Park Hoppin’

True story: From the Orlando airport to Walt Disney World to report on their new ride, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (the story ran in last month’s issue), I took the bus that Disney provides for their guests. (It was just a week…
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All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey, so what I going to do on a winter’s day? One thing I wasn’t going do is to start singing California Dreaming by The Mamas and the Papas. No, I was going to go to Pennsylvania’s Pocono…
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Coal and coasters have a lot more in common than simply sharing the first three letters. Take the coal car pictured here, outside the coal mining museum that stands in a far corner of Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania.…
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At the recent media event celebrating the debut of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort, it finally dawned on me. After years and years of visiting theme parks, I finally realized what…
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The dictionary defines a roller coaster as “An elevated railway (as in an amusement park) constructed with sharp curves and steep inclines on which cars roll.” My definition is simpler. If it rolls on rails and is powered in part by…
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While cruising the trade show floor at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2018 in Orlando I noticed two vendors had booths promoting axe throwing. I thought to myself, would axe throwing work in an amusement park? Not counting lumberjacks in the…
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When Dollywood opened their new Wildwood Grove area of the park I decided to see for myself what they had created. It was beautifully themed with a selection of appealing rides and attractions, but I was thrilled to learn that Pigeon Forge…
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Circle swings date back to the era of the first mechanical carousels. In William F. Mangels definitive book, The Outdoor Amusement Industry, he credits the widespread introduction of the modern circle swing to Harry Traver and Rudyard…
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Before theme parks, there were amusement parks. They had rides, games, food, and usually some nice shade trees. In the early 1950s the concept of a theme park was introduced, first with small family parks themed to children’s nursery rhymes…
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Question for you. What American city has the most zip lines? If you enjoy urban ziplining, and I do, then Las Vegas is the place to go. Las Vegas has three of them including Slotzilla down the middle of Freemont Street, Fly LINQ over the…
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