Coney Island

The Cyclone at Coney

In Real Life

Coney Island is home to a number of amusement parks and is known to be a mecca of entertainment. New York City's largest amusement park, Astroland, is located at Coney Island.

Astroland

Astroland saw its peak of popularity within the 1970s and 1980s in Coney Island. There was everything needed to accomodate visitors within the park. But lately, through poor management and an even poorer surrounding neighborhood, the amusement park is less than anything safe.

The famous wooden rollercoaster, the Cyclone, still runs daily and receives repairs the most out of any of the other rides there simply because it is a historical landmark and must be regularly restored to keep running.

Other famous landmarks are the Wonder Wheel, a 150 ft ferris wheel, which was also built within the 1920s, and the Parachute Jump.

The Wonder Wheel still operates today and what sets this ferris wheel apart from so many others is that it has two lines of enclosed cars to ride upon. One set of cars, the colored ones, are settled more towards the middle of the wheel and when certain heights are reached, the cars swing forward along metal tracks. The other set of cars are white in color and line the very outter points of the wheel. These do not swing like the colored cars do, but they do have a higher view than the swinging cars.

Deaths Within the Park

In recent years, Astroland has become known as one of the cheapest and unsafe amusement parks within New York City. Many of the rides do not receive regular inspection checks as they should. Due to this, there are rides that are very unsafe to ride on.

• One ride has four cars linked together that turn to a standing position and whip the passengers around, their heads being left to slam against the metal back of the car instead of a cushion that should be there.
• Others are neglected to a point due to lack of care from the employees, such as one spinning musical ride that is allowed to spin so fast backwards (against many park regulations) that the riders heads almost touch the metal floor below them due to the cars swinging too rapidly.
• The Parachute Ride, which was open back in the 1930s and later closed down would pull people into the air while they sat within a small metal seat with a thin metal bar to hold them in place. Many people have slipped out of the seats and fell to their death as they reached the top of the ride, causing the ride to be shut down.
• Within the 1990s, Astroland's haunted houses, including one named The Hell Hole, both malfunctioned, sending passengers flying from their seats, where they were later killed and an investigation of the rides took place.

New York Aquarium

The only aquarium within New York City limits is housed right beside Astroland, the New York Aquarium. The aquarium features over 8,000 sea animals, including sea lions, sea turtles, and beluga whales which can be seen through a large glass window within the gift shop.

Like the various zoos within the city, the aquarium was taken over and renovated by The Wildlife Conservation Society. The layout of the aquarium is small, but many of the animals are seen through specialized houses, which are either buildings or walk through exhibits that show various sea life. Some of the exhibits are out in the open though, such as the sea otters, penguins, and walruses.

Coney Island Boardwalk

The boardwalk at Coney Island has been a local hot spot since the late 1800s. Back then, the boardwalk thrived with various boardwalk games, patrons going onto the beach, and others wanting to get something to eat.

It was here that the very first Nathan's became famous for its hot dog recipe and the original Nathan's stall, which was opened in the late 1800s is still open and operational. The stall also holds a yearly hot dog eatting contest within the summer, where for at least the past 4 years, Takeru Kobayashi of Japan has won the contest and broken Guiness world records yearly with the amount that he is able to eat. As of 2006, the Guiness world record for most hot dogs eaten stands at 53 and 3/4 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, which Takeru set. A few arcades and bars line the boardwalk as well.

Freakshows

Away from the boardwalk and more towards the streets, is the famous freakshow exhibits, which are a landmark of Coney Island today. They were opened back in the late 1800s for visitors and featured various oddities as a two headed pig fetus, pictures drawn of a man with elephant sized ears, and other various oddities.

Although the shows don't draw as much attention as they used to, the freakshows still stand and still have the old drawings and strange animals in phamaldehide jars. Also, they still hold shows of men that are able to hammer nails through their nasal cavities, eat fire, and people that have had extreme body modification art and surgery done to themselves.

• ConeyIsland.com

On the Game

Coney Island is accessible through Brooklyn and provides a recreation destination for a number of characters.

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