The Old Time rides at Paradise Pier - Walking Without Walt 2
3,976 views · Published 4 February 2018 · 23:50 · Indexed 27 September 2026
Channel: Toy Man Television · 2018 · Education
This week we are back to Paradise Pier to ride the recreated old time rides, a Wonder Wheel and a Traver Swing. The Traver Swing is called The Zephyr and the Wonder Wheel is called Mickey's Fun Wheel. ****************************************************************** From the web: Legend has it that a diphtheria-stricken Traver was lying on a cattle boat to Europe, staring up at the sky, when he saw seagulls circling overhead. This immediately inspired Traver to create a ride that simulated their flight. Or did it? Traver himself claimed this was the story behind his now-famous Circle Swing. It's likely that his inspiration had a little help, however. Traver surely heard about or perhaps even saw Charles Braaf's early version of a circle swing while working as a mechanical engineering trainee at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi World's Fair in Omaha, Nebraska. Braaf had teamed up with a carousel maker in 1894 to manufacture a circle swing, but the carousel maker didn't get that the point of the ride was to rotate quickly so the individual pods would swing out. No one found the slow ride exciting, so Traver was able to capture the market eight years later with an exciting, fast ride. The success of the Circle Swing gave Traver the money and confidence to go on to design the most infamous roller coasters of all time. Built c. 1926 at the same time as Coney Island's Cyclone, Traver's "Terrible Trio" consisted of the Cyclone at Crystal Beach, the Lightning at Revere Beach and the Cyclone at Palisades Park. None of them had a foot of straight track except the lift ramp. If you haven't yet seen a picture of these monsters, definitely have a search online. Mickey's Fun Wheel is a recreation of a Wonder Wheel. The Wonder Wheel was invented by Charles Herman as an improvement on G.W.G. Ferris' giant wheel. Built for Herman J. Garms, Sr. between 1918 and 1920 by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company, it was opened on Memorial Day, 1920. Herman originally called it the "Dip-the-Dip", promising to combine in his new invention the thrill of a scenic railway, the fun of a Ferris wheel, and the excitement of the Chute-the-Chutes. An article written about the ride in Science and Invention said the Wheel was a "real thrill like you have probably never had before-at least not at this great height. On June 7, 1983, Deno D. Vourderis bought the Wonder Wheel from Fred Garms, whose father Herman had been its first owner-operator, and it became "Deno's Wonder Wheel". The Vourderis family restored the Wheel and made it the central attraction of "Deno's Wonder Wheel Park". In 1989, it was designated as a "New York City Landmark" by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Since it opened, over 35 million rides have been given on the Wheel.
