Kennywood is an amusement park which is located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh. The park opened on May 30, 1898, as a trolley park attraction at the end of the Mellon family's Monongahela Street Railway.
Lake Compounce is an amusement park located in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut. Opened in 1846, it is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States. It spans 332 acres (134 ha), which includes a beach and a water park called Crocodile Cove included in the price of admission. The park was acquired from Kennywood Entertainment Company by Palace Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of Parques Reunidos. In addition to the 14th oldest wooden roller coaster in the world, Wildcat, its newer wooden roller coaster, Boulder Dash, has won the Golden Ticket Award for the #1 Wooden Coaster in the World for five consecutive years.
Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-scale attraction parks, easily accessed, potentially addressed to the permanent or temporary residential market, and located in the suburbs or even near the town center. Luna parks mainly offer classic funfair attractions, newer features and catering services.
Idlewild and Soak Zone, commonly known as Idlewild Park or simply Idlewild, is an amusement park in the Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, United States, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Pittsburgh, along US Route 30. Founded in 1878 as a campground along the Ligonier Valley Railroad by Thomas Mellon, Idlewild is the oldest amusement park in Pennsylvania and the third oldest operating amusement park in the United States behind Lake Compounce and Cedar Point. The park has won several awards, including from industry publication Amusement Today as the best children's park in the world.
The Racer is a wooden racing roller coaster located at the Kennywood amusement park near Pittsburgh in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States. Built by Charlie Mach and designed by John A. Miller, the Racer opened to the public in 1927 and is one of the oldest operating roller coasters in the world.
Phantom's Revenge is a steel hypercoaster located at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States. It originally opened as Steel Phantom in 1991, featuring the fastest speed and longest drop of any roller coaster in the world. Its second drop is longer than its first, which is a unique characteristic among roller coasters. Manufactured by Arrow Dynamics, the ride was later modified and renovated by D.H. Morgan Manufacturing for the 2001 season when it reopened as Phantom's Revenge. The drop and track length were both increased, and its four inversions were removed, allowing the removal of its uncomfortable over-the-shoulder restraints.
John A. Miller was an American roller coaster designer and builder, inventor, and businessman. Miller patented over 100 key roller coaster components, and is widely considered the "father of the modern high-speed roller coaster." During his lifetime, he participated in the design of approximately 150 coasters and was a key business partner and mentor to other well-known roller coaster designers, Harry C. Baker and John C. Allen.
Jack Rabbit is a wooden roller coaster located at Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Designed and built by John A. Miller and Harry C. Baker, Jack Rabbit opened in 1920, making it one of the oldest roller coasters in the world still in operation. The ride's three trains were manufactured by Edward Vettel, Sr. in 1951 and contain three cars of six seats each. The aging cars are considered a part of the ride's nostalgic experience but also lead to some young children being disallowed to enter the ride, due to the use of a small lap bar to hold in riders. A popular early feature of the ride was a tunnel which covered the turnaround section after the first drop, but this was removed in 1947 when the new cars were ordered. In 1991, the tunnel was restored, at a slightly shorter length.
Great Old Amusement Parks is a 1999 PBS television documentary VHS DVD produced by Rick Sebak of WQED Pittsburgh which aired on PBS, on July 21, 1999.
Luna Park was a trolley park in Alexandria County, Virginia that operated between 1906 and 1915. The amusement park was built for $500,000 in just three months by the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway, which was seeking to attract new businesses along its line after nearby racing and gambling establishments closed.
Indianola Park was a trolley park that operated in Columbus, Ohio's University District from 1905 to 1937. The amusement park was created by Charles Miles and Frederick Ingersoll, and peaked in popularity in the 1910s, entertaining crowds of up to 10,000 with the numerous roller coasters and rides, with up to 5,000 in the massive pool alone. The park was also the home field for the Columbus Panhandles for half of a decade. In the 1920s, new owners bought and remodeled the park, and it did well until it closed at the end of the Great Depression.
West View Park was an American amusement park, located in West View, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. It was owned by T.M. Harton Company of Pittsburgh through its subsidiary company West View Park Company, which was founded in December 1905. The park opened on May 23, 1906. The dance hall that was constructed in the park, Danceland, became a landmark for various bands and artists that performed there. Notably, the park featured The Rolling Stones at Danceland in 1964. The park operated for 71 seasons, closing in 1977 due to declining revenues, higher operating costs, and a lack of investment. The park was in an abandoned state for several years and subjected to several fires started by arsonists before being torn down in 1980 and replaced by a shopping center and residential facility in 1981.
Luna Park was a trolley park in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1905 to 1929.
Luna Park was one of several names for an amusement park that existed in Rexford, New York, near Schenectady, from 1901 to 1933. In addition to Luna Park, it was also known as Dolle's Park, Colonnade Park, Palisades Park, and (again) Rexford Park before the rides were dismantled in 1933. Constructed around the Grand View Hotel, the park was similar to Ingersoll's other Luna Parks in which it was a trolley park with roller coasters, picnic pavilions, carousels, a fun house, a roller rink, a concert shell, a dance hall, a midway, a Whip, and a shoot-the-chutes ride which presented itself at the park entrance adjacent to a station of the Van Vranken electric trolley line. Roughly seven decades before the Skycoaster rides that now dot various United States amusement parks, Luna/Rexford Park featured an aerial swing ride.
Frederick Ingersoll was an American inventor, designer, builder and entrepreneur who created the world's first chain of amusement parks and whose manufacturing company built 277 roller coasters, fueling the popularity of trolley parks in the first third of the twentieth century. Some of these parks and roller coasters still exist today.
Known by a variety of names over its 101-year existence, Rocky Glen Park was a park near Moosic, Pennsylvania. Founded by Arthur Frothingham in 1886 as a picnic park, it was transformed into an amusement park by engineer and entrepreneur Frederick Ingersoll in 1904. The trolley park was a popular Pennsylvania attraction that featured rides, arcades, and restaurants – even as a "wild west" theme park in the 1970s – until its closure in 1987.
Riverside Amusement Park was an amusement park in Indianapolis, Indiana, US from 1903 to 1970. Originating as a joint venture between engineer/amusement park developer Frederick Ingersoll and Indianapolis businessmen J. Clyde Power, Albert Lieber, Bert Fiebleman, and Emmett Johnson, the park was built by Ingersoll's Pittsburgh Construction Company adjacent to Riverside City Park at West 30th Street between White River and the Central Canal in the Riverside subdivision of Indianapolis.
White City is the common name of dozens of amusement parks in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Inspired by the White City and Midway Plaisance sections of the World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893, the parks started gaining in popularity in the last few years of the 19th century. After the 1901 Pan-American Exposition inspired the first Luna Park in Coney Island, a frenzy in building amusement parks ensued in the first two decades of the 20th century.
Log Jammer was a log flume ride at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States. It opened on May 11, 1975, and was manufactured by Arrow Development. The ride was distinctive because of its spillway drop. Although featured on several Arrow flumes, all were eventually removed, with the exception of Log Jammer, making this the last remaining ride with that element. It was one of three water rides at Kennywood, the other two being Pittsburgh Plunge and Raging Rapids. The ride was permanently closed at the end of the 2017 summer season on September 17, 2017 and removed to make room for Steel Curtain, a roller coaster which opened in 2019. There was controversy over the closing of the Log Jammer. Not only was the ride considered iconic, the announcement was given on September 14, 2017, just 3 days before the closing date. Kennywood received minor social media backlash and online petitions were started in hopes of saving the ride.
Steel Curtain is a steel hypercoaster located at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States, near Pittsburgh. Manufactured by S&S – Sansei Technologies, the coaster reaches a height of 220 feet (67 m) and features nine inversions, including a 197-foot (60 m) corkscrew that is the world's tallest inversion. Themed to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the roller coaster is named after the Steel Curtain, the nickname for the Steelers' defensive line during the 1970s.
