Jumpin Jack Flash was the first ride of its kind built in North America and offered a unique ride experience that could not be found in any other park.   This Huss Jump model ride suffered the setbacks that many prototype rides do, and as a result was one of a few of this ride model to make it off the drawing boards and into a park.   Though Huss still has the ride for sale through its website, the few rides that have been produced seem to have been retired from service due to the mechanical challenges of keeping them running.

 
     
     
     

Jumpin’ Jack Flash was one of the more colorful and visible additions to the park added as part of the “War On Lines” for the 1999 season.   The Huss ride was placed in a spot that was highly visible from many angles, taking the place of a large planter that had been added in the early 1980’s to block Dream Street and funnel crowds towards the Goodtime Alley/Boardwalk games area.

Like several of the other rides added in 1999, Jumpin’ Jack Flash was the first of its kind in North America, and was chosen for its unique look and ride experience.  Also like many other flat rides added throughout the park's history, it was a trailer mounted ride, designed to be transported from fair to fair.   The ride was amazing to watch as it rose to its full height, rotating with its cars spinning on the ends of the long arms.   The ride’s sudden drops would often catch guests off guard the first time they saw it, thinking it was some kind of malfunction.
   
   
     
     
Technical Information
Manufacturer: Huss Maschinenfabrik Corp. of  Bremen, Germany
Ride Model: Jump - Trailer Mounted
Opening Date: April 2, 1999
Number of Gondolas: 5 circular vehicles
Gondola Capacity: 8 people
Number of Guests per Cycle: 40 people
Ride Duration: 3 minutes
Approximate Capacity: 800 guests per hour
Direction of Travel:
  Main Tower/Booms: Counter clockwise
  Gondolas: Clockwise
Safety Restraint: Neck harnesses with molded lap bars
Manufacturer's Description:
"It's here at last… the ultimate amusement ride experience.  Until recently, the ride sensation which this fun machine offers was considered to be technically not feasible,  Not only does this exceptional amusement ride achieve the "Free Fall" effect, it is also possible to catapult from the embarkation position to the top in a flash. 

JUMP offers high passenger capacity and will therefore be the ride attraction for amusement parks in any desired theme environment.  This high-rise amusement ride features a base structure with five underpinning points.  

Standing vertically on the base is an upright tower housing a long stroke hydraulic cylinder.  Linked onto a ball bearing mounted so-called lifting plate at the top end of the piston rod and five lifting rods that in turn are connected to five booms swiveling through approximately 120 degrees.  The bottom ends of the booms are forked to support five parallel guided gondolas with 8 seats each.  The gondolas are free to rotate in their bearings, as also in the upper end of the tower upright to which the booms are connected by articulation joints.  Slewing ball rings with outward-facing teeth driven by servomotors produce counter-rotating movements of the gondolas and the center of the carousel. 

As soon as the passengers have embarked and the shoulder and lap bars are reported closed, the rotation drives can be run at freely selectable rotation speeds."
 
 
     
 

The ride’s bright yellow color with bright pinwheel like spinners in contrasting colors made it very eye catching by day, and by night its thousands of lights made it even more spectacular.   Since the ride was originally designed for portability, the lighting package was typical of rides found at fairs and Oktoberfest where the rides compete with each other for attention trying to draw riders.  The lightning package used strobe lights to make the freefall movement of the cars appear more dramatic.  These strobe lights were mounted around the platform on the rear of the Freefall signs and illuminated the attraction from all angles.

For the first several seasons the entrance was on the Dream Street tents side of the ride and did not feature any queue bars.  The line would stretch chaotically towards Frontier Adventures.  Eventually the entrance was placed on the Carousel side and a formal queue was installed.

The ride’s name was always a bit of a mystery to most guests.   Park maps all listed the ride as “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” though the ride never had a formal sign.   The only signs on the ride were the lighted signs that came with the standard lighting package which had the name “Freefall” on them, which was confusing since the Stuntman’s Freefall ride was at the other end of the park.

  
   
   
   
     
     

Jumpin’ Jack Flash was one of the rides the park added in 1999 that many guests never saw run due to its spotty operations caused by a combination of lack of staffing and multiple maintenance problems.  Like many prototype rides, problems unforeseen in the design stages only became apparent once the ride was in regular operation.   Quite often welding equipment would sit on the idled ride’s platform for weeks at a time as the maintenance crews tried to work out the problems.   The ride would open for short periods of time, only to close again for another extended period as another repair or modification took place.

 



 

After four seasons of the ride’s poor operations, the decision was made to pull the plug and remove the ride from the park.  By the start of the 2004 season the ride had been removed.  After sitting vacant for half a season, the ride’s former location became home to the Boardwalk Paintball building.

As of the writing of this history, the Jumpin' Jack Flash ride still sits in the park's boneyard area.  The trailer mounted central column of the ride is visible from the park's Employee Entrance road, and from aerial photos, the ride's gondolas, signs and other decorative pieces can be seen lying on the ground.  Several used rides websites have posted pictures of the ride while it was at the park and a ride description of it as "For Sale" though there is no confirmation as to whether it is the ride that was installed at the park, or if it is another ride using a picture of Great Adventure's ride as an example.