Coney Island as it was and may never be again

I'm temporarily interrupting my very infrequent recounting of my 2006 roller coaster adventures for something more recent.  This past Memorial Day weekend some friends and I visited Coney Island. There was a lot more to the trip than just Coney Island (such as a Yankees game, some great pizza in Greenwich Village, some time in Central Park, end so on), but Coney was the centerpiece of and reason for the trip.

Coney has a very long history, but it is likely that a phase of it is coming to an end this year, so I wanted to make sure to visit it before the end. A developer has purchased a lot of property and intends to build upon it in ways that I'm sure will change the character of Coney Island forever. Gone will be the lower-class, gritty atmosphere, to be replaced with something shinier and more upscale. Something that is quintessentially New York will be replaced by something more closely resembling Las Vegas. Some might consider this an improvement but I have my serious doubts. As seems to be true of so many of my coaster trips these days, I wanted to make sure to get a chance to see it one last time before it disappears forever.

It's a fairly long trip to New York from Pittsburgh, even with ideal traffic conditions (which we didn't expect) so we drove part of the way Friday night. What with the remainder of the drive to our hotel in Queens (which didn't make much sense if we were solely visiting Coney Island, but was more central for other activities, had parking, and was reasonably inexpensive), then a long subway trip to the end of the F line, it was after 2 by the time we arrived at the Stillwell Avenue station. I had been there once before, on one of my two prior trips to Coney Island, and remember it being much uglier at the time. This is an improvement I like; the station is much nicer, but also hearkens back to the history of the area, with stained glass murals of classic amusement attractions along one wall, and an overall steel structure architecture that is vaguely reminiscent of the old Pavilion of Fun.

Our first stop was the famous original Nathan's hot dog location.  It was very crowded.  Every window had a long line in front of it, and we had to wait a good 20 minutes to get served.  Already, however, we were already beginning to enjoy the atmosphere around us and didn't mind much.  It only seems appropriate that we'd spend the time amidst a diverse sea of New Yorkers.  I tried both a plain dog and a chili dog.  The meat itself was seasoned well enough that the chili was really unnecessary.  I'd probably stick with plain dogs next time.  The fries we shared were also quite good.

Before sampling the attractions, we started by taking in some atmosphere.  We walked along the Bowery, which already was showing signs of change.  One side was boarded up, with signs from the developer promising a new, improved Coney Island.  The games and attractions on the other side were still there, but many already looked like they were closing.  Another closed attraction we looked at was the old B&B carousell (that's the way it's spelled) on Surf Avenue.  This closure cannot be chalked up to the new development, however.  Its owner died several years ago, and its future is still in the balance.

Finally it was time to do what we'd really come for, ride the world-famous Cyclone.  Tickets cost $6 apiece, but one can stay on for an extra ride for $4 more.  The easy way to do this is to pay with a $10, and then save the 4 singles you get in change to hand to the attendant for the second ride.  There was a bit of a line just to get tickets, but this gave us a chance to look into a little shed that contains some historical information and artifacts.  We had to peek in somewhat, as it was partially closed.  I did manage to get a good look at an actual horse from the old Steeplechase roller coaster, now long gone.

The last time I rode Cyclone was almost 10 years ago.  At the time I recall thinking it somewhat overrated.  Of course it is one of the most historically significant and famous coasters ever, much imitated (there are a number of coasters with the same general layout) but never duplicated.  But there was a renaissance of wood coasters being built at the time.  The more modern style focused on speed and smoothness, as opposed to the Cyclone's potent, shattering drops interrupted by sections that lost considerable speed.  I was enamored of the newer speed style, so though I respected the Cyclone for what it represented, I didn't fully appreciate it for what it was.

We took our first ride in the very back seat, surely the most extreme of the ride.  We couldn't help but make all sorts of shocked noises as we went over the drops and around the turns.  The general layout of the ride was familiar, but the details of the twists in the track kept us constantly guessing.  For our follow-up ride, we went to the front seat.  Using the reride system is about the only way to score a front seat ride.  If you actually try to wait for the front in the station, you'll find yourself waiting for a continuous stream of people who bought their way to a second ride.  There is a sign in the station even saying that reriders are given priority to those waiting in line.  This can be frustrating if you have your heart set on a particular seat, but on the other hand the Cyclone is a very efficient operation, since it makes money by the ride, so getting a ride in some other free seat doesn't take long (and they seem to take trains on and off at will; shuffling one train on or off while the other is still on the course).  Then you can choose your seat for the reride, at least if you can take two rides in a row!

If you're into heavily spinning flat rides, there are some for you here, particularly the Breakdance.  Tim had a bad experience on this ride on a prior trip (I was too smart to even give it a try).  Janna might have wanted to try it out but Tim and I refused, and she didn't press the issue.  Instead we went to ride Dante's Inferno, an old-fashioned dark ride.  A car passes rides along a very twisting track through a series of somewhat dimly lit, cheesy horror scenes.  There's one drop in the middle, but this is categorically not a roller coaster because it's always motorized.  Later we'd also ride the Spook-a-Rama, a similar ride elsewhere on Coney Island.  Both are rather silly attractions, but I will be sorry to see them go, classic dark rides are a dying breed.

Janna and I "had" to get a ride on the Big Apple kiddie coaster.  It's always embarrassing to ride these things just because it's a roller coaster and can count toward our lifetime list, but we do it anyway.  It's kind of a cute roller coaster and has a unique turntable arrangement so it can load one train while running the other, but otherwise the less said about this ride the better!

We passed through the rest of the Astroworld park to the boardwalk.  There was a music festival that weekend.  Later we'd see a lot of people having fun salsa dancing, but we got the biggest kick out of the name of the band we saw then, Bunnygrunt.

Further along the boardwalk is Deno's Wonder Wheel Park.  We rode another kiddie coaster here, but that wasn't really our reason for visiting.  As the park's name implies the highlight is the Wonder Wheel, an interesting variant on the usual Ferris Wheel.  Certain cars are not fixed in place, but suspended from oval tracks, which makes them slide forward at two points during the wheel's spin.  It's a clever concept that adds just a bit of a thrill element to the Ferris wheel concept.  To be honest I'm a bit scared by Ferris wheels at the best of times, so this ride disconcerts me all the more.  On the other hand, it's nearly unique (the only other wheel like it is a modern recreation at Disney's California Adventure) and therefore a must ride.  Fortunately the Wonder Wheel seems safe from the changes to Coney Island, but I've learned not to take anything for granted these days.  The amusement park industry is ever-changing, and there are never any guarantees that any park or ride will remain forever.  Bitter experience has taught me to take my opportunities to ride when I can; I may never have another.

Janna was very interested in seeing the freak show, and I agreed to do this with her while Tim--who had no interest--took some time to do other things.  To be honest, I didn't have a lot of interest myself.  The sideshow was in a little building off of one of the side streets, but had some nice amenities, including a little bar, where you could get drinks while you waited, or even to consume during the show itself.  There was also a neon sign of the old-style Steeplechase logo; clearly the sideshow people have a strong sense of Coney Island's history.

The show was going on as we were admitted inside the hot show room.  There was a crowded set of bleachers facing the stage and it took a few minutes before we could get our seats.  The show focused less on "freaks" than on unusual stunts such as a guy hammering nails into his nose and juggling chainsaws, a fire eater, a sword swallower, and so on.  All was done with a good sense of humor.  I was surprised by how entertaining I found the show.  Going in mostly to humor Janna, I wound up really enjoying the experience.

There was one other attraction we were all interested in trying, the El Dorado bumper cars.  In true Coney Island style, the sign outside says "Bump your ass off".  This is more than just a regular amusement park set of bumper cars.  They also feature loud music and flashing lights.  Even more interesting is that the operators have no hesitation in riding alongside the cars.  They will hop onto the side of a car to help somebody who's trapped, or ride the side of your car to get from one place on the floor to another.  I don't think there's anywhere in the US outside of Coney Island that you could see this.

Besides a couple more rides on the Cyclone, we spent the rest of our time looking at some other sights from Coney Island's past.  First we saw the site of the old Thunderbolt roller coaster, which was standing decrepit for many years.  It was removed about the time that they built a new minor league baseball park.  They didn't have to do this; the park was not built atop the site of the roller coaster.  But I guess they considered it an eyesore.  I would have much preferred that they refurbish the Thunderbolt and bring it back to operation.

We also made sure to visit the old Parachute Drop.  This too has been standing without running for many years.  However it seems in no danger of actually being torn down.  I hope not; though it is no more than a landmark, it is perhaps as emblematic of Coney Island as the Cyclone is.

Coney's history can be found everywhere.  Near the Parachute Drop we saw a deserted building that clearly harkened back to an older era, but with no indication of what it once was.  Rather than building new condos and attractions, I'd love to see buildings like this restored to their former glory.

One quick encounter perhaps sums up the raw, gritty, quintessentially New York place that Coney Island is.  As we were passing by a street vendor, he was trying to get our attention to sell his wares.  As we passed him by without turning, he yelled, "Everything 1 dollar goddammit!"  We still didn't buy anything but we got a good laugh at it.

We only spent a few hours and rode a smattering of rides (it gets expensive to ride too many things, paying by the ride), but we enjoyed every minute of it.  I'm very glad we had this chance to send the old Coney Island off.  I'm sure I'll be back, and I hope that at least some of the unrefined Coney Island that I've gotten used to remains.  A news item this week indicates that the redevelopment plans are still somewhat in flux, but I expect they'll proceed forward one way or the other.  But will there be any of the rough edges left?