J4Sing

Last June was my first time back since 1993, so I would have to pick Old Country. All that fun stuff- Freefall, Looping Starship(I know it moved to boardwalk, but that was after 1993), Musik Express, Splashwater falls, lil wheel, Rotor,bumper cars. All gone. For someone who hadn't been there in 15 years, that was a HUGE void. Of course I missed the TeePee and Flying Wave also, but the Old Country void really hit hard.

A couple of my friends over at the Coney Island USA threads are helping me investigate. If the Kaufman Jumbo Jet was removed from the Steeplechase site before the 1975 season it very well might be the same one. We know that it was not assembled at the Bowery/Stilwell location until 1978 or 1979, as the Tornado coaster (a Prior and Church masterpiece, better than the Cyclone and gone way before it's time) was there until the winter of 1977. I personally know that by 1979, the Steeplechase site was an overgrown ruin of rusted abandoned ride parts, so the Kaufman JJ was definitely gone from there for several years already. I'll let you guys know as soon as I find out.

Fact 1- The Jumbo Jet ride was installed in Great Adventure in 1975, never opened, then was removed at the end of the year. Fact 2- An identical ride, even having the same signage on the top, existed in Norman Kaufman's amusement park on the Steeplechase Lot in Coney Island until around 1974. It then disappeared for a couple years, and resurfaced on Coney Island at Bowery and W 12 st around 1976, where it stood until just a couple years ago. Is it possible that this is the same ride, removed from Steeplechase, sent to Great Adventure, then sent back to a different Coney Island location a year later?

Hey Harry, be glad this guy wasn't behind you on the line for Dark Knight! lol I started an album with my pictures from this year's Horror Nights. There will be more pictures there soon when my co cast starts emailing them to me. Here is the link to the album. http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j271/jay6wolf/HHN18/

Well, it was a very fun and exciting month. Halloween Horror Nights was a blast. I played the redneck bartender in a haunted house called "CREATURES!". Here are a few photos from our house. I didn't get to take pictures in any of the other houses or scare zones, I was just too busy enjoying my own house. Here are a few photos... Queue entrance to "Creatures", next to the "Twister" attraction. The cavernous Soundstage 23 was used to house the majority of teh queue lines for the 3 Haunted houses on Soundstages 20 and 22. Out of frame, behind the photographer, is a fenced off area where the new roller coaster is being built. Entering Soundstage 22, you first see the facade of the "Butchered Buck", a hunting lodge that has been attacked by the creatures. My scare scene was right inside the entrance to the lodge, where there is a bar with tables, a pool table, and a TV set that keeps looping footage of 50's horror movies, and Bloody Mary's face. Entering the bar, I either sprung up from behind the bar and made a loud noise by smacking an aluminum pipe on the plywood, or when I noticed people lingering outside the doorway, I popped out of the doorframe to scare them prematurely. Here is me inside the door, with my scalp injury and unibrow... By closing night, my make up had become more sophisticated. My scares also became more manic in the last few nights, and I would come running out of the bar and drag the aluminum pipe along the wooden fence, making a racket and screaming like a banshee. You should have seen the terror on peoples faces. Several of them ran back out the entrance, others stampeded inside the bar. If the guests entering the bar had already seen me (spoiling the element of surprise, and thus the scare) my cuzzin Maria always nailed them from the opposite side of the door... Further into the bar, you would encounter my cuzzins Clete and Junior...(Junior's mah babey brother) Here's a cute shot of the 3 cuzzins on closing night.... This was cuzzin Jesse early on in the run, when he was the hunter victim... After a few weeks, Jesse the hunter became Jessie the kitchen maid. The creature and the bartender count up the register receipts.... cast photo of "Creatures!". Shortly after this photo was taken, we exited the house for the last time. A week later, and it once again is an empty soundstage....

HYDRA FLUME

I remember the Helicopter ride! That was my favorite when I was 3 or 4 years old. (at other parks, before Great Adventure's time) Wow, completely forgot about it.

Whoa, I only meant I wanted to see a picture of it. I'm not going there! The people design parachutes, gosh only knows what kind of booby traps the land is rigged with. Hit a secret trip wire, it sets the Lions loose after ya.

I hear ya. When I rode Kingda Ka for the first time, I thought my hearing aids were going to get blown out of my ears. The wind force on Kingda Ka actually did damage one of my hearing aids and I had to get it fixed, but fortunatley it didn't get blown away, or the first line in my post would not have been 'I hear ya".

I didn't even know there was a Switlick mansion. Now I want to see it. So what about the bonus question I posted? If that isn't the Switlick house, what is it?

I have a bonus one here. Does anyone know what the green area to the left of the Lion section is? It is off the Safari, but seems to still be on the property.

I'd say the Safari headquarters and storehouses. Also probably an animal hospital. Processing center for new arrivals. Here is the birds eye view. The large area could be a quarantine area for the newbies too. The open area behind the blue square thing looks like it could be the boneyard, but I am not sure. Not sure if the blue square is a sewage treatment facility. The oval waterway is a mystery too. Would make a heck of a paintball field, no?

AVAST! AVAST~Yon scurvy swinehounds!! Left my bones here to bleach for 12 moons with only 10 cases of RUM!! A more black hearted scoundrel could never have sailed the main, says I. Climb aboardHERE, mateys, and touch up on yer knowledge of pirate talk at the tribute page to Robert Newton, the all time classic movie pirate, and have a great Talk Like A Pirate Day!

I sure am! We just had our two rehearsals this past week, makeup and wardrobe tests, etc. Next Wednesday is the full dress rehearsal, which is also the team member preview. Then we open up the last Friday and Saturday of September. Gonna be great- the houses are really gorgeous. There are all kinds of new effects and animation, along with Universal Studios top notch set designs and horror make up.(why not? Universal put Horror movies on the map!) As for me, I am in the "Creatures" house, playing the "mauling victim". I'm actually the first scareactor the guests encounter in my house. I won't be wearing the over the top airbrush makeup this year, but I do have some respectable wounds on my face, courtesy of the creatures. Here's the official link BLOODY MARY

I have one somewhere from 1979. It still has the grand prix where the buccaneer would go a year later, and it did not have the Safari Map insert in the upper left. Other than that, it is identical to the 1980 map shown.

The land on the opposite shore of Prospertown Lake from the PL parking lot, is that still owned by Great Adventure? According to the article on the history site here, it was at one time part of LeRoy's original plan.

Now there's an idea !!

That's some interesting stuff! So what was the final outcome of the Lake battle? Obviously, the Water Ski show endured. Did the Switliks get an award due to the lake being "developed"? Are the Switliks still around?

American Movie Classics. Scrambler or Tilt-A-Whirl?

If the Switliks sold the property to GA, why would they take them to court over the use of the Great Lake? I was under the impression that GA owns all the land surrounding the Lake, as well as the lake itself. That waterski show was a heck of a good show. Shame that the grandstand just sits there unused. (or at least it was sitting there unused when I was there in June)

That's a tough one! I haven't a clue, but I am going to make a guess...5

I wasn't trying to be funny. I simply meant that since those flats at Astroland are definitely going, it would be a good opportunity for GA to bring back a Scrambler and Tilt a Whirl, and others. GA needs them, and at the same time we would still get to enjoy some of our favorite Coney Island flats, without them being sold off to somewhere in Oklahoma or whatever. The scrambler and tilt a whirl are 35 grand each. That won't bankrupt the park.

Here is Great Adventure's big opportunity to bring back some great flat rides!! Astroland liquidation page

Very sad. I visited with Dick "the mayor" Zigun last June, and he seemed very dismal about things, and I can see why. Deno, who owns the Wonder Wheel park, is the only one who refused to sell out to Thor. He is the last hold out. Good ol Deno, the keeper of the flame. Incredibly sad about Astroland. I remember when the amusement zone went from West 8th to West 16th. My parents remembered when it went from West 8th to West 20th. My Grandparents remembered when it went from West 3rd to West 25th. Now, the only amusements left are from West 10th to Stilwell. (West 14th) Eliminate Astroland, and considering that the majority of the rest is already empty lots, and that leaves you with 1.5 blocks left of amusments, with only 2 good unique rides. (not including the flats, which are great, but they are still flats) 1.5 blocks left of what was once an amusement zone spanning 25 square blocks. Tragic.

Superb Spotlight! Bravo! A great way to wrap up the season of spotlights. I loved Lightnin Loops, and this spotlight really brings me back. Great job!