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Surviving remnants of "Old Coney"


HarvestmanMan
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Just curious here - what remnants of pre-1972 Coney Island are still present in the park (whether being used as intended or not)?

 

I am aware that Moonlite Pavilion is the former Dodgems/Cuddle Up ride building. Moonlite Gardens and Sunlite Pool are still around, of course. 

 

The theatre/candy shop/Backstage Grill appears to be a survivor as well, but what was it originally built as?

 

I have heard that the arcade building started life as a bath house. Is this true? If not, what was it originally?

 

 

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Larosa's was once a hat/ t shirt shop and before that a penny arcade.

The snack bar at Sunlite Pool remains the same.

I believe the brick maintenance building behind the Merry-go-round Is the remnant of the Top-o-The-Mall restaurant complex.

The tunnel from the Train ride at the far west of Lake Como, as far as I can tell, still remains.

The crazy, awesome tangle tree at the river is still there, check it out sometime. (four trees or so, grew around each other)

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Yep, the remnants of the old Bier Garden are still there.  These days that is the commissary where all the food for the company picnics is prepared.  

 

Yes, the tunnels for the train (north west corner of Lake Como are still there.  All group picnics and Moonlite Gardens parking crosses over these tunnels.  The arcade building started life as just that, part of the arcade.  It also was home to offices, which it still is home to offices today.  The building also houses storage on the upper floor, and is home to the employee cafe.

 

The four twisted trees down by the river is still there; although the canopies of the trees have been removed, after suffering a hit from a lightning strike a few seasons ago.

 

Of course the main parking gate entrance (Gate 2) is still there from Coney`s hey day, as is the lighthouse and boat entrance from the river.

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To be semi-related? Our Coney was the only Coney Island amuesment park correct? When people think of Luna Park as Coney Island.. they are actually thinking about the neighborhood/ Beach, Coney Island which had a park on its beachfront.. is that correct?

Or did Luna Park of Brooklyn used to be called Coney Island? As far as the park name goes*

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Yes....memories like the corners of my mind...LOL

 

Yes Disney was right! The park was unlike any other...Take a look at Disneyland and compare to Coney Island ....Riverboats (check).... exquisite landscaping (check) .... exciting thoroughfares (check).... Canoes original DL and DW parks (check)....Turnpike (check).... train ride (check).... themed areas (check Main Mall and Land of Oz).... even the litter gitters that sweep the park (check).

 

You could say Disney was really impressed with Coney Island as a model for his parks...so on your next visit to Disneyland or Disneyworld, imagine the Ohio river just over the horizon, and you can pretty much feel like you are visiting Old Coney Island.

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I would have loved to have visited Coney Island back in its heyday. It's still neat going to the park nowadays, knowing some of the history, but I wish I coud've truly experienced it.

 

As for the Coney Mall at Kings Island, there was a part of me hoping that during the lead up to the 2016 announcement, Kings Island was going to go the route that Kings Dominion did with Candy Apple Grove, restore Racer, spruce up Coney Mall and rename it to Old Coney... But so far no such luck. I wish they'd bring the sign back. It's the little things...

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Are there any pictures of the tunnels? I can't find them in any satellite images and am somewhat confused what I should be looking for.

 

Starting at about 2 minutes 40 seconds into this film, the train ride is described. The station was on the hill about where the Tempest is now. It headed east and crossed  Lake Como trestle (over the canoes). then it headed west. It followed along the lake directly through the tunnel. If you look at a satellite image, just follow the lake edge west to the tunnel.

 

Also, for those who have been to a Disney park, see if you can see any similarities.

 

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  • 2 months later...

The original water fountain by Coney's Moonlite Pavilion is still there but recently was upgraded.

It use to have a flower clock adjacent to it.

The roof over Moonlite Gardens is now over Moonlite Pavilion.

Many of the Ice Cream Push-up Ginko Trees are still there.

You also can see parts of the original midway looking east from the Moonlite Gardens.

 

pilotank

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Pilotank, what water fountain near Moonlite Gardens are you talking about?

 

Also, the old roof that used to enclose Moonlite Gardens is not the roof for Moonlite Pavilion.  The roof for Moonlite Pavilion was built specifically for Moonlite Pavilion (when it originally housed the Whip, Dodgems and Cuddle Up rides).

 

Yes you can make out parts of the original midway, which terminated at Moonlite Gardens.  It had been slightly obscured by the small hillside between Tilt A Whirl and Moonlite Pavilion, but with the addition of TopSpin this year, it became more readily apparent.  TopSpin, Scream Machine, Carousel, and Famous Fairways all sit on what used to be the midway.  The old Shooting Star station is approximately where Fender Bender sits today.

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http://www.cincinnativiews.net/images/Coney%20Island%20Large.jpg

Hopefully you can see part of the pond/fountain from this post card.

I actually meant near Moonlite Pavilion.

One of the maintenance workers told me that they had to replace the original roof

because of dry rot from non-use and flooding. So they removed the roof over the dance floor

and adapted it for Moonlight Pavilion. I am looking for documentation. Hope to post it soon.

pilotank

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