Monday, July 8, 2019

Kennywood's Turtle

Over time, some parks looked to upgrade their "old" Tumble Bug rides to make them more appealing to return riders. For several parks, they found that a boost in popularity could be achieved by simply changing the ride's theme. In 1948, Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh decided to do just that.
It really wasn't that complicated: just reskin the cars a bit to give them a turtle-like look and install a new neon sign outside the entrance. Presto! More riders. 
The Turtle's very cool, old-school neon sign - the waves move up and down, and the bubbles rise from the mouths of the turtles.
Anyway, this Tumble was added in 1927. At the time, it had five cars. In 1948, when the current theme was applied, it was upgraded to six cars.
Compared to the noise of Conneaut Lake Park's Tumble Bug, which can be heard throughout the park, Kennywood's ride is relatively quiet; but this may just be due to the ride's position amidst several even louder roller coasters. Another notable contrast is the ride's padding on its seats, which makes riders not slide around as much as opposed to a flat surface, which can be found on Conneaut's Bug.

8 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Man, they really blew it, I truly believe that they should have used a tapeworm theme. RIDE THE WORM!

K. Martinez said...

The theming on this ride is so fun. It isn't "Disneyland" level theming, but who cares? It works great with the cool "turtle" cars and beautiful neon signage. This is one of the flat rides I was looking forward to you posting about. Thanks, Andrew.

Melissa said...

The turtle cars are totes adorbs.

Andrew said...

It's honestly good they left it as is. When parks try hard to be "Disney-quality," it often falls flat on its face. The neon totally makes the ride that much better!

Andrew said...

I agree. Their Tumble Bug brothers are so jealous of them.

Andrew said...

Ha! That sounds like it would be more fitting for a "Caterpillar" ride. Those had a canvas canopy that lifted up and covered the circular train of cars, making you a true "wiggly worm!" (or tapeworm or maggot or snake or whatever)

TokyoMagic! said...

This looks like a really fun ride. And I like the turtle heads, tails, and feet on this version. I hope I get the chance to experience a "Tumble Bug" ride someday!

Andrew said...

The decorations increase the "fun factor" 100%! They really are a unique type of ride.