Growing up as a young coaster enthusiast in the pre-to-early internet era, I would try to get my hands on any form of roller coaster media that I could – those usually were coffee table books from the sale section...
Continue reading...luna park
Coney Island’s Coasters Ranked By A First Time Visitor
Coney Island is one of America’s classic amusement park locations, and is likely one of the only parks known by reputation alone to the majority of people, enthusiasts or not. During my first visit to the park this September, I...
Continue reading...First Intamin Launched Single Rail Coaster Coming in 2021
In a year in which there hasn’t been much good news in the amusement industry we had two exciting and surprising coaster news drop this week. First, the announcement of Indiana Beach adding a roller coaster. And now the news...
Continue reading...What’s Left of Coney Island? Part 2: Rust and Relaxation
Note: This is the second part of a two-part series contrasting Coney Island’s Golden Age and its present-day state. You can read the first part here. Part II: Rust & Relaxation A piece of advice: if you visit Coney Island,...
Continue reading...What’s Left of Coney Island? Part 1: The Golden Age
Why Coney Island? Everyone knows the name Coney Island. It’s one of those places, like Hollywood or Gettysburg, that you probably can’t remember hearing about for the first time. It’s just part of American culture, known as the birthplace of...
Continue reading...Talking With Zamperla’s Jay Crisler, Roller Coaster Engineer Extraordinare
During the IAAPA Expo, I met Zamperla’s Head of Engineering and Service, Jay Crisler. It wasn’t a scheduled meeting, we just happened to share a charter bus seat on the way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. During the 40 minute ride,...
Continue reading...Luna Park’s Thunderbolt Opens Today
The wait is over. Today, Coney Island’s Luna Park will debut Thunderbolt, a unique steel Zamperla looping coaster. Update: The park today released an onride POV of Thunderbolt. Watch it below: According to the Luna Park website, Thunderbolt is the “first custom...
Continue reading...Luna Park’s Thunderbolt Nears Completion
Later this month, New York City’s Luna Park will debut Thunderbolt, a modern steel take on a former Coney Island wooden coaster of the same name. The coaster, made by Luna Park owner, Zamperla, towers 115 feet over the boardwalk...
Continue reading...Luna Park’s Thunderbolt Goes Vertical
Luna Park is making impressive vertical progress on its new-for-2014 Zamperla coaster, Thunderbolt. The park shared some exciting photos of the coaster’s lift hill structure on Facebook. So far the construction has been focused on the 125-foot-tall vertical lift hill....
Continue reading...New Renderings of Luna Park’s Thunderbolt
Earlier this month, Luna Park released updated renderings of its new-for-2014 coaster, Thunderbolt. The Zamperla steel coaster is a nod of sorts to the Coney Island wooden coasters of long ago. But it’s no classic wooden coaster. Riders will see...
Continue reading...Luna Park Prepares for the 2014 Season
A warm, sunny day spent at a beach-side amusement park is hard to imagine when you’re shoveling snow. Last week, a “polar vortex” struck most of the United States with snow and below-freezing temperatures. But despite the cold, many park...
Continue reading...Lost Parks of Northern California: Luna Park
Calling all history fanatics: the Northern California Region of American Coaster Enthusiasts is back with the second installment in the Lost Parks of Northern California documentary series that covers the 12 lost amusement parks of the northern California region. This episode covers...
Continue reading...
Recent Discussion