Great Old Amusement Parks

Great Old Amusement Parks:
A Really Cool Escape on a Hot Summer Day

Since this video has so many great parks, I have listed them in order of appearance with a park-specific comment next to the name below (the *’s represent parks I have been to):

Idlewild: From the video this looks to be the perfect family park and a beautiful one at that. I really enjoyed the footage of the coaster & carousel.

*Cedar Point: I was not quite sure what this park was doing here. True, it used to be a traditional park…but several parks (SFNE, SFDL, Knotts Berry Farm) used to be traditional parks, too. I felt it was out of place on the video and several parks (Canobie Lake, Funtown/Splashtown, Silverwood, Arnold’s Park, etc.) come to mind as taking up the tape time better- especially when CP has more than enough exposure (at least it did not have the time lapse Raptor construction shots). If they are going to interview the GP I think it would have added more to talk to older people that have come to the park for a long time as opposed to teens.

*Coney Island: Wonder Wheel & Cyclone: I loved the owner of Deno’s talking about people requesting the wheel stopping the wheel for different occasions, I will be sure to wipe my seat off the next time I hope a ride on the Wonder Wheel. Is there a better group of Coney representatives than the Cyclone ops?!

*Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: This part had several nice behind the scenes shots, especially of the Giant Dipper and the carousel, both of the ride’s mechanics and the cool ring "returner".

*Lake Compounce: A little heavy on the Wildcat, but overall a nice talk about the park, especially the ballroom.

*Kennywood: In essence this was a condensed version of Kennywood memories (hey both videos shared the same announcer) and Charlie J. was back to show the love. A multi-faceted park is hard to describe in a few minutes, but they did a good job.

*Rye Playland: I really enjoyed the management talking about how the local government still felt that an amusement park was a good investment for the people of the area. The shots of the crew getting on and off the Derby Racer were great, too. Somehow I can’t see the Cedar Point employees allowed to be that active while the ride is in motion.

Oaks Park: I was floored when they said that Bob Ballinger donated the park to the city- that is something unheard of in this day and age. Most people would have called a chain to buy it up. The ceiling-mounted Wurlitzer organ was great and sounded beautiful, I just wish the old woman roller-skating had a longer skirt on.

*Belmont Park: I felt this was another wasted few minutes. The bulk of the time talking about the coaster went into interviewing people whose opinions do not matter to anyone, like the guy with the Buttwiser shirt & mullet and the radio station contestants. I did not need to hear about what a tough life these people were leading riding the coaster. IMHO this section should have been dedicated entirely to how the coaster was almost torn down, saved and is now a successful economic investment. I would have also liked to see something on the Plunge, the large pool located next door to the coaster.

*Lake Winnie: The brief shot of the skywheel was neat; I wish the park still had it. It was also nice to see the boat chute getting lots of time; this is definitely something for the park to be proud of.

*Whalom Park: Obviously this is the most depressing part of the video because it might foreshadow what we might be missing. Don’t let that happen- Mail your Whales! (http://www.savewhalompark.com).

*Holiday World: Lots of shots of this now-famous park within the coaster community. But, it was done well enough to pique the interest of people from across the nation. SRM seems so far away!

Lakeside: “WOW!” was all I could say when I saw the shots of this park at night. I had heard the stories, but it is amazing to see this place in the neon nighttime motion. These shots only strengthened my resolve to get to this park.

Lakemont: A few of the picnic people scared me (especially the meatball guys), but it was nice to see another often overlooked park get a little press. Barry, the GM, was very honest about how the LTD was close to getting torn down, which is something a lot of reps. would not say. In addition, the comments about reconstructing the Leap the Dips as a piece of furniture were very interesting to me.

As you can probably guess this video was another winner. I think I liked it for the same reasons I still enjoy the Rollercoaster Weekends I & II. After a few viewings videos like this (with many different parks) can just thrown in the VCR while you do work.

Click here to buy this video.

Home Book & Video Reviews