VINTAGE ROLLERCOASTER AND AMUSEMENT PARK PICS

[runematic]

Dorney Park is in Allentown. When I was a kid, we went there a lot on Sunday afternoons. It's now owned by Cedar Fair. I was there about 10 years ago & I think it lost it's small park charm that it used to have before the big-time owners. I live about 15 min from HersheyPark. In fact, I worked there for four years in the summer to earn money for college. I still like that place, but I rarely get there anymore. My favorite modern parks are WDW & Universal, although I haven't been to either in about 10 years. We used to go to Disney every 2 years for a family vacation from 1976-1984. That was tough for a low earning family but my folks wanted us to have the experience & fun and they sacrificed a lot for us to do it. It also taught us youngins how to save for something. I started to go back to WDW in 1992 when I graduated from college and went almost every year till 1999. I love thrill rides & hi-tech sensory rides.

Has anyone been to Kennywood in Pittsburgh? That's a neat park that mixes the old & new attractions. They still have 1920's rides through today.

 

[jeffg]

> Has anyone been to Kennywood in Pittsburgh? That's a neat park that mixes the old & new attractions. They still have 1920's rides through today.

I was born and spent my first several years in Pittsburgh. Kennywood is wonderful! My favorite ride there is called the Jack Rabbit. It's an old wooden coaster, and we used to fight to get the very back seats of the cars, because you're whipped around violently in those seats. It also has a few surprises which are a blast if you've never ridden it before.

 

[rollermatic]

gee, lets see here

i have been to kennywood a lot! used to make road trips from cedar point when i worked there. love that park! the thunderbolt and jack rabbit and racer are my favs! have a lot of kennywood pics i'm puttin on my facebook page.

never been to californiia but know the big dipper well! it's a classic in the same league as the coney island cyclone in new york. maybe someday.

love the walt disney video, had seen it on you tube. i credit walt with the rebirth of amusement parks all over the country and for introducing the von roll skyride to america. after walt had the von roll bros built his skyride for disneyland all the parks got them. they are my favorite park ride after old wood coasters!

love that video of playland in vancouver. i agree the old wooden coasters are much better! love the twister designs like the one above! it looks like a great ride.

poor joyland! hate to see old parks close. love that sign! i love park signs, neon, all those lites!

louie is great! that coaster isn't bad either! i've heard of joyland but never been there.

i appreciate all your memories and photos. i also agree that when cedarfair buys a park they ruin it! i love cedar point, it's my old home i worked there many years. it's my favorite park. but when they buy a small park it always loses it's charm!

i do know dorney park! it was even in the movie "hairspray" (the original) and that is one of my favorite movies. they have a great coaster!

nice to see i'm not alone in my love of old amusement parks! they are a priceless part of our american history!

thanks for the tip on posting links. i will give it a try here.

 

[laundromat]

Dorney Park

"The Trubble With Angels"starring Haley Mills and Rosalin Russell has a scene from Dorney Park where the Catholic girls meet farmboys and visit that theme park.It amazes me to no end how things that may be of no real importance stay glued inside my little pea brain head.I even remember the faces of the people I saw in the laundromat in Hershey,PA.They were perplexed as they watched me react in seeing the "Magic Minute"washers splash the water all over the place.I wrung my hands together as I jumped up and down.I think I was 8.

 

[jeffg]

If I ever hit the mega-lotto I think I'd buy 1000 acres on a mountain somewhere and build the world's longest, fastest and steepest wooden roller coaster. The first time I rode the Jack Rabbit was one of the few times I've ever screamed from shock on a ride. It starts out by disappearing around a level and innocuous looking corner, then immediately plunges several stories into a ravine that isn't visible from the loading area. It scared the bejeezus out of me because I wasn't expecting it at all. There's also a few points where it feels like you're going to fly right out of your seat, and the entire car lifts up due to negative G's. Whoever designed that ride was a genius!

 

[rollermatic]

i love the way kennywood's

coasters are all built into the ravines of the park. the jack rabbit is too fun to ride, like you said it looks so tame then down that huge plunge into the ravine you go!

i looked for a pic of the jack rabbit, i know i have some somewhere but can't find any tonite. here are a couple of the thunderbolt, my fav coaster at kennywood. it also has those marvelous plunges into that deep ravine, one directly out of the station when the ride begins! i took these pics in 1989.

 

[rollermatic]

another view

of the thunderbolt. i'm def going to put all my kennywood pics on my facebook when i find them, prob in a week or so here.

 

[rollermatic]

not a coaster

but one of my favorites. again taken in 1989, don't even know if they still have the giant wheel. i had this one made into a poster.