Pretzel Amusement Ride Company
Encyclopedia
The Pretzel Amusement Ride Company was a famous manufacturer of pretzel dark ride
s. Pretzel built over 1400 pretzel rides and sold them to carnivals and parks. Leon Cassidy invented and patented the single-rail dark ride in 1928. The company originated in Tumbling Dam Park on the banks of Sunset Lake
in Bridgeton, New Jersey
. A rider said that "It felt like I was turned and twisted like a Pretzel", so the name Pretzel was chosen. 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 a 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
.
The rides were usually themed. A few of the rides were : Pretzel Ride (1930), 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. The Haunted Pretzel
in Historic Bushkill Park
, Easton, PA was built in 1927, and was one of the oldest surviving dark rides in the U.S. until it was destroyed by a flood in 2004.
Leon's son William Cassidy ran the company after his father. William Cassidy sold the rights to build the rides in 1979.
Dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride where riders in guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music, and special effects....
s. Pretzel built over 1400 pretzel rides and sold them to carnivals and parks. Leon Cassidy invented and patented the single-rail dark ride in 1928. The company originated in Tumbling Dam Park on the banks of Sunset Lake
Sunset Lake (New Jersey)
Sunset Lake is a medium-sized reservoir located in and near the city of Bridgeton in southern New Jersey . The reservoir lies mostly in the townships of Hopewell Township and Upper Deerfield Township. The lake was created by damming a stream that feeds to the area from above Seeley Lake...
in Bridgeton, New Jersey
Bridgeton, New Jersey
Bridgeton is a city in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States, in the south part of the state, on the Cohansey River, near Delaware Bay. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 25,349. It is the county seat of Cumberland County...
. A rider said that "It felt like I was turned and twisted like a Pretzel", so the name Pretzel was chosen. 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 a 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
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
.
The rides were usually themed. A few of the rides were : Pretzel Ride (1930), 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
Spook-a-Rama
The Spook-a-Rama is a dark ride from the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company located at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park on Coney Island and run by Million Amusement Corp.. The rider is pulled around in a car resembling an old wooden barrel...
, Le Cachot/Safari/Zoomerang, and 3 Dante's Infernos. The Haunted Pretzel
Historic Bushkill Park
Historic Bushkill Park is located in Easton, Pennsylvania. It is a small amusement park, generally geared toward younger audiences. It operated continuously from 1902-2004, and during the Summer of 2006, and has been closed since then. In 1933, Thomas Long leased Bushkill Park, furnishing it with...
in Historic Bushkill Park
Historic Bushkill Park
Historic Bushkill Park is located in Easton, Pennsylvania. It is a small amusement park, generally geared toward younger audiences. It operated continuously from 1902-2004, and during the Summer of 2006, and has been closed since then. In 1933, Thomas Long leased Bushkill Park, furnishing it with...
, Easton, PA was built in 1927, and was one of the oldest surviving dark rides in the U.S. until it was destroyed by a flood in 2004.
Leon's son William Cassidy ran the company after his father. William Cassidy sold the rights to build the rides in 1979.
External links
- Send 'Em Out Laffing The History of the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company