On June 18, 1982, Six Flags Magic Mountain opened their newest ride, Freefall (an Intamin first generation "freefall" drop tower ride). However, the grand opening had originally been announced for a date prior to that.
I had gone to Magic Mountain with friends on that original opening date. When we entered the park, we immediately headed over to Freefall which was located on the far side of the park.
There were employees posted at the ride's entrance who told us that it would open later in the day, but they couldn't say exactly when. We were advised to check back "in a couple hours." Well, we did just that and we were told basically the same thing....that they didn't know for sure when it would open, but to keep checking back. We ended up doing this all day long and at some point, we were told that it would definitely be opening before the park closed. It never did!
When I got home, I wrote a letter to the company, stating my frustration at how our day was spent running back and forth to Freefall to check and see if it had opened yet, but that it never did. They sent the following reply, dated July 11, 1982 and postmarked the following day.
And here is one of the "Courtesy Half Price Rain Checks" that they sent me.
I remember going back fairly soon with the same friends and using these, but they had sent me extras so I had some left over. I used one of the tickets 12 years later in 1994 and I remember the attendant in the ticket booth having to call for a manager because she had never seen one of these before and she didn't know what to do with it. I remember the manager stating that he had also never seen one before, but I guess he could tell it was real, because they accepted it. Now I just have this one ticket remaining and even though I have been back to Magic Mountain since then, I have never tried to use it. It doesn't have an expiration date, but I wonder what their response would be if I tried to use it now....almost 35 years later! I guess I could take the letter along with me and show it to them. They'd probably think I was crazy.
Freefall remained standing until 2008, but there was a period of time between 2005 - 2006 when it was not running. If you are interested in watching some short on-board ride footage, here are a couple video clips:
If anyone is interested in seeing another letter that I received from Magic Mountain from 1978 (with the Trolls and Wizard on the letterhead), you can click here: Vintage Magic Mountain Trip Report from 1978.
On July 4th of last year, I did a Bicentennial Post and included a picture of a souvenir pressed penny. That inspired me to look for the other pressed pennies that I have acquired over the years. Well, I found all of them (there aren't that many....only eight!), and now they have somehow led to a larger post on the subject, than I had originally intended:
Pressed Pennies are a relatively inexpensive souvenir and the machines that create them can be found at many tourist attractions and landmarks around the world. According to a Los Angeles Times article that I'm including at the end of this post, pressed coins go back more than 100 years to Vienna, Austria. They were first introduced here in the U.S., at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.
The first two pressed pennies that I acquired were from a 1976 trip to Universal Studios. These were both made by machines that were operated by hand. You would hand an attendant your coins (the penny, plus the price of the pressing) and they would insert the penny into a tall machine with a large crank. They themselves, would turn the crank and out would come your souvenir coin.
The Jaws attraction from the Universal Studios Tour in California had just opened in April of 1976.
I'm including this "Jaws" photo that my dad took during a 1985 visit to Universal Studios. I did not go on that trip, so I have no idea where this photo op was located. I'm also a bit confused as to why it was there. Jaws 3-D had been released in 1983 and Jaws: The Revenge wasn't going to be come out until 1987. Was this just left over from the 1983 film's release?
This Frankenstein penny is from the same 1976 Universal Studios trip as my "Jaws" penny.
The postcard below, was purchased during an earlier visit. The girl on the left looks like she could have been friends with Marcia ("Oh, my nose!") or Jan ("Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!") Brady.
I took this pic of Frankenstein during a 1979 trip to Universal while seated on one of the "Glamour Trams" at the beginning of the studio tour. Frankenstein could often be seen walking among the parked trams trying to scare guests.
My next penny is from Knott's. I must say that I don't think the design on this one is the greatest. They tried to include two iconic images, the old prospector panning for gold and the Calico Railroad.
This vintage postcard shows a similar image of a prospector.
Here's another Knott's Penny. This one commemorates Knott's 1991 Halloween Haunt. Some of the older Halloween Haunt penny machines can actually still be found in the park today.
The vampire design was used on other Haunt merchandise that year, such as this T-shirt. (Photo courtesy of Knott's Illustrated on Facebook....thank you!!!)
I acquired this next penny at Ports O' Call Village in San Pedro back in the 1970's. My grandparents lived in Torrance back then and they would often take my brother and me over to Ports O' Call, to walk around and look in the shops.
I'm kind of surprised that they didn't put this iconic image of the fisherman on the penny. The description on the back of this vintage postcard reads, "This bronze statue is dedicated to the Fisherman...for his harpoon, hook and net have long harvested the endless sea to grace the tables of America. His sturdy ships and useful catches have always found shelter and market at The Port of Los Angeles."
Here's a photo from Ports O' Call that my brother took during one of our childhood visits.
My next souvenir penny is from Magic Mountain and depicts Shock Wave, a stand-up rollercoaster that was only in the park from 1986-1988. The piece of land that it sat on has changed quite a bit over the years. Other attractions that came and went in that same spot were the Sarajevo Bobsleds, Psyclone, and Apocalypse (originally Terminator Salvation - The Ride).
This Magic Mountain map from 1988 shows the former location of Shockwave.
I don't have any personal photos of Shockwave, but here is professional video footage of Shockwave.....just in case anyone is interested.
This is my newest pressed penny. It's from an early 1990's visit to Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle & Olympic Mountains are depicted in the design.
I purchased this postcard during the same visit. The Olympic Mountains can be seen off in the distance. The area immediately surrounding the Space Needle was originally the location of the 1962 World's Fair. Today the area is called Seattle Center, but several of the buildings and landmarks from the fair are still standing.
Believe it or not, I don't own one single pressed penny from a Disney park.....not even from the Tokyo Disney parks. In Anaheim, there are more than 40 different machines spread out within the parks, hotels, and Downtown Disney. This pamphlet lists the locations of all the machines including those with special limited "60th Anniversary" designs.
So they are using Henry and Sammy from Country Bear Jamboree to represent Critter Country? Weird! Why don't they just put the show back where it belongs!
Again, I haven't purchased any of these. But there are quite a few of the special "60th Anniversary" designs that I do like because of the vintage images that are used. If you look closely, you will see that the artwork for some of these has been taken directly from their respective Disneyland attraction posters (specifically, the PeopleMover, Submarine Voyage, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Columbia Sailing Ship).
This Fantasyland machine makes "pressed quarters".
Most of the pressed coin machines have a generic look such as the one below.
The machine inside the Adventureland Bazaar appears to be the only one that is themed to the "land" that it's located in. It has coin pressers on three different sides of it, with nine different designs altogether.
The top of the machine features an elephant that lifts it's arms up in the air and then presses down while a loud stomping (or would that be stamping?) sound is heard.
These are the three "60th Anniversary" designs representing Adventureland.
Seasonal designs are even available at times throughout the year. This holiday "pressed nickel" machine was located at the exit to Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln.
Here's a close-up of the inner workings of one of the machines. The coin travels down that clear diagonal slot and then falls between two rollers, which then rotate and imprint a design onto the coin while "elongating" it at the same time.
By the way, all of the special "60th" pennies are still available in the park today, even though the 60th anniversary was technically last year.
And in case you just can't get enough of pressed pennies.....here is that Los Angeles Times article that I mentioned. This is from June 2015.
Today, I have a different kind of July Fourth post for you. This is an issue of New West Magazine that came out on July 4, 1977....thirty four years ago. My mom subscribed to this magazine and I saved this issue because of the Space Mountain article inside.
Space Mountain had opened at Disneyland about a month earlier, but I had not been on it yet. My first ride on Space Mountain would come just two weeks later.
I believe this is the model of the track layout that we have seen on display in various Disney art exhibits. I remember looking at the smaller photo (inset) and wondering where the track was. This was my first time realizing how Disney will doctor photographs and film footage so that an attraction appears in a way that is much more flattering than the way it actually appears in person. Don't get me wrong, I love and have always loved Space Mountain. I'm just saying.....
The sun'll come out.....Tomorrow! The article on Space Mountain continues below:
How do you like that? Space Mountain "just is!"
I'm including this article from the magazine about "The Joys Of Summer."
Those are punching balloons being sold at Magic Mountain. Do they even still make things like that for kids today? I remember Miss Mary Ann used to have the kids on Romper Room work out with those.
The Jolly Monster ride! Why did Magic Mountain get rid of their "octopus" ride, anyway? And their Crazy Barrels? And their Metro Monorail? BRING BACK THE METRO! (That was for you, Vintage Disneyland Tickets!)
Here's footage of the Jolly Monster right before it was removed from the park in 1981. About two minutes into the video, there's some footage that was shot while actually riding in one of the cars and towards the end of the video, there's a still photo showing the ride being dismantled. This YouTube user has some other cool Magic Mountain videos including the train ride to Trollywood (which I mentioned in my last post) on it's last day of operation.
Getting back to the magazine, here's a two-page Ford advertisement. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Pinto Cruising Wagon.
And here's a perfume ad with actress, Shelley Hack. Before she was one of Charlie's Angels, she worked for another "Charlie."
Just for fun, I'm posting a couple vintage Charlie commercials that featured Shelley Hack. This first one has Bobby Short singing the product's jingle.
This next one features Mel Torme singing the Charlie song.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth of July!
.jpg)
%20-%20Copy.jpg)
%20-%20Copy.jpg)
.jpg)