Sylvan Beach Amusement Park - 2024 visit

We've been here before on Bayern Kurve Blog, but this summer I returned to one of my favorite time capsules, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park on Oneida Lake in Upstate New York. Since my last visit, the park has refurbished several of its rides with new paint jobs, and I am thankful this park has an owner who truly cares about it. However, paint is pretty much the only thing that changes at Sylvan Beach. The park is perfect as is, a delightful collection of vintage rides that reminds visitors of a time when similar lakeside amusement parks dotted the country.

I adore vintage kiddie rides (I'm weird, I know), and Sylvan Beach has a wonderful collection. Take the kiddie Ferris wheel, which is cable-driven and much taller than other rides of its type. 

The kiddieland includes a rare Allan Herschell tank ride. The park also has the more common Herschell kiddie sky fighter, which uses the same guns. I don't think they work here anymore, but the guns originally made a loud mechanical clicking sound.

One ride at the park that is virtually unheard of today is the Rotor, but the Sylvan Beach model is currently standing but not operating. I was fortunate enough to experience it in 2017, and sticking to the wall when the floor dropped was quite the sensation!

Just like the rides, the arcades at Sylvan Beach are stuck in time. I love the vintage signage for these poker machines ("three in a line" references different nearby machines).

There is no shortage of skee ball here, and next to the Playland arcade is another sought-after game once common in old amusement parks.

It's Fascination! But here we break for vintage neon.

The premise of Fascination is simple (roll the ball and light five in a row), but it's addictive and a great way to spend a quarter... or several quarters! 

I could really appreciate the vintage look of this room, with the tile flooring, classic announcer booth, and the rounded glass counter that I'm sure once held all manner of wonderful prizes.

It can't be easy to keep a fleet of vintage arcade games like this in operating condition, so props to the park for keeping them going.

There's also an old shooting gallery at the park. The guns use light beams, so if you take a flash picture, every target goes off at once. It's kind of ridiculous and hilarious. Watch the video above at your own risk.

Of course, the main reason I came to Sylvan Beach is for the vintage dark ride, Laffland. This 1954 dark ride represents an era in dark ride history that is not preserved anywhere else. For one, it's the last ride of hundreds built by the Pretzel Amusement Ride Co. to still feature its trademark cars with yellow Pretzel counterweights. And it's kept in absolutely impeccable condition.

There's no line, so you know that I am about to take more than one ride on this one-of-a-kind classic. With an unmistakable electric humming and clicking sound, the car lurches around the corner and bangs through the first set of doors into the ride.

I believe this "Ride and Laugh" window was originally used for a Laffing Sal or other ballyhoo-type figure.

You can't see this in the darkness of the interior, but a few cars are stored inside the ride as spares. Watch out for the skeleton coming up on the right! He begins to move as a loud bell goes off before you crash through a brick wall.

The devil figure on the left isn't even animated with electricity; the car simply rolls over a lever that mechanically pops the figure up into the air. This is the grandfather of the Haunted Mansion's pop-up ghosts.

The alligator in a barrel is also operated with the motion of the car. These stunts have seen a lot, and that's what makes them special.

I don't know if this Himalaya ride came from another park, but it runs pretty fast for a ride of its type.

The paint scheme on this old arcade typifies what I love about vintage parks. There's just something about these old-fashioned colors on an old building, sagging with age, that is so charming and wonderful.

This arcade, one of three in the park, features a classic fortune teller. Who knows, this could be from the 1950s, 40s, or earlier.

Here's a video of it in motion.

I love the aged look of this machine. You can either appreciate stuff like this for what it is, or you see it as old and in need of updating. It's not a secret which group I belong to! If you insert a dime (yes, a dime!) a light comes on displaying a picture of conjoined twins with a caption of "the miracle of birth." The finest entertainment of the 1940s.

Who knows how longs this neon sign has been hanging here....

Vintage coin-operated kiddie rides look out to the Kiddieland area.

Ok, this will be our last detour into the world of vintage arcades in this post.

I have a hard time believing there is a better way to spend ten cents on the Earth (it just vibrates your feet like crazy). I can confidently say all the listed adjectives are very true.

Before we leave, a few more rides on Laffland are in order. The clown with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth should be warning enough that smoking is strictly forbidden.

This facade after dark is simply the best.

I always appreciate every minute of my visits to parks such as these, knowing that there very well might not be a "next time."

As we make our way back to the car, the vintage Roll-O-Plane is silhouetted against a darkening sky. I hope you enjoyed this look at one of the most untouched time capsules of amusement park history left in the nation!