Oregon Hidden Gems

[johnjniehaus]

Well, my partner and I just took a small two day trip down through Oregon to hit up some of the lesser known rides and attractions that aren't at the amusement parks that everyone knows about (Oaks Park & Enchanted Forest). We started with a stop at the Clackamas Town Center for a ride on their carousel which cost $5 per rider and you must be under 150lbs to ride a horse. Thankfully I'm just under that but my partner had to ride the chariot. They also had a kiddy Ferris wheel with a max weight of 90lbs per rider so neither of us could do that.

Next stop was Salem's Riverfront Carousel which is a wooden community carved carousel from the early 2000s. Very beautiful and had a wide variety of animals. They had a brass ring machine that they were not using so I'm unsure why but it definitely wasn't working during our visit. Rides are $2 each or $15 for unlimited for the day. $5 minimum charge on a credit card. 

Later that evening, we went to the Albany Carousel Museum which has a Dentzel mechanism with custom carved animals. The carousel also has a ring machine and they had 2-3 brass rings per cycle. $2 per ride but you can ride unlimited for $10 between 4-7pm. The volunteers running this place were very generous and friendly. Wonderful operation. 

On the second day after a stop at Tillamook and Cannon Beach we went up to seaside. There is a small amusement park called Captain Kid which has a small coaster and go karts but they do not operate during the winter. We went to the carousel mall which has a fiberglass reproduction of a Dentzel carousel. It was also $5 to ride. 

The final stop was at Funland Arcade in Seaside, OR. They had a nice size fascination parlor with about 40 tables so we played a couple rounds of that. We also rode their tilt-a-whirl and lusse auto scooters. They were each $5 per ride and fascination was .50¢ per round. The tilt-a-whirl was arguably the best one we've ridden as they speed it up and slow it down during the cycle to make the cars spin more. The lusse auto scooter is one of only two that I know of that particular design with the second one being at Knoebels. There are a couple others by lusse but they aren't the classic scooter appearance or they are kiddy versions. I think this set was a bit more out of control than even Knoebels! Long cycle and lots of good bumping and shoving and skidding!

 

[johnjniehaus]