Book Chronicles Playland Park’s Rich HistoryLocated on the shores of the Long Island Sound, about 45 minutes from New York City, there’s an amusement park that’s been a summer getaway for 80 years. Katherine W. Burke’s new book Playland chronicles the rich history of the park. With a plethora of black and white photos readers [...]

A Look Back at the Legendary Drachen Fire at Busch Gardens Drachen Fire was an infamous roller coaster that lived in the Rhineland, Germany section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg from 1992 to 1998. While it had a short run, it’s easily one of the most well-known defunct coasters in past years. I will relay the [...]

Hercules at Dorney Park | Defunct Roller CoastersHercules reigned over Dorney Park in Allentown, PA from 1989 to 2003. It was a massive wooden roller coaster. When it debuted it had the longest drop of any wooden coaster in the world. It was a big draw for Dorney before it had Steel Force and Talon [...]

Kennywood Offered a Unique Hyper Coaster in Steel PhantomPhantom’s Revenge was originally known as Steel Phantom. It was Kennywood’s entry in the Coaster Arms Race of the 1990′s. Theme parks around the world were trying to one-up each other in boasting the tallest roller coaster in the world. Coaster designer Arrow had a large part [...]

More of a Thrill Ride than a Coaster, Too Bad the Thrills Are Short-LivedIn 2001, Kings Dominion already had more launch coasters than most parks in the world with Flight of Fear and Volcano The Blast Coaster. With the addition of a third launch coaster, Kings Dominion was a certified destination for coaster enthusiasts and [...]