Midway carousel looking worse for wear

I went to CP about a month ago and rode the midway carousel for probably the first time after going to the park for over 10 years. I just never make it up that way after parking in the back. I noticed that the carousel itself was looking pretty shabby on the inside. The center column's paint was chipped and spotted. The Wurlitzer 153 wasn't playing at all, instead music was being piped out of speakers hidden somewhere in the middle. Overall, I was certainly less than impressed with the 1946 classic carousel.

While searching, I came across this post: http://www.pointbuzz.com/cpplace.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=3416
where it was talked about the outside row of horses not working, the poles not being fully polished,etc. I understand that it is not always feasible to keep every ride in tip-top shape, especially non-coasters, but I'm surprised that a classic ride smack in front of the main entrance is in such a state. *** Edited 7/21/2005 5:42:58 PM UTC by Chuck Wagon***

The outside horses are stationary for a reason. However, you must go to Knoebel's in Elysburg, PA to find out why.

I find that it is a shame we're finding the Wurlitzer organ sitting idle as I was fortunate to meet someone with a collection of these awesome peices of machinery. Nothing can ever replace the real sound of a pipe organ.

Sure the carousel is wearing down and probably has chips in the paint, but they are well taken care of. Stop by the wood shop on Frontier Trail and check it out. Last year they were rebuilding a leg for one of the horses on the carousel in Kiddie Kingdom.

~Rob Willi

It is a shame that the old organs aren't found in many places anymore.

The only one I know of that's sure to last is the one at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI. I love that place, their carousel, train, ferry boat (it's not authentic, but it has a boiler and stairs from an authentic misissippi ferry), and model-T rides.

It's sad that I can say that I have never ridden the two carousels at Cedar Point.

With regard to the outside horses on the Müller carousel...

There is something very strange about the Midway Carousel. Over the years it has received a number of modifications. I remember that prior to 1994 (when it was moved to its present location), for example, the sweeps held flourescent lights and the platform was covered with green Astro-turf. If you look closely at the outside row horses, you will notice that they are all in jumping positions, which is inconsistent with standard practice for a carousel. Also, the crank-shafts have clearly been cut, and in fact on the chariot rows, the crank shafts extend out an additional section, with an empty crank turning over the chariot.

This is all mechanical evidence to suggest (though not to prove) that the outside row of horses were once set up to jump up and down. There are publications out there which claim that the outer row of standing horses was removed from the ride at some time in the past. It is not clear whether the changes happened at Cedar Point, at Revere Beach (I think that's where the Midway Carousel came from...) or perhaps during the move from one to the other. If there was a fifth row of horses standing around the ride, then the platform has been re-sized, as there really is not enough room around the perimeter of the ride for a fifth row of horses. It is also possible that it was once an all-jumping machine, although if that is the case it seems odd that the cranks would be removed from the outside row.

Any historians have better insight into this one?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I've seen an old postcard of this machine at Revere Beach, and it indeed had an outside row of stationary horses. This was a FITH row. They were right on the edge, which leads to the speculation that they were added after the machine was originally built. A four row all jumping horse park machine was not all that unusual. That decision was made by the purchaser.

As far as it's history at the Point, when I worked there in the early 1970's it still had the ugly masonite and flourescent lights over top of the original scenery. The cranks had begun giving maintenance problems, as the weight of those big outside row Mueller jumpers and their now heavier riders strained them to the breaking point frequently. After Tom Layton restored it back to it's original look in, I believe 1975-76 (Tom left the Point in 77) the decision was made to convert the outside row to stationary figures. The PR version of the story was that since the other two carousels had stationary outside rows they wanted the Midway machine to have one, too.

Also, when it was moved to it's present location, whoever was in charge of the move didn't bother to mark and number the pieces as it came down. They had real problems getting it back up and it didn't run right for a couple of seasons untill they finally got all of the pieces back in their proper position. These machines are what is call fitted, in otherwords the parts are not interchangable. If you don't put the part back where it came from, it will give you an unimaginable amount of grief.

Where was its previous location in the park?

The Raptor plaza area, in front of the restrooms.

http://www.schmidty.com/miscimages/mainmidway8.jpg

Midway Carrousel isn't taken care of as well as you would think. I worked on it last year, and it hardly EVER needs mechanical maitnence to begin with. I think we shut that ride down less than 5 times last year for a mechanical reason. (It dosen't go down for weather either except for when they tell everyone in the park to seek shelter and demon/carrousel crew hides in the electrical room) The main thing that we had problems are the horses constantly fall apart, legs and tails fell off of it all the time last year. The little jewels fall off all the time and have to be replaced, and it takes months for them to replace one, I have one that I found laying on the platform as a souvineer, my own piece of my ride, Although the new queue line rail was a nice addition because when it did get busy, mostly on physics day, the line never used the big open fenced in area, they would just line up down the midway

Walt, isn't that where it is now?

They built a new building , pretty much just inside the main gate and moved it into it when they installed Raptor. From 1946 until then it was on the bay side of the Midway, near the Pirate Ride and Mill Race. It was a concession untill the early 60's when George Roose and Emil Lagross started buying out the concessionaires.

Ohh, looking at the picture closer, now I get it. Thanks.