The Dark Ride - A South Jersey Thing

Every Amusement Park Had One - The First Was In Bridgeton, NJ,  They Were Invented And Built There Too!

  "The Man With The Smile Rode The Pretzel A Mile" - early Pretzel Amusement Ride Co slogan

During the early 20th century, people had more disposable wealth and leisure time. Many looked for ways to spend their time on recreation, and during the summer months, to escape the heat and grime of the cities. It was then that amusement parks became popular. 

Entrance to Clementon Lake Park

About fifteen parks arose in Southern New Jersey. Woodlynne, Clementon, Riverview, Burlington Island, Washington Park, Union Lake and Alcyon where among the more popular. The citizens of South Jersey also had the option of escaping to the shore with many attractions along the  cooling oceans. 

Union Lake Park, Millville, NJ

The Airship Ride at Wood Lynn Park. It Was Horse Powered ( Note Horse On Left)

With so many choices, the parks looked for ways the attract customers and this demand led to development of the amusement ride industry. At first most parks had just a couple rides, a carousel, slides, swings, games, boating and swimming, etc. They mostly attracted customers with concerts, vaudeville shows, dances, bowling alleys and skating rinks.

The Roller Skating Rink at Alcoyn Park, Pitman, NJ

Carousel at Washington Park, Westville, NJ

But people wanted to go faster, higher and looked for excitement. Soon thrill rides appeared, like the Scenic Railway which later evolved into the roller coaster. At first rides were manually or horse powered but later powered by steam or gas engines and then electricity.   Trains, bumper cars, the Whip, kiddies rides, fun houses and ferris wheels emerged.

The Greyhound Roller Coaster at Island Beach Amusement Park  Burlington NJ  1922-1928

Another innovation was the "dark ride". The first of these was the "Old Mill" or the "Tunnel of Love", where you would ride a boat thru dark tunnels that would contain various themed scenes and would sometimes end with a plunge down a chute into a pool. A forerunner of today's log flume ride. These rides were usually tame and not meant to be scary, but just riding in the dark was a exciting and popular innovation. One was built around 1919 at Clementon Lake Park in South Jersey. Very few still exist, but can still be found at Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh and Playland Park in New York.

The Old Mill Ride and chute plunge at Dorney Park, Allentown, PA

Another famous water mill ride existed for over 80 years on the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ. It was first called "Ye Old Mill, and was located at Cedar Ave next to the Jack Rabbit Coaster. It  was known by many as the "Tunnel of Love"  and still later had a circus and then an Arabian Nights theme. In 1977 it became the Dungeon Boat ride as part of the Castle Dracula attraction. It burned down in a spectacular fire in 2002. 

Ye Old Mill, Wildwood, NJ

The Wildwood Mill Ride Later the "Arabian Nights" 
and then Part of Dracula's Castle

Dark Rides changed forever in 1928. Tumbling Dam Park in Bridgeton, NJ  was looking for something new and exciting to attract customers.   They wanted to install an Old Mill but they did not have the money.

  

Tumbling Dam Park, Bridgeton, NJ

  

 Leon Cassidy and Marvin Rempfler, the park operators, came up with an idea. They took an electric motor from a bumper car and attached it to two seater car. The three wheeled car was designed to run along a single electrified rail track along the floor. The ride was installed in a darkened  room on one end of a dance pavilion that stood on edge of Sunset Lake. The ride featured twisting and turning but little else. "Stunts" like sounds, lights and the sudden appearance  scary or funny figures and special effects were added later.

The Pavilion on Sunset Lake at Tumbling Dam Park, Where the First Dark Ride Was Installed. (note 90 ft Airplane Ride Tower on the Left)

The ride premiered at the season opening of the park on Memorial Day weekend .

 From an article in the Bridgeton Evening News: 

"The park will have a brand new ride, so new that it hasn't yet been named and is the only one like it in the country. The manufacturers of this new device have made a big concession to the local park people in setting up their first machine Tumbling Dam Park and because of its newness plans to have the people of Bridgeton furnish a name for it. The ride has been tested out and tried under all sorts of operating conditions and has been pronounced by the favored few who have tried it to be a great ride and one that will be immensely popular"

The first riders were asked to suggest a name for the ride and the winner was awarded a $5 gold piece. A few weeks later it ws announced that a girl names Miriam Dawson of Penn Street in Bridgeton won the prize for her suggestion of "Firefly" that was inspired by
the flashes of light that came from the bottom of the car caused by the electrical connection between the car and the track.

The ride was a huge success and soon there was great interest from other parks. The ride was patented in 1929. In the design, the patent included a "vestibule at the
entrance and exit where there would be a set of swinging double doors to keep the light from the interior of the building. 

US Patent for the First Dark Ride

 Leon Cassidy decided to buy out his partner's share in the ride and go into the dark ride business. He  changed the name of the ride to the "Pretzel Ride" because he did not like the idea of sparks being associated with a dark house ride and his riders remarked that the  twist and turns of the ride were reminiscent of a pretzel. He named his business The Pretzel Amusement Ride Co.

Leon Cassidy

An Original Pretzel Car - Used Only Briefly

The first rides were installed locally at Wildwood, Clementon and Riverview Beach in Pennsville, NJ. Special effects were added. Some were very simple like lengths of thread hanging from the ceiling that would touch unsuspected rides on the face and head. Other stunts would be activated as the car pushed a lever or rod that would activate sudden sounds, light up or move scary scenes or figures. Many time these effect were placed where the car made a sudden turn. Bumps in the track would suggest that the ride was malfunctioning or derailing and add to the excitement. These stunts got more and more sophisticated as time went on and many were added by the parks themselves.

Visual Stunts in Early Pretzel Dark Rides

Floor Rods & Levels Would Activate Stunts and  Noisemakers.  Bumps and Hills Along the Tracks Added Excitement.

Lit Dark Rides

Cassidy purchased some old trolley barns in Bridgeton to use as his manufacturing facility.  Soon he had 30 employees.  His dark rides were being installed throughout the country and some overseas. Portable versions that used large tents were rented by state fairs and exhibitions. The cars were redesigned to resemble the push carts of the Atlantic City boardwalk and decorated with a large pretzel shape that was actually a 40lb cast metal piece used to counter-balance to keep the car from jumping the track. A standard Pretzel ride in 1930 had five cars, 350 feet of track and gave a ride of one and a half minutes in duration. Purchase price was $1,200

Former Trolley Barns  - The former home of the Pretzel Ride Amusement Co, Bridgeton, NJ

The Pretzel Ride Car

1930 - Early Pretzel Ride Installed in a Double Tent at the Canadian National Exposition 

Early Pretzel Rides

The Pretzel Dark Ride became a staple in hundreds of Amusement Parks and the company continued to operate successfully until World War II. The war caused a shortage of materials, especially steel, to build new rides and the business came to a halt. By the end of the war, Leon Cassidy was ready to call it quits, but then his son William stepped in to continue the business.

William Cassidy Took Over Operations of the Pretzel Co in 1947

The Pretzel Co continued to thrive for decades and continued to innovate and even added new type rides. The Dark rides got larger and even expanded to two levels. Traveling carnival and amusement operators purchased or leased portable versions. Later these 2 story rides stopped using electric motors and used the force of gravity to propel the cars down an incline.

The Pretzel Co Delivery Truck ("Manufactured In Bridgeton")

First Double Decker Pretzel Ride - Seaside Heights, NJ

Seaside Heights

Atlantic City NJ

Clementon NJ

The Haunted Pretzel, Bushkill Falls, PA. Destroyed In A Flood a Few Years Ago

A Re-Themed Pretzel Ride - Palisades Park , NJ

Coney Island installed a Pretzel 10 minute dark ride with 1/4 mile of track called Spook-A-Rama. A shorten version operated until recently.    Pretzel would hire graphic artist to create elaborately decorated facades for the front of the rides.

Spook A Rama - Coney Island NY.

 Monsters Den, Marine Pier Wildwood, NJ

Mars, Casino Pier Wildwood, NJ. 
A Fire Here In 1964 Resulted In The Death of Three Children

 A 1950's Video Showing the mars Ride in Wildwood.

Nightmare Pretzel Ride, Wildwood 1959

A few original Pretzel's dark rides can still be found today. One is in Sylvan Beach Park In New York. That one still has many of the original stunts and effects. Another is in Sandy Lake Texas and still operates as the "Pretzel". Both of these rides use the 1930's cars with the pretzel shape design.

Laffland at Sylvan Beach NY

A video of the inside of Laffland with the lights on.

 

Original Car, Sandy Lake Tx

The Only One Still Called The "Pretzel", Sandy Lake Tx

Over the years many were found
on seashore amusement piers and boardwalks like those in Atlantic City, Wildwood, Seaside Heights and Coney Island.Themes would also change over the years, ghost ,clowns, outer space, dinosaurs. mines, cavemen, pirates, monsters and devils. They also redesigned some of their cars so they would spin. Pretzel also made some kiddie and car rides.

In 1953 Pretzel Offered a New Rotating Car That Could Run on Existing Rides and Tracks. However Many Ride Operators Who Purchased Them  Later Removed the Spinning Feature Because Many Riders Complained That It Was Disorienting and Cause Them To Turn Away From Many Of The Visual Stunts. 

  A Video of  Restored Spinning Car

A Pretzel Co Car Ride 1960's. At First They Were Thunderbirds, 
and Later Mustangs and Jeeps

Pretzel Also Made A Gas Powered Go-Cart

Another Kiddie Ride That Held Up To Twelve Children.

A Pretzel Toonerville Ride on The Wildwood Baordwalk 1950's

At The Cleveland Zoo 1962

Another Pretzel Kiddie Ride

The Pretzel Whirlo Spinning Kiddie Ride

Whirlo

Pretzel continued in business until 1979, but their legacy in the amusement ride industry is timeless and legendary.  Disney and Universal certainly owe a debt of gratitude to what started in South Jersey. Over their history Pretzel  made over 1000 dark rides and hundreds of other types. Only a few of their original rides still exist but many of the parts, cars and stunts have been salvaged to create other rides. Perhaps the best Dark Ride still operating is located at Knoebel's Grove Amusement Park in Elysburg, Pa. It uses Pretzel cars and track and although it is of Knoebel's own design, it uses many stunts and effects inspired by Pretzel. 

Thanks to laffinthedark.com for their help with this article

 Knoebels Haunted Mansion Videos with Light On

 

 

Knoebels Haunted Mansion

A Few More Pretzel Rides