From Dave Brigham:
My amusement park experiences are limited; I spent more time as a kid and teenager at the Simsbury (CT) Volunteer Fire Department's summer carnival than I did walking theme park midways admiring beautiful wooden roller coasters and freak shows. Still, my appreciation for old-time entertainment is real.
I love riding roller coasters and ferris wheels (although the older I get, the less tolerance I have for the spinning rides); eating fried dough; going through haunted houses with my son; watching motocross at county fairs. And when I read about another 100-year-old amusement park being shut down or torn down, I feel sad. Why? I lament the loss of the personal touch that smaller parks offer, the simpler pleasures, the idea that rides don't have to be 10 stories tall and travel at 150 mph to be fun.
I'm a Luddite at heart, one who should have been born in the late '30s or early '40s so I could've enjoyed driving a '57 Chevy to the malt shoppe with my best girl, sneaking friends into the drive-in movies and riding rickety roller coasters and watching the roustabouts sing, fight and ride motorcycles around the Globe of Death.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Check out some great photos and videos of abandoned amusement parks that the folks at trip planner Nile Guide posted.
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Didn't Whalom park shut down a few years ago? I guess it's apathy that gets these places shut. People would rather stay in with the TV or video game than go out. I love wooden roller coasters, too, BTW.
ReplyDeleteYes, Kris, Whalom shut down a while back. And it's already been torn down and replaced with condos. I drove out there probably 5 years ago, but didn't have a good camera and unfortunately didn't take any pics.
ReplyDeleteDarn, that would have been a great shoot.
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