Scott's Coaster Closet

[Guy T. Koepp]

Yeah! I rode both during the day as well as at night. Love all the night rides. You really can't see a thing back there in tha woods.

 

Me Likey Mucho!!!

[Tbcoasterfan]

Glad you had a good time. KI is a great park. And Diamondback is one sweet hyper ... especially at night.

 

Oh, and did you check out the Beast? I was totally impressed by all the track work. Though the permanent magnetic trims are ... sucky ... I was amazed at how rideable it was. I miss the the REAL Beast of 1979. It was beyond amazing.

 

I miss the real Beast too.... New one is neutered with all those extremely intrusive magnetic trims

[montezooma]

Awesome video Scott. What program did you edit it in? I am glad you featured Adventure Express, an extremely fun and underrated ride IMO. Arrow made some great mine rides in their latter year: Adventure Express, ThuNderaTion, and of course Road Runner Express

[SeaWhippet]

We used iMovie. Though I prefer Premier for something a bit more complicated, iMovie works great for these quick park vids.

 

I agree about Arrow's later mine trains being very good. I especially like KI's version. I wish they'd stayed around and built more. The same goes for the suspended coaster. Arrow's are the best. I'd forgotten how great KI's Top Gun (I can't call it anything else!) really is. I just need to get to Everland to check out the Best Arrow Suspended Ever. Or so I've been told.

[Chris Benvenuto]

Diamondback is an awesome ride, I got back from Kings Island tonight and dang that ride KICKS at night. In the day it's alot of fun, but at night the thing screams at night.

 

Beast and Son of Beast are other good rides at night, I loved Diamondback and it gets the 3 spot on my top 10 rides.

 

Diamondback, just awesome!!

 

By the way, the airtime I got on it was insane from the first drop to the final brake run. The MCBR does not effect the airtime IMO, but some may disagree.

 

Great fun, Great ride!

[ScoastinGS]

I also rode the Beast today and though I never experienced the real Beast of 1979, I do miss flying into the tunnel after the shed run. My first ride on the Beast was at night and in the rain before it had been trimmed so much. I haven't had a ride like it since then. I wish there was some way to bolster the structure of the ride rather than putting trim brakes on...

[x west view kennywood wor]

I was going through my closet today,found something from when I worked the Racing Whippet(76-77) you might enjoy.

 

 

Scott,I talked to you MANY years ago('81)when I was working on the Thunderbolt at Kennywood.

[montezooma]

Scott-

Is there anything new...or old in the closet?

[SeaWhippet]

Well, hello, Shane! Happy Holidays to you and all those who love old things amusement park-related. Though Scott's Coaster Closet has been on an extended hiatus, we're gearing up for an exciting 2011. Of course, there's plenty – both new and old – remaining in the depths of The Closet. In the meantime, here's a little teaser: can anybody I.D. this strangle little gem I came across during my travels ...

Edited December 19, 2010 by robbalvey

[robbalvey]

^ Oh, man...not a clue... Let's see if any TPR peeps can figure it out...

[The SETGO Guys]

Well its a powered coaster...named tornado perhaps.

Going off of the Zamperla at Jenkinsons Boardwalk....that looks the same and has the same name....(you can see half the name in the last pic)

 

-Bag of Crap to whoever solves the mystery maybe?????

 

-Zach

[let1gre]

Found it!

 

Tornado at Dowdy's Amusement Park in Nag's Head, NC. Linkasaurus.

 

Well, that was a pretty good use of 15 minutes.

[SeaWhippet]

Dowdy's it is. I never saw this thing operate, but it has been sitting there – alone and abandoned – for quite some time. Whatever the case, it has to take the honor of being the most furthest-located-out-in-the-Atlantic-Ocean-SBNO steel coaster EVER.

 

-S

[Kumbarider1993]

i LOVE the closet Scott! it's always wicked fascinating to read about defunct coasters.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Kumbarider1993

[KDcoasterMAN]

^^The Tornado is gone as of January 2011. I had a few rides on it back in the day. Pretty sweet for a powered coaster.

[Thri!!er]

I want to say also *thank you* - for your very interesting Coaster Closet, Scott - as I said it to *Shane's Amusement Attic*.

 

So, THANK YOU for the *Scott's Coaster Closet* : -)

[robbalvey]

I think it's time to give this thread a bump. You can see the list of articles on some of the historic rides on the first post of this thread: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=527957#p527957

[arby]

I love this thread! There is so much great content in it. I was brought back to my childhood with Cascade Park since I grew up near there. I was last there in the late 70s but unfortunately did not ride Comet. After going through some old pictures I have not been able to find anything to share. Apparently my parents didn't take pictures at or of amusement parks.

[arby]

After looking through more photos, we found out that my wife went to Elitch Gardens around 1977-1978 when she lived in Colorado for a year. Here is a shot she took apparently from a Ferris Wheel and you can see Mr. Twister in the background.

 

Elitch Gardens circa 1977/8

[netdvn]

Everybody must watch this commercial. It's the best Six Flags commercial ever. Definitely one of the trippiest SF commercials I've ever seen. Anyone have a Mindbender commercial to compare?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3nubETlw5A

 

- Six Flags is your Imagine-Naaaation. Now with Shock-wave wave wave wave.

[GwaziBSRider1]

^ Why can't we see more commercials like this anymore? This is awesome! It's actually gotten me pumped for my visit to SFOT in December! I can't wait to ride Shockwave-wave-wave-wave!

[Kansansas]

I've found it disheartening that many of today's coaster/park enthusiasts care little for the amusement industry's history, opting instead for the next mega-hyper-whatever. But the response we've gotten over the Attic/Closet/Shoebox/etc. threads has been rather refreshing.

This is why I'm so happy you guys have been posting your collections.

 

I've often found that it would seem that the "younger generation" coaster enthusaists don't care about the history, but in reality I think I've found that they actually do care very much.

 

Just look at all the "defunct coasters" that have been re-created in all the Roller Coaster Tycoon games and No Limits. Many of these are done by 15 and 16 year olds!

 

One of the things I really wanted to encouage in TPR members was to post "retro" or "classic" photos.

 

At the end of the day, I don't think many people care how old your photos or articles are as long as they are interesting!

 

Thanks again guys.

 

--Robb

 

Maybe I am in the minority, but I am obsessed with roller coaster history. Sure Millennium Force is fun and all, but I doesn't have interesting pops and jolts, and It is a relatively painless experience. I mean, for a fourteen-year-old, I have been on quite a few roller coasters, and I still prefer wood to steel. Maybe it is just me.

[GayCoasterGuy]

I mean, for a fourteen-year-old, I have been on quite a few roller coasters, and I still prefer wood to steel. Maybe it is just me.

 

Nope, it's not just you. Check out Mind Bender at SFOG and some of the other Schwarzkopf coasters. They are like woodies with loops (but now we have real woodies with loops...).

[Carl Horner]

Hello Scott and friends!

 

I just printed out all 14 pages of your awesomeness on the Racing Whippet and The Dips from Westview Park! I grew up in Mars, adn loved going to both Westview Park and Kennywood.

 

Aside from being just plain old fun, I'm doing some research on the two coasters at the park for a book I'm writing that actually isn't about theme parks. (Even though, conicidentally, I was a Senior Production Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering on the Tokyo DisneySea theme park from 1996 thru 2001, and won a THEA Award for my efforts.) Outrageous as it sounds, I fell out of one of the two coasters when I was 6 years old. My dad literally grabbed me in mid-air as I was sailing out of the car and saved my life. Thankfully, he was the strongest man I ever knew, and had amazing reflexes as he was a Conductor/Brakeman for Penn Central/Conrail; and was used to working on moving trains, etc.

 

Form what I just skimmed in your thread, it sounds like I fell out of The Dips. All I remember is a big hill that we dropped down, and a sharp curve at the bottom where I was thrown off of the seat, onto the floor, and then up into the air. I'm pretty sure I remember a chrome bar that pivoted down to lock into place, and i even remember thinking that it was too far away from me and wasn't going to hold me in. Apparently I was right. I remember sailing up into the air, looking at trees, thinking, "I'm Superman!!!" as I started to sail out of the car. I felt my dad's fist slam into my low back as he grabbed me and yanked me back into the cart and slammed me to the floor where he kept me pinned until the ride was over.

 

Later, I was told that I was hysterical at the first aid station(?) for 45 minutes, and don't have any recollection of that time. I do remember eventually sitting underneath a spinning ride with hard, fixed umbrellas that whirled up into the air in a circle, and getting splatterd with puke as someone on the ride above vomited. Hell of a day for a six year old. And as this was back in the early 70's, and I wasn't mamimed or anything, we didn't even get any free tickets or anything. Yes, there are times to be litigious...

 

Unfortunately, both of my parents, Carl and Josephine Horner, are both passed and I can't ask them which coaster it was, specifically.

 

Do you or anyone else have any thoughts on which once this might have been? It kind of haunts me, and I'm actually pretty emotional writing this down for the first time.

 

Also - Is there any truth to the rumors that the mob had been dumping bodies with concrete shoes in the small pond up front? I remember there being one of those chain swing rides on a small island at the center of it - which may or may not be accurate. My mom told me that they did find bodies in the pond when they drained the pond after they closed the park. I haven't been able to find anything on the internet about that, So I thought I'd ask while I'm at it! Semi-lol

 

Thanks for all of the awesome pictures, and I plan on hanging out now and again as I am very home sick; and kind of over California in a lot of ways!

 

Godspeed,

 

C