Amusement Parks (NGC)

[trippah]

The thread on Sean Connery brought out memories, one of which was 'Flying" down(90 MPH) rte 128 in Wakefield Mass heading for a date with a girl whose dad owned or ran an amusement park in that area.  Can't remember the name of the park but now here in greater Syracuse NY I rented an apartment for a few years in a location which had been the Suburban Park amusement park.  I wonder how many have disappeared in the last 50 years?

[Dilliw]

It amazes me that some of the smaller, family owned parks are still operating.  Every time I run though 19 in Cherokee, NC I'm amazed that the "Rudy Coaster" is still going and when I get to the other side of Soco in Maggie Valley they are still trying to open Ghost Town.

[LowRyter]

I loved Dollar Day as a kid at both our amusement parks.   Both had fast and scary roller coasters.   Mom drops off a car load of kids at 10 in the morning and picks them up at 4, 6, 8, 10?   Ride all the rides for a $ buck.  Buy some junk food for another buck.  Kids would piss off the "older" teenagers.  My goodness.  The good old '60s.   I missed The Who in 1968.  Should've been smarter.

Both parks, gone.

[cloudbase]

Is Kennywood open?

[cliffrod]

We didn't have any amusement parks in VT that I can remember when I was a kid in the 70's.  But there were several in northeastern NY not far from VT- Santa's Land, Story Town (later was /now is?  Great Escape) and more in NH, one was something like Canaby Lake.  There was also a Santa's Village somewhere iirc that was different than Santa's Land.  It was always a big kick to go "on a long trip" 2-3 hrs away from the farm once a year to go to an amusement park.   When we moved to SC where the weather is so much better, we kinds thought there would be more in the southeast than up north.  Never made it to Ghost Town in Maggie Valley before we were "too big" for that stuff.   Carowinds was fun even if not much like the small parks up north.

Hard to imagine essentially being a carny for life, having to meet all the modern insurance & OSHA requirements and making a profit.  Back then, such details still didn't overshadow things.  It was a good time to be a kid.

[moto]

Is Kennywood open?

Good one! 😀

[LowRyter]

I had more fun at Dollar Days than Six Flags or Disney Land.  No waiting, get off the Big Dipper and get right back on.

[trippah]

  Cliffrod - I just looked up Canobie Lake Park -while closed for 2020, they hope to reopen in 2021  Back when - there was the amusement Park, a dance hall for teenage dances and a lake of all things! Glad they have survived. Just remembered another one..Canadaigua NY might have had an amusement park back in the early 60's.

[Gliderjohn]

For decades "Joyland" in Wichita was the midwest Disney to us locals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyland_Amusement_Park_(Wichita,_Kansas)
GliderJohn

[kingoffleece]

My favorite was WallyWorld!

[Two Checks]

Just in the St. Louis area I can cite a few.
There was Chain of Rocks Amusement Park at the northernmost edge of city limits, which overlooked the Chain of Rocks in the Mississippi River.
It was a favorite of schools and other groups. It closed in the 70s for various reasons, one being the neighborhood went to Hades.


Another, much smaller, was called Holiday Hill. They had two locations, IIRC. These were quite small but for a couple hours the kiddies were happy. Like with drive in theaters, the property was worth more than the business. It also closed in the 70s.


The macdaddy, was the Forest Park Highlands, across the highway from Forest Park in St. Louis.
It opened as a bier garden in the 1890 s and they added a carousel to attract customers. It grew from there and covered 14 acres.
As with all the others, they were getting old, and with everything being wood required more maintenance. The property was becoming worth more than the business. In the early 60s rumors were flying the city wanted the property.
In 1963, it was almost completely destroyed by fire. A few years later it was announced the city and county would build a community college on the site.


I remember it somewhat as we lived two blocks away but I was too small to ride the bigger coasters and other rides.


Along with rumors of the college there were rumors of a new amusement park.
In the late 60s it was announced Six Flags Over Mid America would be built and it opened in 1971.
The remaining parks in the area hung on for just a couple years.
At one time St. Louis had eight amusement parks.

[LowRyter]

We know why the local parks went away.  Certainly the big chain parks took over but the initial cause was due to .......(deleted)

[Perazzimx14]

Good one! 😀

Waddabout Idelwild and Knoebels?

[cee2cee]

Is Kennywood open?

Yes, Kennywood is still open! My folks owned Rainbow Gardens in White Oak and I worked in the penny arcade every summer!  The company that owns Kennywood also bought Idlewild in Ligonier and it is still open as well.  Rainbow Gardens was purchased by the state in 69' to make way for a cloverleaf, which never materialized.

https://www.thirdstopontheright.com/white-oak-rainbow-gardens/

[Two Checks]

Don't forget Dogpatch USA!

[LowRyter]

Don't forget Dogpatch USA!

The old motel there is home to many Arkansas rallies and rides.   I've never ventured past the gates for the old park, I'm not sure there's much left there.

The motel used to be The Hub, now I think it's called Marble Falls Resort.  We were planning the EuroRaid there back in June but of course it was cancelled.  Perhaps next year or in '22?

[Two Checks]

Our family went there when I was a kid. They had a Mountain Dew knockoff called Kickapoo Joy Juice.
One of the costumed employees took a real liking to my brother. She followed him around all day.
I couldn't tell her he didn't like girls.
There wasn't much there as I recall.

[cliffrod]

  Cliffrod - I just looked up Canobie Lake Park -while closed for 2020, they hope to reopen in 2021  Back when - there was the amusement Park, a dance hall for teenage dances and a lake of all things! Glad they have survived. Just remembered another one..Canadaigua NY might have had an amusement park back in the early 60's.

Man, that's fun to hear.  We were too young for the dance hall stuff and we never got to do anything with the lake.  We always wanted to but it was not an option.  Think you could rent paddleboats(?) and more.  the closest we got was to have our baloney sandwich picnic lunch from home at the picnic tables near the lake.  Yippee...  My aunt and uncle lived in Hampstead, so water stuff was done at Hampton Beach.  Even in mid summer, actually going swimming at Hampton Beach or nearby York beach in Maine hurt- it felt like falling through the ice. 

[dustybarn]

  Cliffrod - I just looked up Canobie Lake Park -while closed for 2020, they hope to reopen in 2021  Back when - there was the amusement Park, a dance hall for teenage dances and a lake of all things! Glad they have survived. Just remembered another one..Canadaigua NY might have had an amusement park back in the early 60's.

Canandaigua's amusement park was called Roseland and it was right on the north end of the lake. IIRC some of the concrete bases that supported the poles for the aerial tramway ride are still there. There is now a water park at a different location in Canandaigua also named Roseland in tribute to the old park.

[dustybarn]

Just in the St. Louis area I can cite a few.
There was Chain of Rocks Amusement Park at the northernmost edge of city limits, which overlooked the Chain of Rocks in the Mississippi River.
It was a favorite of schools and other groups. It closed in the 70s for various reasons, one being the neighborhood went to Hades.

I grew up in Granite City, and whenever we'd take 270 across the river (usually to go up to Jamestown Mall) we'd see the abandoned rides at Chain of Rocks among the trees.

My mother was in nursing school at Jewish Hospital when the Forest Park Highlands went up in flames. She told me could see and smell the enormous fire from there.

[s1120]

The two major ones I went to as a kid, are still there, and were bought out, and are now in the 6 flags empire. One was Storytown in Lake George NY, now called 6 flags Great Escape. And the other was Riverside park in Agawam, Massachusetts, what is now called 6Flags new england. Being a 1/2 hour south/east of Albany NY near the mass boarder, I was pretty much smack in the center of the two, and went to bolth. Frankly I enjoyed them as smaller parks..  A few small ones also. We had a place called Hofmans playland that was in Latham NY [as suburb of Albany NY] that was mostly geared to little kids, but it was a really nice small family owned place that lasted till just a few years ago. A local furniture store bought up most of the stuff and opened up a small park in Albany, but time will tell if it keeps the same vibe as the old one.  Go back farther and there was a small park called Electric Park, that was right up the road from me from the late 1800's, till about 1920.  It was right on a small lake, and owned by the electric trolly line that went through town.