Astroland owner calls it quits

Wow! That was sudden. I presume Thor will simply find another operator to lease the park (perhaps not so simple).

They don't own the rides.

Ooops. Guess those rides will be hitting the road. I wonder if they would be easy to start transporting, or if they were modified for their semi-permanent locations. Was it Moosh who said their Zipper was insane?

I remember there being a Zipper at Coney, but I don't think it was at Astroland. I think it was an independent vendor. I rode it and got very few flips out of it. He wasn't running it fast enough.

I have a question about the Cyclone.  As far as I know 

this is a seperately run ride so will it be closed after 

this week also?  I ask because I am finally making it 

out to NYC next week for my first Yankees game and I 

planned on stopping by to finally get a ride on this 

famous coaster.  Any info would be fantastic!!

Cyclone will not be affected by this but i think it only runs on a seasonal mode, which means it will shut down after this week and operating again next year.

I think the only thing at Astroland that even resembles a permanent ride is the tower. The Big Apple coaster, with its cool turntable, would rack on a single trailer except for the turntable.

Next question: When Albert sells off the rides, will Thor (or Thor's choice for a replacement operator) cherry-pick the ride selection?

And I still wonder: In selling the park to Thor two years ago, did she not therefore indicate at that time that she was ready to get out of the business?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

What made the Zipper at Coney special is that it allowed single riders. *Might* have been manually-operated, don't know about that. Tempted to think so, based on the other rides there. Once I saw a friend spin the Zipper cage so fast it looked like a blur...I have no idea how many flips he got that day.

I think people are thinking of the Top Spin that they ran on insano mode. It was like some European fair operator was at the controls :)

Zipper in single rider mode are awesome! I did that once at a local fair and had it spinning so fast I didn't know which way was up for hours after getting off the ride. :)

What about Deno's Wonderwheel park next to Astroland. Is it still a separate park or does Carol Albert own that too? When we were there this summer it seemed like two separate parks each with their own ticket system and pricing. If they are separate why do you always here about issues with Astroland but not with Deno's?

It is a seperate park. Plus there are independent vendors around too.

Not only are Astroland and Deno's separate entities, I believe Deno's *did not* sell to Thor, and therefore does not have to deal with these lease negotiations. Hence no news about lease issues between Denos and Thor.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.