While eating at a Chic-Fil-A at the mall, I watched a mother set her kid on a merry-go-round and slowly walked with the child while the ride spun. Then the idea hit me. Why not have the rides fully powered by the parents? No electricity would be needed, the rides would be free, and the kid and the mother would both be getting something out of it. Modified treadmills could spin a merry-go-round, or a cycle could move one of those car rides. You could even hook up a musicbox thing to the cycle so it plays music while the kids ride. And of course there would be 25¢ electric rides for when the kids want to ride but the parent is too tired.

By the way, these rides would not be supplying electricity to the rides, it would be using gears and such to power the rides. The parent is the only source of power.
-- ghillie, Dec 27 2003

Swong http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Swong
person-powered swing [FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Very good, [ghillie]. Bun for you, sir! [+] ... just try not to spin it too fast ...
-- Letsbuildafort, Dec 28 2003


//spin it too fast//

There's another good idea I was thinking of. Why aren't kid's rides more exciting? They all seem _very_ slow and _very_ boring. Definitely not worth a quarter.
-- ghillie, Dec 28 2003


//why would these be installed anywhere? //

The mall I was in had a free play place for the kids. You could stick 'em there or they could be an option when you go to the gym. Or parks. I dunno.
-- ghillie, Dec 28 2003


Have you ever been to Legoland theme park? Most of the rides there are human-powered. Clever idea. but kids have tons of energy to spare, they could power teh rides while Mom & Dad (or legal guardians, to be pc) have some childish fun.
-- spacecadet, Dec 28 2003


Never seen it, [spacecadet]. My idea's not baked is it? Or are you talking about a one-person-operated ride?
-- ghillie, Dec 29 2003


[renfield] - my arse. So kids don't go on rides, and parents don't go to gyms? This is a damn good idea. Take your humbuggery someplace else.
-- lostdog, Dec 29 2003


Thank you very much, [grayure],[letsbuildafort], and [lostdog]. I've never had so many come out and say it. :)
-- ghillie, Dec 29 2003


Like swings and roundabouts?

I also dispute that such things would be free. What about maintenance costs?
-- kropotkin, Dec 29 2003


child powered rides have a much better chance of succeeding than parent powered rides. I barely have the energy to type this.
-- ato_de, Dec 30 2003


The whole idea of putting the kid on the ride is to give the parent a rest(breather).Who has the energy to power a ride?
-- python, Dec 30 2003


[kropotkin]: I think that the maintenance costs would be fairly low. I figure these would be like any kind of public service i.e. vending machines, arcade games, etc. You just need the right people to service them. And if the demand for these were big, then I doubt the malls would see any problem with getting them serviced.
-- ghillie, Jan 07 2004


I think the rides are already powered by the kid and parent. Like, parent pushing swing, parent pushing merry-go-round, parent climbing to top of slide and riding down with child...
Now, if you set it up so you have a gym where all the stationary bikes, stairmasters, and treadmills power more amusement-park style rides, then you have just solved the problem of babysitting your kids while you go to the gym.

-- submitinkmonkey, Mar 17 2005



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