Where do Pretzel rides get their name from?

Pretzel?..
To me in the UK thats a dough thing twiddled into a shape a bit like a heart with large bits of rock salt on it.
After visiting a great website called 'Laff in the dark'.. I find Americans call dark rides pretzel rides, and I'm curious as to where this comes from. Is it just Ghost Train types that are pretzels? Have I missed something?

Pretzel, as far as I know, is (was) a manufacturer of gravity-powered dark rides.

It's also the heart-twisted salty piece of cooked dough here, too.

I've never heard of *any* ride being called a pretzel before...

As far as I know, pretzel is that thing that bounces around the screen on the 4th board in Ms. Pac Man. ;)

I've never heard that term for any ride either. I've only heard of pretzel inversions.

That is a first for me also.

A "Pretzel" dark ride is any very old Dark Ride tha was created way back when. They are ride-throughs that are just continuous S-curves and have very twisty layouts....like a pretzel. Also, the cars that you ride in have a pretzel shaped peice of metal as a counterweight on the front two sies of the car. I can' beleive you guys don't know wha a pretzel ride is!

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KoЯn still Яules!

Did you happen to read the interview of the former owner of the Pretzel Ride Company on the Laff in the Dark website?

http://www.laffinthedark.com/articles/pretzel/interview.htm

Also visit this site for some good views of a pretzel car and the twisting layout of the track.

http://www.dafe.org/attractions/darkrides/funland-ar/spookhouse.htm

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everything's better with a banjo

And now I know, and hell!, I've even been on one!! There's an old Ghost Train at Southport Pleasureland thats one of these.
Thanks folks!
Col.

LOL Den!!!!

Mmmmmm.....saaaaaalllllltt!!
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Wasn't there one in Wisconsin Dells in the Riverview park? And there's one at the Pavillion in Myrtle Beach.

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Pretzel rides are dark rides manufactured by the company of that name, but they also carried the pretzel shaped counterweights on the cars. All dark rides are not Pretzels. There was a series of Laff in the Darks made in the northeast, one of which remains, and obviously they weren't Pretzels. There are still quite a few pretzels out there. The track configuration has nothing to do with it.