Riding "Leap The Dips" - The World's Oldest Roller Coaster

Описание: This is a video I filmed back in 2014 of a first person view showing what it's like riding the oldest roller coaster in the world. It's a piece of amusement park history that needs to be preserved. Ten years later, I'm not so sure Lakemont Park and the City of Altoona are doing their job. This video is a piece of preserved history, so you can see how it really looks and feels riding it.

Located in Lakemont Park in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, less than 5 miles from downtown is the world's oldest wooden roller coaster and the last remaining side friction rollercoaster, built in 1902 by the E. Joy Morris company back when the park itself was only a few years old. It was closed for awhile in the 80's and 90's for repairs but in 1999 it reopened, restored to its former glory. Repairs need to be made from time to time, of course! But most of the time it still runs.

It only costs $2.50 to ride, and I say it's worth it just to ride a piece of history. I'm surprised that other YouTube roller coaster shows haven't ridden the Leap The Dips. Sure, it's not as much of a thrill ride as something you'd see in Six Flags, but it just can't compare to the eerie feeling of an old rickety roller coaster that jumps off the track occasionally (which is why the camera jiggled a bit). But it's a surprising lot of fun for something built way back in 1902. Wooden roller coasters may just be a piece of history to many, but there's the Leap The Dips and also a newer ride, the Skyliner, located near the Altoona Curve's baseball stadium, which has a name so silly it sounds like it has to be made up, People's Natural Gas Field. It used to be called the Blair County Ballpark until a few years ago. I wish they would have kept the old name, the new name is just laughable.

Is it the scariest roller coaster in the world? Not really. Is it the most unique roller coaster in the world? Possibly. Is it the oldest roller coaster you'll ever ride? For sure! Is it a living piece of roller coaster history that you can ride? Yes! Is it the oldest rollercoaster in the world? Absolutely!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this video of me filming a first person shot of riding the world's oldest wooden roller coaster. I'm going to try to film the Skyliner another time, but I might want to practice to get better at filming first so it looks at least semi-professional next one I ride.

It's not the first roller coaster ever built, that would be Promenades-Aériennes in Paris, France, built in 1817, but it is the oldest surviving roller coaster, as Promenades-Aériennes and many others of the era like the Mauch Chuck Switchback Railway (built in 1827 in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania), it's no longer standing and was closed long ago. Leap The Dips sometimes closes down for repairs but always reopens to give the public a thrilling ride from a bygone era.

There's a common misconception that a roller coaster named Rutschebanen in Bakken amusement park in Denmark is the oldest, when in reality it was built in 1932. Bakken's claim to fame is being the world's oldest amusement park, opened in 1583. Lakemont Park, by contrast, only began operation in 1894, a mere 8 years before the famous roller coaster was built. In fact, the roller coaster erroneously credited with being the oldest isn't even the oldest in Denmark, that distinction goes to another roller coaster with the same name located in Tivoli, built in 1914.

Sources:

List of oldest roller coasters: http://rollercoaster.wikia.com/wiki/O...
Leap The Dips article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap-The...
Bakken article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyrehav...
Lakemont Park article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakemon...
More information about Leap The Dips: http://www.pennsylvania-mountains-of-...


#rollercoasterpov #rollercoaster #history #historical #Pennsylvania