Lost park: TropWorld (Atlantic City)

Gee Rob, you're a veritable cornucopia of interesting nuggets of info. I don't suppose you have a copy of the blueprints stashed away somewhere...

Ripple Rock may be closer to a coaster than I thought.
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park

A veritable cornucopia of interesting nuggets? Wow... I liked the way that sounded ;)

Seriously.. all I am guilty of doing is reading. A LOT of reading! I suppose that is how I know all this stuff, although I'm sure that there are MANY out there that know quite a bit more than I do.

I wish I had the blueprints to that coaster (or any coaster, for that matter) stashed away, but unfortunately, I don't. If I did, rest assured that I would be doing something with them, like rebuilding the ride or something.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

If there are any more nuggets about this ride left in your Horn of Plenty, please share! Where did you read about John Allen working on it?
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park
Just found this old poster from TropWorld for sale...

http://www.e-musementparkstore.com/COLLECTORS_CORNER/POSTERS-BLUEPRINTS/Posters_Blueprints3.html

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Nashville needs a theme park!

Nuggets about Bertrand's Island? Afraid not. I had never been to the park and am basically going by what I read in old ACE publications and on the internet. There actually isn't a heck of a lot of info available about the park... I suppose that because of the popularity of Palisades and Olympic Parks, Bertrand's Island wound up being an "also-ran."

The book about Bertrand's Island (its available from Gunther Hall, although I'm sure that Amazon would have it, too) is good for pictures of the park but not much information. Its basically a picture book, which is fine, but it doesn't offer much more than "the coaster was built in 1925 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company." I picked mine up at the Barnes & Noble across town, but that's probably because it is really one of those "local history" books and Mount Arlington is local to this area.

The only other thing really worth mentioning is the Boomerang ride, which was supposed to be insane! It consisted of tubs that attached to a rotating wheel and were "let go" into a metal tunnel, where they spun and bounced around furiously. I've heard many people say that NAAPA purchased the ride when the park closed and has it in storage, although I'm sure they want it for historical purposes and have no intention of putting it back in operation... provided they did buy it, of course.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002
*** This post was edited by Rob Ascough 10/16/2003 1:35:57 PM ***

I have visited the park but I was pretty young at the time. I remember watching the Booomerang and thinking how primitive it looked. I had heard that an outfit called something like the Historic Amusement Foundation has the ride. I've also heard that there was at least one other ride like it on the fair circuit fairly recently.

There was also an Old Mill ride under the coaster called the Lost River. I used to ride that a lot. Schmeck/PTC seemed to make a habit of combining coasters and old mills. I wish Dorney's example was still there :(

I book you mentioned as well as the video. Both are short on techincal information. I've also visted the exhibit at the Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum, just like the book - lots of pictures but very little info. Grilling the staff didn't yield much either. I do know that the rockets from the circle swing were saved by collectors. One was at the Musuem several years ago. One thing i did learn from the musuem was that the Whip went away in the mid seventies after a tree fell on it and damaged it.
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park

This has to be one of the few threadjacked topics that actually stayed with rollercoasters as the focus. :)

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Dollywood: Exploding onto the coaster scene since 2004!

Maybe that's why we haven't been yelled at yet :)
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park

Rob Ascough said:
I recall reading that Hershey's Comet was originally painted green

My early memory of the Comet (or at least I am pretty sure it is an early memory of the Comet) is of it being a dark green color. That was back in the late 1960's, early 1970's. Not sure when the current era of white paint began, but it was sometime between those early visits and 1978. I have an old photo (somewhere) taken by my grand parents years ago that shows the 4th turn of the Comet (the one behind Rhineland... at the end of the "dog leg" if you will) and its dark green color. That was what struck me so much about Phoenix the first time I saw it... it brought back those very distant and early memories of the Comet with that somewhat ominious dark green color.

<< now returning you to your normally scheduled Bertrand Island discussion... or is it Ripple Rock.... no, wait... it was TropWorld discusion>>

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Half of the people surveyed agree, half disagree and another half are unsure.
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 10/16/2003 4:08:48 PM ***

It has gone from TropWorld to Ripple Rock to Bertrand's Island... get with the program ;)

I thought that the Comet was repainted a few years after the movement to turn Hershey into a theme park had begun. What's interesting is that the back page of Roller Coaster Fever (1979) listed the Comet as an endangered coaster... supposedly the park wanted to demolish it to build a new wooden coaster, as they did with the Wildcat when they built the Comet. Glad that didn't happen!

millrace: I'm confusing my letters. There is no NAAPA... there is an IAAPA and a NAPHA (National Amusement Park Historical Association), the latter being the group that I believe has the ride. I have never visited the museum (I know, shame on me) and don't own the video, but one of these days, I'll take care of both those issues.

I think that PTC used to sell Mill Chutes along with their coasters (Coney Island OH, Idora Park, Dorney Park, etc.) Its too bad that Dorney removed theirs, I remember that last drop being a lot of fun.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

A reallllll old aireal photo of the Comet showing it in its Green period.

http://www.coasters.net/pictures/Hersheypark/hershey3.jpg

You can also see that "house" under the lift hill mentioned in another thread.

Those dates of the painting are pretty consistant with what I remember then... between the early 1970's and 1978.

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"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 10/16/2003 4:31:50 PM ***
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 10/16/2003 4:32:45 PM ***
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 10/16/2003 4:35:04 PM ***

Thanks for that link. It looks very Phoenix-esque.

Amazing to think of how much Hershey has changed throughout the years. Except for the Comet and the creek, everything in that photo is gone. And there are two more coasters there!

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Very interesting picture. Nice little group of rides with the coaster, tumblebug, old mill (that isn't under the coaster!) and what looks like a whip building.

So the order is now TropWorld, Ripple Rock, Bertrand Island, Hershey Park.

Rob - the group I was thinking of was the Historic Amusement Foundation. There's been several references to them on r.r-c. I don't think NAPHA is connected.

October 19 is Bertrand Island Day at the Lake Hopatcong museum.
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park
*** This post was edited by millrace 10/17/2003 8:01:02 AM ***

I thought it was NAPHA but I could be (and probably am) wrong. In any case, it would be nice if the ride were restored and put back into operation, but I wouldn't bet on that happening, given the ride's reputation.

Don't forget that the Mill Chute was built in the 20s when the Wild Cat was built, and that the Comet was built on a different site than the Wild Cat. Then again, the Mill Chute wasn't under the Wild Cat, either...

Let's see what other parks we can drag into this one...


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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Speaking of the Wild Cat at Hershey Park (as it was spelled then)...

Anyone know where this coaster was located in the park?

From old maps, diagrams, pictures, best I can figure out is this...

Station somewhere in the low ground along spring creek, probably near where the dolphin show arena is today. Tracks crossed over the creek and then made a slight turn to the lift hill which sort of went up the hill toward Pionere Frontier / Music Box Way area. Tracks then turned and continued (with their drops and hills) toward Rt 743 making the turnaround practically in the back yards of the houses that were along the road at the time... possibly very near where the lift and first helix of the TrailBlazer is now located. The return trip parralelled the out bound trip pretty closely. From old pics, it looks like the coaster possibly may have been built on the side of the hill where the Dry. It then made another cross over Spring Creek near its lift hill and then doubled back a very short way into the station.

Any one know if this is correct or even close? The general layout I believe is correct based on some old diagrams... but not sure of the specifics.

I do know that it was said that Herb Schmeck was never really pleased with his design for Wild Cat, and that one of the big problems with it was damage caused by flooding of Spring Creek where it crossed the creek. Comet crosses the creek, but rests on steel I-beams instead of wood.

Other things in that old HP pic...

Between the far turn of the Old Mill and the bridge corssing Spring Creek are the "double Ferriswheels" (two old standard ferriswheels side by side). As said, I believe the oval roof covers the old Whip. Not sure about the rectangular roof building behind teh bug and along side the Old Mill... does that cover bumper cars? (I know their present location is where one of the old funhouses (and later the Gold Nugget dark ride) were located) Is that same rectangular roof now covering the Paddle Boat Cafe (or what ever the name of it may be this season?) that sits opposite the sooperdooperlooper's station today?

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"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew

I've never been quite clear on the layout of the Wild Cat, either. I've seen many pics, but since Hershey has changed so much throughout the years, there are really no landmarks left from that era that have survived, so its kind of hard to look at a photo and say "the lift started over by that building" because that building is probably in a different spot from one that was there long ago. I have always assumed that the Wild Cat was on the other side of the creek, near the hill that the Coal Cracker now sits on.

I do know that Schmeck was never completely happy with the coaster. With that being said, I'm sure it was still a great ride, being a Schmeck and all...

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

I was basing my guess on one (parhaps 2) maps / diagrams and a few photo's in Charles Jaques book "Hersheypark, the Sweetness of Success".

As you said, hard to get a good idea because buildings change / dissappear / reappear, path ways change, park boundaries change, even roads around the park change.

According to these diagrams, the station was on the opposite side of the creek from where the Comet sits... in the low land in the approximate where the aqua theater now sits. From there it crossed the creek toward the west (the same side the comet sits on, but up stream... somewhere between the paths to Music Box Way and the bridge on the Dry Gulch) and then made a sharp right turn toward Rt 743. Think of it as an abstract "fish hook" layout... the station is the barb of the hook, the bend of the hook is on theopposite side of the creek, and the shaft of the fishhook runs toward 743. It then turns and doubles back on itself.

Actually, from these old pics, the new (as of yet un named) rocket coaster will be in its general area.

What always confounded me is the layout and exact location. Was it up on the hill where Dry Gulch now runs? Half on teh hill and half off? or in the low land along spring creek? What did the first drop look like? A traditional looking lift hill and drop like Comet, or a lift hill, a right turn, and then the drop? I never found stats as to the number of drops or the height of drops... and conflicting statements that put it between 2000 and 2300 feet in length.

Old photo's show that in its later years it was surrounded by a good many trees (and this, along with teh changing land scape) makes seeing what the land under it looks like very difficult.

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"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew

I am basing all that I know about the Wild Cat on Jacques' book, as well. As far as pictures go, I can honestly say that I have never really seen a GOOD picture of the coaster... all the ones I am familiar with show parts of the ride, but nothing shows the ride in its entirety. All I can really deduce from what I have seen is that the 'Cat was more of a terrain coaster than the Comet, given its location on the hill.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

So back to Bertrand Island. I got in contact with a representative of the Historic Amusement Foundation. He said that the Foundation was told they would get the boomerang ride but nothing ever came of it.

Rob - you're right about the fire. The same guy said he rode the coaster during the last year of operation. The rear car had burn marks and was missing the floor!

Interesting stuff.
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park
*** This post was edited by millrace 10/17/2003 6:26:15 PM ***

Missing the floor? Hmm..... Sounds like a new crazy ride type. ;)

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I'd like to thank the academy , and my mom , and my fans,and.....oh forget it , I hate you all.

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