Friday, July 19, 2019

Knoebels Roto-Jet

 Knoebels' Roto-Jet ride is a truly unique flat ride that has a ton of classic charm. I for one can't think of any rides like it that exist anywhere else in the country. The lights on the individual cars rock!
 Even cooler is the fact that this ride came from the famous theme park flop, Freedomland U.S.A. At least some elements of the park have went on thrilling people! Riders can control the height of their own car... but you all know that.

The whold thing is very reminiscent of the old Disneyland Astro Jets; the lighted center column is especially cool. 

6 comments:

K. Martinez said...

I had no idea this particular Roto-jet was from Freedomland U.S.A. Very cool fact. The lights on the ride vehicles and centerpiece and the red and yellow paint scheme are wonderful. Thanks, Andrew.

Andrew said...

I didn't know either until I looked it up!

Chuck said...

Hooray - a Freedomland survivor in the 21st Century! The two I knew at Cedar Point - San Francisco Earthquake and Buccaneer (which was creatively-renamed "The Pirate Ride") - were removed in 1985 and 1996.

Andrew said...

Yes! The third of the Freedomland darkrides, called Earthquake, was at my hometown park, Kennywood, until the late 1960s. It then went to a park in New York, where it operated until 2002.

Unknown said...

Starship America at Hershey was once like this, they updated it sometime in the 1980's to its current ride vehicles.

Bob Mangels said...

The ride was added to Freedomland in 1964 the last year of the park when some “thrill” rides were added.
It is unfair to call Freedomland a flop, or failure as the park was one of the best theme parks ever built that millions went to and still have fond memories of. It’s demise was planned, the land before Freedomland was a worthless swamp that became worth 25 million when it was time to build Co-op City, which also went bankrupt and was bailed out by NY Taxpayers.
Bob Mangels