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Photo of the Day: LUNAtics at Luna Park Coney Island

Posted in Photo of the Day, Uncategorized, tagged Charles Denson, Coney Island, Electro Spin, Luna Park, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Opening Ceremony, Zamperla on May 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

LUNAtics. Photo © Charles Denson

It’s official! The “I’m LUNAtic Campaign” kicked into high gear at today’s opening ceremony of Coney Island’s newest amusement park. Best photo op: Luna Park operator Alberto Zamperla was joined by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, City Councilman Domenic Recchia and Coney Island Development Corp President Lynn Kelly for a sitdown on the Electro-Spin aka the Disk’O. Jon Benguiat of the Borough President’s Office, Seth Pinsky and Robert Lieber of the EDC, the Italian Consul, a Ringling Bros. clown and the Wonder Wheel stand behind them.

The new park is a project of Central Amusement International (CAI), which received a 10-year contract to build and operate the park on city-owned land in Coney Island. “Millions of people, here in Brooklyn and around the world, are crazy about Coney Island,” said Valerio Ferrari, president of CAI. “These are the LUNAtics, and come May 29th, we open our gates to them.” Thank you to Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project for providing us with this wonderfully LUNAtic photo.

Photo of the Day: Iconic Luna Park Logo Rises on Coney Island’s Horizon

Posted in amusement park, Photo of the Day, tagged Amusement ride, Bruce Handy, Coney Island, design, logo, Luna Park, pendulum swing, pinwheel, Zamperla on May 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

New Luna Park ride & logo seen against backdrop of Coney Island's landmark Wonder Wheel and Parachute Jump. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

This week a new yet familiar icon joined the landmark Wonder Wheel, Parachute Jump and Cyclone on Coney Island’s horizon. The logo of Coney Island’s new Luna Park was inspired by the fanciful pinwheels and crescent moons on the gate of Coney Island’s original Luna Park. Bruce Handy’s photo marks the dramatic first appearance of the logo in the new park, which is currently under construction.

Luna’s pinwheel and moon are atop the newly set up Discovery pendulum swing ride. Zamperla’s website describes the ride as follows: “Suspended from an overhead axis, Discovery riders will soon experience the rush of land and sky meshing into one as they fly head over heels through the dual swinging and spinning motions. After dark, the thrills become illuminated by a dynamic light package- sure to keep people coming back for more.” We can’t wait to see those bulbs that spell out LUNA illuminated! The Discovery is one of 19 rides set to debut at the Coney Island amusement park’s May 29th grand opening.

Coney Island resident and contributing photographer Bruce Handy/pablo 57 sent us his amazing photo this morning with the comment “7:30AM Saturday, lights are on, looks like they worked the night thru, 12 workers on site, chills when I took this one.” Bruce has been documenting the historic Birth of Luna Park in his flickr set. You’ll want to check for updates!

Luna Park & Surf Ave, Coney Island, 1912. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Can You Identify This Mystery Object at Coney Island’s Luna Park?

Posted in amusement park, tagged Birth of Luna Park, Bruce Handy, Coney Island, construction, Luna Park, mystery object, Zamperla on April 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

Birth of Luna Park Set.. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

Photographer Bruce Handy, who has been chronicling the Birth of Luna Park, says the first shipping containers arrived from Italy on Monday. What is the unidentified red object in the photo? Could it be a footing for the Tickler roller coaster that we wrote about the other day? Or is it part of another Zamperla ride? Or the base of one of the towers? If you have an idea, please post a comment. As soon as we find out the correct answer, we’ll let you know. The virtual tour of Luna Park on YouTube may provide some clues!

UPDATE May 5, 2010:

A big thank you to boltz, who found out the “mystery object” is the center of the Wave Blaster, which Zamperla’s website describes as a “teen-ager version of the Jump Around. Considering the great success that all these ‘Jumper rides’ are having, Zamperla has further developed this design and is proposing the Wave Blaster with 12 arms for a total capacity of 24 seats.”