Cedar Point & The Gigacoaster

It's Amazing how amusement parks leave an indelible memory isn't it? You're there with family, friends, maybe a date you're interested in... The excitement of being with wonderful people combined with adrenaline fueled rides somehow is the epitome of having a good time. Cedar Point amusement park is located in Sandusky Ohio with is about an hour and a half drive from Cleveland. I've only had the pleasure of visiting this place once, but the memories last to this day. All sense of the outside world is left behind at the gates of Cedar Point. It provides the escape of all escapes where work, school, stress, or whatever is troubling you just melts away as you're surrounded with nothing but carnival food, games and best of all, roller coasters.

Cedar Point is the second largest amusement park in the nation, boasting the wolrd's most roller coasters at 17 over 300+ acres of land. This place is huge and you can literally get lost in it. Well, that's the idea right? My favorite roller coaster was the Millennium Force which reaches 310 feet in the air giving you a strange yet beautiful view of Lake Eerie which the park stands directly next to. When you reach the precipice, you are dropped at a 45 degree angle at a top speed of 93 miles an hour! It was so large and fast that they renamed it a "gigacoaster". On my first trip on this beast I remember looking around and I wasn't sure where I was. In fact I turned to my dad and said, "This is awesome, but I'm disoriented." Now THAT is a roller coaster!


Since I was there, they've built the Wicked Twister, Top Thrill Dragster
and The Maverick which all push the roller coaster world to new levels. If you're in Ohio and feel the need to get away from it all as well as increase your heart rate, Cedar Point is the place for you.

Nick Valentino's debut novel, Thomas Riley comes out October 2009 on Echelon Press.
http://nickvalentino.blogspot.com

Fontaine Ferry - Gone, But Not Forgotten

Fontaine Ferry, or Fountain Ferry as we all called it (Didn't find out differently until a couple of years ago), was a blast! We'd load – and I do mean, LOAD – two or three cars and drive the 25 miles to Louisville's old theme park at least twice every summer. The designer of Palisades Park in New York conceived the idea for Fontaine Ferry. It opened in 1905 and closed in 1969. (Oops! Guess I just gave away my age.)

The excitement from walking into the impressive front entrance was second-to-none. We'd all run to the roller coaster first (I was reminded by friend, Pat, that it was called The Comet). Or rather, Pat and everyone else would run. I'd walk since it wasn't my favorite thing to ride, but to admit I got queasy going up and down...up and down...up and around the tracks, was not an option. Besides, a snow cone would usually settle my stomach. And, if that didn't work, cotton candy would do the trick.


The place I remember most is the Hilarity Hall, the funhouse. From the crazy mirrors that made you look short and squatty, tall as a beanpole, or just plain weird, to the spinning "Sugar Bowl," and the double slides. Simple attractions, but we loved them.

Rounding out my top faves were the Skooter Cars (bumper cars), the Ferris Wheel and the Ghost Train.

By 21st century theme park standards like Disney World, Universal, and even Six Flags, Fontaine Ferry was pretty tame, but it still holds some of my fondest memories. If you have special memories of this Kentuckiana park, let us know.

Fontaine Ferry Park

WHAS Coverage and Memories

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning series, Cynthia's Attic. Book Four, "The Magician's Castle" will be out in DEC 2009 (Quake - Echelon Press).

Mary Cunningham Books
Quake

For a limited time: Buy Ghost Light and also receive a FREE copy of THE MISSING LOCKET, book one in the Cynthia's Attic Fantasy Adventure series with your download. (both stories are in the Ghost Light file.)

Are We Being Amused?

Let’s get this out of the way first. The term “amusement park.” Kind of an anachronism, don’t you think? I get “theme” park—that works in many cases. But I hardly call being dropped thirteen stories straight down a pitch black elevator shaft simply amusing. No, this is something that SCARES THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUTTA ME! (And that was the tamest, most acceptable way I could put it, without the actual desired expletives.)

I’m talking about Disney’s California Adventure’s “Tower of Terror,” of course. “Terror” doesn’t begin to cut it, for me. Got talked into this amusing torture a few years ago, and I’m still quivering at the core. Stephen King once commented that he simply wrote about the various things that scare people; our basic, instinctual fears. Well, Mr. King and several thrill ride designers have something in common. Disney’s “Hollywood Tower Hotel” elevator moves both vertically and horizontally, and is controlled by a randomized computer program. That, in itself, is enough to scare many people.

What scares you? Obviously, for me, it’s the drop. The fear of freefalling. Disney calls it a "delirious drop." I'll say! I also can’t take Splash Mountain at Disneyland (take the WDS virtual ride at You Tube.) That moment of unrestrained weightlessness, terrifying to me, simply enraptures others. For some, audio-animatronics are the stuff of nightmares. Think the massive, bellowing King Kong* at the Universal Studios Tour or the mechanical, computerized “JAWS” that leaps at the tram on the same ride. (I’ll admit to once jumping onto my boyfriend’s lap at the sight of the great white snapping his bloody, deadly jaws.)

Roller coasters are another breed. Twisting, turning, climbing, racing downhill, hell-bent on bucking off its intrepid riders. I’m not a conventional coaster fan, but I do love thematic coasters-in-disguise such as Space Mountain, Big Thunder and the Matterhorn.

So come on, what’s your bugaboo? What ride leaves you quaking, shaking and leaving the lights on at night? Or do you simply just enjoy being amused…

Pam Ripling is the author of middle-grade mystery, LOCKER SHOCK! Buy it at Quake, Fictionwise or Amazon today! E-book version now available for your Kindle! Visit Pam at www.BeaconStreetBooks.com.

ps - You "amusement park" fanatics will be happy to note that the aforementioned King Kong attraction, which was badly damaged during a studio fire last year, is being rebuilt. Story about plans for the upgraded 3D ape here.

Vacations Close to Home

I don't remember our family ever going on a "real" vacation. It's not that we were deprived. Not at all. It's just that our vacations seemed to be to places near by. We went on picnics, or our favorite places were going to Santa's Village and Kiddieland, small amusement parks in Illinois.

Sadly, Kiddeland, a landmark in Melrose Park, Ill. will be closing soon after 81 years in business due to a family dispute. This, like Riverview once was, is a part of Chicago's landscape. Now another piece of local history will be gone.

What's special about Kiddieland is that it was like a rite of passage. You had to go there! My memories are vague, but looking at their history page, things like the antique cars and the hand cars seem familiar. There was the small train that circled the park and the wooden roller coaster. I'm a coaster fiend, so I can bet that I waited in line for that! It's sad to see another original amusement park go. (Anyone remember the indoor Old Chicago amusement park?)

* See more Kiddieland photos

** Your Turn: Have a favorite chilodhood destination? Is your favorite childhood destination still around?