50 Years of the Pirate's Cove at Waldameer Park

One of my favorite day-trip escapes is Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, a small amusement park that is home to some of my favorite rides anywhere. One of those attractions is Pirate's Cove, a walkthrough funhouse that opened in 1972. I did an in-depth post a while back about the Waldameer Pirate's Cove and its sister ride in Ocean City, Maryland, so for now, I'll just leave a video clip of the walkthrough's greatest scene. It speaks for itself. 

I visited Waldameer with the Dark Attraction and Funhouse Enthusiasts (DAFE, pronounced like "daffy"), and we got to hear from two people who worked at the park when the dark rides were built.

The day's lunch not only included hand-peeled potato salad from the park's GM, but it also had a custom cake for the Pirate's Cove.

From right to left is Paul Nelson, owner of Waldameer; Perry Duncan, who helped build both the Whacky Shack and Pirate's Cove; Steve Gorman, Waldameer General Manager; and Randy Skalos, who takes care of the rides' scenes now. I got a picture with Mr. Nelso, who at age 88 is still very enthusiastic about his job. He said that he gets up at 5:00 AM every day to come to the park and that his wife has to tell him to come home. 

Having a picnic with the park owners is a really cool feeling that you don't get at any corporate park.

The Whacky Shack is a classic ride-through

Waldameer deserves praise for keeping and maintaining two dark rides, something few other parks can claim. Even better, Pirate's Cove and Whacky Shack were built by the greatest dark ride designer of the 60s and 70s, Bill Tracy.

No DAFE event at Walameer is complete without a lights-on, guided walkthrough of the Whacky Shack! Above, you can see club members storming the ride in pursuit of a hidden $1 million. There were two tour groups, and one started from the end of the ride.

After traversing a spinning "vortex tunnel," riders make a U-turn and see some skeletons lit in blacklight attached to the spinning barrel's exterior. The above picture is of that scene. I found it quite humorous to see a bunch of gawking dark ride enthusiasts (the tour group that started from the end of the ride) wedged between the metal scrim and the spinning barrel. I had no idea how they got down to that level!

Later in the tour, we walked through the maintenance area, and I got to take some close-up pictures of my own.

Here are a couple more pictures I got on the tour. The room above has a tilted floor like a "mystery shack," so the cars really speed through it.

It is incredible that all the spooks in Whacky Shack have been preserved practically as-is since 1970! 

Halfway through the ride, the cars navigate a gentle dip in view of the midway.

I love Whacky Shack and Pirate's Cove, but I can't forget about Waldameer's most thrilling ride, the Sky Ride! ...or maybe I'm thinking of the Ravine Flyer II wooden coaster. ;-)

The setting of Ravine Flyer II right on Lake Erie is hard to beat. That breathtaking first drop is only surpassed when you instantly bound over the four-lane highway adjoining the park.

I have posted on the second weekend of each month for a while now, and the second Sunday of July is my birthday, but I'll also be at Disneyland! I probably won't have a post for next month, but I look forward to sharing California trip reports very soon.

Pirate's Cove - Mega Post!

Darkride designer Bill Tracy built many walkthrough funhouses in the 1960s and 70s, but only two remain. Both are named Pirate's Cove and are located 500 miles apart, at Waldameer (home to the Bill Tracy Whacky Shack) in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Trimper's in Ocean City, Maryland (also home to the 1964 Tracy ride-through Haunted House). Trimper's built theirs in 1971 and Waldameer's Cove opened in 1972.  I wanted to do a photo walkthrough of both rides and also show the similarities and differences between them. This will be a long post, so I'll be happy if you stick through to the end!

The first pic is of one of the entrances to Trimper's. The crow's nest with the terrified pirate used to be at Waldameer as well, but it was removed years ago.

Note that Waldameer has an apostrophe on the sign, and Trimper's doesn't. I know you care.

Here's the more detailed Trimper's facade. The "barker" parrot animatronics at the center were added within the past 30 years to give the front some extra ballyhoo. They run through a spiel and move a little.

 

Both rides have spooky skulls on the exterior. Waldameer has the bonus of the mouths opening and closing!

 

Along with the skulls on the wall that faces the midway, Trimper's has a nice mural.

When you enter the Trimper's version, you cross a rope bridge and navigate a tilting floor of a ship before arriving at the first interior stunt, the moving floorboards. Waldameer has an identical setup, minus the exterior stunts. If you take the "easy way," you'll be blown by multiple air jets.

                                 

Practically every Bill Tracy attraction has a diminishing corridor, and both Pirate's Coves have an example. It's a different sensation to walk than ride through one.

                

The next two stunts are identical between the two attractions. A shark diorama is followed by a circular room with a disco ball that you wind around several times.

                                

The following room that you navigate is a "Mystery Spot"in both attractions. Trimper's has the better one, with a tableau that's supposed to show water running uphill into a drunken pirate's mug.                                            
Compared to Trimper's, Waldameer's tilt room is barer:

There is a flashing diorama on one side of a dog with some bones, though. Right after this in Waldameer's walkthrough is a scene of a monster that is not a Tracy creation. Trimper's and Waldameer's attractions are pretty different from here, so let's finish up Trimper's first.

This is a revolving barrel with a spinning disk at the end. It's hard to take a picture of it!

The drunken skeleton is a Tracy classic and is very similar to one at Waldameer that we will see in a second.

 

The skull waterfall is found in Trimper's Haunted House and the Waldameer Whacky Shack, the latter of which is seen below. Waldameer still has the water pouring out of the eyes!

Following a rubbery floor, you see this head in an outhouse hole, yet another classic gag.

The next scene is this skeleton captain, with clear influence taken from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. He's supposed spin the wheel, but that feature was MIA last year.

     

Tracy ghouls always have a certain look, and Trimper's has some of my favorites!

After this pop-up that doesn't work anymore, you navigate a maze of bars with a flashing strobe light (when it works...) and leave the attraction. Now let's take a look at the remainder of what you will see at Waldameer!

First off is this barrel maze, which shines in its new paint here. The barrels are real, and they make a hollow sound if you knock against one.

Here's a Tracy water effect that actually works, which is remarkable given that these props are nearing 50 years old and are made of chicken wire and paper mache. 

The skeletal captain is placed in a more elaborate setting at Waldameer, complete with rotating "quicksand" hands and a waterfall along the rear wall. You're also crossing a suspension bridge when viewing this scene.

This scene is another pop-up that no longer functions, but take a quick look at the face of the ghost in the back? Does it look familiar? If not, take a close look at the crow's nest figure at the beginning of the article.

Here's Waldameer's drunken skeleton, but this one is better since it has a "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" soundtrack and a rotating coil that makes it look like he's drinking!

Waldameer has a "jail maze" like Trimper's...

This is one of the best Tracy gags ever because of the humorous accompanying soundtrack. These heads seemingly "float" up and down while they each exclaim in different tones of voice, "I ain't got no body!"

A Tracy "Last Drop" gag completes the walkthrough! You have to love the toilet paper roll, and water trickles out from under the toilet seat.

Whew! I'm sure that was much more info that you ever wanted or needed to know, but I enjoyed piecing it together all the same. Trimper's apparently opened their walkthrough this year and gave every person that walked through a pair of rubber gloves, which is definitely a commitment on their part, but Waldameer chose to keep theirs shut. Hopefully, it will come back next year. Thanks for reading!

The Chance Giant Wheel

Around the 1980s, amusement ride manufacturer Chance, known for their carousels and train rides, put a new spin (ha) on an old amusement park classic. The Giant Wheel was instantly popular among parks, for it didn't need nearly as much meticulous care of the operator as the older Eli Bridge-made models. Although it was certainly a larger investment, the parks that installed them have mostly kept them around to the present. This is the wheel at Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania.

On the ramp leading up to the ride is this poster with some background information on Ferris Wheels and the man who invented them: George Ferris. He came from Pittsburgh, but ironically, Pittsburgh is not home to a Ferris Wheel. (There are some rather lavish drawings depicting a huge wheel in a new multi-use complex on the town's north shore, though. Who knows if that will come to fruition?)

The striking (in a good or bad way?) $300 million proposed "Esplanade" development 

Sorry for that sidetrack, but here's another Chance Giant Wheel I've been on, at the I-X Indoor Amusement Park in Cleveland, Ohio. This Ferris Wheel, which provides a soaring ride through a glass skylight, is a permanent fixture at the Center, but there are also lots of other rides that are brought in temporarily for the event.