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Now a landmark, the first wooden roller coaster in the United States.
This is the corner of Surf Avenue and West10th Street.

Before you do anything, give this page time to download (we have lots of great pictures on this baby). Now this is a current 2000 picture. It's not just the cars, but its also the landmark status, that has given it a cleaner look. I can also see by that new safety measure around the top foreground bend that this is is a recent picture. I don't see any measure like that in the background near the boardwalk where the turn is much faster coming off from that first drop. I suppose that's because they don't want anyone falling out onto Surf Avenue (public image and all that). Notice the car reaching the top of the first drop (look where the two flags are). My advice: make sure you go to the bathroom before taking that one. If you sit in the front car, well, you're in the front feeling nothing between you and the next world. If you're in the last car, they say you feel it lift off the tracks coming off the top. Next picture shows what it looks like from the top of the first climb.

The Cyclone opened on June 26, 1927 and is one of the oldest roller coasters still operating. Without question it is the most famous roller coaster. It was built for an initial investment of $100,000. And when it opened, a single ride was only 25 cents, and 35 cents on Sundays. Now for the stats: height: 85 feet, first drop: 85 feet at 53 degrees, and the top speed: 60 mph (feels more like 100 mph), length: 2,640 feet.

Here's foreground glimpse into the gaping maw of the Cyclone's first drop.
After that first plunge, we swing up to what you see in the background.
What you see in the background is the first turn going from right to left.
I've done this many times and I'm out of breath just thinking of this.

Look at that showoff in the first car ... there's always one wherever you go.
Here we go, first drop; put your arms down, idiot, and hold on.

According to the Cyclone's devoted repairman Walter Williams, Coney Island, and the Cyclone in particular, are here to stay. "The Cyclone will stand forever. It will be here as long as people are here. And as long as people are here, I feel that the world will be here, and as long as the world is here I think the Cyclone will be here too . . . as long as it has someone to take care of it as I do" ... It's a strange way of thinking but rather charming. I'm not sure how long Mr. Williams will be here, and forever is a very long time so maybe the Cyclone will have its time too, but today it is a lasting landmark of Coney Island.

Look, he's still there; he didn't fall out ... I'm sorry, he's still an idiot.
Remember, this coaster is wood; I've heard it referred to as Old Woody.
And the sound and feel of wood vibrating is what adds to the thrill.

From the golden years of the 20's that has survived the test of time. From the steep pitch of the first drop and three layers of twists and turns, this coaster proves that a good design is more important than size.

All right, we're at the bottom now and make that swing up toward our first turn.

The Cyclone roller coaster became the most famous roller coaster in the world. It had steep drops and savage banked turns that offered patrons an exciting ride. If you have a need for speed (or a death wish) sit in the front seat of the front car or the back seat of the back car; Otherwise, stay as close to the middle as possible.

Looks like we're standing still but no kidding, this baby's really moving.
Let's say you have two strangers sitting in one car, doesn't usually happen.
But I'll tell you something; you'd really get to know each other on these turns.

The golden age of roller coasters was the wooden age, and a bracing era it was. Clattering and lurching, coasters made of wood instilled the kind of terror that kept visitors coming back. Coney Island's Cyclone, built in 1927 by Vernon Keenan and Harry Baker, was perhaps the paragon of the wooden form. It was no less an eminence than Charles Lindbergh, who remarked that it was scarier than flying an airplane. With its 85-foot drop executed at 60 miles an hour, it is still considered by many to be the standard by which all others other measured.

Now for the second drop ... and you thought you were through.

A bit of interesting trivia, for trivia buffs of course: The roller coaster has its origins in St. Petersburg, Russia, as a simple slide that took thrill seekers down an icy ramp past a variety of colored lanterns. Catherine the Great gave this custom a boost when she fitted her imperial sleigh with wheels for summer use. The next leap forward came when a French traveler beheld this odd national pastime and imported it to his homeland. Adapting the ice slide to a milder climate, the French soon learned to erect a track with a groove running down the middle. A bench with wheels was fitted into the groove, and down the Parisians went -- facing sideways.

Here's an interesting side note: In 1948 the Cyclone performed a "miracle" of sorts. Edo McCullough (Tilyou's nephew) reported in his book, Good Old Coney Island, that Emilio Franco, a coal miner from West Virginia, came to Coney with the disease of aphonia (inability to speak). He boarded the Cyclone, and as he went down the first drop he screamed. And then as the train pulled into the station he said, "I feel sick" ... then he fainted, realizing he had just spoken.

Jason Eustice points out to me that "Leap-the-Dips" is the worlds oldest standing roller coaster, designed and built in 1902 by Edward Joy Morris. Located at Lakemont Park in Lakemont (Altoona), PA. After standing idle for fourteen years, it is now back in action, and is 1,452 feet long and 41 feet high. Thus it is a very gentle, with only small drops (dips), of which the largest is nine feet, and averaging about 10 mph. Currently, the cars are running on oak boards, as they did during it's initial years. The only metal "rails" are located in the station. It has been fully rebuilt for the 1999 operating season. Leap-The-Dips is the only "side friction" roller coaster left in North America.

I researched it and Jason is right (and I thank him) but have to add that there is very little comparison comparing the heights of 41 feet with Cyclone's 500 feet, the lengths of 1,452 with Cyclone's 2,640, the first drop of 9 feet with Cyclone's 85 feet, and the speeds of 10 mph with Cyclone's 60 mph. Jason's "Leap-the-Dips" is what we have in our kiddie park for the 2 year olds.

Unusual Features ... Wood track on almost entirely steel structure; Classic Trains, station, and operational procedures; distinction of being the most copied roller coaster ever built -- 7 "cyclones" currently operating throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.

The Cyclone was designated a New York City Landmark on July 12, 1988, and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since June 21, 1991.