Welcome Back Riders .mp4

A Documentary on the history of the amusement park. Takes a look at many amusement parks such as Luna Park, Chippewa Lake Park, Disneyland, Cedar Point, Lakeside, Elitch Gardens, Euclid Beach, Kennywood and Knoebels. It also looks at the people such as Fred Thompson, Walt Disney, Mary Elitch and Parker Beach that made these parks come to life. This film uses historic music that was written by each park (often over 100 years ago) and most times this is the first time this music has ever been recorded. Written and directed by Nathan Cutietta it stars David Boat, Ben Bode, Justin T. Bowler, Mel Fair, David Galido, William Knight, Neal Matarazzo, Brian McNamara, Michael Saad and Kath Soucie. The film features the "Kennywood Park Waltz", "I've made my plans for the summer", "Euclid Beach two step", "Chippewa lake waltz", "Cedar Point (That's the Place".

[@dovie2blue]

Elitch Gardens and Lakeside were a part of my childhood. I learned that I loved roller coasters at Lakeside. But Eltich's was my favorite. I was heartbroken that Mr. Twister was destroyed when they moved the park. That coaster was such a trip! One day a friend and I rode in the front car for maybe 20 circuits! The operators let us stay there since the lines were not long and no one complained! Great day for a couple of coaster freaks. RIP Elitch's.

[@DavidCochell]

I have very fond memories of the original Elitch's. My family went there every summer and we used to bring our picnic lunches and eat in one of the many table areas hidden in the overgrown trees and gardens When I turned 16, my first job was at Elitch's, and I ended up working there three summers in a row. These are truly some of the best memories of my childhood. I understand that change happens, but it's very sad to me to know this original magnificent place no longer exists.

[@rhondabirich2818]

I grew up visiting Cedar Point, Chippewa Lake and Euclid Beach. Some of my earliest memories are family trips to these places in the mid fifties. Riding Flying Turns with my grandparents, the Tumble Bug, and an afternoon cool down at the beach. My first rides on a Rotor at Euclid Beach included me trying to catch the ride operators slapping glue on our backs! I must have been four years old. My dad's company picnics at Chippewa Lake, then at Cedar Point. These really instilled the love of amusement parks in my heart. Worked at Cedar Point as a college student, where I met my lifetime best friend. Still riding rides whenever I can to this day. Thanks for a great movie!

[@robertoftheglenn9102]

I grew up at Chippewa. Great memories even after the park closed. Thank you for sharing.

[@MusicAroundUsAll]

It is wonderful to see all the passionate responses to this movie. I thought I was alone in missing parks with PERSONALITY! It turns out there are other people like me as well. Let's start a movement to get everyone to watch this video and then maybe we could see some small, adorable, local parks again instead of the mega-parks with nothing but steel!

[@DavidAnderson-ls9kb]

One of the best amusment park docs ive ever seen. Very well written and put together! Thoroughly enjoyed it, and very informative!

[@chippewalakeamusementparkm4997]

RIP Chippewa Lake Park

[@italiano8nyc]

Nice documentary, but they neglected to mention the very first amusement park in America - Lake Compounce Amusement Park in Connecticut, opened in 1846, and still open. And the huge Savin Rock Amusement Park, also in Connecticut, 1870 - 1966.

[@mr.helloween1313]

It's also the oldest still running amusement park in America

[@leejohnson179]

Discovered this doc just recently, and now I've been watching it repeatedly. THANK YOU.

[@bearbryant3495]

When I was a kid in the 60s I went there several times, my dad worked at Westinghouse in Mansfield and they held their annual company picnic there. I went there one other time in the late 70s for a concert. Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush was the headliner and the only other band I remember was Rubber City Rebels. It was a nice park and I enjoyed your film. Thanks.

[@coasterpug2616]

This is a wonderful encapsulation of amusement park history. I especially like all the footage of the original parks. As much as I enjoy the major thrill rides of today's theme parks, even the best of them lack the special magic and charm of the old parks. I'm thankful for the few that have survived, but saddened that so very many are gone.

[@kentrzacherl]

Watching this on the day Conneaut Lake Park died felt like a knife in the heart.

[@dansweet2499]

My grandfather who passed away this year built part of the roller coaster known as the Thriller and a few other rides.

[@JoryStultz1234]

I just wish at least a section of a modern park could honor the original Luna Park by adding buildings and rides that at least resemble the old art nuvue look. The architecture at the original Coney Island was more impressive than the presentation in modern parks. Just my opinion but something about the elegance of the architectural style with the fun nature of the park made a fantastical juxtaposition.

[@leehuff2330]

I'm grateful that Kennywood is still going, as it and Conneaut Lake are the last of the old-time parks in my area. Chippewa was about 2 hours from me. Geauga Lake, Idora, White Swan, and the one from my hometown- Rock Springs- all gone. The sister of Rock Springs, Idlewild, is also still around. It is about an hour and a half east of Pittsburgh, in Ligonier, PA.

[@melaniedaniels3431]

Wow! Just watched this and LOVED it! I live close to Cedar Point but I've always been fascinated with Luna Park. My grandparents have an old stereoscope viewer and as a kid I would spend hours looking at the cards. One of them was of Luna Park lit up at night and it was always my favorite one. Ever since I saw that card I've been fascinated with Luna Park. Weird story, I know lol. Anyway, great job...there aren't a lot of docs about historic parks so this is awesome in my book! :)

[@nicholasmonter2825]

I am too young for Chippewa and Euclid. My generation's lost park is Geauga Lake.

[@TrentonBlessWrestlemania489]

Though Six Flags gave up on Elitch Gardens, Stanley Kroenke currently owns the park and Elitch's is going strong with new rides coming every season or two. Elitch's even has a water park now. And as for the former site, the Historic Elitch Theatre is going under a renovation and is being cared for. I've been lucky enough to visit the theatre. In Mary's box was a vase of flowers. A nice touch for a nice theatre.

[@jaedinhathaway1597]

Trenton Bless cool as me being from Denver that's pretty damn cool

[@nightisright1873]

Is there still vast flowers in the park

[@TrentonBlessWrestlemania489]

​@@nightisright1873 The new Elitch's doesn't really have the vast gardens the old park had. It's nothing like the old place. Honestly, it just feels so corprate and lifeless. Lakeside might not be the best park in town, but it has a certain charm Elitch's no longer has.

[@TrentonBlessWrestlemania489]

@@jaedinhathaway1597 I'd recommend following the Historic Elitch Theatre on Facebook. They're almost at the point where they can operate the old theatre as a full time venue. I'm sure once this Pandemic is done and over with there will be performances there all the time.

[@TMcConnaughhay]

They haven't gotten a new roller coaster in like 20 years!

[@nbouv]

One of my favorite memories is that of sitting on Parker Beach's lap as he and my parents visited on the veranda of the Hotel Chippewa. WE had a cottage there for years!

[@SugarMilkbro]

I just visited the site of chippewa lake yesterday. Very surreal to see the old rides standing in the "forest"

[@rjkral]

Well done. So much history and such a story. Disneyland is noted, but the history of the amusement park is so so much more. Great to get a window into the people behind the parks!

[@NCutietta]

What we were trying to say is that the worlds fair and Coney Island defined what a modern park is. While there were parks before that, it would be stretch to call them amusement park. If a park has no buildings and no rides is it really an amusement park. It was hard to have rides (in the modern sense) due to no electricity. Hope this helps clarify. Sorry you did not like the film. It was supposed to be more about how personalities affect parks then a historical record

[@nightisright1873]

Coney Island is not what it used to be

[@theshowersinger6681]

Wicked Twister, featured in the opening narration is now but a memory as well.

[@Musicmany2k]

Really enjoyed the film and history of what I grew up in during the 50's and even being able to experience Euclid Beach as my first "real" park, then unfortunately seeing it's demise. Thank you so much for it's production and presentation here.

[@georgeoberdorf274]

Only thing that would have made this better would have been the inclusion of Conneaut Lake Park and Geauga Lake in the OH/PA park wars

[@stormwatcher1299]

This was really good, like it could be on TLC or the Discovery Channel. I hope you will make more documentaries. The narration was really good, as was the filmography.

[@PatrickMichael2002]

I remember riding the coaster at Chippewa Lake when I was a kid. You could walk along side the track on the way from the parking lot.

[@EDDIELANE]

This is really good! I love the different narrators.

[@georgefranklin4109]

Great documentary - I recently read LeRoy Ashby's history of US entertainment, With Amusement For All, with a section on amusement parks - this really brings it alive.

[@mirandaallen2245]

I REMEMBER CHIPPEWA LAKE PARK!!!!!!!!! Awesome documentary. I have a Facebook page about chippewa lake park it is called Chippewa Lake Park What Once Was Will Never be Again

[@porkturtle8321]

Too bad there is no webpage for those that don't do Facebook.

[@MrJasonshores364]

Great film, I knew about a few of these parks and seeing the actual history was wonderful. It makes me sad that there are so few amusement parks left. There are a few from my childhood in California that still stand, only barely. It would be nice to see a resurgence of the small amusement parks.

[@RonaldDScum]

Great documentary! However, CV Woods never actually worked for Cedar Point. Though Magic Mountain was definitely a real project of his that failed. He would actually go on to make Six Flags Over Texas (which would’ve been really interesting to discuss especially because of how Six Flags later treated Elitch Gardens.) Dick Kinzel was the former Disney worker responsible for turning Cedar Point into the roller coaster capital of the world.

[@paultroja1726]

great and sad at the same time.

[@rodakscreens]

I'm amazed that Kath Soucie did voice over work for this. 11/10 very informative

[@debbiem9218]

Don't know why this vlog (documentary) got seven thumbs down, they probably hit the wrong button. In any event, this was extraordinarily well done many of the parks I'd never heard of. I live in Canada, I can't imagine how much fun it would have been to be at one of these in their heyday, but sadly I guess those days are gone-forever!

[@janperry500]

I used to go to fun rides every year with my mate. It made me broke but well worth it.

[@acarroll48]

CEDAR POINT FTW!!!

[@ilovefreshly]

Beautiful. Thank you!

[@rappeezy]

You dissed Dorney Park!! Just kidding I very much enjoyed this documentary. Well done.

[@dansweet2499]

I want them to revive Chippawa Lake Amusement Park. Its a special part of the people that went there .

[@laura20022004]

chippewa Park in ohio has so much history and its still there. I never been there cause i was never born yet but i heard so much history there its pretty sad how these parks has to go and get rusted and demolished. They need to Restore it to bring back memories for all of us

[@nightisright1873]

they won’t bring it back trust me as sad as it is .It’s just not going to happen look at Dog Patch so many people have been claiming where gonna bring it back but all the plans fall through .

[@arrowguy173]

Yeah Steeplechase, along with 3 or 4 others I can think of, could have easily made the video. As for Knoebels, it is a great atmosphere especially in the fall, and a great mix of old and new like Kennywood. How cool though that you were lucky to experience Chippewa and Euclid....two parks I'd give anything to visit.

[@sharene411]

Great video. Thank you!!

[@qwertzabc]

Great documentary! Learned a lot, and also it's very interesting to see how all the big parks that we see today (or saw yesterday) were created and what their creators thought and wanted to accomplish. Today it's very difficult to understand that a park may have been born of the dreams of a person, something as big as for example Disneyland today.

[@BenSliwa]

Mary's theatre at Elitch's has been renovated and is used again - for those were wondering

[@justintai8725]

thanks for this

[@KeswickCamp08]

Awesome! thanks for the upload!!

[@theoneandonlyrustyshaklefo6256]

46:19 it wasn’t the first steel coaster and Disney didn’t design it.

[@markymark9516]

Yes it was first, and Arrow Dynamics designed it correct. Then another steel coaster was built in Six Flags YEARS later

[@RonaldDScum]

Mark DeCesare The first TUBULAR Steel roller coaster and was one of the few coasters responsible for the proliferation of roller coasters.

[@nightisright1873]

What you guys failed to point out was that Coney island was a testing ground for new ride ideas .

[@laura20022004]

The Coaster is gone and some of the stuff are still there but its up for Sale now.

[@rwhitman86]

Did anyone find out if this movie exists in DVD form?

[@MusicAroundUsAll]

What a cool and thoughtful history of where amusement parks came from! Love the ending! Where did all the parks with personalities go to?

[@nightisright1873]

Hey where did you find the speech Roosevelt gave on play being important

[@easynhonest]

Is there a DVD of this documentary ?

[@kandikidzora]

So Cedar Point did everything they could to save the local park, but closed geauga lake and told the public through a press conference the day after.

[@dovie2blue]

It's not the same, the coaster was destroyed, they moved to another location and it was sold to 6 flags for a while. It's still worthwhile but not the Elitch's of our memories.

[@paledeerwoman]

I knew I recognized the woman’s voice from Gargoyles!

[@Dilemma998]

Does anyone know if these credits are legit? It says Parker Beach is buried in the Chippewa Lake park, but if you google his grave, a headstone pops up in a cemetary.

[@MrBigpoe]

man they left out steeple chase and dreamland and the finest park in the country' Coney island Cincinnati that moved and became kings islands the park i grew up in

[@nightisright1873]

where did you guys get the information on Fred Thompson you guys also skipped over how he was drunk architect before building Luna Park he built the Hipodrome theatre in NY

[@nightisright1873]

This documentary fails to mention the rise of Trolley Parks

[@Lil_Angry_Bitch]

That's not the story the Disney company tells about the creation of Disneyland. According to them, Walt Disney thought of Disneyland while sitting on a park bench watching his daughters ride a carousel. They don't mention anything about a train ride back from Chicago, or a man named C.R. Wood who helped to build the place. So who's lying here?....I think Disney is!

[@michaeldunetz90]

And now on the site of Luna park is now a housing project.

[@MrBigpoe]

Luna was not named for the moon but Fred's partner skip Dundee his sister Luna

[@painxtreme]

Perhaps, if u have the time to search around the net, & do some serious library and interview time, u could assemble your vision. If done well, u know it will be a hit & even if it isn't u will have created the story u want told, & I don't know that there are many things better than that. You obviously have a lot of knowledge, & I agree about Steeplechase, heck they forgot Dreamland too, but I did agree with Knobles inclusion. There were so many, they missed 2 in my area. I hope u tell ur story.

[@taylorward3773]

The speeds for Space & Big Thunder Mtn are messed up.

[@KOrgan0414]

And SeaWorld in Cleveland.

[@joshualitvik2382]

I don't understand this doc. It has a lot of historical info BUT keeps saying amusement parks did not open before the turn of the century, citing Luna Park as the first. Hundreds existed before that. I want to keep watching but the incorrect information really bugs me. Nice pictures though.

[@nightisright1873]

no there trying to say that Coney Island set the tone for what a modern park would be . Those other parks where just gardens and pavilions with simple rides

[@adavis118737]

There was Chester Park in Cincinnati opened in 1875 as a racetrack but by 1900 converted into an amusement park with Rollercoasters a lake with clubhouse and other rides. The Tickler was popular Rollercoaster completed in 1908.

[@woodencoasterfan]

@Glibzer Cedar Point is the nations fifth oldest park so if you got rid of it then you'd be getting rid of a old park.

[@NCutietta]

Joshua.

[@brandontylerproductions2202]

NEW YORK invented the amusement park.

[@BUEAU]

Yeah freaking corporate takeover. I guess that's the ultimate expression of human existence. I disagree I want to fucking punch dip and roll all the way to fucking up corporate everything. We're all human beings we ain't the Borg!

[@xgenminecraft]

people have moved on..... so must the old genaration, i mean lets face it life will never be the same again. all the care in the world has gone and only fat money grabbbers and greedy bankers remain.

[@KOrgan0414]

Cedar Point is one of the oldest parks in the nation. If you're getting rid of that, you would be getting rid of an old park. Seriously?

[@michaeltabor9596]

KOrgan0414 do t worry Going no where But they destroyed Geuaga lake aurora Ohio

[@nightisright1873]

Cedar Fair is a crappy chain of parks they don’t know how distribute rides out to the parks they own.

[@kandikidzora]

Geauga lake......

[@UN10NF4N]

[@markrayner8300]

Do you ever stop to wonder how we have been manipulated? The old world offered this, the new world does not allow for this!! Except for proit. not the good will of humanity. Originally profit was put as a secondary effect of providing good entertainment of kids, but this soon became the primary objective. STUFF people, there's money to be made, so who cares about morality.