The Carousel

I wonder what will happen to the beautiful carousel. Anyone heard anything?

It will probably be demolished.
*** Edited 11/16/2007 10:29:08 PM UTC by CPboy77***

^Doubt it. I'm sure they will find something to do with it, whether it be sending it to a park in need of a carousel, or just gutting it and using horses. Since I don't believe they have any other of those in the chain, none of the other parts are probably of any use.

Is anyone else in the chain missing a carousel?

The Geauga Lake Carousel is a 1926 M.C. Illions. It is probaly worth well over 3/4 of a million dollars. They ain't demolishing it.

WOF does not have an antique carousel. I don't know if MiA's is an old style hand carved wooden carousel or not. But just as CF moved CP's antique Frontierland Carousel to Dorney, I'd guess GL's will be moved to WOF, or possibly MiA.

Of course, they could move it to the GL & WWK waterpark, as well.

Michigan's Adventure has a carousel. I think it is just a basic carousel though. Here is a link to their website: http://www.miadventure.com/ride_carousel.shtml

.. actually.. it's a 1918 Illions..

Actually it was built in 1926. Illions built it for the Sesquincentennial in Philadephia that year beating out Wm. H. Dentzel for the contract. (Dentzel's machine was sold to Kennywood that winter).It operated in Birmingham AL from 1927 to 1937, then sold to Geauga Lake in '37.

*sigh*

Yep.. don't know what I'm talking about...

In the latest issue of ACE news, it says that the carousel is likely going to World's of Fun.

It was my business for over thirty years. I worked with the person that restored and maintained all the carousels at the Point up untill he left in 1977 (I joined up with him after his leaving). I remember when Funtime had to move it because the building was found to have a severe rot problem. As far as the provenence of this particular machine, I knew Barney Illions, the youngest of the Illions brothers. He said that it was assembled in '26, and he was always dead on when it came to the family business. I have no reason to have doubted him.

.. not what the plate on the inside of the ride itself says.. that's all I'm saying..

Is it the manufacturer plate Rob, or the one applied by the stare of Ohio? The last time I was in the motor room (AIMS conference late 1990's) I don't recall seeing one. If it is indeed a manufacturer's plate, it was not unusual for the builders to use components that they had in inventory, usually from trade ins. If it is a state inpection plate, they may have relied upon information furnished by the park, which from experience I (and the NCA, among others) have found to be not totally accurate.

Like I said Barney Illions said that his father assembled this machine to secure a contract at the fair in Philadelphia. The fact that he beat out Bill Dentzel for it (who was building a whole new machine) lends some credence to the possibilty that perhaps the frame and some other major componets were already on hand. Like i said the recycling of frames was very common in the business in those days.

KI could get the ferris wheel from GL. KI does not have one.