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After opening in 1974,
Great Adventure quickly realized that extra ride capacity was
needed to satisfy the millions of eager thrill seeking guests
that it was attracting. To alleviate this issue, in 1975
the Fun Fair section of the park was added incorporating more
than a half dozen new flat ride experiences. These proved
to be very popular, and the trend to expand the park’s ride
line-up continued into 1976 with the addition of three new
attractions.
Also in 1976, the layout of
Great Adventure was dramatically altered with the relocation of
the park’s main entranceway from the Dream Street Tents area to
a more centralized location further down the esplanade at the
fountain. The new entrance plaza would replace the
short-lived Antique Cars ride, while the Happy Feeling petting
area next to it was also vacated freeing up additional land for
expansion between Dream Street and
Fun Fair. On the opposite end of the park, the removal of
the original entrance provided a tract of unused land between
Lahaway Creek (in front of the Fort) over to the Fortune
Festival Games Square area. The parcel closest to Fortune
Festival became home to a relocated Ride-a-rama children’s
section known as Kiddie
Kingdom.
Two of 1976’s new rides, the
Musik Express himalaya-style spinning ride and the neighboring
Alpen Blitz electric-powered rollercoaster were installed
adjacent to Fun Fair on the site of Happy Feeling. The
third attraction, the Super Sidewinder scrambler-style ride, was
erected on the complete opposite side of the park along the
banks of Lahaway Creek on the land which had served as the
park’s main entranceway and parking lot tram stops for the two
prior seasons.
The Super Sidewinder was
one of the largest flat rides the park ever installed and was
positioned on a massive circular concrete pad. The ride,
marketed as a SideWheeler, was designed by Chance Manufacturing
of Wichita, Kansas.
Great Adventure’s model was the original prototype, built and
tested at Chance’s Wichita
factory prior to being disassembled, painted white, and shipped
to Jackson,
New Jersey.
The ride structure
consisted of a large white box-steel central column with three
arms that extended outward from its top. From each of
these three arms, another three arm subassembly was attached
from above, each supporting a large circular disc-like ride
vehicle which housed eight two-person seats. With seating
for16 guests per circular disc, the nine discs provided an
overall ride capacity of 144 guests per cycle.
All the mechanical components of the
attraction were situated above the riders’ heads, and watching
the ride in motion was similar to seeing the innards of a clock
ticking away. A motor housed in the ride’s central column
turned the larger set of three arms, while drive tires
sandwiched in between huge circular skid track rings powered the
spinning of the three subassembly arms. While the main
arms rotated counterclockwise around the central column, the
three-armed subassemblies rotated clockwise, and the individual
ride discs which housed the rider’s seats rotated
counterclockwise. Once the start button was engage, the
ride instantly kicked into full-speed operation, compared to
other rides that required time to gradually pickup speed.
Riders could easily hear the loud hum coming from the motors and
spinning drive tires above them.
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