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. These barrels look like connected cars, but separate from each other at the beginning of the ride, so the rider must go in alone, passing paintings that change imagery, and a skeleton before the car itself forces the doors open. Inside, the ride is one large, poorly-lit room. One can see many of the exhibits in the distance before one approaches them.
Views include zombies, the face of an ogre composed of light bulbs, a devil slashing an axe toward the rider, a man in a straitjacket being electrically shocked, heads popping out of barrels, and a gruesome man being killed in an electric chair. On the way out of the ride, stringy objects hang from the ceiling to provide an extra fright.
The ride lasts about 45 seconds and proceeds in roughly a u-shape, with small sharp curves. At one time, the ride ran over ten minutes and was billed as the longest ride on Coney Island, and the longest spook ride in the world.[1] The current area is less than one-third of the original ride[2], and its views may be quite different from what was once located there. The arcade and shooting gallery that now stand next to it were once part of the ride, while another portion of the ride was outdoors, the displays there lit only at night. This area is now the walled walkway to the children's portion of the park.
Outside the ride is a mechanical emcee in the form of a Grim Reaper with many beings quivering about in his upper chest. On the roof is a very large, broad skeleton holding a spear that appears to be a caricature of a jungle native.
The ride's current admission price is $5.00.
There is a video of the entire (as it currently exists) 52 year-old Pretzel ride on you tube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=4d5GtclbEmU).
References
See also
External links
Spook-a-Rama 50th birthday [1]
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