Main Article: Brochure: Islander Raceway & Amusement Park

Islander was a small dive of an amusement park just outside of Wildwood, NJ. You might remember this place when it was open in the mid to late 90s as you passed it on your way into Wildwood. You also might remember it from passing it recently in its abandoned state and wondering what the heck was once there! This week on the Crapstravaganza is a brochure from Islander Raceway & Amusement Park; I’ll also recount my memories of the park in all its awful glory!

New Age Retro Looper

Posted by on November 21, 2008 | Add a Comment

Holy crap, this off season isn’t even a month old and I’m already in ‘theme park withdrawl.’ There’s not a coaster or flatride in site for quite some time unless I spring for an impromptu visit to Florida or So Cal. Then again I could always just do it the virtual way…wait that sounded kind of weird. Uh, I could always ride coasters the virtual way! And no, I’m not talking by way of YouTube videos but by building them myself using No Limits! I think many a computer savvy coaster fan knows about No Limits but for the non-nerds reading, No Limits is a coaster simulator where you can build coasters using a CAD-like layout. You can add supports, 3D objects, whatever you want and the result is strikingly realistic…or un-realistic! The simulator is tough as hell to work with in the begining and the first lot of coasters anyone makes with it will typically be twisted pieces of garbage; you kind of have to get a feel for it.

Right now I’m working on a No Limits coaster named “New Age Retro Looper.” The coaster is based off the notion that if Arrow Dynamics never went out of business then what would their megaloopers look like today? So far I’ve completed the track layout, smoothed it out, and started adding supports. The supports, as you can see, are pretty complex and,aside from the very low supports, are completely handbuilt. Yep…I figure I’ll go insane by the thrid inversion!

Once the coaster is all done I’ll provide a download for the people who have No Limits and a video for those who don’t.

The Coney Island land grab, buy back saga continues with the Bloomberg administration looking to purchase 10.5 acres of property in Coney Island…property that Thor Equities owns. Devloper Joe Sitt is said to be “ready to give up” on his plans to make his properties into gigantic casinos, malls, condos, and whatever else he had planned that wouldn’t include amusements. This move by the city may just be able to save Astroland, a park that is basically already in the grave with a couple of shovels of dirt thrown on top of it…but there still is some banging coming from the coffin! NY Post reports that “sources close to the deal are saying the price for the land is in the $200 to $250 million range.” This all comes after the city snached up an acre of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park in October before a deal with Thor Equities could go through.

Considering that the fear was that Joe Sitt and company would buy up the land, rezone it, and flip it, I have to wonder if this was plan C of sorts for Sitt. Plan A was actually develop the property into something (casinos, malls, etc.); plan B (but the preferred plan) was flip the land to a condo developer after rezoning and then roll in the dough. And then there was plan C; if rezoning never happened then Sitt would just give up on the land and have the city buy it back for a small return. Sure maybe he didn’t get a large sum back but in this economy any sort of return is good! Of course said plan C also involves Joe Sitt eating a nicely presented shit sandwich, but hell, who doesn’t want to see that?

Read the entire article: Astroland Hope-City Eyes Coney Land Buy

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