Is this open to the public?

Gurnee was my hometown, and when the park opened in '76, I was only 7, and definitely too little to work up the courage to try this one, even if I was probably almost tall enough. Willard's Whizzer was my jam, though. Just a few years later they reworked it into Demon. While it's still a great early Arrow looper, I very much miss not grabbing the chance to ride the original. I probably could have twisted Dad's arm into it. Hell, I got him on Eagle just a couple years later and he loved it. His coaster days were over by the time they put in Shockwave in '88, which is probably just as well, as that thing was a spine-compressing, head-slamming blackout machine. Showing everything that was WRONG with the later Arrow loopers.

Is this the gurnee or santa clara version

I don’t remember this ride at all. 😮

Knott's was way ahead of its time.

awesome camera angles

I bet it was smoother then it is now😈

I remember this ride around the late 70s and i was too small to ride it. After that it got removed from the park so i never got to ride it but it looked cool. I also feel like I remember that the actual bikes you rode later got a makeover into more modern motorcross bikes later on before the ride got changed? I remember an announcer as well that narrated the race as the bikes went down the track.

i may be in the minority but i liked the turn of the century better than the Demon i road it on a rainy day for the first time the second day the park opened in 1976

Blackpool still has their version Steeplechase.

Thank you for this video. Excellent to see this original coaster before they added the loops. Opened in 1976, became the Demon in 1980. Im going to do another video on Demon because I don’t think it’s going to be around much longer. The coaster company has been out of business for the last 20+ years or so and Im sure parts are hard to come by. Was this video the Gurnee Illinois park or the Santa Clara California park?

I remember riding this atleast once as I felt at one point I was going to fall over and off as my body shifted in a turn. I was scared crazy. I remember thinking how safety/security seemed weak. Then cam the soap box racers and those rocked!

I'm telling my kids this is Hagrid's Motorbikes.

Back when lawsuits weren’t a thing.

I remember this single rail coaster with Motorcycles before they were changed to Soap Box Derby Racers appearing in both Rct2 and Rct3 games.

“Demon” is one of my all time faves. Glad this ride lives on in a new form.

Before the coaster become POSSESSED. 😈

That's amazing. It definitely looked you had to have some daredevil blood in you to enjoy such a scary looking ride and especially with notucu to hold you down onto your seat.

I was able to love the Wacky Soap Box Racers for about 10 years before they took it out. How I wish I could have road the Motorcycles! Thanks for preserving this. I read the reason the WSBRs were taken out was the fiberglass ride bodies were too heavy for the part connecting it to the track, so they required constant/costly maintenance. Again, thanks!

Those would not exist today. Too much liability,,,..too dangerous. Also, people now are too stupid and unsafe.

Awesome!!! I have been searching for footage of this coaster. I am the only one in my family that remembers it was originally called Turn of the Century.

The location of Arrow Development in the 70s was in Mountain View, right next to the drive in theater on the north side of 101. Basically here: www.google.com/maps/@37.4164382,-122.0833061,181a,35y,151.42h,44.96t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu The drive in has been replaced with a multiplex, and Google now owns the location of Arrow Development.

best coaster EVER

This was one of my all time favorite coasters. No, it doesn't look terribly fast or twisty, but because you were only sitting on a flat seat, with nothing but a canvas strap pulled over your waist and hooked onto - well, a hook! - no locking mechanism, and you had to sit upright and hold on. Modern day 'influencers' would likely end up getting seriously injured or killed trying to perform stunts on this.

I wasn't born yet when this coaster was Turn Of The Century. I only remember when it turned into the Demon. My parents did tell me what it was back in the 70s. Plus its cool to see old footage of the earlier years of the ride.

Brought back memories.

Wow, it looks like there's nothing keeping riders secure except for a tight grip on those handlebars! Can definitely understand why they revamped it to the Soap Box Derby trains.

While working at Arrow I was lead man in carpenter Shop. Made all the wooden parts for, Arrow called it the Run Away Train. 🥰

The Ride was going to be called the Bobsled Ride. Pete's Woodworking in Morgan Hill made three wooden troughs for this ride, that were going to be used to make fiberglass molds from. Then the ride got cancelled.

YT: /watch?v=rwqVlSAjDAE This would be a nice addition. A workable backyard coaster that was closed and ordered torn down by the city for ordinance violations. This actually worked and was built by a 17 and 19 year old. The design was the same as a professional 8-layer wood stack build but thinner wood since it did not need to support as much weight.

Love the OTSR popping up before the train even comes to a full stop!

Wow..memories! I grew up in San Jose and we got to go very soon after the park opened. (Which we simply called " Marriot's". This was such a great coaster. I rode it before The Tidal Wave and The Demon were even in.

My first time ever riding a coaster with inversions may have been in that exact seat. My sister drug me on AND made me sit front row 😄 So happy to see a historic coaster getting the TLC it deserves.

The Orient Express was my favorite ride at WOF growing up. I wish they'd bring it back. Great video!

When are you opening to the public

The original trains from super Duper looper at Hersheypark, one of the original Texas giant cars from six flags over Texas the Texas cyclones track from Houston Texas six Flags Astroworld and I’m not sure the train sitting on that track, that is not one of the Texas cyclone trains original PTCs, or the Morgan but that train does not belong there.

The sound of those Arrow restraints.

Thank you for your service montezooma🫡

This was probably my first roller coaster (or that might have been Knott's Corkscrew), but it has long been a favorite. I was worried when I heard it closed down. Hopefully it reopened at some point, almost identical to it's original form. Some rides are classics, and do not need to be replaced, but I can understand things eventually wearing out and needing to be replaced. But if, like somebody noted below, it was removed, I'm really disappointed. There's one thing I remembered on this ride that I didn't really remember seeing on other coasters I've ridden. I don't know if it was speed or shape of the loop, or what, but when going around this loop, my eyes always closed unless I really worked to force them to stay open. Never saw this happening on other rides like the Revolution or Incredible Hulk. Just Montezooma. I love playing RCT with the RTC1 looping coaster trains because the paint job design just reminds me of this ride, even if it wasn't perfect. (You got the two little squares you could paint yellow on the very front, but you couldn't get a yellow stripe between the red and green on the sides.)

I wanna buy one of the trains for $20

I am heartbroken to see that ride closed. I am very happy that they will take care of the memory but it is sad to see another memory of my childhood gone, but I can't thank you enough for your care and dedication to preserving such a wonderful coaster.

My siblings and I dragged our 40-something Aunt on that ride 14 times in a row. By the end, my Aunt was a rag doll. But we loved it! That ride was truly fun!

This ride was so smooth and its very nostalgic to see it and how its doing thank you guys for taking care of my favorite coaster's car

thats great that your taking care of knotts history!

Wow!! I always rode in the front seat for so many years... This really hits home for me😢.. Please take good care of her..🙏🏿🤝🏿

It's so nice to see her!!!! So happy to hear that restraint click

Lots of socal kids had their first loop on Montezooma and/or Revolution. Iconic rides.

rip zoom

Great to see this footage. This video doesn't do the ride justice. It was so much faster than it looked. I remember being very scared I was going to fall off, it was so bumpy and turbulent to my 10-year-old self. I always felt safer on the Soap Box Derby version of the ride.

PLEASE MAKE ONE ABOUT THE LEGENDAIRY "ORIENT EXPRESS" FROM WORLDS OF FUN!!!!!