Wildwood To Lose Roller Coaster
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Jan. 21, 2009
This giant stainless steel sign in The Wildwoods, NJ, is one of the latest efforts to revitalize the tourist community.
A roller coaster that opened in 1960 in Wildwood, N.J., is coming down next month.
The Morey Organization, which owns the coaster known as the Golden Nugget, says the ride is no longer viable. The company will hold a "pre-demolition ceremony" on Jan. 31.
"It was my first roller coaster ride as a boy, and it's hard for me to see it go," said Dino Fazio, director of pier operations for Morey's Piers amusement park, in a Dec. 10 statement.
The Morey Organization considered other options for the Golden Nugget, but estimates for repairing the asbestos-filled attraction ranged from $3-$5 million, and the group eventually settled on demolition. Morey will allow an unnamed coaster expert to salvage tracks and trains.
"We continually wrestle with that tension between nostalgia and innovation," Jack Morey, executive vice president of The Morey Organization, said in a Dec. 10 statement. "Our concepts ranged from a complete restoration in its current location to relocating it to another more thriving amusement pier to creating a museum. While we are grieved to see it go, we know that the removal of this classic coaster will make way for something greater, worthy of the Golden Nugget's memory."
With cars modeled after mine cars, cowboys, and prospectors, the three-story-tall roller coaster ride was designed by John Allen of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. An icon of Wildwood's Hunt's Pier, it has been closed since 1999.
More about Wildwood and its Doo Wop Hotels, listed in 2006 as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places
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Comments
Submitted by Pretty at: July 16, 2009
Wat The Hell Iz This Im Goin To WildWood July 19 And I Thought I Check Out The Roller Coasters But They Not Showing It