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What is there about summertime
that makes it seem synonymous with amusement parks?
School is out, the days
are long and lazy, and our parents are looking for something to entertain us
in a special way.
When we were kids growing up, “Vacation”
included those annual day trips that took us to the edges of the City
reserved for fun and frolic.
Coney
Island in Brooklyn
was a favorite destination, as was Palisades Park
in New Jersey,
and Playland in Rye,
NY.
Even South
Beach
on Staten Island
was a treat on a warm summer evening.
The following YouTube
video is a 1962 commercial for Palisades Park that includes Freddie “Boom
Boom” Cannon singing that oldie-but-goodie
Palisades
Park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkNVwV5zquM&feature=related
I am sure that this
will spark some happy memories of a summer’s day with family and friends, or
even a not-so-happy day!
Our very own classmate, Ellen Petersen, told me
recently about her experience on the Palisades roller coaster.
And NO, she was not the one in the front car
fearlessly waving her arms in the air!
Here it is, in her own words:
It's
a funny thing really, I can't remember where I put my keys this morning, but
I can remember sitting on the floor of that roller coaster car. I
guess having weighed all of
90 lbs
soaking wet-it's
not hard to imagine being able to slip under that bar...and I'm not sure
that the bar even locked well at that time.
I remember climbing that first hill of the coaster-ever so slowly
(with that feeling that we might slip backwards)-and then that scary
'over-the-top drop' to the downhill side... FORGET IT!!! I was so petrified.
Here I was in my new shorts and top- trying to be "cool" with this
date....and I was a mess! Needless to say, I've never gotten on
another roller coaster.... ever!....
Wait a minute..........
Florence
that is not true!!!! I just remembered taking Roy and Steve to South Beach
rides (with my in-laws). Oh gosh. Roy wanted to ride the little children's
coaster and I went on with him.....not even halfway around, I was
screaming...
STOP
THIS THING-LET ME OFF!
I guess my father-in-law could hear me-along with everyone else--because
when Roy and I exited...... Poppy was laughing so hard that tears were
running down his cheeks! (after all it was a 'kiddie ride' and little
Roy
was fine!) Gosh Florence,
I have not thought about that in years....I must ask Roy about this-see if he remembers!
≈
The next YouTube video
is from the front seat of Playland Amusement Park’s
Dragon Coaster, a “classic woody” from the early years of coaster
technology.
Very tame by today’s standards, but an exciting
ride just the same from the days of our youth.
Although it closed in 1957, perhaps some of you
retain memories of an exciting day spent at this Rye
attraction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLGlbD8OcSg&NR=1&feature=fvwp
≈
As a kid I was pretty
much fearless when it came to amusement park rides, but somehow over the
years I lost that ability to shrug off the danger of thrill-evoking
attractions.
And my awareness of that loss of courage came
about when I was already on the ride that scared the daylights out of me.
We were living in north
Jersey
at the time, close to the
Pennsylvania
border, a short drive to
Dorney
Park
in Allentown.
My husband David and I had taken our daughter
Cati and her friend Susan there for a summer excursion and of course we
decided to ride one of the tallest wooden coasters in the country.
No sooner had we started the ride than I was
gripped by an overwhelming fear of the roaring noise, the unknown turns, and
the sheer lunacy of sitting in the front seat.
I turned my head and leaned into David’s
shoulder to block the view and to stifle my screams, and unknowingly latched
my teeth onto his flesh through his shirt.
To this day he bears that scar on his shoulder.
This YouTube video of the Hercules roller
coaster takes you on that same ride from the front seat, and I am abashed to
admit that, well, it looks pretty mild from the safety of my computer desk.
See for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOLDzWuK07M
≈
Coney
Island’s amusement parks have
enjoyed a rich and varied history over the years of its existence on the
edge of the Atlantic
Ocean.
Recently an area was renovated and four new
featured rides were opened to another generation of
Coney Island
thrill-seekers.
The links below are from an article and a video
in an edition of the
New York Times
online.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/nyregion/coney-island-gets-scream-zone-with-4-new-thrill-rides.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=coney%20island&st=cse
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/05/27/nyregion/100000000834832/city-critic-the-new-coney-island.html?scp=3&sq=coney%20island&st=cse
≈
Since we were kids
growing up in New York City
and its environs, there has been an enormous explosion in the size of
amusement and theme parks nation-wide and with year-round accessibility.
Families now are able to extend their
adventures beyond the time limits of a day trip to entire weeks spent at
theme-specific resorts offering a gluttonous array of entertainment.
Package
deals have made airfare, hotel, and attraction tickets affordable at many
levels, so now distance is no longer a deterrent to amusement and theme park
destinations.
My grandson Cameron
recently turned 13, and to celebrate that milestone occasion his other
grandparents took him and his cousin, also turning 13, on a family trip to
Orlando,
Florida.
“Family” to them included a total of 13 aunts,
uncles, and cousins who joined Grandma Millie and Pops in a noisy caravan
from the Lowcountry to central
Florida
to spend a week at a fabulous resort designed for family fun.
The highlight of the
vacation was a day at Universal
Orlando
Amusement Park
and the featured roller coaster thrill rides.
Cameron and his cousin Jay decided they wanted
to take their first coaster ride on their own, much too grown up now as
teens to latch on to the adults.
So off they went, all puff & strut, until they
came to the first heart-stopping drop, when Cameron was heard, loud and
clear above the roar of the coaster, shrieking
Mommmmieeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!
So much for being 13 and on your own!
On one of the larger coasters, there
was a huge video screen that took photos of the cars as they tore down the
declines, and which were available for purchase when you got off the ride.
Cati sent me this copy of the picture of her
family group of ten adults and kids, with every one of them yelling,
whooping, or hiding their heads.
Even Cameron’s daddy and his big strapping
brothers were totally wiped out by the thrill of the ride.
Their group fills up the second and third rows,
with Cati in the center,
Cam in the orange shirt, and Jay
hiding between them, and Marcus behind them, heading for the floor of the
car just like our Ellen did years ago at Palisades Park.
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