PTR - Luna Park (Coney Island NYC)

[bkroz]

Hey guys. Made a quick stop at Coney Island in Brooklyn this week, so I wanted to share my experience briefly!

First of all, Coney Island is a neighborhood famous for its amusement parks and beaches, which are all located on a few square blocks together along the Atlantic Ocean. The amusement parks mostly blend together, but there are a few different operators. The most famous and historic was called Astroland for many, many years, but stumbled in 2009 and closed. In 2010, Zamperla (a coaster / ride manufacturer) won a bid to operate the old Astroland for 10 years, and has been stuffing the park with its own rides ever since.

So most of the rides at Coney Island are part of "Luna Park" (that's Zamperla's park, formerly Astroland, and formerly Luna Park again before that in Geauga Lake style), but there are other operators and attractions strewn about too. All are free to enter and walk around. Luna Park's rides take credits purchased and loaded onto a refillable Luna Card. Those credits can be used on coasters, food, and games. The other amusements take tickets purchased at little kiosks.

Here's a map just showing Luna Park's rides, with the grayed out plots representing other blocks managed by different companies or independent attractions. (Click here for big, interactive version)

In this map, the beach / ocean is at the bottom with Brooklyn at the top.

What's so cool about Luna Park is the history. Not much of it can still be seen (except the world's first Nathan's Famous hot dogs... Is this were "Coney dog" comes from? I mean, probably, right?) but this was a magnificent era back in the 1920s. Like, the kind of place Gatsby would've gone.

That last image is from 1905 and shows the park's famous Electric Tower.

For those of you who have been around long enough to remember my Tokyo Disney Resort photo trip report (shameless plug, hoping someone comments on it and bumps it), it will look a little familiar... Luna Park was the inspiration for Tokyo DisneySea's INCREDIBLE version of Toy Story Midway Mania, which is located in the park's 1920s-New-York-City themed land.

Obviously the park today is not what you'd call "regal" or anything. It's basically a collection of flat rides, carnie vendors, chain link fence, and New Yorkers all jumbled together. The coasters have big flashing signs that really are purely to draw you in and convince you to ride them, because this is a pay-per-ride park where weak performers don't make enough money to justify their operation.

Remaining from the old days (1927, in fact) is the Cyclone coaster (POV video), designed by Vernon Keenan and built by Harry C. Baker (means nothing to me, but maybe it will to someone here!). I was speechless at how smooth and wonderful this incredible coaster is. Ultra-padded seats on plywood trains, manual brakes. It's got it all. The Cyclone was 9 Credits, or $9.00.

I took pictures, but who's got the time to upload them when they're just mediocre? I'll use some RCDB photos instead, all with copyrights and source URLs. Ask if you can't find the source.

(Check out the girl in the front... ahah!)

The rest of the park's coasters are Zamperla models.

Thunderbolt was the new addition just this year. 125 feet, vertical lift and drop, three inversions. It's a pretty simple out-and-back layout, but with a few neat features. The coolest part to me was a relatively simple move: the "turnaround" part of the coaster is like, 3/4 of a corkscrew that turns into a slanted helix. Check it out in the POV video.

It does knock you around but... it's Zamperla.

Speaking of which...

Soarin' Eagle is a Zamperla Volare, aka one of their notoriously uncomfortable flying coasters. Honestly, I didn't think it was bad. It was definitely a favorite among Luna Park's rides. Is it janky looking? Yes. Is its loading procedure odd and uncomfortable? Does it jerk you around? Sure. But it was fun.

It's odd to have to climb a ladder into a moving train car and feel stretchy seat belts lower across your back. Given the option of slowly climbing a lift hill face-down like B&M's or the quick spiral lift, I'd take the latter.

To be fair, a recent TPR trip report of Luna Park says this Volare is much smoother than most. It's the only one I've ever been on, so I can't say. But it wasn't bad. By the way, it's relocated from Elitch Gardens where it was simply called The Flying Coaster. (POV video)

The park also has a spinning wild mouse called The Tickler and a Circus Coaster for the kids (along with many flat rides), but the only other coaster I rode was Steeplechase, a Zampera Motocoaster (and my second after Knott's Pony Express). There was something so great about this ride, and it was definitely the surprise of the park for me. Pony Express is alright I guess, but if you think Backlot Stunt Coaster is disappointingly short and anticlimactic, try Pony Express -- oh, that's right, some of you can't because glasses. Sorry!

Honestly, Steeplechase probably isn't much longer (aaaannnnddd RCDB shows it's 100 feet shorter, actually) but it's a nice, classic experience. The ride looks like an old white coaster, and it's lit so well at night, and it just feels great. The first launch is surprisingly intense and wraps around to the top of the coaster. From there, it's a bit like Volcano (which is probably the weirdest comparison ever made between coasters but what I mean is) because it's smooth, quick, and steady, sort of slaloming and twisting in a very predictable and rhythmic way. See the awesome launch?

The coaster looks beautiful and it's just so classic and wonderful. I enjoyed it tremendously. A great throwback to the rides of yesteryear, and a thrilling family ride. It's actually a flywheel launch, too, which is sort of cool to see it on a small scale. (POV video... Compare it to Pony Express' POV video. Pony Express just lacks action. It's a coaster for the sake of being a coaster. Steeplechase has personality and looks beautiful. It feels like a complete ride, even if it's 100 feet shorter.)

I guess thematically Steeplechase may be a little to early for Coney Mall, but who really cares? I'd have this ride installed there immediately if I were behind the decision-making at Kings Island. It has a gimmick, family statistics, and a wonderful classic look that fits the Kentucky Derby style. It would look beautiful lit up at night along Coney Mall. Wow.

So if you're in the New York area and have an afternoon to kill, four train lines dead end at Coney Island. It's about a 30 minute subway ride from Manhattan, so $2.50. For $40, you get 46 credits which is enough to ride all the major coasters and then some. It's not the reverent and beautiful and historic place it once was. It's a local spot with that Jersey Shore attitude and it's heavily patrolled by security come nightfall... But altogether, it's a nice aside and a cool place to visit with some great coasters. The town owes Zampera quite a debt for taking over and straightening the park out.

Also, I should mention. Though it's not part of Luna Park (and thus you need to buy tickets separately from Deno's Wonder Wheel Park), the historic Wonder Wheel at Coney Island is a beaut.

The ride with its sliding gondolas served as inspiration for Disney California Adventure's Fun Wheel, which sits on Paradise Bay instead of the Atlantic Ocean.

Deno's also has a few haunted house dark rides ($6 each) which looked pretty historic, so if you're a dark ride person, you could have a blast.

[Creed Bratton]

Thanks for sharing! I visited Coney Island a couple of years ago. I was quite surprised with how much fun I actually had there. The coasters are good ones, the other rides are great too. Did you ride AirRace? (I think that's how they spell it)

Steeplechase was the first of it's kind for me. I was really surprised with how much fun it actually was. I wasn't a big fan of the restraint system, but it ended up being okay. Soarin' Eagle was probably the smoothest Zamperla Volare's I've been on.

Glad you had a good time! If you ever get a chance, would love to see the pictures you took.

[bkroz]

Thanks for sharing! I visited Coney Island a couple of years ago. I was quite surprised with how much fun I actually had there. The coasters are good ones, the other rides are great too. Did you ride AirRace? (I think that's how they spell it)

Steeplechase was the first of it's kind for me. I was really surprised with how much fun it actually was. I wasn't a big fan of the restraint system, but it ended up being okay. Soarin' Eagle was probably the smoothest Zamperla Volare's I've been on.

Glad you had a good time! If you ever get a chance, would love to see the pictures you took.

I would be very happy if we ended up with a Steeplchase or something even resembling it.