Parks of the Past?

[RollerC]

So which defunct parks do you wish you could go back in time and visit? The park that I ultimatly want to visit is Euclid Beach. I have read so much about it and when driving past the old site and seeing apartments standing where rollercoasters once stood makes me wish it was still there. It looked like such an awesome park to visit and and ones to wonder what would it be like today if it was still there.

[XII]

Idora Park

Want to ride their Wildcat.

[ginzo]

Riverview Park in Chicago: it had 17 woodies over the years it operated, including a flying turns and the bobs.

 

Crystal Beach: crystal beach cyclone (duh).

[snuggles]

I'd visit every defunct park with an adult sized wooden coaster.

[kraxleRIDAH]

Knott's Berry Farm circa 1975 and Magic Mountain circa 1978. Both parks are presently in a condition where they might as well just be defunct.

[Gnome]

^ That's a tad bit of an over statement, imo. I would also say that Knott's was probably at it's best the year they opened ghost rider, maybe one or two years after.

 

As for disfunct parks, I couldn't really care about any of them. As for coasters, I wish that the Rye Aeroplane was still around.

[Axman]

^^ I totaly agree with you about Magic Mountain. It might as well be closed.

[Simon Baynham]

Hi TPR Members

 

Funnily enough I have just finished watching a two-hour long documentary about Euclid Beach Park. Such a shame it closed 28 September 1969.

 

I would love to step back in time to ride the 'Turns, Racing Coaster and the Thriller. Then enjoy a few goes on the Rocket Ships and Over the Falls, before finishing with a circuit aboard the Sleepy Hollow Train.

 

Simon Baynham

[alexinla]

A couple of years ago i worked for the mtv beach haus which was located at the former Marineworld site in Palos Verdes. They still had some buildings standing and i walked around a lot to explore it.

 

The area is spectacular, i could only imagine how amazing this park probably was. Damm Seaworld for closing it whitout any notice

[Airtime&Gravity]

Riverview, because it was the world's largest park when it closed, and it was home to one of the most famous coasters built. I loved Lakeside, and Riverview looked like a larger version of that park, and it had some of the greatest coasters ever built.

[Scaparri]

Riverview Park would be number one, followed by Crystal Beach, Palisades, Idora, and Long Beach Pike.

[supermanrosfan0810]

Rocky point in Warwick, RI. Good memories from when I was little, riding my first coaster, the loop-corkscrew when I was 6!

[Darien Laker]

Chippewa Lake Park has always really intrigued me. That coaster looks like it would have been short but sweet, and there were some other interesting looking rides.

 

Also, Opryland and Old Indiana.

[awclark]

Wasn't there a Busch Gardens out in LA at one point a long time ago (or somewhere out there)?

 

Also from a LONG time ago, a park that practically nobody would know about, but was in an issue of "Roller Coaster!" magazine. It was Legend City in Scottsdale, AZ.

[imdrunk]

Opryland, USA. Nashville, TN. My first job was there. I was working the 'hit the thing with a hammer and see if you can get to the top' game. Forgive me for not knowing the name of the game. Anyway, this big bald guy came to play. He hit the silver pedestal and the hammer came back up and gashed his head open. There was blood everywhere. Everyone passing by stopped to look. I got the medics on the scene and they took him away. They hosed down the entire area with water and chlorine bleach. Ahhh . . .the memories. . . .

[Tömmioh]

Riverview, Idora, Palisades, SFAW, because they looked nice and had coasters that I would've liked to ride. Another park is Planet Fun Fun in Finland, which was just 3 miles away from me (operated from 1991-95) and featured an indoor Vekoma custom coaster The coaster is now in Germany, click me.

[Zonga]

I would of loved to visit Playland at the Beach in San Francisco. I'm a sucker for a good ole' sea side park.

[edboxer]

I would love to have Idora Park back, I grew up there. And believe it or not, while the Wildcat was wild, it wasn't my favorite (even with the outrageous airtime on the low long bunny hill at the bottom of the first drop). I preferred the Jack Rabbit - it was a blast, lots of little bunny hills, a great double down after the first turn and those old open trains. Idora also had a really cool train ride (which was the only way to view the Jack Rabbit from inside the park) and the heavenly Rocket Ships almost within reach of the tree branches.

 

My best memories of the Wildcat are from outside the park. Idora was located at the edge of Mill Creek Park - a 5+ mile long park running from Market Street to Rt. 224. The park is great for cycling. They even had a marathon there for a while (The Peace Race). Anyway it was fun to ride your bike up to the edge of Idora and listen and watch the Wildcat through the trees.

[bulldogmom]

I think I'd pick one of the OLD parks, such as Luna Park or Dreamland, circa 1900 when electricity was the new thing and there were millions of lights everywhere. It's funny- the lights, not the rides, were the attractions. I've seen some pics of these places at night and they're absolutely stunning.