Roller Coaster Almanac - May

[Dave Althoff Jr]

Sorry about the delay this month...As usual, send me your updates!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The Roller Coaster Almanac
Updated since 05/15/2002
Compiled by Dave Althoff, Jr. (dalt...@capital.edu)

---- May ----

May 1--
1878: Idlewild Park first opens.
1890: Elitch Gardens first opens to the public.
1915: Construction begins on the {Jack Rabbit} coaster at
Luna Park, Cleveland, Ohio.
1948: The {Comet Jr.} roller coaster opens at the State Fair
of Texas in Dallas.
1988: Standing rider thrown from {SooperDooperLooper} at
Hersheypark.
1989: Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World,
Florida.
2001: A wooden roller coaster at Phantasialand Pleasure Park
in Bruehl, Germany catches fire. 36 people are
injured, none seriously.

May 2--
1930: Bankrupt <Luna Park>, Cleveland, Ohio is sold at a
Sheriff's auction to J. Harold Bramley, son of the
park's president, for $72,534. Bramley expresses
interest in reopening the park, but lacks the
funds...and the 1929 season proves to be the last for
Luna Park.
1992: Death of Nancy L. Loucks, founder, editor, and
publisher of {The Carousel News and Trader.}
1997: 100 couples participated in a promotional stunt at Six
Flags Great America. In a 7-minute ceremony, the
couples, dressed in formal attire, repeated their
marriage vows, then, 12 couples at a time, were
hoisted 206 feet on the park's new Giant Drop ride to
'take the plunge' together at 62 mph.
1998: {Roar}, a wooden twister-style coaster from Great
Coasters International (GCI) opens at Adventure World,
Largo, MD.
2002: Press day for {Wicked Twister,} a double-twisting
LIM-launched Intamin inverted shuttle coaster at Cedar
Point, Sandusky, Ohio.

May 3--
1975: Kings Dominion opens, Doswell, Virginia.

May 4--
1969: Thousands of rioters roam through Fontaine Ferry Park,
Louisville, Kentucky, looting stands and injuring
employees.
2000: Press day for {The Legend}, a wood coaster from Custom
Coasters International located at Holiday World, Santa
Claus, Indiana.

May 5--
1911: Birth in Los Angeles, California of Dave Bradley,
co-founder of amusement ride manufacturing company
Bradley & Kaye.
1990: {Avalanche Run}, an Intamin bobsled coaster, re-opens
as {Disaster Transport} at Cedar Point, Sandusky,
Ohio
2000: Holiday World, Santa Claus, Indiana, uses its annual
{Stark Raven Mad} roller coaster riding event to give
coaster enthusiasts a preview of their new wooden
roller coaster, {The Legend}.
2002: {Wicked Twister} officially opens to the public at
Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio.

May 6--
1950: High winds damage the roller coaster at Dandelion
Park, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1989: The non-looping steel {Magnum XL-200}, designed by
Arrow Dynamics, and the world's first traditional
coaster to exceed 200 feet in height first opens at
Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio.
1995: {The Raven,} designed by Custom Coasters, Inc., opens
at Holiday World.
2000: {The Legend,} designed by Custom Coasters, officially
opens at Holiday World, Santa Claus, Indiana.
2000: Participants in a company buy-out outing at Cedar
Point, Sandusky, Ohio, are the first paying customers
to ride {Millennium Force}, the Intamin-designed
310-foot-tall 'giga-coaster'.

May 7--
1950: The Hershey Park Zoo reopened for the first time since
its closure during World War II.
1972: Carrousel Circle at Hersheypark is dedicated,
signalling a re-birth of the park.
1994: {Raptor,} designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, opens at
Cedar Point.
2001: Cedar Fair, L. P. announces plans to purchase
Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park, Muskegon,
Michigan.
2001: William C. Deem, Chief Engineer for 51 years at the
Eli Bridge Company, dies at the age of 76. Along with
Lee Sullivan, he designed the Scrambler and
trailer-mounted Big Eli Ferris wheels.

May 8--
1919: Death of LaMarcus A. Thompson.
1975: The antique carousel from Natatorium Park reopened at
Spokane, Washington's Riverfront Park.

May 9--
1992: {Batman: The Ride,} designed by Bolliger & Mabillard,
opens at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois.

May 10--
1915: <Luna Park>, Cleveland, Ohio, takes delivery of its
PTC carousel. After Luna Park closed, the carousel
moved to another park, then eventually ended up at Six
Flags over Mid America (Six Flags St. Louis) where it
still operates today.
1968: Riverview Park fails to open.
1991: Crossroads Village, Flint, Michigan, opens its
restored C. W. Parker Superior Wheel ride.
1998: The {Power Tower}, a 300-foot-tall cluster of two
Space Shot rides and two Turbo Drop rides from S&S
Sports Power, officially opens at Cedar Point.

May 11--
1902: {S.S. Columbia} (Boblo Island ferry) launched from the
Wyandotte Yard of the Detroit Shipbuilding Company.
1906: George Ferris' Wheel dynamited in St. Louis, Missouri.

1921: The {Pippin} roller coaster at Riverview Park
(Chicago, Illinois) carries its first passengers.
1984: Eight teenagers burned to death in the {Haunted
Castle} attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure,
Jackson, New Jersey. When he entered a room in which
the light had burned out, a boy lit a cigarette
lighter and accidentally ignited the highly-flammable
structure, which burned quickly.
1991: {Mean Streak,} designed by Curtis Summers, opens at
Cedar Point.
1991: The {Sidewinder,} a Vekoma "Boomerang" production
steel coaster, opens at Hersheypark, Hershey,
Pennsylvania.
1992: Death of coaster designer Curtis D. Summers.
1996: {Mantis} (The Coaster Formerly Known as {Banshee})
opens at Cedar Point as the World's Tallest, Steepest,
and Fastest Stand-Up Roller Coaster.
1996: {Wild Thing,} the first steel coaster produced by
Morgan Manufacturing, officially opens at Valleyfair!,
Shakopee, Minnesota.
1999: The {Silver Comet} coaster is completed at Martin's
Fantasy Island, Grand Island, New York.
2000: Press day for {Millennium Force} at Cedar Point,
Sandusky, Ohio.

May 12--
1967: Opening day of the final season for Riverview
1991: The {Dragon} roller coaster opens at Adventureland,
near Des Moines, Iowa.
1994: The {Pepsi Max Big One} opens to the press at
Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
2001: Singer Perry Como dies at the age of 88 at his home in
Jupiter Inlet Beach Colony, Florida. Como's career
included a stint at Conneaut Lake.

May 13--
1997: Plagued by technical problems, {Test Track} misses its
scheduled opening date at Epcot, Walt Disney World.
2000: {Millennium Force}, the first steel coaster to feature
a 300-foot first drop, officially opens to the public
at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio. Built by Intamin AG,
the ride is 310 feet tall and reaches speeds of 92
MPH.

May 14--
1904: Dreamland Park opens, Coney Island, Brooklyn,
1999: Press day for the new Intamin mega-coaster, {Superman:
Ride of Steel} at Six Flags Darien Lake, Darien
Center, New York.

May 15--
1932: Fire destroys several attractions at Central Park near
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
1993: {Wild Mouse,} designed by Vekoma, opens at Idlewild
Park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
1999: Intamin's first Mega-Coaster, {Superman: Ride of
Steel} opens to the public at Six Flags Darien Lake,
Darien Center, New York.

May 16--
1903: Thompson and Dundy's Luna Park opens on Coney Island,
Brooklyn, New York, to a crowd of 43,000 customers.
1964: Lake Contrary Park, St. Joseph, Missouri, is
auctioned.
1905: Birth of actor Henry Fonda. Fonda appeared in more
than 100 films, and appears here for playing Simon
Davenport in the 1977 film {Rollercoaster}.
1975: Busch Gardens: The Old Country (now Busch Gardens
Williamsburg) first opens, Williamsburg, Virginia.
1996: {Montu,} a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster,
officially opens at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

May 17--
1903: The Zoological Gardens opens at Olentangy Park,
Columbus, Ohio. It's the first permanent zoo in
Columbus.
1940: The {Cyclone} roller coaster opens at Lakeside Park
(Denver, colorado).

May 18--
1905: <Luna Park> opens, Cleveland, Ohio.
1912: Birth of singer Perry Como. Before his musical
career, he was a barber at the Conneaut Lake Park
hotel...which is why he is included here.
1924: The wooden roller coaster at Dorney Park (Allentown,
Pennsylvania) opens. The coaster was nameless for
decades, but is now known as the {Thunderhawk.}
2001: {Phantom's Revenge} opens at Kennywood. Using parts
of the {Steel Phantom} roller coaster (1991-2000), the
new ride carries on the tradition of reworking rides
that Kennywood made famous with their {Thunderbolt}.
2001: {Cornball Express,} a steel-structured wood coaster
from CCI, opens at Indiana Beach, Monticello, Indiana.

May 19--
1852: Birth of Dudley Sherman Humphrey II (1852-1933),
president, Euclid Beach Park.
1906: Wolff's Park opens, Detroit, Michigan.

May 20--
1907: New Lakeside Park Casino opened, Akron, Ohio.
1917: A windstorm damages several buildings and the {Dixie
Flyer} roller coaster, delaying the scheduled opening
of Summit Beach Park, Akron, Ohio.
1963: Dutch Wonderland first opens. Lancaster, PA.
1985: Death of Carl E. Henninger, Kennywood Park's Chairman
of the Board.
1995: The {Mind Eraser} (Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster)
opens at Adventure World.

May 21--
1907: Birth of John Allen (1907-1979), an influential
coaster designer, especially for PTC.

May 22--
1948: Crystal Beach {Comet} (now at Great Escape) first
opens.
1984: A car on {The Edge} (Intamin Freefall) at Six Flags
Great America broke loose from the lifting mechanism
and dropped about 60 feet. The three passengers,
eighth-grade boys from LaSalle, IL, were hospitalized
for five days with relatively minor injuries.
1992: Fire destroys engineering section of Vekoma
1997: Low-speed launch tests begin on {Mr. Freeze}, a
Premier Rides shuttle-loop magnetic-catapult coaster
at Six Flags over Texas.

May 23--
1900: William E. Sullivan opens his first ferris wheel, a
45-foot 12-seat model fabricated under contract by the
Illinois Bridge and Machine Company, Jacksonville,
Illinois. Operation license posted in the name of
"The Eli Bridge Co."
1906: West View Park first opens in West View, Pennsylvania
(near Pittsburgh).
1964: {Blue Streak} (Allen/Hoover/PTC) opens, Cedar Point,
Sandusky, Ohio.
1981: {American Eagle} opens at Great America, Gurnee,
Illinois.
1981: Canada's Wonderland opens in Vaughan, Ontario.
1986: Lakemont Park (Altoona, Pennsylvania) re-opens as
Boyertown, USA.
1987: Six passengers were injured when they bailed out of
their capsizing raft on {Canyon River Rapids} at
Hersheypark. Two rafts had jammed together then a
third ran into them. The ride was closed for nearly
two weeks while that section of the trough was
modified.
1987: Kentucky Kingdom opens in Louisville, Kentucky.
1998: {Shivering Timbers}, a huge out-and-back wood coaster
from CCI, opens at Michigan's Adventure, Muskegon,
Michigan.
1998: {Great Bear}, an inverted steel coaster from Bolliger
& Mabillard, opens at Hersheypark, Hershey,
Pennsylvania.
1998: Visionland amusement park opens in Birmingham,
Alabama.
1998: {Rampage}, a CCI-built wooden roller coaster, opens at
Visionland, Birmingham, Alabama.
2000: The Eli Bridge Company, builder of Ferris wheels and
Scrambler rides, celebrates its 100th Anniversary with
a day-long party in its hometown of Jacksonville,
Illinois. In honor of the occasion, the company
offered Ferris wheel rides for a nickel...the
admission price for William Sullivan's first wheel.

May 24--
1911: Dreamland Park destroyed by fire.
1984: Patrick Camp, age 5, falls from the {Cedar Creek Mine
Ride} at Cedar Point, and fractures his skull in the
resulting 30' fall to grass.
2001: After more than 40 years of designing theme parks, the
Duell Corporation files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Its
final project was Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy,
California.

May 25--
1968: Inaugural performance in Cedar Point's {Golden Palace
Theatre.}

May 26--
1928: Fred Church's {Aero-Plane Coaster} opens at Playland,
Rye, New York.
1939: Baron Stamp, Chairman of the L.M.S. Railway,
officially opens the new Casino (now known as The
Wonderful World) at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Designed by Joe Emberton, the new Casino replaces the
original, which was constructed in 1913.
1973: Worlds of Fun opens in Kansas City, Missouri.
1985: In an accident at Astroland Amusement Park on Coney
Island, New York, a twenty-nine year old man was
killed when he stood up and struck his head on a
crossbeam while riding the {Cyclone}.
2001: {X-Flight}, a Vekoma "Flying Dutchman" roller coaster
that carries riders in a nearly-prone position, opens
to the public at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, the
amusement park at Geauga Lake, Aurora, Ohio.

May 27--
1905: White City, Chicago, Illinois opens.
1911: Coney Island's Dreamland Park burns to the ground.
1933: The {Century of Progress} exposition opens in Chicago,
Illinois. The amusement rides included a {Cyclone}
roller coaster designed by Harry Traver.
1973: The {Sky Streak} roller coaster opens at Boblo Island
as the {Thunder Bolt}.
1977: {Space Mountain} opens at Disneyland in Anaheim,
California.
1993: Pleasure Island Theme Park opens in Cleethorpes,
England.
1994: {Hoosier Hurricane,} a steel-structured wood coaster
built by Custom Coasters, Inc. (CCI) opens at Indiana
Beach, Monticello, Indiana.

May 28--
1899: Akron, Ohio police raid the Casino at Lakeside Park
after a Sunday vaudeville performance.
1906: Electric Park, Detroit, Michigan, opens, two days
later than planned.
1906: Luna Park opens in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
1982: Kings Island begins running one side of the {Racer}
(1972: John Allen/PTC) backwards.
1988: The carousel and bumper cars at Americana Amusement
Park (Middletown, Ohio) are destroyed by fire.
1994: The 235-foot-high {Pepsi Max Big One} opens to the
public. 1,000 members of the {235 Club} each paid 18
pounds for a guaranteed first-day ride.

May 29--
1909: Trout Park opens in Elgin, Illinois.
1926: The {Amusement Department Store} opens at Coney
Island, New York.
1976: Great America opens in Gurnee Illinois.
1976: Great America(PGA) opens, Santa Clara, California.
1993: {Blue Streak,} designed by Ed Vettel, Sr., rededicated
at Conneaut Lake.

May 30--
1905: Oaks Park opens in Portland, Oregon.
1906: Wonderland Park opens, Revere Beach, Massachusets.
1908: Lakeside Park (Denver, Colorado) opens. At the time,
it was known as "White City."
1921: Weona Park opens in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania.
1924: The {Pippin} roller coaster opens at Wildwood
Amusement Park, Mahtomedi, Minnesota.
1927: Will Rogers performs at Hershey Park.
1929: Two people sustained minor injuries when two trains on
the Hershey Park {Wild Cat} collided. A loose rail
had stalled one train at the top of a hill.
1930: {Cyclone Racer} (Church/Traver) opens at The Pike in
Long Beach, CA.
1938: Amos Wiedrich is killed on the Crystal Beach
{Cyclone,} that legendary coaster's only fatality.
1972: An accident occurs on the {Big Dipper} at Battersea in
London, England. A train broke loose and rolled
backwards down the lift, colliding with a train in the
station. Five children were killed, numerous other
riders were injured.
1992: Arkansas Twister opens at Magic Springs.
1998: The Island Kingdom waterpark opens at Riverside Park,
Agawam, Massachusetts.

May 31--
1930: Birth of Ron Toomer, who will be a noted roller
coaster designer and eventually president of Arrow
Dynamics until his retirement in 1998.
1983: The {Extremeroller} (also known as {E.X.T.}) opens at
Worlds of Fun as North America's first stand-up roller
coaster.

======================================================================

Send additions or corrections to Dave Althoff, Jr.
(dalt...@capital.edu or dal...@gcfn.org)

Thanks to Jeff Putz for hosting a World Wide Web version
as the "Roller Coaster Rollback". Find it at:
http://www.coasterbuzz.com

You can have today's almanac entries on your web page; see
www.coasterbuzz.com for details!

The complete text version of the Almanac is available from:

http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff

Copr. 2002, Dave Althoff, Jr.

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