May/June 1999

Bushkill Park (Easton, PA) still features the venerable " Haunted Pretzel" Dark Ride. The park has taken measures to assure that the ride will be operational this year for everyone's enjoyment From the Great Escape in Lake George, NY, we have been hearing that the "Tornado" Dark Ride may be living on borrowed time also. This was once a fantastic ride from the now defunct Freedomland Park also formerly located in NY, that has seen better years. On the bright side for Northeast Dark Ride enthusiasts, the Keansburg "Spook House" is still scaring its patrons this year. This is a "classic" Pretzel from 1929 that originally ran at nearby Belvidere Beach. The ride has been owned and operated by the charming Mr. Alan Ruck since 1952 and features older 1930’s style Pretzel cars. Stop in and ride a rare seaside Dark Ride this year. Word has come out of Indiana that the Indiana Beach "Mystery Mansion" in Monticello has been re-furbished by Sally Rides and has been turned into an interactive ride called "The Den of Lost Thieves", featuring shooting guns mounted on the cars along with a scoring challenge. Off the beaten trail way up in upstate New York lies the incredible Sylvan Beach "Laff-Land". This is a throw back to Dark Rides of yesteryear and in outstanding condition, so well that it rides and looks new! If you really want to see how "classic" Pretzel rides once were, along with operating cars featuring the Cast Iron Pretzels on the sides, we highly recommend doing this one! Birthday greetings go out to the Rehobeth Beach, Delaware Funland "Haunted Mansion" for its 20th. Birthday! Congrats to our "friend" for scaring park patrons for 20 fun filled years. This is a Jim Melonic designed ride, built in-house by the park and features suspended "Venture" Ride Co. Cars along with a suspended track design and has a very Knoebel’s like "Skull Room" stunt among its other incredible scenes! Another Sally Rides interactive Dark Ride will be premiering this summer in Connecticut at the Lake Compounce Amusement Park titled "Ghost Hunt". It will be the company’s first endeavor into doing a black-lit horror themed ride, much like the older rides once were, but with the shooting and scoring features. More bad news......... Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh P.A. has dismantled it's beloved Tracey designed Dark Ride, "Le Cachot" over the winter. Maintenance issues forced the parks hand in doing this-all was not lost however as the stunts were auctioned off this past winter on an on-line auction website, so parts of it will live on. This was one of the last Pretzel Dark Rides with the 1950’s "Spinning Cars" so loved by enthusiast. This was the second to last currently operating Dark Ride with cars like this, the other ride being "Spook-A-Rama" in Coney Island N.Y. It will be sadly missed. While we are on the subject of 360 spinning Pretzel cars, there is a rumor that a ride, intact and in storage although not currently operating still exists up north somewhere and, yes, its true! The Cave Train at Santa Cruz has been removed and replaced with another ride And, in the often overlooked category, pretty Joyland Park in Wichita, KS has a gem of a ride in its Bill Tracey and Amusement Displays Company "Whacky Shack" featuring the lady loved by fans, simply known as "The Vamp" besides several other Tracey thrillers! And......... even further out-west, Frontier City in Oklahoma City, OK also has a fantastic Dark Ride known as "Treasure Island" with its old wild, wild west theming! Mid-west Dark Ride fans have a good one in their own back yard! The themed Sally Rides attraction in Wildwood NJ at the Dinosaur Beach pier has been removed and placed for sale. This was a real good ride with elaborate stunts and sets. It is hoped that someone purchases this ride soon to give it a "new life".   And finally............. have some Dark Ride or Funhouse news?!? Then send it on in to us to share with other enthusiasts, you will get full credit and this page will be updated quarterly. Thanks for reading and keep on riding! Special thanks this time go out to: Joel Styer, Rick Davis, Jordan Ewald, Bret Malone, Dan Wilke, Randy Skalos, Eric Princz, Ross Tabacoff. Keep on riding - keep on LAFFING
Whacky Shack at Joyland Park. Photos copyright Rick Davis

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Laff In The Dark is not affiliated in any way with the Amusement Parks listed at this site
This page was last updated Tuesday, June 08, 1999