototypes for the community to enjoy. The park was open for a few months this year, but its grand opening is scheduled for April 2006.

Checketts' penchant for conjuring crazy ride ideas helped spawn S&S Worldwide in 1993, and the company has grown to become the largest manufacturer of thrill rides in the U.S., and one of the top in the world.

Since its inception a dozen years ago, S&S Worldwide, located north of Logan by the airport, has ballooned to a 90-employee outfit, and in 2002 it acquired Arrowdynamics, which produced many of Disneyland's rides, including the popular "Matterhorn."

Perhaps Checketts' best-known design is the vertical tower, such as Lagoon's "Rocket" and Disneyland's "Tower of Terror." S&S Worldwide developed and patented the ride's compressed air launch mechanism, and has distributed about 130 of the rides across the globe.

S&S built a rollercoaster in 2001 that was a Guinness record holder for three years. The coaster -- which is in Fujikyu, Japan -- was the first to exceed 100 miles per hour, and it accelerates from 0 to 108 in 1.8 seconds.

"It's a killer," Archer said of the ride.

Checketts' creativity is the cog that drives S&S's ride-building machine, and valley residents may be the first to experience his budding ideas for years to come. Archer said Checketts plans on adding more rides to the Fun Park periodically, but she doesn't know "what they'll be or what form they'll take."

However spectacular the rides, Archer said Checketts' intent isn't to jostle his patrons into frenzy. Rather, he hopes to produce thrilling rides without making people nauseous, archer said.

"Stan does not build what we call 'spin and puke' rides," Archer said. "I can get car sick two turns up the canyon, but these rides don't make me sick."

While it boasts theme-park rides, the Fun Park operates on a much smaller scale. The park has miniature golf and two go-cart tracks in addition to the four thrill rides, and there is no admission fee. Rides are purchased via tokens, which cost $5 for adults and $3 for children. One token is good for one ride, one trip around the track or one round of golf.

When open, the Fun Park operated six days a week from 5 p.m. until dark. The Fun Park is closed for the winter, but Archer expects the same to be true when the park reopens in the spring.

A look at the Fun Park's thrill rides

Screamin' Swing
- 60 feet tall
- top speed of 50 mph
- prototype for Guinness' "World's tallest swing," 100-foot, 40-passenger ride at Cedar Point (Ohio), designed by S & S Worldwide

Sky Sling
- A passenger cart on the ground connected to cables attached to three rising poles
- Up to six people are launched into the air
- Seats tilt as you travel upward

Sonic Boom
- Brand-new, nowhere else in the world
- 350-feet to top of tower
- 1-2 passenger capsule drops down rail
- No brakes; stopped by air-compressed cylinder

Sky Coaster
- Not an S & S Worldwide original design
- Giant free-fall swing
- Applies Checketts' idea for 2-3 person upright seating

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