Aside from neutering Cyclone’s first drop, Luna Park has been doing a great job steadily improving Coney Island. And the neighborhood is much less sketchy than it used to be back in the 90s.
I also thought this had occurred so it’s interesting to see someone else say it. However, I just rode the cyclone and it seemed more similar to the way it used to be… maybe it’s sinking into the ground again???
@@DrBelser12 I heard it from a Luna Park official a few years ago. They had to retrack the first drop and round out the bottom as the stress on the track was too strong.
Zamperla uses Coney Island as a "showroom" for their products; a place other amusement parks come to to see, test and ride before buying. Each time a new ride is invented, it lands here first. The Thunderbolt was built on a very narrow piece of property owned by the city, which dictated its shape. As I understand it, the city is gaining access to the empty lot between Thunderbolt and the baseball stadium, and it will be filled with more rides in the future. The lease for the property was extended due to the success of Zamperla's investment. I love going there.
Zamperla has alot of exciting new coaster models if they add their double heart 70m hypercoaster model and the lightning launch coaster coney island would have more coasters than some of the smaller six flags or cedar fair parks
Zamperla recently announced their Double Heart model. This will kinda be like a skyrocket 2, or Sandy's Blasting Bronco. Nevertheless, this will check the box of a powerful launch, and it will also throw in some airtime. Idk if it will come to Luna Park, but since they operate it, it's certainly a possibility. Edit: I forgot to mention this, but the double heart will also throw in 4 inversions.
The creepy face on Tickler's name is Tilly. He was a caricature of former showman George C. Tilyou, and was a direct inspiration for the Joker in the 40s.
It's actually even more fun when you ride alone, those laterals are absolutely insane and with no seat divider or seat belt you just slide all the way over to the other side of the seat. I normally don't like laterals but I absolutely LOVED the Cyclones
That enthusiast ride op at Dino's was probably the owner DJ, had a great talk with him about the process of getting the ride when I visited! He parks his tesla inside the ride's footprint too which is just amazing
Coney Island is a legend because it was first. That is the only reason why. Great food great location and great vibe. But it’s still an average park in the GRAND SCHEME of things. Impact was unquestionably great to though. I admit
Thunderbolt's sign is a recreation of the coaster's namesake from 1925, which ran until 1982. Up until 2000 (Thank you Mike Bloomberg), the remains of the structure was a landmark of what Coney Island used to be. An old hotel that sat under the first turnaround was used in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall, and the whole coaster was in the background of The Warriors.
I actually got to ride back car of the Cyclone July 20, 2021, the day before you were there! It WHIPS, I was shocked a coaster that old moves that fast. My friend and I were holding on for our lives after the first drop, it throws you around and has more airtime than any coaster I've been on in awhile. I would have loved to hear your take on the back row and see if you thought it was as crazy as I thought it was.
Love these videos that cut straight to the chase. I haven’t been to NYC (ironically) yet, but it looks like there’s some good stuff in and around the city!
Never have I ever wanted to go to New York, but this park is history. I don’t really have a group so to go to parks im pretty much forced to go by myself anywhere these days. So watching your channel is nice gives me a sense of community with same interests
Love the cyclone. Hit it up when my husband and I were in the city for a wedding in October. Back seat is fun and front row is smoother and still fun. Repeat rides were $2 so I went about 5 times while my husband waited.
Exceptional vid! I’m a longtime Brooklyn resident & Coney Island enthusiast so next time you’re here I would love to give you a full-on locals tour (Steeplechase included)! Also, you couldn’t be more right about Phoenix…calling it a “family” coaster doesn’t do it justice. And sometimes you’ll even get to see DJ Vourderis (who owns/operates all of Deno’s WW Park) proudly running Phoenix. I spent several days there this summer marathoning it & can’t wait to get back for more.
My OG home park. But when it was, it was Cyclone or nada. But several rides on that plus the Freak Show was always a good day. And if you needed more, hit up the Aquarium for fun. Cyclone will always be a top coaster to me though. I can’t believe how intense it is for a ride that old. More thrilling than a lot of newer rides in my opinion. Oh! And Dragonflier at Dollywood was legitimately the 3rd or 4th best coaster at Dollywood. Purely rode it for the credit and then it shocked me with how good it was. Really solid fun ride.
Thank you for making this video. This is my home park. I sat in the back of the cyclone and the airtime there was one of the best airtime I have ever expierenced. I also rode thunderbolt in the middle. It was good. Especially the last airtime hills.
Awww my Cyclone (my favorite woodie until El Toro came around). I grew up in the suburbs of NYC, and moved to Manhattan for college in the fall of 1999 (I never left). One of our "get to know NYC" dorm trips before classes started was Coney Island, and you can bet my coaster enthusiast ass was there! (I has just fallen in love with Volcano that summer at Kings Dominion, RIP.) I road Cyclone 7 times that day (back when it was $7 per ride and $5 for a re-ride without getting off! So if you were in the back row, you could just stay. I miss that! I also miss the hat I lost on it). I rode front, back, middle, mostly back, and I made sure to get back almost every summer as long as I could. It was that and the Breakdance spinning ride (the Scrambler on steroids) that my friend from down the hall in my NYU dorm kept going back to. We were 18, we could do those things over and over. They also had the BEST pirate ship Buccaneer I'd ever been on, that almost felt we were gonna flip, and a classic Enterprise at the time. (1999 memories.) Sadly, the prices have increased and with that, you can no longer choose your rows on Cyclone. The last time I went, maybe 2017? they made us sit up front, so I haven't had a back row ride in years, but those back row rides were just incredible - and trust me, there was a difference between the back row and the second-to-back row, I KNOW, LOL! (2004-2005 memories.) There were a couple of crazy insane flat rides when it was still Astroland (back in the day, they had one of the Topspins that sprays water up your nose in a waterfall when you're hanging upside down, making everyone choke and look very unattractive, plus a couple of other stomach-flip spinny-inverting torture devices that of course I rode in my 20s and were long gone once Zamperla took over), but Luna Park has brought a few of their own as well. That Luna 360 pendulum ride is a white-knuckle one for sure. Steeplechase is really cool for the first launch and turn and then it's basically like you said, meandering after that. But it was fun taking people on it who had never been on a launch coaster. Watching their reaction made me think....I will never take you on Kingda Ka! I also loved Thunderbolt, but I can't remember where I sat, and have only been on it twice. This review definitely makes me miss taking that long subway ride out to Brooklyn, but I'm glad I had the days that I had there (staying in the back row of Cyclone for two cycles for just $5 extra dollars!)
Funny you mention the long subway ride. We tried getting to yankee stadium from coney island one time...holy crap. Doesn't help that it's at the far end of brooklyn
With the toll bridges more expensive than a Disney vacation, crazy traffic, & not knowing where to park a car, I always figured that it wouldn't be worth it to ever go to Coney Island. But because of you & Canobie Coaster's reviews, it's now on my itinerary for this coming summer.
Imagine how cool it would be if someone would just buy all that land and build park like Tivoli gardens there. Ofc leave the classics like wonder wheel and cuclone
I too visited in July and absolutely loved it! Great atmosphere! Next time do not miss the Wonder Wheel (swinging cars). In my opinion, it's the second best thing there after Cyclone!
Summer of 2000 ... I lived in Brooklyn and made a number of trips to CI. Cyclone was (and still is) awesome, but I also *loved* the way Astroworld ran their flatrides (super-long, longer than even the European circuit), and they had some great rides. I really miss the Breakdance, in particular ("Here comes that wake-up call!"), but also the super-long runs for both Enterprise and Musik Express (forwards-backwards-forwards-backwards). You really got your money's worth back then!
Coney Island was great when I went, the only issue was that 2/7 coasters where closed when I went. I went back in late 2018 when thunderbolt was newer, we had a full car, front seats and it was a warmish day and it road pretty smooth, I think that was just down to the timing though. Overall I thought it was a pretty solid park
Cyclone is great. Surprised they didn't let you ride in the back. Had no such issues the several times I went and it wasn't busy. The ride ops didn't even make you get out of your seat (unless someone was waiting in line for it) and you just handed them cash at a discount from the ticket booth. You could even switch rows if you wanted. They were very accommodating to coaster enthusiasts.
One ride I wish they brought back was the legendary TORNADO. A beautiful & fun wooden roller coaster that had a sharp turn for a drop, great hills, and shops surrounding its structure at the base that gave the impression that it was built on top of them. And could have. Sadly fire destroyed it. You can find some videos here on RU-vid when it was still running. It went underground briefly as you left the station to make your way up the lift hill. There is NO place on Earth like Coney, it's nostalgia NYC at its finest.
I know exactly what ride op you're talking about on Phoenix! I was there Aug '21. He absolutely had me pegged; when I showed up for my second ride he took me straight to the back row. Sitting solo in the middle of the seat on Cyclone and getting absolutely tossed through the turns is life-affirming. I sat in the middle seat/middle car of Thunderbolt and it was one of the worst coaster experiences of my life.
Quite often the ride op on Phoenix is DJ Vorderis himself. One of the owners of the park. Phoenix was his project and he takes a lot of pride in it and loves enthusiasts. In fact he took enthusiasts opinions into consideration when choosing the coaster. When it is not him, any other staff member is just as fantastic. I Love Denos Wonder Wheel Park.
Luna Park and Coney Island are steeples in this industry. And it’s also known for keeping us wildcards out of trouble, with something to do when we were young. Nostalgia to the max.Cyclone, Thunderbolt, & Phoenix are great🤘🏽
It was interesting when you were talking about Cyclone, it got me wondering how many Cyclone clones were left. MM lost it's Cyclone clone Psyclone a long time ago. I guess it turns out that Viper at SFGA is the last Cyclone clone in the US. Lucky for us that one is actually in really great shape and is well maintained.
It's a shame you weren't able to get a back row ride on the Cyclone. I was lucky enough to get one this summer and it blew me away - I knew the laterals would be great, but I was NOT prepared for the amount of ejector airtime this coaster had. People say that rides like Skyrush or I305 try to kill you, but their restraints (for better or worse) have always made me feel safe; on the Cyclone, I legitimately feared for my life. Great video/review as always!
I rode the Cyclone a bunch of times when I interned for the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team 15 years ago. I remember it being maybe the roughest ride I’ve ever been on. But that was when it was still operated by Astroland and it seems like Luna Park has done a better job. It also got some major work on it after being damaged by Hurricane Sandy so that definitely helped too.
The last time I was there was in 2012. More than half these rides and coasters did not exist and at the time, I was too fat to ride the Cyclone (they did refund my money and I have since lost a ton of weight). I definitely want to go back and especially want to ride the Cyclone and the Stepplechase, which is an updated version of a long-lost ride from the 1930s - 1950s.
My Rankings (mini mouse was.also closed for me 1 Cyclone 2 Thunderbolt (my front row rides on this were actually good) 3 Phoenix 4 Steeplechase 5 Soarin Eagle 6 Tickler 7 Circus coaster 8 Skyflyer 9 Sea Serpent (one of the roughest kiddie coasters imo)
That's a bummer you couldn't get the back on Cyclone. The front is the better seat for laterals at least. I try to visit that park on a day with some crowds so I can get the back. Rarely do I do that with parks but Coney is an exception.
There are souvenir shops on the beach but more about NY. And I have been there many times used to be my home park I’m from there. Try Spumoni Gardens pizza right near there for food next time. And I hated Thunderbolt and Soarin Eagle. I almost fell out of Soarin Eagle and on Thunderbolt I got a massive headache. The Cyclone in the back is amazing you feel like you are falling out of your seat! I rode it 6 times in one day once! The Wonder Wheel is by far my favorite though. The thrill of the swinging carts of almost feeling like you are going to fall off is amazing! Try that next time!
the back on cyclone is INSANNNEEEE def go back to get the back solid pops of strong flojector plus KILLER laterals dude gp thing to say but I legit felt like I was going to fall off the laterals were so strong dude soooo gooood def underrated easily better than comet at hershey, blue streak at CP and even Twister at Knoebels.
I strongly recommend taking the subway to Coney Island if possible. Bit of a long ride from Manhattan, but the elevated sections have nice views. I still absolutely love the Cyclone.
You gotta ride Cyclone at night one day in the back row. Cyclone with a full train in the fog is the best experience I've ever had on a wooden coaster. You stand on every drop.
Rode dragonflier on New Year’s Day and with all the hate SLC’s get (still have yet to ride a traditional SLC) I was surprised how much I loved it and how smoothly it rode. Amazing ride
My home park! and yet the best coaster I've ridden is steeple chase. (I got sick on the swinging ship when I went this summer, and that ruined my chances of riding anything else) I'll force myself to ride thunderbolt and cyclone next summer. Happy you're reviewing it! The Wonder Wheel feels so janky yet fun at the same time! :)
Coaster enthusiasts: this is the most painful, unpleasant experience of my life. I'd rather be kicked in the groin than ride this coaster. But I need the credit.
This is a good review, thanks Your description of Phoenix sounds a lot like Dragonflier. Don't know if you'll like it better than Phoenix or not but it's still a good smooth family coaster with a bit of surprising force! Vekoma has come a long way since their hang-n-bangs. Also, Tickler spins during the... first half??? I've ridden Fun Spot Kissimmee's Galaxy Spin dozens of times so I'm really curious as to how that feels. Had no idea those could even do that
Pity you couldn't do Steeplechase; I always enjoy that one when I get the chance. I know you're not a flatride guy, but you *really* ought to try the in-the-dark disco bumper cars! You'll thank me later!
thunderbolt has a rlly good layout, but def a step below a eurofighter its not rough per-say but def shakey. the transitions were smooth but the trains shuffle around like crazy i feel if it was a smoother ride with a better and longer first drop it would easily be better than the standard euro fighter model oh and if it had better less sketchier restraints that arent literally just a plastic block over your lap lmao
Honestly I really liked thunderbolt. While I do call the restraints skyrush with comfort collars, I really enjoyed the layout, especially the inclined dive loop turnaround. Cyclone is def my fave there but I haven't ridden phoenix or any of the other new rides there so I hope to return sometime soon.
Zamperla coaster isn’t really all that welcomed to most locals but the flat rides are a different story are they great NOPE but they are serviceable at best. Now that Phoenix that’s a great ride and a good #2 to the Cyclone. Also I have a list of each seat for Painfulbolt. Left to right A1 A2 A3 1/3 are okay with 2 being perhaps the “best experience” B1-3 1/3 same story just a bit more rough and 2 has the best ride experience only because you can hear everyone’s pain and that’s a plus We don’t talk about the last row those are for tourist. Steeplechase is a fun Moto has its moments of roughing but overall I’d say maybe 4-5 more towards 4
Interesting that you had a smoother ride in the front of Thunderbolt; I had a smoother ride in the back (and middle) of it's facsimile Rollin' Thunder. I thought that the front of Rollin' Thunder was janky AF
The new roller coasters are average at best, aside from the Phoenix, which happens to be fun! Coneys original line up of the Cyclone, Tornado and Thunderbolt(wooden) was legendary. It will never be like that again, they had their chance to rebuild one, say the Tornado, yet they chose to put run of the mill rides in. This is Coney Island, the birthplace of the coaster and amusement park, it shouldn’t be average at all,
I think you're on to something with the edge vs. middle seat on Thunderbolt. I got front row, right-side edge seat and I found it unbearably janky. Didn't re-ride so I can't vouch for any other rows.
I don't really understand how you could bang your head on Thunderbolt, it seemed like I could almost shrug off the loose shoulder straps on my ride in 2019. they were lit just like car safety belts. are they different now? I could tell it was a but rough though, and the ops stapled as hard as possible (but I also don't mind that).
I rode the Cyclone in Car 2, row 1, and I don't know if that is a magic seat because one of the airtime hills gave me some serious ejector that I literally stood up. It was my only ride so I don't know if it was running good or average.
