View allAll Photos Tagged dodgems
Adventure Island is a theme park in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The site of the theme park flanks the north end of Southend Pier and has been a theme park since 1976 when the land now forming the west side of the park was purchased by the Miller family. The park used to be known as Peter Pan's Playground and later Peter Pan's Adventure Island before becoming Adventure Island. The site is owned and managed by Stockvale Limited. The park contains thirty six rides, retail outlets, and numerous catering outlets.
Adventure Island started out in 1918 as Sunken Gardens, a sea-side garden that in the 1920s installed a few children's rides. In 1976, the land to the west of the pier was purchased by the Miller family. They developed the amusement park on the site from the rudimentary original and the entire site was redeveloped extensively.
In 1995 the park was vastly expanded when the land to the east of the pier was purchased to form part of the park.
Complementing the park is Southend Pier, the longest pleasure pier in the world (built in 1830 as a wooden pier, rebuilt as a steel pier in 1889); it extends more than a mile (1,34 miles/2,16 km) toward the ocean. The pier train runs the entire length of the pier to the Lifeboat Museum. The park's mascots are called Snappy, Rage Man, Jakey and Jan.
In 1999, the park debuted the roller coaster Green Scream. It was once described as the park's signature ride, but this title has now been taken by Rage. The Green Scream does not have any inversions and the drops are quite tame. The second roller coaster at the park is the Barnstormer, which opened in 2000. The third roller coaster seen here is named the Mighty Mini Mega, which opened in 2002. Kiddi Koasta, a children's roller coaster, opened to the public on 30 April 2011.
The fifth roller coaster, Rage, opened in February 2007. It is one of the biggest investments the park has ever made. The ride cost in the region of £3 million and is located on the former Raging River Log Flume site. The Sky Drop and Vortex rides were relocated to new positions in the park to make way. The ride is about 75 feet (23 m) in height and has a 97 degree drop, a vertical lift hill, a vertical loop, a zero-g roll and tight turns. It was named Rage after a competition in the newspaper Southend Echo to decide a name for the ride. The slogan is "For Superheroes only!" which is said before the first drop of the roller coaster.
In September 2016 the park retained a top five status in the "Friendliest Park In The World" category at the annual Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards.
Mighty Mini Mega located on top of the Mega City arcade for added effect but was originally built on ground level with the arcade being built after and then the ride was placed on top. It has six cars each with two rows of two, seating 24 riders in total. The ride itself is short, however it is quite intense in some places with a helix towards the end and quite a sharp brake run.
Adventure Island's Big Wheel towers over 50ft in the air above Southend sea front. The classic ferris wheel attraction features eight pods which each seat around four or five passengers. While the colour scheme of the pods themselves has changed over the years, the main wheel structure has remained painted white. From the top, the Big Wheel provides some great views over Southend Pier and out to sea. On clear days it is even possible to see across to the Kent Coast opposite.
Dodgems is a Dodgems track built by French manufacturer Reverchon. Bumper cars or dodgems are the generic names for a type of flat amusement ride consisting of multiple small electrically powered cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. Bumper cars were not intended to be bumped, hence the original name “Dodgem.” They are also known as bumping cars, dodging cars and dashing cars.
The cars are commonly powered by one of three methods. The oldest and most common method, the Over Head System (OHS), uses a conductive floor and ceiling with opposing power polarities. Contacts under the vehicle touch the floor while a pole-mounted contact shoe touches the ceiling, forming a complete circuit.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Island_(amusement_park)
www.themeparkjames.co.uk/theme-parks/europe/uk/adventure-...
coasterpedia.net/wiki/Dodgems_(Adventure_Island)
Though probably not as bumpy as riding over the pot holes in Milton Keynes!
Newport Pagnell Carnival 2 of 2.
1966 ERF LV 8-wheeler LBA840E sporting what appears to be a Ford D series front bumper.
This was on the same negative strip as the LV I uploaded yesterday and I'm struggling to remember the location!
Bumper cars (or dodgems) piled up having been stored for winter. Now spring is here, they have been uncovered in preparation for the coming tourist season.
Bumper cars (US English) or dodgems (British English) is the generic name for a type of flat ride consisting of several small electric cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. They are also known as bumping cars and dashing cars'.
Although the idea of the ride is to bump other cars, safety-conscious (or at least litigation-conscious) owners sometimes put up signs reading "This way around" and "No (head on) bumping." Depending on the level of enforcement by operators, these rules are often ignored by bumper car riders, especially younger children and teenagers.
The funfair dodgems.
Named for the nearby Pripyat River, Pripyat was founded on 4 February 1970, the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union, for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and had grown to a population of 49,360 before being evacuated a few days after the 26 April 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Though Pripyat is located within the administrative district of Ivankiv Raion, the abandoned city now has a special status within the larger Kiev Oblast (province), being administered directly from Kiev. Pripyat is also supervised by Ukraine's Ministry of Emergencies, which manages activities for the entire Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Access to Pripyat, unlike cities of military importance, was not restricted before the disaster as nuclear power stations were seen by the Soviet Union as safer than other types of power plants. Nuclear power stations were presented as being an achievement of Soviet engineering, where nuclear power was harnessed for peaceful projects. The slogan "peaceful atom" (Russian: ?????? ????, mirnyj atom) was popular during those times. The original plan had been to build the plant only 25 km (16 mi) from Kiev, but the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, among other bodies, expressed concern about it being too close to the city. As a result, the power station and Pripyat were built at their current locations, about 100 km (62 mi) from Kiev. After the disaster the city of Pripyat was evacuated in two days.
A 35 man (plus guides) trip to the Ukraine exploring Chernobyl, the village, Duga 3, Pripyat and Kiev including Maidan (Independence Square) and observing the peaceful protests underway.
Some new faces, some old, made new friends and generally we were in our elements.
Rhetorical question but did we have a blast? You bet!
Amazing group, top guys. Till the next time!
My blog:
timster1973.wordpress.com
Also on Facebook
www.Facebook.com/TimKniftonPhotography
online store: www.artfinder.com/tim-knifton
Imagine someone who's only knowledge about cars is Bobbycars and the dodgems at the fun fair. Now imagine that person was tasked to write an essay on whether automobiles can serve as a viable mode of transportation for goods and people. He'd probably come to the conclusion, it's pointless, it's ridiculous. It will never work. They travel barely faster than you can walk, and where do you even put your baggage, and my goodness would those plastic seats be giving you a sore butt after 10 minutes already.
In a similar way, there's not much wrong with seeing astrology as nonsense if all you ever heard about it are the horoscopes in the TV guide and the likes. In fact, one could argue there's more wrong about saying you do believe in astrology if that's all you know about it.
Pripyat amusement park was due to open on 1st May 1986. The nuclear explosion happened on the 26th April 1986 and the town was evacuated the following day.
I don't think there is a collective noun for a group of Foden's, I would suggest A FESTIVE of FODEN's or A FORUM of FODEN's, this is one of 7 assembled at the Doncaster St Leger Fun Fair, Sept 2021
I found it amazing that throughout her dodgem car ride this young woman never once stopped talking on her mobile phone....... extraordinary!
Creative edit of dodgem cars at St Giles fair, Oxford. Please feel free to leave any comments.
September 2016
been back to silloth today with the family the fair has a real tragic, neglected feel to it. British seaside the way it should be.
The dodgems were never used as they were to be part of the May Day celebrations but the disaster happened on 26 April 1986.
On a recent trip to Ramsgate, we came across a fair setting up in the Harbour Parade. These dodgem cars were being unloaded, and positioned as seen here. Initially, I was attracted by the garish colours, but in the end, went against what originally caught my eye, and went for Black&White! 28th August 2015
There was a lot of rain last weekend and although they did pretty well with visitors they found it a struggle to get off the ground Sunday night and just look at the length of William Swifts Dodgem trailer with Iveco unit and it has to fit through a narrow gate hidden from view here on the left of Swifts truck.
Gardner 240 powered Atkinson Borderer GRJ569N accelerates away from Newark AEC rally with an ex Crow Carriers (and latterly Bensons Amusements of Dorking) Black Knight 8-wheeler AVW797B aboard its trailer.
The end of Brighton Pier (also called Palace Pier) at night.
In its original form in 1823 Brighton's first pier was the Old Chain Pier which was primarily used as a landing stage for passenger ships that sailed from Dieppe in France. Realising its commercial value the owners began charging an entry fee of 2d and introduced kiosks selling souvenirs and confectionary as well as entertainment stalls with fortune tellers and silhouettists. The Chain Pier was struck by many storms in a ten year period between 1824 and 1834 causing irreparable damage and eventually the pier was bought out in 1889 by the Marine Palace & Pier Company. In December that year the pier was destroyed in a mighty storm and so needed to be built again in its entirety.
The next decade saw intense building work with many setbacks including the Old Chain Pier being washed away in a raging storm causing serious damage to the Palace Pier construction work. Brighton Marine Palace & Pier was finally opened in a grand ceremony on the 20th May 1899 costing an unprecedented £27,000 to build.
On the opening night a series of eight iron & steel arches were spectacularly illuminated by 3,000 light bulbs. These original steel arches can still be found by the entrance to Palm Court fish & chip restaurant. Today there are 67,000 lights illuminating Brighton Pier a majority of which, in regards to our committment to environmental issues, have been converted to long life, energy saving bulbs.
In 1905 a collection of amusement machines were installed on the Palace Pier including The Lady Palmist and Punch Ball machines. It wasn't until the 1980âs when traditional machines started to be replaced with the explosion of new style arcade machines including Space Invaders and virtual reality machines. Brighton Pier have built a reputation for being the first in the country to introduce new concept gaming and rides, including the widely anticipated Guitar Hero.
A concert hall opened two years later and by 1911 this had become a theatre. The Palace Pier continued to develop introducing more entertainment facilities including a bandstand. The bandstand was the stage for free concerts through the summer months, it can still be found on Brighton Pier today in Palm Court Fish and Chip Restaurant. Summer shows with stars such as Dick Emery, Tommy Trinder and Doris & Elsie Waters were held in the theatre until the 1970's. The Winter Gardens, which is now The Palace of Fun, saw regular appearances of bands including the Band of the Grenadier Guards.
The Palace Pier was run by Piermasters until the 1970âs. Captain Weeks being the longest serving piermaster from 1928 until 1955, he wore a gold braided uniform with three rings on his sleeve and a row of war ribbons on his chest. He had a team of men under his command known as his crew, the crew maintained the pier on a daily basis. Today Brighton Pier employes over 500 people from around the world and plays a major part in Brighton's economy.
Steam engines replaced wind powered engines in the early nineteenth century. They soon became the driving force for passenger ferries to and from continental Europe. The Palace Pier offered regular services between British resorts and to passengers bound for France. Pleasure boats also offered short trips from the pier.
In 1928 the first dodgems were introduced to Britain by the Messrs Lusse Brothers and within four years Brighton Pier had their very own Dodgems and Big Wheel.
For national security reasons The Palace Pier was closed in May 1940 as it was seen by the War Office to be potentially useful to sea-borne invasion forces. In order to ensure the pier was not used for invasion the War Office instructed that an entire section of the Palace Pier be completely removed and it to be put under guard at all times.
The pier was listed at Grade II on 20 August 1971
In 1984 the pier was destined to be renovated under new ownership. Major changes were introduced such as free admission, free deck chairs, new food outlets on the forecourt and a traditional fish & chips restaurant.
Forget the deckchairs and dodgems; this is Yorkshire's coastline at its most raw and elemental. Here, brooding cliffs tower over a huddle of red roofed former fishing cottages that spill right down to the edge of the sea, creating a ‘lost in time' getaway for anyone who loves unusual architecture and breathtaking scenery.