montezooma

I had a company named Homemovie.com transfer my Super 8 to DVD as well as onto a hard drive. I had to ship them all the film and purchase a hard drive to store it on once all the transfer was done. It is an expense, but otherwise all that great super 8 footage was essentially no good…I mean who wants to pull out the old projector, screen and deal with threading the film and then rewinding. Now I just hit play on the computer and the world can enjoy. I hope that helps. They did a great job and the turnaround time was pretty quick.

Snow park see: http://www.snowmountainpark.com/

Ouch! I am the one that picked those colors. In all fairness, it was cool at the time.

Even though there's a wink, it would NOT surprise me to see this open at Cowabunga Bay. We still haven't had an announcement (have we?) about this years new attraction? Yeah, I know, the rumor mill, but Shane started it! I’ll put an end to this rumor right away. The footprint of Greezed Lightnin is over 700 feet long. Our longest property boundary at Cowabunga Bay is a little shy of 400 feet. I am probably the biggest Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop fan around and this isn’t to say that I wouldn’t someday like to own my very own personal model!

While we are on the subject of Raging Wolf Bobs, let’s take a Super 8 trip back to Geauga Lake for a look at the Corkscrew and a POV ride on Double Loop. Wow, this little park had quite a coaster line up for 1978. Not only did they do back to back to back coaster for 1976, 1977 & 1978 (Cyclone, Double Loop, Corkscrew). They followed up the first Double Looping roller coaster with another steel looping coaster in the next year…take that Cedar Point! [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Geauga_Lake_5ogg[/coastertube]

^ That is very nice of you to say, and I truly appreciate everyone's comments about this thread. I had no idea what this thread would turn into after I posted the first 1970 ads for the California parks, but here it is, 5 years later and over 788,000 views. I have loved going through everything I have saved over the years and rediscovering the parks I fell in love with as a kid. They have changed over the years that's for sure, the rides have gotten better but the charm has been compromised by corporate America. I am thrilled to share with you all the history of these great parks so keep the comments coming of our memories, stories and even pictures. PS- Robb, you are correct, that is the Raging Wolf Bobs please give yourself a TPR bag of crap. I should have known you would know it right off since you are a CNBC analyst.

Yes, that was the Magic Mountain I grew up with too. Loved it then, like it now. I miss the Mountain Express and Magic Pagoda. Anyone remember this ride? I'd give you a TPR bag of crap if you guess right but I don't have one, so you will just get a "great job" from Shane's Amusement Attic if you guess right.

Time for a look back at some old Kodak 110 photos. Developed at Fotomat after a week of waiting. Once upon a time, the Mountain really was Magic! From the same roll of film there were these two shots of the Las Vegas Hilton. You can tell how old these are just by looking at that hotel.

^ How about “Mega Zeph”?

Sorry guys, it can't be Greezed Lightning...I have that on lay-a-way.

Kings Island, while a very beautiful park, has some of the worst attraction locations of any park. If someone unfamiliar with the park was dropped off without a map they could easily walk right by some of the best stuff: Flight Deck Adventure Express Flight of Fear Firehawk Days of Thunder (or whatever the hell it is now) The Beast White Water Canyon and not even know they existed. While the Busch & Sea World go to extremes to make their rides interactive with guests and themed surroundings, Kings Island has taken some of their best stuff and hidden them off the beaten path with nothing more than a flimsy sign along the midway...blink and you'll miss it.

^ I have to agree. While this coaster is a masterpiece it is looking pretty shabby. Those colors are atrocious. The paint is chipping. Oil and grease everywhere, and that train with the graphics is shameful. Too bad such a beautiful coaster is in such a bad way. Two words: White & Blue

Not to be outdone by Cedar Point, Kings Island came up with their own Getaway Guide. Here we see the introduction of Days Of Thunder in one of the worst locations of any amusement park attraction at a park.

Here's the rest of the Guide. Next up, Paramount's Kings Island's Getaway Guide. Film???? Bears???? Shamu???? Ohio????

painfully slow connection this morning...more of 1993 getaway guide to come in a bit.

^ This is true as you will see in the 1993 Getaway Guide. I can't believe Crystal Pepsi didn't take off?!?! awesome picture!

Don’t judge the speed of the coasters by the Super 8 footage. It wasn’t the most accurate form of media back then…as a matter of fact you couldn’t even capture sounds. Seems so primitive but it was actually cutting edge for the time. According to the 1993 getaway guide, “Snake River Falls” was the new attraction. I will post that Getaway Guide tomorrow.

No not yet…I can’t make up my mind between a B&M or Intamin. But I did make a guest appearance on a local TV show the other day to promote Christmas sales: http://eplayer.clipsyndicate.com/cs_api/iframe?pl_id=20021&wpid=9604&page_count=5&windows=1&tags=CCT I hope to be able to announce something soon but I like to make sure all permitting and other potential delays are resolved before making it official. I’ll keep you all up to date. But in the mean time have you seen Stan's latest creation?

Thanks everyone! I am actually a little surprised that this last post has generated this many comments and interest because I sort of pulled it out of my a$$ as something quick to get on the thread since I have been a little slow with updating. But since there seems to be some interest, let’s run with it. Here is some Super 8 footage I shot at the park back in 1980 and I will follow that up with the 1993 Getaway Guide. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Cedar_Point_1980_tip9[/coastertube]

Time to get away to Cedar Point with this Cedar Point Getaway Guide from 20 years ago. Remember when there were Bears instead of Peanuts? When you see the hotel ads in the back of the magazine you are also reminded that there used to be a Sea World in the state of Ohio.

Super 8 over Texas [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Six_Flags_over_Texas1_ukrv[/coastertube]

More Super 8 goodness. This time Rolling Thunder at Six Flags Great Adventure…and a quick look at Lightnin’ Loops at the end. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Rolling_Thunder_9ju5[/coastertube]

The prototypes for the Corkscrew and Launched Loop both featured different support structures over their upside down elements. I am not sure why they changed the design on both of them but it is obvious to see from the pictures below. The Launched Loop prototype. You can see how the supports aren’t continuous at the top of the loop. Here is that same prototype coaster at Circus World. Notice how the top of the loop looks different from the picture below. The production model had a support structure that was continuous over the loop. The Corkscrew went through the same support modifications.

Okay, that is easy enough. Here is a look at the first Arrow Launched Loop. I am not sure if it was the first to open at a park but it was the prototype ride that was built at their plant and later moved to Circus World where it was originally named Zoomerang. It went through several other names such as Flying Daredevil, Double-O and even back again to Zoomerang. The film has suffered a little damage over the years which accounts for the graininess. I always loved these Arrow Launched Loops (obviously not as much as Anton’s version) they really provided some good pops of air. Enjoy [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Zoomerang_FlyingDaredevil_zh4d[/coastertube] And here is another clip that is uploaded to coastertube. Seems like a nice accompaniment to the one above. [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=ScreaminDemon_2[/coastertube]

Hey KCForce- That was a great post. I love hearing the operational insight on Orient Express. I can’t believe that ride did not have auto lap bar release. That ride was pretty epic for the time and for that park. You would have thought that a ride like Orient Express would have debuted at a park like Great Adventure or Kings Island back in that day. It was pretty major for a mid-sized park like Worlds of Fun. Thanks also for that great post card. I love seeing that ride from above. As a kid, all I wanted to be when I grew up was an Orient Express operator…you lived my dream