Well it opened as Kiddieland and was "moved" here in 2010. I put that in quotes because the only original things from the ride is like the sign and the megaphone. I assume everything else is reconstructed. The current queue line gives good views of the first bits of Batman.
It seems like the other side always wins on American Eagle Also, I've ridden Goliath 23 times in one day. HBU? (Sorry in advance for unnecessary commas and parenthesis every where)
My first post! Although when I went to register, my email address was already registered so perhaps I did post on here years ago : )
I worked at Kiddieland Amusement Park about 20 years ago. The biggest thing that changed with the move to Great America is the automatic braking system. At Kiddieland, the attendant would have to push a giant lever (about 4 feet high) that jutted out of the platform. Often (about once a week I'd say), the lever wouldn't "catch" the train and the train would just go around and around and around.....and around! Until someone on maintenance could finally managed to catch it with the lever. Incidentally, the first time I rode Little Dipper at Great America, the brakes malfunctioned and it went around about 4 times. Brought back some great memories. If you look at the construction photos on Great America's facebook page, you can see that some of the supports already had white paint on them and some didn't. I would estimate that about 50-60% of the coaster is original to Kiddieland? It was originally installed in 1950 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. It was very sad for me to see Ron Rynes (one of Kiddeland's owners) at the opening ceremony at Great America. About once a month during the summer, Kiddieland's owners would hold an after-hours party for the kids who worked there. We were able to ride any ride that had an attendant around to operate it--and we often didn't follow proper safety procedures. We rode the Little Dipper standing up, sitting backwards, we would jump off of it in the middle, jump back on, run up and down the lift hill, etc. Nowadays that kind of stuff wouldn't be tolerated (and rightly so).
Shockwave88 wrote:About once a month during the summer, Kiddieland's owners would hold an after-hours party for the kids who worked there. We were able to ride any ride that had an attendant around to operate it--and we often didn't follow proper safety procedures. We rode the Little Dipper standing up, sitting backwards, we would jump off of it in the middle, jump back on, run up and down the lift hill, etc. Nowadays that kind of stuff wouldn't be tolerated (and rightly so).
I think that was awesome that you got many "after hours" rides! I had to laugh about your "alternate riding" of Little Dipper, and I thought I might have done the same as a teenager! Now I definitely know better of course
Single Day Ride Count Record
50 rides 8/17/2018 (Without Flash Pass - Coasters After Dark)