Hicks Nurseries October 1995 (Part 3 of 3)

Hello folks and welcome back to The Amusement Blog!

Here, as promised, is Hicks Nurseries Day 3 from 1995.

Today we have two of a Scarecrow character that made an appearance at Hicks in this season. I don't remember seeing this costume in years prior or after but character actors are always welcome, especially during Halloween!

My brother was pretty big into "The Wizard of Oz" at the time so I'm sure this was a thrill to see

The same Scarecrow going for a ride on the Hay Ride

Well folks, that wraps things up for today! I hope that these last few sets of pictures from Hicks have helped to put you in the Fall and Halloween spirit. Be sure to check back soon for a new set from a different location!

Hicks Nurseries October 1995 (Part 2 of 3)

Hello again and welcome back to another post here at The Amusement Blog!

Today we have another two images for you from Hicks Nurseries, October 1995. 

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Hicks Nurseries' Fall Festival is a Long Island classic and a tradition for many Long Island families.

One of the staples at Hicks' Fall Festival is the Hay Ride that crosses into the back areas of the nursery. There are often decorations and character dioramas along both sides of the Hay Ride's path, giving kids and families something to look at along the relaxing trip to there and back again.

Every once in a while you might even catch a ride with the Fall Festival's signature mascot, Otto the Ghost, as he joined this gang of ruffians back in 1995 just as they were preparing for their ride.

"HOLD THAT GHOST!"

Below is an example of an early decorative diorama that ran alongside the Hay Ride. Over the years, these have gotten much grander and much more festive and often include plywood cutout paintings of favorite children's characters from pop culture, ala Spongebob Squarepants.

Not much to see here but the dioramas in more recent years have gotten quite extravagant!

Alright folks! That wraps things up for today here at The Amusement Blog! We have one more days worth of 1995 pictures from Hicks to share with you so be sure to come back tomorrow!

Thanks as always for stopping by, and if you like what you see here, be sure to bookmark us and/or follow us!

Hicks Nurseries October 1995 (Part 1 of 3)

Welcome back for another post here at The Amusement Blog!

Today we'll be looking at a Long Island favorite for Halloween festivities, Hicks Nurseries, which is actually the oldest nursery and garden center on Long Island.

What's so great about Hicks? FREE ADMISSION.

What does that get you?
-Beautiful atmosphere
-Otto the Ghost's animated story that mostly changes year to year (although there was a period of years that all involved Venus fly traps)

For small fees you can:
-Feed animals
-Go on a hay ride
-Buy pumpkins, squash, roasted corn, kettle corn, and more
-Purchase Halloween and Christmas decorations
AND MORE!

Hicks was always a favorite of mine growing up as a kid and I even tried turning my basement into one of Otto's animated scenes when I was 3. Could you tell this kid loved amusements?

Anyways folks, below are two shots of the Hicks Fall Festival's signature character, Otto the Ghost!

I believe Marshall Eriksen had a sweet pair of 90's pants too on How I Met Your Mother

Again, just loving those 90's outfits

The costume hasn't changed much since '95! Here's a picture of Otto today and the only real difference I can spot is the bow.

Alright folks! That wraps things up for today! If you have young children and want to get in the holiday spirit for fall and Halloween be sure to spend an hour or two over at Hicks. 

We have more for you tomorrow so be sure to stop by again soon!

Chef Mickey's May 1997 (Part 2 of 2)

Some more Chef Mickey's coming to you live from The Amusement Blog!

These pictures are from May 1997 when Walt Disney World could be found in the middle of its 25th Anniversary celebration.

Chef Mickey's, located inside the Contemporary Resort, is a great place to grab a buffet style breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Each meal features Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Minnie, and of course, Chef Mickey.

Below are some pictures from two different days worth of meals at the restaurant.

Chef Goofy (also from Goofy's Kitchen out in Disneyland)

Chef Dale (The naming on the hats help those unfamiliar distinguish him from Chip)

Chef Mickey

And his dog Pluto, too!

I have many great dining experiences and memories here so if you will be traveling down to Walt Disney World soon I highly recommend it, especially if you have little ones! You're guaranteed to see all of the characters I mentioned before as they make their rounds to every table.

That wraps things up for today folks! Be sure to check back soon for our next location and our next update here on The Amusement Blog!

Chef Mickey's May 1997 (Part 1 of 2)

One of my family's longtime favorite breakfast restaurants at Walt Disney World, Chef Mickey's, will be the feature of our next two post's here at The Amusement Blog! 

What makes this round of pictures special? These pictures, from May 1997, highlight Walt Disney World in the middle of its 25th Anniversary Celebration: no Animal Kingdom open just yet and a crazy cake castle to be found in the middle of the Magic Kingdom!

This anniversary was a very memorable one to me in particular as this was my first visit to Walt Disney World, a trip that would add a lot of fuel to my theme and amusement park interest and passion. 

Today we find ourselves at the entrance of the Contemporary Resort where we can see the great 25th Anniversary logo in action. Why Walt Disney World hasn't celebrated its 30th, 35th, and 40th anniversaries is beyond me!

A great logo if you ask me!

And now, we move upstairs a bit, and find ourselves at the gateway to a delicious breakfast buffet at Chef Mickey's. This area has changed a little bit over time but for the most part can still be enjoyed in mostly the same way that it was back in 1997.

90's Outfits man, so crazy!

It's crazy that think that at this time Walt Disney World was only 25 years old. This past October (October 2011) the entire resort turned 40!

Be sure to check back tomorrow, I've got four great pictures of the Disney characters dressed in chef and kitchen garb straight from Chef Mickey's 1997, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Strausburg Rail Road 1997 (Part 1 of 1)

Well folks, as much as I would like to hold myself to a strict one post a day diet it seems like school and work will be keeping me busy!

What this means is slightly less frequent posts but I will still do my best to get as many posts up as often as I can!

We also now feature ads here on The Amusement Blog. These just help keep the bills paid and will be mostly targeted towards things you will read about on the blog. The other day I posted about Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Google provided ads for the park itself and hotels/motels in the surrounding areas. If you see an ad that interests you or pertains to you feel free to click on it.

Now, onto today's business!

Today we find ourselves at the Strausburg Rail Road in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is home to all sorts of good things, including many Dutch bakeries, the National Christmas Center, and Dutch Wonderland.

The Strausburg Rail Road (spelt Rail Road and not Railroad in this instance) is the oldest operating railroad in the United States!

Below is a shot of one of the excursion cars carried by the one of the SRC's (the reporting mark of the Strausburg Rail Road) several live steam engine trains.

The Strausburg Rail Road is still rolling on today in Lancaster, PA

That's it for today folks, but be sure to bookmark us and check back soon for newer posts and updates!

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 10 of 10)

Finally! Our last day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, August 1998!

I hope you have been enjoying each entry from this visit so far as I have definitely had a blast going back and looking at the pictures from this trip!

These two were leftovers that didn't really fit in with any of the others in the bunch, but we bring them to you today!

Up first, are the Li'l Clydes kids' carousel located in the Heatherdowns, Scotland section of the park.

What a good big brother right?

The Li'l Clydes match the colors of the Budweiser Clydesdales whose stable was located nearby. The Li'l Clydes can still be found at the park, the Budweiser Clydesdales cannot.

The first ever Howl-O-Scream!

Now this one I had no idea about at first because it seemed pretty misplaced at the park. With every theme park and amusement park chain jumping on an end of the season Halloween celebration/festival, Busch Gardens did too, and it started in 1998! Above is an early advertisement for the first ever Howl-O-Scream event at Busch Gardens! 

Howl-O-Scream will be celebrating its 14th season of frights and fun this month!

Alright folks, that wraps things up for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, August 1998!

I'm not sure just yet where we'll be headed tomorrow but be sure to stop by tomorrow to come see what we have for you here at The Amusement Blog!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 9 of 10)

We are back for Day 9 of 10 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, August 1998!

Today we find ourselves back in Land of the Dragons, what used to be the only children's section of the park before the opening of Sesame Street Forest of Fun. 

Up above is the Bug-a-Dug attraction, still operating today. In the background you can see the Flutter Sputter flying spinner flat ride and behind that the Arrow Dynamics classic, the Loch Ness Monster. Today the Loch Ness Monster is the only surviving coaster to have interlocking loops.

One can hear the Loch Ness Monster rattling away throughout Land of the Dragons every time one of the coaster's trains goes by or climbs one of its lift hills.

Above is one of the many cargo net climbing areas found throughout Land of the Dragons that surrounds the large dragon-themed treehouse found in the center of this area of the park. This looks very familiar to one of the attractions found at Sesame Place, a sister park to Busch Gardens.

Again one can see one of the lift hills of the Loch Ness Monster in the background.

Alright folks, that wraps things up for Day 9 of our 10 part look at Busch Gardens Williamsburg from August of 1998! Be sure to stop back by The Amusement Blog tomorrow for our last day at the park!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 8 of 10)

Hello all and welcome back!

We are back for another day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

Today and tomorrow we will be continuing our look inside the Land of the Dragons section of the park as it appeared in August, 1998. If you missed our first day looking at this section of the park be sure to check it out here!

Up first is the water play area of Land of the Dragons. This area contains a ton of small fountains, water falls, geysers, and sprinklers that help children stay cool during the very hot and humid Virginia summers. 

For anyone that follows Theme Park Review somewhat religiously, I am clearly signifying above that this was an unacceptable amount of wetness!

And our sendoff for today...

My little brother Steven hanging out in front of some photo opportunity dragon eggs! Kids (and parents) could climb inside the eggs to look as though they were hatching out of them.

The eggs above reminded me of this great PlayStation One game from the 90's. Here's another clip of one of those pesky egg thieves here! 

To the best of my knowledge these eggs and much of what you will see from me covering Land of the Dragons still exists today. The only attraction removed from Land of the Dragons was Riffle Rapids, which was relocated to the Sesame Street Forest of Fun and rethemed and renamed Bert and Ernie's Loch Adventure.

Alright folks! That's it for today! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for our last day looking at Land of the Dragons and our second to last day looking at Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 7 of 10)

Welcome back folks!

Yesterday we reached 800 views! Please keep them coming and be sure to bookmark us or follow us and stop by The Amusement Blog daily for new posts of pictures, souvenirs, park maps and more!

If you enjoy visiting amusement parks and theme parks and like learning a little bit of history then this is the place for you! Here at The Amusement Blog we document the changes seen at parks over time and look at how different amusement parks have looked and evolved throughout their lifetimes.

Today we will be continuing our look at Busch Gardens Williamsburg as it appeared in August 1998.

Our pictures today come from what used to be the only true dedicated kids section of the park, Land of the Dragons. In 1994 Land of the Dragons replaced the park's former children section Grimm's Hollow. 

The Land of the Dragons was an awesome fit for Busch Gardens Williamsburg because it fit the medieval and old world theme of the park so well.

While looking back at these pictures so much of The Land of the Dragons reminds me of two things, Sesame Place's old cargo nets and play areas and Figment from EPCOT Center's original (and incredible) Journey Into Imagination.

Up above is the entrance to Land of the Dragons. We can see the cargo nets and some of the other fun things to do in this area behind us.

And now that we're inside, we're aboard the park's second "Dumbo" spinner style attraction. The other is the Red Baron/Roto Baron we looked at earlier on The Amusement Blog.

Now you can probably see what I was talking about when I said that some of these dragons remind me of Disney's Figment. They also resemble the CTW/Sesame Workshop's Dragon Tales' dragons.

In 2009 the Sesame Street Forest of Fun opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and quickly became the more popular kiddie section of the park when it opened. It's hard to compete with the recognition factor that the Sesame Street muppets command with the little ones.

That wraps things up for today folks! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for even more Busch Gardens Williamsburg from August, 1998!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 6 of 10)

Welcome back!

We are back in action here at The Amusement Blog and will be sharing another two images with you today from Busch Gardens Williamsburg as it appeared in August of 1998.

Today we have two more German inspired things to share with you from the park!

Up first is another attraction that has been relocated within the park since the time of the photo. Below is what used to be known as Der Katapult, which pretty easily translates from German to English as The Catapult.

Der Katapult was removed from its original location (which can be seen in this 1997 park map) to make way for one of the park's newest attractions, the Mach Tower, and the overall reimagining/resprucing up of Oktoberfest that took place in 2011.

Der Katapult was moved to New France (think Canadian frontier and wilderness) and was renamed Le Catapult to fit its new French speaking territory. Le Catapult took the place of the former Canadian Palladium. During the transformation from Der Katapult to Le Catapult this scrambler style flat ride also received a new red paint scheme and wilderness inspired logo to match its new surroundings.

The ironwork fencing surrounding the ride was beautiful! Today the majority of rides in Oktoberfest still have that great and unique ironwork fencing surrounding them.

And our sendoff for today... 

One of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's three unique steam engine trains. Each of the three trains at BGW resembles the look of a period steam engine from a different country. At the time steam engines were being built every country around the world building them built them differently and thus a German, American, and British train from the same time period all look very different! 

Most theme parks (such as Disneyland and Walt Disney World) use American inspired recreations or real repurposed American steam engines. Busch Gardens Williamsburg's trains are unique in that they really do look different than any steam engine trains that most people have seen.

The train seen in the image above is train #238 Der Hochbeinige and was made for Busch Gardens in the German style of steam engines. Busch Gardens Williamsburg's other two trains are #661 the Balmoral Castle done in the British style of steam engine trains and #17 the Alpine Express done in the American style of steam engine trains.

For a lot more on the steam engine trains and railroad of Busch Gardens Williamsburg be sure to check out the amazing www.AmusementPics.com website. A direct link to the BGW Railroad page from Amusement Pics can be accessed here.

Alright folks, that wraps things up for today! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for even more from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, August 1998.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 5 of 10)

Finally! I'm back and ready to make up for the last few days worth of posts!

Now that I'm back in school for graphic design a few days breaks may happen here or there but I will always go back and make sure that those days get updated with pictures so that every day has a post.

Ironically enough, my first day back really does makes me feel like I'm back in action as the attraction we will be looking at today at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one that I operated during my 2011 internship with the park!

The ride you will see below is a Red Baron airplane spinner style flat ride manufactured by Zamperla. These kinds of "Dumbo" rides have been popular for ages and allow children to have the experience of flight all at their own control by means of a pull lever in both the front and back seats of the cockpit.

From firsthand experience, it is no easy feat instructing the little ones (3-4 year olds) to pull up on the stick to go up and to push down on the stick to go down! More often than not it takes them two tries, one without leaving the ground and one stuck sky high with the lever pulled all the way back, before they figure out that their entire range of up and down motion is controlled by the pull of that stick. When they do figure it out, however, their reactions are priceless and the fun you can see them having shines right through their faces. For a child there are few feelings better than achieving flight.

Up first is my little brother Steven at the controls of his own Red Baron plane! Who's the Red Baron you say! The Red Baron was a legendary World War I fighter pilot who fought for Germany during that war (hence its location in the Oktoberfest, Germany section of the park). For more on the Red Baron click here. You can see the pull lever sticks in both the front and rear seats of the plane in the image below. They are connected so that when one gets pulled up (or down) the other goes right up (or down) in sync with it.

From the above image I was able to figure out that the Red Baron seen above is not in its current location at the park today. The Red Baron today sits to the front left of the Bumper Car building.

A little bit of research showed me that on these 1983 and 1987 park maps of Busch Gardens Williamsburg that the Red Baron used to sit in the location that is currently occupied by The Curse of DarKastle and has had the different names of Der Roto Baron, Red Barons, and Red Baron throughout its lifetime.

From this 1997 park map I was able to discern that the Red Baron was relocated to the site of the former Remote-O-Cars where it still resides today.

Our send off picture for today...

...this stud! Cue The Danger Zone and send me off!

Alright folks! That wraps things up for today but be sure to come back tomorrow for some more great photos from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, 1998!