Pretzel Amusement Ride Company
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| Industry | Amusement Rides |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1928 |
| Founder | Leon Cassidy and Marvin Rempfer |
| Defunct | 1979 |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Bill Cassidy |
| Products | The Pretzel |
The Pretzel Amusement Ride Company was an amusement ride manufacturer which produced a variety of rides including a kind of dark ride known as The Pretzel, the namesake of the company. Pretzel built over 1400 pretzel rides and sold them to carnivals and parks.
Name
The name of the company and their original ride came from the twists in the ride's course.[1] A related story developed that the name from the comment of an unknown person who rode the prototype dark ride. That person said, "It felt like I was turned and twisted like a Pretzel".
History
The Pretzel Amusement Ride Company was established in 1928, after company founders Marvin Rempfer and Leon Cassidy patented a single-rail dark ride.[2] Their ride was constructed in Tumbling Dam Park on the banks of Sunset Lake in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The company remained in Bridgeton throughout its existence.
A large heavy pretzel design was originally affixed to the front of each car to prevent the car from flipping backwards. In 1929, a standard Pretzel ride had five cars, 350 feet of track, and was one and a half minutes per ride. A pretzel ride sold for $1,200.
Portable pretzel rides for carnivals weighed about 9 tons. They were unloaded from huge moving vans and set up. For the first 3 decades, Pretzel rides were single story. In the late 1950s, they started making double decker (2 story) rides. The ride carts were hoisted to the 2nd story by a lift chain. Leon Cassidy was not in favor of the double decker. The Mad Giant was 17 tons, 40'x 8' on trailer, and 70'x30' when opened up. It took about 5 hours to set it up. Pretzel also made spinning rides, including a famous one for Coney Island.
Leon's son William Cassidy ran the company after his father. William Cassidy sold the rights to build the rides in 1979.
List of rides
The rides were usually themed.
A few of the rides were: The Caveman, Haunted House, Lost Mine, Gold Nugget, Thunderbird Jr. Ride, Toonerville Trolley, Whirlo, Kiddie Circus, Devil's Cave/Pirate's Cove/Bucket O' Blood (the same ride rethemed), Devils Inn, Winter Wonderland, Orient Express, Mad Giant, Laff in the Dark, Laff in the Dark with spinning cars, Laffland, Pirates Cave, Pirates Den, Paris After Dark, Arabian Nights Tunnel of Love/Casper's Ghostland, Treasure Island, Spook-A-Rama, Le Cachot/Safari/Zoomerang, and 3 Dante's Infernos.
| Name | Location | First year | Last year | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haunted Pretzel | Historic Bushkill Park | |||
| Pretzel Ride | Unknown | |||
| The Pretzel | Bay Shore Park | Unknown | ||
| The Pretzel | Hersheypark | |||
| Devil's Den | Conneaut Lake Park | Operating | ||
| Haunted House | Camden Park | Operating | ||
| Laffland | Sylvan Beach Amusement Park | Operating |
References
- ^ Coleman, John P. (April 28, 2016). Historic Amusement Parks of Baltimore: An Illustrated History. McFarland. p. 26.
[The Pretzel] received its name from the ride's twisted curving layout that guests navigated in the dark.
- ^ Luca, Bill. "William Cassidy and The Pretzel Amusement Ride Company". Send 'em Out Laffing. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ Coleman, John P. (April 28, 2016). Historic Amusement Parks of Baltimore: An Illustrated History. McFarland. p. 26.
For the 1931 season, Bay Shore added the Pretzel dark ride.
- ^ "Hershey Park to Open For Season on Sunday". The Evening News. Harrisburg, PA. May 20, 1931. p. 2.
- ^ "Boys' Band Will Give Concerts at Hershey Park Memorial Day". The Evening News. Harrisburg, PA. May 29, 1931. p. 2.
- ^ "Hershey Park Adds Feature". Harrisburg Telegraph. April 28, 1931. p. 8.
External links
- Send 'Em Out Laffing The History of the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company
