Amusement Parks

An enclosed water slide with a complete loop where customers ended up with bloody noses. A wheeled ride with no brakes that shot down a concrete-and-fiberglass track. A freshwater pool with giant waves that required lifeguards to rescue over two dozen people a day. New Jersey’s ...read more

For over a century, roller coasters and other amusement park rides have provided thrills by walking the line between scary and fun. Yet for almost as long, these rides have led to accidents that are scarily dangerous. Most recently, an Ohio State Fair attraction known as the Fire ...read more

1. West Side Airport Our flight of fancy touches down on the west side of Manhattan where one of the city’s most prominent developers, William Zeckendorf, proposed to construct a rooftop airport roughly the size of Central Park above 144 square blocks and the Hudson River. ...read more

1. Riverfront Square Before building his Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Walt Disney considered opening his second theme park in a slightly less tropical clime—St. Louis. A native son of Missouri, Disney drew up blueprints for a five-story indoor theme park, dubbed Riverfront Square, ...read more

1. Steeplechase Park Opened in 1897 by entrepreneur George C. Tilyou, Steeplechase Park was the first of three major amusement parks that put New York’s Coney Island on the map. The park took its name from its signature attraction, a 1,100-foot steel track where patrons could ...read more