By the end of the 19th century, New Jersey coastline was dotted with thriving amusement parks but are just fond and fading memories today. The Jersey Shore has always attracted people seeking relief from summer heat and humidity. Long before Europeans came here, the native Lenape clammed, fished, and played games on the beach and in the surf. These original people could scarcely have imagined that, by the end of the 19th century, the 120-mile-long coastline would be filled with amusement parks featuring gentle kiddie car rides, terrifying roller coasters, merry-go-rounds, and fast-food emporiums. James Bradley in Asbury Park and William Sandlass Jr. in Highland Beach created mass entertainment for hundreds of thousands of people. Their seaside recreation centers, along with those in Long Branch, Bradley Beach, Pleasure Bay, and others, endured for years. Sadly, they are now just distant and vanishing memories that are resurrected in this piece.

Describes different types of roller coasters, their history, and their construction.

Discusses roller coasters, their origins, history, and revival in popularity through theme parks, with a section listing ones located in Illinois. Includes writing and math activities about roller coasters.

This comprehensive guide profiles 17 major amusement parks in the Garden State. Complete information on rides and attractions is accompanied by dozens of vintage photographs and postcard scenes. Featured parks: Steel Pier, Atlantic City; Keansburg Amusement Park, Keansburg; Clementon Amusement Park, Clementon; Jenkinson's Boardwalk, Point Pleasant Beach; Casino Pier, Seaside Heights; Playland, Ocean City; Bowcraft Amusement Park, Scotch Plains; Land of Make Believe, Hope; Storybookland, Cardiff; Funtown Pier, Seaside Park; Wild West City, Netcong; Gillian's Wonderland Pier, Ocean City; Morey's Piers, Wildwood; Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson; Fantasy Island, Beach Haven; Blackbeards Cave, Bayville.

Six Flags Great Adventure has been the premier destination for family fun in the Northeast for over 40 years. Created by Hollywood scion Warner LeRoy, the park's mission from the very start was to be the biggest and best theme park with record-breaking thrills, spectacular shows, and unique experiences that could only be found at Great Adventure. As a part of the Six Flags family of theme parks, Great Adventure combines the world's largest safari park outside of Africa, a world-class theme park, and one of the biggest and best water parks in the United States to create an experience like no other.

Explains how math skills are needed to inspect structures for safety and includes math activities using real-life data and facts about roller coasters.

American Coasters is one coaster enthusiast's photographic journey across the country in search of the next great thrill. From Massachusetts to Florida, from New Jersey to California, this book contains adrenaline-inducing images of more than 100 different roller coasters from 21 different parks in 12 states. And for the adrenaline junky searching for that perfect ride, this thrilling look at American coasters also covers nearly 40 featured coaster profiles complete with all the vitals and a brief commentary. Whether you like wood or steel, loops or launches, this book showcases a wide variety of different roller coasters built over the last 90 years at parks like Cedar Point, Busch Gardens, Kings Dominion, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.

"Citizen Kane does Adventureland." —The Washington Post The outlandish, hilarious, terrifying, and almost impossible-to-believe story of the legendary, dangerous amusement park where millions were entertained and almost as many bruises were sustained, told through the eyes of the founder's son. Often called "Accident Park," "Class Action Park," or "Traction Park," Action Park was an American icon. Entertaining more than a million people a year in the 1980s, the New Jersey-based amusement playland placed no limits on danger or fun, a monument to the anything-goes spirit of the era that left guests in control of their own adventures--sometimes with tragic results. Though it closed its doors in 1996 after nearly twenty years, it has remained a subject of constant fascination ever since, an establishment completely anathema to our modern culture of rules and safety. Action Park is the first-ever unvarnished look at the history of this DIY Disneyland, as seen through the eyes of Andy Mulvihill, the son of the park's idiosyncratic founder, Gene Mulvihill. From his early days testing precarious rides to working his way up to chief lifeguard of the infamous Wave Pool to later helping run the whole park, Andy's story is equal parts hilarious and moving, chronicling the life and death of a uniquely American attraction, a wet and wild 1980s adolescence, and a son's struggle to understand his father's quixotic quest to become the Walt Disney of New Jersey. Packing in all of the excitement of a day at Action Park, this is destined to be one of the most unforgettable memoirs of the year.

Offers a brief history of the roller coaster, and describes rollercoaster rides found at amusement parks across America.