Am I as "in" to the concept now as I was in 2020 when I started writing it? No. But the blog was half-written, so I might as well finish it off.
6. Dreamland (2009) - Astroland (see below) was all that existed of Coney Island's theme park past for many years. Then, in 2008, it finally shut down. It seemed like the end of an era. Would Coney Island really lack a theme park? "No," was the answer, as a Dreamland reboot stepped in to take over the former Astroland in 2009. It lasted a total of one summer season before the company running it was forced to close due to debt. So, yeah, that sucked. Though maybe naming yourself after a theme park that only lasted a few years was a jinx from the beginning. Just as Dreamland itself was a reboot of an old theme park, it would be replaced again by yet another reboot, a new Luna Park, on the same location where Astroland and the 2009 Dreamland stood.
5. Sea Lion Park (1895–1903) - Sea Lion Park was the first ever enclosed (e.g. they chared you an entry fee to get in) permanent amusement park in North America. I'm not saying that you would have never had your Disneylands and your Six Flags without Sea Lion Park (someone else would have come up with the idea eventually), but points for being the first to actually charge a ticket to enter a park, versus having parks be open and simply charging different fees at every ride. As you might guess, Sea Lion Park has sea lions at it, trained to do tricks and stuff. Animals that do tricks used to be a big thing. Humans were pretty impressed by torturned and brainwashed animals living in small cages so that they could eventually be let out for a few minutes a day to perform tasks in return for sardines. ANYWAY, they also added rides, such as what is now known today as "Shoot the Chute" (a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a ramp into a pool of water and goes splash), and the "Flip Flap Railway," a famous (or infamous) looping wooden roller coaster. You might be surprised that looping roller coasters existed at the turn of the 20th century, thinking that technology wasn't there yet. Well, it wasn't. Which is why it was shut down for being unsafe. It could also only hold two passengers at a time, so it wasn't that profitable or popular. But just because Sea Lion Park was the first doesn't mean that they'd stick around forever. In 1903, Sea Lion Park went under and was replaced with Luna Park.
4. Dreamland (1904–1911) - In 1904, Coney Island was booming with tourists who craved amusement parks. Luna Park was a year old and doing well, and Steeplechase Park was still knocking it out of the... park? (meh, bad pun) after near to a decade. Was there room for three amusement parks in Coney Island? Dreamland dared to find out! With three theme parks there would be lots of competition, so everyone needed a gimmick. Dreamland attempted to be the "refined" and "classy" park with elegant architecture, as opposed to the nearby noise and ride-filled Luna Park. Highlighting the center of this "classiness" was a tall tower with a million light bulbs on it (light bulbs really impressed people still back then). Their "classy" attractions included things like the double biblical shows of "Creation" (depicting the Book of Genesis) and the "End of the World" (depicting the Book of Revelation); a model of the canals of Venice; a Japanese tea house; a building that resembled a classical Greek temple called "the Destruction of Pompeii" (including a cyclorama show with a staged eruption of Mt. Vesuvius); the submarine simulation "Under and Over the Sea"; and so on. Of course, it wans't all high-brow bible and educational rides. They had mini-peep shows, lion-tamers, a show featuring 300 midgets, baby incubators showing off premature born children, and the same types of rides that the other two parks had, only "bigger." For example, Luna Park inherited its Shoot the Chute from Sea Lion Park when it closed. Dreamland opened one of their own... and by "one" I mean "two, right next to each other, and taller than the one at Luna." Still, Luna Park was better managed and despite Dreamland's more impressive and "classier" fare, it struggled to succeed. And maybe it would have, if one of it's rides (Hell's Gate, another biblical-themed ride where it looked like you were descending through a whirlpool to underground caverns to hell) caught on fire in a way that seemed somewhat apropos for something called "Hell's Gate." This happened on the busy Memorial Day weekend of 1911. The entire park burned down and it was all over for classy Dreamland. It was never rebuilt, and a bunch of apartment complexes are there now. As noted above, for a hot minute there was a "new" Dreamland in 2009, but it lasted only one season.
3. Astroland (1962–2008) - An iconic Coney Island for decades, Astroland was the sole survivor of the spirit of Coney Island's fun parks after the aging Steeplechase closed for good in 1964. As its name implied when it was opening in the middle of the US versus Russia space race... it had a "space age" theme that features things such as rockets, a "Tower to the Stars," a gyro tower, and a simulated jet trip to the moon that was a lot more scientifically accurate than the 1903 Luna Park version (see below - short story is that this version lacked moon maidens). Needless to say, as time went on these "space age" attractions of the 1960s seemed more and more like a look to the past than the future and the park seemed like an antiquated concept by the time the 90s and 2000s rolled around. The one exception was the famous Cyclone wooden roller coaster, which had staying power and such a Coney Island landmark that the first thing people think of when they think of Coney Island should be the image of the Cyclone coaster. In 2008, time was up and Astroland went out of business. People were shocked. No more amusement parks in Coney Island? What would happen? Well. Dreamland happened but that only lasted a year. Then in 2010 the park was re-re-booted as the new Luna Park. So while Astroland is technically out of business and counts as a "closed" amusement park, for the most part the currently operating Luna Park is essentially a continuation of Astroland, and continues to feature the Cyclone, the Astrotower (though it's now unused and just a landmark feature), as well as a bunch of newer rides and attractions.
2. Luna Park (1903–1944) - A Coney Island Park with decent staying power, and the replacement for the OG Sea Lion Park, Luna Park immediatly became a beloved attraction by snagging away the beloved "A Trip To The Moon" ride which had previously been featured at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (the same event where President McKinley was assassinated... but I don't think that was part of the ride). After the exposition closed, everyone (including Coney Island rival Steeplechase Park) wanted to get the ride, and for a while Steeplechase did yet it. But Luna Park was able to snag it away and wound up with it, by having Topsy the Elephant literally drag the "airship Luna" ride feature to the new park in a plubicity stunt. What did an imagined trip to the moon look like at the turn of the century? Well, it involved being greeted by dancing moon maidens ("Selenites"), so there's that. It also involved a lot of Papier-mâché (very scientifically innacurate as we all now know that the moon is made of cheese). Luna Park would go on to feature a number of famous attractions including the Electric Tower (like Dreamland, just a tower with a BUNCH of lights on it... hey man... lights were still pretty novel and fancy back then), the "Dragon's Gorge," a lagoon, etc. Oh yeah, and if mentioning Topsy the Elephant so closed to electricity sparks (ha!) a memory for you... yep... you're not going crazy. In another plublicity stunt, the owners of Luna Park electrocuted Topsy... for... reasons? This has become the famous urban legend about Thomas Edison wanting to prove that AC power was dangerous to try to sell his competing DC power, although that version of the story is largely inaccurate. Edison is still an idea-stealing douchebag, but that bit o story is more legend than truth. Despite being widly popular and making back the costs of being built in a few short summers, Luna Park frequently struggled with finances and by the time the 40's rolled around, its time had come to an end. It's legacy lives on though, with Coney Island's only remaining significant amusement park being re-named Luna in 2010 (although honestly it's just a rebooted/renamed Astroland), and other Luna Parks existing around the world (including a notable one in Sydney, Australia).
1. Steeplechase Park (1897–1964) - Steeplechase might have been the second Coney Island amusement park, but it's legacy is undeniable. Just looking at the years it was around, you can see this one had staying power - operating for a whopping 67 years. Disneyland is only just hitting that age right now-ish, meaning that as far as a lasting cultural institution goes - at one time Steeplechase was "the" amusement park that we think about when we thought about amusement parks. Was it as grand as Disney? Of course not, but it certainly had some iconic features. So let's talk about it. Opened up by George C. Tilyou, it was apparently inspired by him going on the new-fangled Ferris wheel at the Chicago World's Faire. The namesake ride of the the park was the Steeplechase itself - a mechanical horserace on metal tracks. The place also had a Venetian gondola-style ride, a Wild West show, scale models of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, as well as 50 or so other attractions. Over the years they obviously changed with the times - but some things had staying power. First of all the park's mascot had staying power - a cartoonish depiction known alternatly as "Tilly" (after Tilyou) or the "Funny Face" was the logo of the park, and is still closley associated with Coney Island or carnival-ish parks to this day. Another thing with staying power? The Steeplechase's Parachute Jump - a tower where people... yep... jumped off of parachutes from it. Sounds dangerous and wildly unsafe? YEP! IT WAS! And while people don't jump from it anymore, it has remained a Coney Island attraction for decades after the park's closing and is still there, its image closely associated with Coney Island. You can't set something in Coney Island without showing the Parachute Jump. Why that recent Zendaya movie from a few years ago prominantly featured it. What was it called? Spider-Guy or something? I don't remember. I think there were other people in it, but now I'm thinking about Zendaya. So, in conclusion... what was I talking about again? Oh right. Zendaya.
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