Magic Carpet lift arrives at Winter Park

This winter, visitors to Winter Park in Kewaunee County will be heading to the top of its six-lane snow tubing hill in an entirely new manner. They’ll be going up, literally, on a Magic Carpet.

Magic Carpet is a standing conveyor belt lift which was ordered in spring. It recently arrived at Winter Park, and the Kewaunee County Promotion & Recreation Department as well as the Winter Park Association will soon begin installation.

In preparation for the moving walkway, the snow tubing hill has been reshaped. Next, the framing will be done, before the mat is rolled up the 220-foot slope of the hill that has a 70-foot vertical drop.

The Magic Carpet is replacing the tow rope, which is being repurposed at the beginner’s ski hill after it’s retrofitted with handles in place of hooks.

“This is a huge improvement to Winter Park,” said Dave Myers, Kewaunee County Promotions & Recreation Director. “We’re going to be the one and only snow tubing hill in our area to have this feature for visitors, which will be more efficient and fun to ride.”

The lift is the creation of Magic Carpet Lifts/RMCE, Inc., a Denver, Colorado-based manufacturer of conveyor systems for the winter sports industry, water parks, amusement parks, and a variety of other transportation applications. For photos and information on Magic Carpet, go to rmce.com.

In March, the Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution approving the transfer of budgeted funds from the general fund for the Kewaunee County Promotion & Recreation Department to purchase the Magic Carpet for Winter Park. Those borrowed funds will be paid back to Kewaunee County by the Winter Park Association within the next five years. Magic Carpet Lifts provided a quote of $109,760 for the equipment at the time the resolution was passed.

“(The Magic Carpet) will greatly help reduce time spent waiting in line to get up the tube hill," said Barry Nelson, one of the co-founders of the Winter Park Association, at the March meeting when the transfer was approved.

This past season at Winter Park, approximately 6,700 of the 7,200 visitors purchased passes for the snow tubing hill during the six weeks that it was open to public.

This article originally appeared on Wisconsin: Magic Carpet lift arrives at Winter Park