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Post by robert on Aug 12, 2006 0:07:05 GMT -5
Yeah, like the Queen song, we are potentially losing another dark ride as Erieview Park in NE Ohio is closing because the lakefront property is "too valuable". They have a classic Bill Tracy dark ride built in 1963 at Westview Park in Pittsburgh, PA and relocated to Erieview in 1979 when Westview closed. The dark ride will be up for auction possibly this fall, anyone want to bid on a dark ride? I'm hoping another park gets it and operates it as it is. I never got to ride that one yet. I'm afraid that I will have many missed opportunities as things happen by surprise without warning. Lets all have a funeral for our lost dark rides.
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Post by clnancy50 on Aug 13, 2006 2:56:01 GMT -5
Reading your post, robert, promted me to look up Westview Park and William Tracy. Up til this time, I never realized that this Bill tracy was "one of the all-time great dark ride creators." After reading information; I never realized all this man had done. He designed so many dark rides in almost every amusement park! He designed the building for the roller coaster and bumper cars at Dorney Park! I just never knew all that. And he renovated the Mill Chute to the Journey to the Center of the Earth. Probably everyone already knows this, but I kind of get a little excited when I learn something I never knew before. I also never knew that Westview Park sat abandoned from 1977 to 1980; then, of course, it was leveled for a shopping center. I would have REALLY loved to see that abandoned park. It's kind of sad when I read how some of these parks closed and the remains were either auctioned off or demolished. I know it's sad for us, for we remember those older rides, but we now live in a different generation and that comes with many many improvements, modern improvements, for the kids today. And, robert, the older you get, the more you're going to see more disappearing so be prepared to go to alot of funerals. : (
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Post by robert on Aug 13, 2006 15:42:20 GMT -5
Yes, the genius Bill Tracy was responsible for many of the Dorney Park and Wildwood dark rides we grew up with. He passed away in the early 70's then a guy named Jim Melonic took over his company until 1979, Jim built the Haunted Mansion at Rehoboth Beach, and remodeled the Pirate's Cove dark ride at Dorney Park (remodeled by Bill Tracy 1962, built 1930's as Pretzel/Devil's Cave) into Bucket O' Blood in 1974. (I was born that year in January) That ride burned down Sept. 1983. He did a lot of work for Hunt's Pier and a fun house on Fun Pier called Crazy House. Also Ocean City, MD Haunted House ride and walk-through Pirate's Cove and Waldameer Park's (Erie, PA) Whacky Shack ride (bigger than Hunt's was) and Pirate's Cove walk-through like Ocean City and a few out west in Kansas, another Whacky Shack at Joyland we almost lost that park it was resold by the original owners recently, and a ride called Phantasmagoria at Bell's, Tulsa, OK, and two in Texas that look like Whacky Shacks. There was a Bill Tracy classic we lost recently in Florida called the Haunted Castle at Miracle Strip Park, Panama City Beach, FL. After 40 years the owner sold the park for the land and it looks like condos or something will be going there. I can't count the number of parks we lost, especially small family run parks. There have been about 4 or so parks with dark rides that closed in the past few years or are in danger of closing. The dark ride I rode on Toronto Island this July was like a Bill Tracy dark ride on the inside. Did you know that Kennywood Park has the last remaining Noah's Ark fun house in the US? The other one is at Blackpool Park in UK. Kennywood demolished their Bill Tracy Le Cachot dark ride several years ago (too old) and turned their 1901 old mill (also redone by Bill Tracy) into a Garfield ride! The Bill Tracy Ghost Ship dark ride burned down in the summer of 1975. There were kids trapped inside and they got out. They also have a coal mine dark ride. I was never there.
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Post by clnancy50 on Aug 14, 2006 20:36:12 GMT -5
Yes, I remember the Bucket of Blood at Dorney well. I can even picture where it used to be; even though the whole area has changed. Have you ever been to Kennywood? I read that park was named a National Historic Landmark. And, yes, the Noah's Ark there is the last attraction of it's kind in the country. But, it saddened me to hear you say that the Old Mill was turned into a Garfield ride!!!!. That was one of the oldest continuously operating rides in the world. Guess they just HAVE to keep up with the times. You really can't blame these parks at times because these older rides need alot of updates.
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