Review of Great Old Amusement Parks

A fascinating look at many of the longest-running amusement parks in the United States of America, some in operation since the late nineteenth century. As expected, many Coney Island parks in Brooklyn are covered as well as some in the Midwest like the Holiday World in Santa Claus, Ind. (This is the town that millions of "Dear Santa" letters go to every Christmas season). That park also has 4th of July and Halloween sections besides the Christmas section. Two of the most fascinating segments concerned the Playland park in Rye, N.Y. which has a real rough merry-go-round ride called The Derby Rider which is so fast that many employees who jump on while it's moving have to really rush on quickly and then just lean a certain way so they don't fall down! Then there's a coaster in San Diego that had a contest one year in which several people literally stayed on (excepting breaks, of course) for several days (maybe months) with the last one to still be on to get the $50,000 from radio station Star 100.7. Many interviewed told the narrator what dreams they had for the money. Many-in fact, five-of them were still there when the station called off the contest by Labor Day as they each got $12,500 and a trip for two to Hawaii. To sum up, if you love learning about vintage amusement parks that are still running to the present day, Great Old Amusement Parks is for you.