QUOTE ...Sunday, thousands lined up to enter the theme park for their final visit. Among them was a group from Wisconsin, with a great love for one particular Kiddieland ride. Suzanne Le Mignot reports.

The roar of the roller coaster. The sound of excitement coming from the Tilt-a-Whirl. For 81 years, both young and old have enjoyed Kiddieland in Melrose Park.

Scott Heck, with the group American Coaster Enthusiasts, is from Wisconsin. Heck drove for two hours to ride the Little Dipper for the last time.

"It's very sad to be here today to actually say goodbye to something that's been a Chicagoland staple for all these years," he said....

http://www.wbbm780.c...dieland/5212320

Kiddieland had one of the best sets of bumper cars in the country, and a fine little wooden coaster. The park will be sadly missed.

I have never heard of that park in my life. But sadly, it will be missed - ?

It indeed will. As I get older and older more and more of the parks I have many times visited are disappearing...from Astroland to Astroworld to Whalom to Jazzland to Pavilion to Miracle Strip to Americana aka LeSourdsville Lake to Old Indiana to Williams Grove to Bushkill Park...and the list goes on and on....

Ouch. Never good when a park closes. Big-time parks seem safe for now, but what about the "little guys"?

One newspaper headline I NEVER WANT TO READ:

"Holiday World closing for good after 2011 season"

or

"Indiana Beach forced to close after 2010 season"

or

"Giant Tidal Wave oblitherates Cedar Point, Mean Streak somehow survives...everything else destroyed"

OK, the last one was a bit of a joke...

Last July I was just a few miles from Kiddieland and wanted to go so bad, but it seems no one else did.

Goodbye, Kiddieland, Goodbye:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tal...0,2633301.story

http://www.wbbm780.com/Last-ride-this-week...-YOUR-M/5303745

Kiddieland Rides Deal Now In Limbo:

The owners of Kiddieland in Melrose Park are concerned that a deal to sell most of the 81-year-old amusement park's rides and sign for a re-opening about 85 miles from Chicago might not be completed....

However, calls made by Kiddieland's owners to Hook during the week prior to the amusement park's Oct. 4 closing were not returned, Norini said.

"We have a signed agreement, but I don't know what's going on now," Norini said Oct. 4. "We've had others express interest in some of the rides, but we really haven't been talking to anyone else because we thought we had someone who wanted to take just about everything and re-open the park." ...

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/maywood/news/1...0809-s2.article

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMo...0091008?sp=true

..."It sounds crazy to cry over a park, but it's not just a park; it has always been there, and it's something you can count on," Vickie Perkins, who grew up nearby and brought her daughter to visit on the park's last day, told Preservation magazine in an article that appeared on the PreservationNation.org Web site.

The rides, including a 1950s German carousel and roller coaster, are now for sale.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=8810340

The ride sale having fallen through, the carousel and many of the rides are going to auction November 24, Norton handling:

http://www.carouselnews.com/index.php?opti...64&Itemid=1

VERY interesting article....

^ I want the coaster!! It would look great behind my house!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tal...0,4720174.story

Wrecking Ball Poised To Finish Off What's Left of Kiddieland:

To be a Costco store (sigh):

Kiddieland article