Cedar Downs

This is a must ride for all amusement park buffs especially those of us who are interested in amusement park history. Not only is this ride a beautiful carousel and a classic ride but it also keeps the memory of Euclid Beach park alive. The former Euclid Beach was a great oldtime park that closed forever in 1969. A few years before the end came the park decided to remove the historic ride and replaced it with temporary carnival rides. Cedar Point was able to buy the ride and installed it in 1967 preserved this ride for generations of park fans for years to come.

By the way the ride is a a lot of fun as well.

May Cedar Downs run forever!

Cedar Downs is a Must Ride on every trip.

-- Harley

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CP fan since 68.

My sister and I love Cedar Downs! For some reason, we always find ourselves laughing like crazy whenever we ride it; we always ride next to one another and "bet" who will be ahead at the end of the ride. It's a classic requirement that we ride it when we're spending an afternoon at the park.

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~Lee~

Group Sales ATL '01
Group Sales TL '02
Park Admissions Supervisor '03
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"The greatest leaders don't take credit for their actions; they don't have to."

Its a great ride! I love the flowers CP has in the middle circle! How many "Cedar Downs" are left? I don't think there are that many!
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----Jesus Freak----

*** This post was edited by newt 2/28/2003 10:47:33 AM ***

I think Cedar Downs is one of only two racing derbys left.

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Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!

There are two in the US (Cedar Point and Rye Playland), and one in the UK (Blackpool). My understanding is that while the Cedar Point and Playland rides are both Prior & Church machines, the one at Blackpool is actually a copy of the Playland machine.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Trying to remember where he heard that...

Other than coasters, Cedar Downs is my favorite ride in the park. It is a must ride on every visit. I got my wife (then fiancee) to ride it for the first time in 2000. She now loves it & we make sure we ride it every time we're there. I've been riding it since my first visit to the park in the late 70's, after my family moved to Cleveland from Cincinnati.

My second favorite flat at CP. First fav flat is Power Towew

The ride at Cedar Point is the only one where the horses race each other. The Derby rides at Rye Beach Playland (Rye Beach, NY), and at Blackpool (UK) are stationary models.

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Tim Howe--Charlotte/Lansing, Michigan
CP every year, 1974-2002.

I've also heard that the Blackpool ride is something other than Prior and Church.

I've wondered about that scene in the PBS flim "Great Old Amusement Parks" when they show the operators of the derby at Rye jumping on and off the ride while it is moving.

Why do they do that?

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everything's better with a banjo

The Playland and Blackpool rides are not supposed to be stationary-horse models! In fact, somewhere around here I have a copy of Carousel News and Trader that describes the Playland machine operations in great detail and points out the operational difficulties of moving horses as they have operators riding the platform. The article is about ten years old, so they may not presently race the horses. But the mechanism is there (or at least was).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.