Despite Reports, Cyclone & Wonder Wheel to Remain Open
Many media outlets have been reporting that the entire Coney Island amusement area is now closed for good after a deal was not met this week to save the park. This is only partly true, as Arthur Levine from About Theme Parks has written an article to help set the record straight.
In his article, Levine explains that New York’s Coney Island amusement area is a collection of independent owners and vendors.
Astroland itself makes up a good portion of the areas rides, but the world famous Coney Island Cyclone is a protected landmark and will operate as usual. Also unaffected will be Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park which includes another protected landmark the Wonder Wheel (which some may remember from the movie “The Warriors”). According to Levine, the media has shown the Cyclone and Wonder Wheel in their coverage of the closings, implying that these rides are a part of the closing.
I’m disappointed, but not shocked in the media’s lazy reporting. On the bright side, many (including myself) will get to enjoy the legendary Cyclone for years to come. I haven’t made it to Coney Island and am glad that the Cyclone will still be there. I’m not one for flat rides, but if anyone’s interested, here’s a listing of Astroland’s rides for sale. The listings include carousels, bumper cars, and even the Astrotower. Read Levine’s full article.
Get the tissues ready for this sad video of the last day of Astroland’s operation:
September 13, 2008 at 18:34
On Sept 7, the closing day of Coney Island's historic Astroland Park, I was part of a grassroots effort by the Save Coney Island group which distributed 10,000 flyers to visitors. City Hall must have gotten a gazillion emails and calls on 311. A couple of days later, the Associated Press was reporting Mayor Bloomberg is FINALLY stepping in to save Astroland!!!Too late!!!!!! But it's not too late to save Coney Island's amusement district from being zoned out of existence and replaced by generic retail stores, formula restaurants and so-called “entertainment retail.”What can you do to helpSAVE CONEY ISLAND?!The Save Coney Island Coalition says yes to revitalizing Coney’s world famous amusement zone!NO to 26 New High Rises of up to 30 stories each in the current Amusement District!NO to Retail, Malls or “Entertainment Retail” in the Amusement District!NO to shrinkage of the Amusement District from 61 acres to 9 acres!YES to preserving Amusement Zoning in the Amusement District!!YES to keeping Coney Island the People's Playground- providing accessible Amusements for ALL to enjoy!!Phone 311 (or 1-212-NEW-YORK outside of NYC) and leave a "Comment for the Mayor"Visit the Save Coney Island website <a href="http://www.myspace.com/saveconeyislandhttp://www.myspace.com/saveconeyisland<br />Learn the truth! Don’t be fooled by the city’s spin on their revised rezoning plan!Email Save.Coney[at]gmail.com to join the mailing list for news of upcoming protests, petitions and more!Read about the issues and join the ongoing discussion on the message boards at http://www.coneyisland.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi