Took these photos of Williams Grove about a year ago but never really shared or talked about them, beyond just dumping them on my Flickr profile. I guess I sat on them because I don't want to promote the idea of engaging in activities where you could get hurt within the theme park community... but hopefully people are smart enough to make their own decisions regarding that kind of thing. The park had been on my bucket list for as long as I'd known about it, though without visiting while it was operating, I hold no real nostalgia or emotional connection to it. Still, it's fascinating to see 'lost in time' places like this related to one of my hobbies.
Was hoping to see the remains of the Dante's Inferno dark ride with its delightfully campy mural artwork, but unfortunately both it and the arcade building had been completely boarded over. Luckily there was no shortage of peeling paint textures on pretty much every building to photograph as consolation.
Williams Grove Cyclone earned a reputation within the rollercoaster community as being one of the most white knuckle experiences around, due to its rather abrupt track profiling, and slapdash maintenance and structural repairs done by the park. Given all of this, it's impressive that the ride's entire structure is still standing, although definitely not in the best condition. Plenty of missing foot boards, side rails, and rotted wood throughout.
Looking down Cyclone's lift hill as it disappears into the trees. The station building as well as the former carousel pavilion are visible in the background.
The coaster operated as Zipper for the first four decades of its life, before being changed to Cyclone, to match the name on a donor train they received from the defunct Palisades Park in New Jersey. It had been (incorrectly) reported that the train was removed and returned to New Jersey for a museum display, so it was a pleasant surprise to see it actually still parked in the station.
The coaster's structure is double stacked for a portion of the ride - above is the track going outward towards the back turnaround, and below is the brake run just before reentering the station.
The trees have grown so thick around Cyclone's back turnaround that it's nearly impossible to see from outside of the park, though the resulting imagery of leafy vines growing within a wooden coaster structure is quite nice. The density of vegetation almost makes me inclined to believe that the ride will never be fully demolished, and that it'll instead just be completely reclaimed by nature over time.
