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Exclusive: Coney Island Zip Line to Be Dismantled Today

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, video, tagged Coney Isalnd, Scaffold King, Super Bowl Zip Line, Zip line, zipline on April 30, 2013| 2 Comments »

Abandoned Zip Line on Stillwell Avenue, Coney Island. December 5, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

The strange saga of the zip line that came to Coney Island last summer and never opened (except for an hour-and-a-half) due to a permitting snafu with the City is about to end. The attraction was supposed to be part of the BK Festival and was set up on Thor Equities Stillwell Avenue lot behind Nathan’s, where it was left standing after the festival closed. Bob Rigsby, Project Manager of Scaffold King Rentals, Inc. of Rockville, Indiana, the company that rented the scaffolding to independent operator CAT 5 Zipline, has come to Coney Island to reclaim it.

“There’s $80,000 worth of metal, if we had to replace it,” Rigsby says of the two towers, which survived Superstorm Sandy just fine. “Right now we’re $60,000 in the hole.”

Scaffold King has hired a local crew to take down the towers starting this morning. It took five months for Rigsby to prove ownership of the scaffolding and get the necessary permits to dismantle it. The actual zip line is from a company in Boston that Scaffold King works with frequently, he says. Rigsby added that they will be installing a zip line elsewhere in New York that will go over the rooftops. We’re jealous. It’s too bad Coney Island never got to see this attraction in action. Based on the astronomical number of hits on ATZ posts updating the status of the Coney Island Zip Line and the emails and comments from people eagerly waiting for it to open, it would have been very popular and could have been a year-round attraction.

In January 2012, Scaffold King erected the launch and landing towers for the first-ever Super Bowl zip line, which was the single-longest temporary one ever constructed. Here’s a video of the 800-foot zip line at Super Bowl XLVI Village along Capitol Street in downtown Indianapolis.

UPDATE May 5, 2013

Tangled Up in Red Tape Department: First the zip line couldn’t open because of City permitting issues, now it’s stuck here because of permitting issues. The dismantling of the zip wires got underway as scheduled on Monday, but before the scaffolding could be taken down, work was stopped due to the wording on the permit. “The I’s have to be dotted and the T’s have to be crossed,” Rigsby said before he went home to Indiana without his company’s zip line, leaving Thor Equities to work out the details of the permit to take it down this week. (It was finally dismantled and trucked away.)

Still wanna zip line in New York City? Last year, a 160-foot portable zip line was added to the Summer Streets Program, run by the City’s DOT. Locations included Union Square and Foley Square in Manhattan. The annual event is on three consecutive Saturdays in the summer. The zip line was offered free of charge and was very popular. Will it be back this year?

Big Mark’s Action Park Set for Thor’s Stillwell Ave Lot

Posted in amusement park, News, tagged Big Mark's Action Park, Coney Island, Coney Island 2013, Memorial Day Weekend, new bar, Thor Equities, vendors, zipline on February 7, 2013| 2 Comments »

On Memorial Day Weekend 2013, the Stillwell Avenue lots owned by Thor Equities and leased to the BK Festival for the past two seasons will showcase a brand-new tenant. “Big Mark’s Action Park in Coney Island is a fresh new face to the indie, owner-operator theme park scene in NYC, featuring hands-on, high quality amusements,” says the intro on the new park’s twitter page.

Big Mark is Mark Zientek, owner of New Jersey Partyworks, a long-established amusement rental and special events production company. He’s also chairman of ROAR (Responsible Operators of Amusement Rentals) and a NAARSO (National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials) certified maintenance technician. ATZ first met Mark last season, when he was the operations manager of the amusement park brought to Stillwell by the BK Festival and John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia.

When we ran into Mark in December he told us about the new park and said he planned to bring in state fair quality rides. Mark’s right hand man in this new venture is NY Scoops entrepreneur Timmy Grins, who is on board with his marketing and promotional expertise as well as his Italian ices. Now the project is no longer under wraps since a Facebook page was launched in January with details of the park’s offerings. Among the extreme attractions currently being discussed for Coney Island’s “Action Park” are a rock climbing wall, hot air balloons, helicopter rides and skydiving training with a vertical wind tunnel.

Too crazy for Coney? Maybe not. Also mentioned is an Extreme Air Jumper, which simulates board sports and launches participants up to 25 feet in the air. Its manufacturer Extreme Engineering says the jumper system was awarded “Best New Product” in the entertainment industry two years in a row by IAAPA, the amusement industry trade association. As Mark told ATZ: “I’m not trying to compete with the rides at the other parks. I’m offering something different and unique.”

Last year, the BK Festival dressed up the area behind Nathan’s with multi-colored tents for vendors. The new park is also looking for vendors for pop-up shops: “If you are a crafter, a culinary genius of some sort, have a cool new product, or got something to sell and are interested in vendor space in Coney Island this Summer as part of BIG MARKS ACTION PARK, let us know! The spaces will fill FAST.”

Big Mark’s Action Park promises an outdoor bar called either Big Mark’s Mega Bar or Marko Grande’s Coney Cantina. It’s a mouthful, but Mark says you can call it Mega Bar or Coney Cantina for short and it will feature nightly entertainment. As more details about the park become available, we’ll post an update.

UPDATE October 17, 2013

If you would like to know why the park never opened, just read “The New Coney Island: Thor Equities Vacant Lots, Dummy Arcades” (ATZ, October 17, 2013). The lot first became vacant after Thor Equities acquired the land and evicted ride and park operators and remains vacant today despite a history of various amusement operators’ efforts to negotiate lease deals. The latest project that never happened was Big Mark’s Action Park, which planned to bring a rock climbing wall, a vertical wind tunnel and other extreme attractions to Thor’s Stillwell lots in 2013. It’s a similar story as ATZ’s previous post “The New Coney Island: A Tale of Two Jones Walks” contrasting the activated City-owned and vacant Thor-owned sides of the Walk.

UPDATE May 25, 2013

Thor Equities lot on Stillwell Avenue where Big Mark’s Action Park announced they would build their new park remains depressingly empty except for the abandoned MegaWhirl. In reply to our query about the park’s status, “Big Mark” replied, “We are experiencing some unforeseen headwinds, but, are very much on the push to get open as soon as possible. We believe our Action Park will be super complimentary and not competitive to the already wonderful mix of attractions in Coney Island.” On their Facebook page, there’s a cryptic allusion to being “mired in a Clash of the Titans and in a holding pattern.”

Long-Delayed Coney Island Zipline Is Officially Open!

Posted in Amusement ride, tagged Coney Island, zipline on September 14, 2012| 24 Comments »

After umpteen updates to our original post “Zip Line Coming to Coney Island’s Stillwell Avenue in July” (June 28, 2012), ATZ tweeted on Wednesday…

Wow, will the long delayed Coney Island Zipline open this weekend?!?! Right now people are zipping across in test runs #BetterLateThanNever
—
Amusing the Zillion (@AmusingZillion) September 12, 2012

Happily it’s true, the Coney Island Zipline is officially open for business. After a soft opening last night, ten customers had tried it out when we talked to manager James Wilcox a little while ago. “Hell, yeah, I’m ecstatic,” said Wilcox, who has been on site, but not open for business since July due to paperwork issues with City agencies. “I’m ecstatic that we got our green card,” he said, explaining that the all-important permit saying they’re allowed to open is a green piece of paper.

“It’s $15 to ride on weekends,” said Wilcox, who noted that groups can get a discount. In addition, members of New York City’s Police and Fire Departments and EMS may ride for $10 with ID. Wilcox says they planned to offer this discount on September 11th, but will instead offer it for the duration of the season. “We hope to stay till October 31,” he added. (Saturday Update: After seeing on Cat5’s Facebook page that the cover price is $25, we phoned Wilcox for clarification. He said The $15 price is available this weekend, as well as to people who come in with CAT5 Zipline’s flier or mention reading about the zipline on this blog.)

The posted hours for the Coney Island Zipline are 2pm till ~~midnight~~ 10pm, though hours of operation may vary. The Zipline is located on Stillwell Avenue behind Nathan’s.

FINAL UPDATE: The ride was open for a day and a half before being closed by the City for permit issues and will not reopen. On October 8th, ATZ received an email from the BK Festival operators which said: “After a very long and difficult process the city still didn’t issue the permit needed to operate the zip line.”