Post old pics you have!

Great pics and thread! I'll have to search through my archives now!

These are so old... I'm wicked young in these pics so it shows that I've been around amusement parks my whole life...literally.













This one isn't so old, but it's a sad memory.

Nadine, you look so cute!

Nadine's daddy

From pictures I took on 4/8/90

Looking back at my friend taking his son on his first Cyclone ride. It was cold! (look at the dude with the gloves.) I swear we saw some snow that day while riding Cyclone.


My friend's son and daughter ( this was when flow-loading was reversed from what it is today)


Self picture on the Managerie (by definition as it contains animals other than horses.)


The King: M.C. Illion's American Beauty. My personal favorite not only for it's grandeur but it's anatomical correctness.
He had been recently restored by a company in Bristol, CT and looked spectacular!

I love the old Cyclone drop in that picture.

What do you mean by flow loading was reversed? I know they gates used to be on the other side and the entrance was near where Catapult is now, but in that pic. it looks like the same configuration it uses today.

I will try to explain this without making it too confusing

When Cyclone first opened, there was a set of stairs near where Panda Express is (the old Chicken Fancy) that would take you to a covered, enclosed path under Cyclone and you would load on the side that you do today. However the exit followed that same path back to the stairs and both were very narrow. Somewhere in the late 80's/early 90's, they reversed the entrance to where the exit is now and put switchbacks at the bottom of that ramp. In this photo you would load on the right and exit to the left (now, today's entrance) back through the original covered path. The wall dividing the split path was removed to widen the exit out. The rails were just never removed from the original entrance. Note the boxes on the wall to hold your stuff while you rode.

Under that second configuration, it was quite a hefty walk to get re-rides.

So yes, you are correct that the entrance to the train today matches the very first entrance when the ride was built, except how you get there.

Did I explain that OK? I will have to see if I have any pictures of the original entrance and walkway under it's various forms.

Oh I see now. Thanks for taking the time to explain it!

Here is a shot I took from the skyride on 8/29/89. You can see the stairs and split path between the two square buildings. The right building used to be "Chicken Fancy" ( later "Chicken and Seafood Fancy') but you know it as Panda Express. It was a great pit-stop for beer between Cyclone rides. Black Widow is visible to the left as is the Swing Ride (which was much larger than Crime Wave.)



This is from 4/8/90 - I'm the incredibly stylish guy right front. My buddy with the orange hat might look like the ultimate dork dad, but his daughter's a surgeon and his son is a helicopter pilot for the US Coast Guard. No BS. It was very cold that day. I only wore a dickey because it was offered to me. And I needed it.



Not a lot of people in line that day (you can see the bizarre loading gates on both sides of the train.) The ride op was happy to jump on the track to take this picture for us.

Other pictures of Cyclone in it's glory (yes I took these pictures; the ride op's saw the camera but said nothing. So much has changed...)

That worker must have been the coolest. I wish he still worked there.

Awesome pics of my favorite coaster (Cyclone).

The Wave Swinger was installed at the park in 1979. Crime Wave is the same ride (just renamed and re-theemed). In fact next time you go on Crime Wave, take note of the manufacturing info on the ride. It was indeed 1979 for Crime Wave.

Other fun facts of this ride - Motor was replaced about 2-3 years ago. LED lights used for about 2 full seasons as well. Riverside use to alternate between Red/White and Blue/White lights for the ride from year to year.