N Train to Coney Island
Looking back as we cross the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn
It was a much chillier day than I expected. I was on my way out the door of my apartment in Astoria and I turned around to get rid of my jacket cuz I thought it was way too warm to hold onto it all day long. Boy, was a wrong. Coney Island is right on the ocean, and pretty stiff wind was blowing most of the day. I needed a hoodie anyway, so we ducked into a souvenir shop and I bought one that says Coney Island on it.
Brie and I then stopped for lunch at the original Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. I should have gotten two corn dogs instead of one, but at least we had enough fuel to go on.
We were right next to Astroland at this point, so we headed a little ways up the boardwalk and went inside. It's definitely a run-down carny at this point, but it was fun to walk through. I used my cell phone to take little videos of the following kiddie rides. My apologies for the noise -- it was really windy!
I got a real kick out of this little drop ride. Very cute.
The pirate Galleons were so colorful!
This big ferris wheel has the kind of buckets that move
back and forth on these little tracks as the entire wheel moves!
We didn't go on it, though.
We also strolled along the beach for a while and got our feet wet
The Cyclone!
There's an old, historic wooden coaster here called the Cyclone that is quite a thrill ride, considering how old it is! It's a little scary to ride a wooden coaster that's that old, but this park has its days numbered and I'd hate to have missed out on a chance to ride this thing. Actually, I'm pretty sure that this coaster is supposed to be left untouched as Thor Equities decides how to develop the remaining land.
We walked past it on the boardwalk to see it in action
and decide for sure we wanted to ride it!
Queueing up
Very, very bumpy ride, even with all the padding in our seats and lapbars. Lots of fun, though! I'm very glad we went on it. The first drop is amazingly steep.
After this, we walked up the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and took a train home. Once again, it's impossible to go anywhere in NY without being immersed in cultural and ethnic diversity. We passed by a community of Russian Jews who live in this area, complete with restaurants whose signage is in Cyrillic.
OK! Enough for one post!
3 comments:
Yum! Nathan's sounds delicious and has us all drooling. What software did you use to do the mapping video?
This coaster reminds me of The Rattler @ 6 Flags, SA. Have you been on that one? http://www.sixflags.com/fiestaTexas/rides/TheRattler.aspx
Andy and my girls went on it, but there's no way I could. I went on the more modern and tame one just before and couldn't even open my eyes - I was pathetic :)
It's funny that you should mention the Rattler because they felt similar to me. Yes, I've been on it, and I've even been on it during that first year or two of its operation before they toned it down.
Initially, there were a LOT of g's at the bottom of that first, really steep drop. Enough people complained of whiplash that they altered the first drop to make it a tiny bit less severe.
The wikipedia entry on the Rattler states "The Rattler is currently the world's fourth tallest wooden coaster and has the fifth largest drop, although it would still rank third in this category had its first drop not been shortened from 166 to 124 feet several years after its opening."
I haven't been on it in a while, but I remember it being a very bumpy ride!
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