Jump to content

Fantastic Coney Island


TOPGUN1993
 Share

Recommended Posts

Did anyone notice the attendance was 20,000, not quite the 31,100

from the day before. I just got back from Disney World, and Friday

The Magic Kingdom had 40,000 and they had to shut the gates at 10:00 AM.

I have read and heard that Coney surpassed the 3,000,000 mark in

attendance for the closing year of 1971. Mathmatically, they probably

would have needed 30,000 everyday on average to accomplish this feat.

pilotank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don`t recall ever hearing Coney attracted 3 million visitors in its final season. Keep in mind, that not even Kings Island broke the 3 million mark its final year. It did, however break the 2 million visitor mark in its first season. And as with moth parks, exact attendance figures are no longer announced.

There was a point in time, when Taft owned the parks, that exact attendance figures were released, right down to the single digits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People back in the Sixties would not believe that nowadays a person in a suit, tie and dress shoes in an amusement park, who does not work there, would arouse suspicion...and does...

And Coney's problems were not just with flooding, but also with access, parking and expansion room...Also a move to what was then a semi-rural area was thought to alleviate some of the problems of being in an urban location...

Imagine what they would think if you walked around with a clipboard and pen as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Notice that the Ferris Wheel pictures there is a sixteen seat model, and the current one at Coney is a twelve seat model. We often get asked at the Ferris Wheel if it is the same one that used to be at Coney back in the day. Also, note the lack of fencing around the ride. And note that the cars do not have the hair guards around the edges. One similarity between the two rides, is that they are both cable driven wheels, and hence, Coney`s Ferris Wheel operates almost in the same manner as the one in that picture, some 55 years later!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And in addition to the ride not having a secondary drop down bar, there were no seat belts. In fact, when I first started running the Ferris Wheel back in 2003 there were no seat belts on it either. Those were added in 2007 or 2008 I believe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Well I am sure they had no fencing around it cause they didn't invent the flip flop at that time in history so no flying objects. But I will say Ferris wheels scare me to death. The one in Chicago terrified me. I was a white knuckled mess.

We had flip-flops when I was growing up but we called them thongs then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People back in the Sixties would not believe that nowadays a person in a suit, tie and dress shoes in an amusement park, who does not work there, would arouse suspicion...and does...

And Coney's problems were not just with flooding, but also with access, parking and expansion room...Also a move to what was then a semi-rural area was thought to alleviate some of the problems of being in an urban location...

I remember when we used to get dressed up just to go to the movies. Could you imagine that today?

I remember doing that somewhat...things sure are different now

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The building in the background of that first image is Moonlite Gardens. The image was taken looking to the south, with the now demolished shelter for the stage on the right. The two story portion of the building that stands today is barely visible on the left side of the image.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With regards to the aerial picture showing the train ride and the turnpike cars. The Ferris Wheel today resides about where the station building is for the Turnpike Cars. The current Lakeside Pavilion would be just off the top left of the image, and the current site of the River Runer would be off the top right center portion of the image. The old "tunnels" that the train ride passed through to get underneath the parking lot and to get to the Indian scenes still exist out by the employee parking lot and the overflow runoff for Lake Como by Gate 1.

The coaster next to the log flume is the Shooting Star. The Log Flume was built at Coney for the 1968 season, and operated at Coney for four seasons before being relocated to Kings Island.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember the old victorian house in the first picture as the Haunted House-it was all skeletons, very similar to Boo Blasters. ( Just the theming-it wasn't interactive. ) I remember going on that with my dad and sister and being scared half to death-I remember my dad and sister laughing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...