Photo TR:Coney Island

I'm back home in NJ from college in PA, and my dad thought it would be cool to bring me to the Cyclone while my sisters did other stuff. So, it was off to Coney Island for the first time!

The car ride took about 2 hours, with about 45 minutes in traffic jams and 30 minutes searching for parking. We eventually parked in the aquarium lot, which requires purchase of a $26 aquarium ticket. A bit pricey, but it beat trying to not hit all the jaywalkers and getting back out. This put us right next to the Cyclone.

Coney Island is an area of the city rather than an actual park, with a few different parks operating along with a menagerie of other offerings. It was amazing to see such a huge mass of people in such a small space. Prices were kind of high since it was the city.

The "Brooklyn Eiffel Tower", and most visible part of the complex.

After a stop in the restroom, me and my dad started out with the Wonder Wheel. Tickets were $6 a person. It was pretty awesome to be swinging and rolling around the wheel. It was exciting to ride such an iconic ride. The rest of the adult rides at Deno's were Spook-a-Rama (I don't do scary), Bumper Cars (no way I'm paying 5-6$ for crappy looking bumper cars when I'm used to Knoebel's for $1.25), a Matterhorn flat ride and Drop Tower.

The Red and Blue cars are designated the FUN cars!

NERD SHOT!

We proceeded to Luna Park, which opened this year on the former site of Astroworld. The place was PACKED! Wristbands were available ($30 for 4 hours, $34 for 6) but lines looked very long so I doubted I could get my money's worth. Instead we paid $30 for 35 credits, so that my parents could ride with me if desired. These credits are loaded onto a card that is scanned by the ride attendants to deduct the money. Adult rides were $5, kiddy rides were 3 or 4. First up was a crazy flat called the Air Race that I'd never seen before. It took about 20-30 minutes to get on, but it was well worth it. The ride spins while planes on giant arms move perpendicular to the ride, flinging riders upside down. I could not figure out any logic to the motions, which added to the excitement.

Green plane was always the first upside down.

Some people ride for the extreme motions. Others ride for the cute planes.

In a failed attempt to let crowds subside, we went across the street to the Cyclone. $8 a ride, and $5 for a reride paid to the ride attendants. After buying tickets we walked right up to the station, which had no queue system of any kind- just wait for the train to pull up and grab a row. Tons of manual brake levers all around, and once the train pulled up my dad and I grabbed the third row. I'm pretty thin, but even I felt like it was tough to get in with all the padding on the seats and lap bar. A sign informed everyone that money will be "gladly refunded" if you don't fit, though everyone seems to be fine once in the row. The ride itself was alright, though I expected it to be a bit wilder. The seats absorbed all impacts, and the train seemed to barely make it around curves. I was happy to ride such an icon, but it didn't quite deliver what I expected. We passed up the reride option, but took the onride photo. We wandered around the corner and looked at the small Coney Island history exhibit. There were some interesting photos and memorabilia, along with memories of riding the parachute tower, which were amusing to read. I can understand why it no longer operates, but it would be nice if they could somehow get some form of parachute ride on the structure.

There's a roller coaster on a street corner. Much better than a pretzel stand.

Back over to Luna Park, the ticket lines are down but the rides are no less crowded. The Brooklyn Flyer, my first Star Flyer, was very enjoyable. I would have liked a taller ride though- do they come in a larger size anywhere? My dad joined me for a ride on the Tickler, a spinning wild mouse that was nothing special, though the cars have nice art. I got my mom to join me for the final ride I did, Coney Island Sound, was one that reminded me of the "Bouncy Bouncy" I had seen here. Themed to beating a drum, arms bounced up and down around a center drum, with one extreme bounce every time around. It was a lot of fun, and would be nice to see at more parks.

Brooklyn Flyer contained no snapping nor Brooklyn Rage, but was very fun.

His relentless urge to tickle children may be why Asbury Park forced Tillie to Coney Island.

I WILL TICKLE YOU!

The rest of the park had tons of Zamperla rides, many of which I'd never seen. I took pictures of the most interesting. There was a second credit, the Circus Coaster, but the line was too long for me to wait for it, so it will elude me for now.

The "Happy Swing" is a much better version of the "Sad Swing". Also, DOLPHIN!

The Wacky Shack is a known hangout of "The Tickler". Stay away

The kiddie flume is a Mini Mermaid Parade. Coney Island loves mermaids even more than freaks!

Everybody Disko!

After making sure our car was alright to stay in the lot after the lot closed we headed down the boardwalk to the original Nathan's, which had a mobbed counter and little table space. I had a cheese dog and we shared bacon cheese fries. It was very good, and didn't seem overly expensive, especially compared to everything else. Beyond hot dogs, Nathans had burgers, sea food sandwiches, and even frog legs!

It seems I wasn't the only coaster enthusiast there...

Sunset and the Wonder Wheel made a nice sight.

NOTED!

Hot dog enthusiast's destination.

On the way back to the car we looked at Eldorado Arcade, which had the flashiest bumper cars I'd ever seen. Strobes, sirens, and disco lights in an otherwise dark room with thumping bass pounding while ride ops jump from car to car, helping inexperienced drivers. It looked cool, but the cars didn't appear to hit harder than normal cars, so I just enjoyed watching. A single ride ran $6, with $3 rerides. In the arcade itself the only old game to be found was Ms. Pac Man, which was well worn and only cost a quarter! I managed to earn an extra life and impress my parents, so I walked away happy. Over at DDR I attempted to play to my old standard, but wound up failing the second song. An onlooking kid gave me some some applause for my first song which felt nice, but I really need to hit my pads at home again . We then caught some fireworks from the baseball stadium, went down the street where the freakshow is (though we were much too late for it), and headed for home.

Our final verdict was that it was a fun experience, but one that won't be repeated with the whole family. I may try to return to use the rest of my credits and see what else there is with friends, but as a family outing its just too much.

All lit up

AHHH! Night has revealed the Tickler's true form!

Thanks for reading!

Sorry you didn't get a wild ride on The Cyclone. The further back you are in the train the crazier the ride.

Parking is really tough in the area, especially on weekends with the beach patrons and metered parking is damn near impossible when the Brooklyn Cyclones have a game.

Did you get to ride Air Race? I still have yet to ride it myself.

Nice pictures, I haven't seen a whole lot of pictures of Coney Island on this forum ever since Luna Park opened up and it appears that the place is really lively and busy this summer. Hopefully I'll squeeze in a trip to Coney Island myself if I have enough time later this month, since I live about 60 miles from there.

Nice trip report. I had no idea there were other credits in Coney Island other than the Cyclone. I really need to get up there at some point, up to NYC for the first time in general, really.

Thanks for this. It is really cool and exciting to see what the area is becoming. I remember being sad panda when they closed Astroworld.

Cyclone - front seat rides were fun - back seat rides were fun but BRUTAL!

David

I always take the subway when visiting Coney Island. No problem with parking that way!

Glad you guys enjoyed it, I was happy to do a report for a more out of the way place.

My cousin apparently always takes the subway over to it, so if I go again (I do have 7 credits left) I think that will be our method of transportation. Like you said, no problem with parking then, and probably cheaper too!

If I ride Cyclone again I'll make sure to try the back instead. I guess all the padding comes in handy back there. $8 is a bit steep, but if I'm with someone else who wants to ride I'd do it again.

Also, I did get to ride Air Race, it was the first ride I did at Luna Park. Visually, it's an amazing ride to watch and is a great centerpiece for the park. I wound up in the second row of the blue plane, which still had good vision due to the stadium seating (being 6'2" doesn't hurt either). It was lots of fun, with the many directions it went in and it gave a good bit of hang time. Like I said, the motions were controlled, but had no logic, so I couldn't anticipate any movements. About 3/4 through the ride my plane stopped swinging for a bit so it seemed to be winding down but then we started flipping again and continued until the end. I did notice that the green plane always started the cycle by flipping before the other planes, so I would assume each plane has the same motion every cycle, but can't say for certain. I'd like to see it more places, but the capacity didn't seem that good so I'm not holding my breath. I'd spend $5 on it again to try and get in a front row, and as long as it isn't anywhere else.

I went to Morey's Pier for the first time today and the difference in atmosphere between the two, while understandable, was amazing. We had so much fun that my family is already planning to go back and maybe stay in Wildwood. Maybe I'll post pics of that too once I sort through them.