Pretzel Amusement Ride Company


The Pretzel Amusement Ride Company was an amusement ride manufacturer that produced a variety of rides, including an early dark ride known as The Pretzel, the company's namesake. It built over 1,400 rides for carnivals and amusement parks.

Name

The company took its name from its trademark dark ride, The Pretzel, so called because of its track's winding, pretzel-like layout. It may also have been influenced by the comment of someone who rode the ride's prototype: "It felt like I was turned and twisted like a pretzel".

History

The company was established in 1928 when founders Marvin Rempfer and Leon Cassidy patented a single-rail dark ride they built in Tumbling Dam Park on the banks of Sunset Lake in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The company remained in Bridgeton throughout its existence.
A large heavy pretzel design was originally affixed to the front of each car to prevent it from flipping backwards. In 1929, a standard Pretzel ride had five cars, 350 feet of track, a riding time of one and a half minutes, and sold for $1,200.
Portable pretzel rides for carnivals weighed about 9 tons. They were transported on huge moving vans. For the first three decades, Pretzel rides were single story. Beginning in the 1950s, two-story "double decker" rides were also made whose cars were hoisted to the second story by a lift chain during the ride. Leon Cassidy was not in favor of the double-decker version. The Mad Giant was 17 tons, 40'x 8' on trailer, and 70'x30' when opened, and took about five hours to set up. Pretzel also made spinning rides, including a famous one for Coney Island.
Leon's son William Cassidy ran the company after his father. He sold the rights to build the rides in 1979.

List of rides

Pretzel rides were usually themed. They included The Caveman, Haunted House, Lost Mine, Gold Nugget, Thunderbird Jr. Ride, Toonerville Trolley, Whirlo, Kiddie Circus, Devil's Cave/Pirate's Cove/Bucket O' Blood, Devils Inn, Winter Wonderland, Orient Express, Mad Giant, Laff in the Dark, Laff in the Dark with spinning cars, Laffland, Pirates Cave, Pirates Den, Paris After Dark, Arabian Nights Tunnel of Love/Casper's Ghostland, Treasure Island, Spook-A-Rama, Le Cachot/Safari/Zoomerang, and three versions of Dante's Inferno.
NameLocationRef
Haunted MansionKnoebels Amusement Resort1973
Haunted PretzelBushkill Park19272004
Pretzel RideBlackpool Pleasure Beach1930
The PretzelBay Shore Park1931Unknown
The PretzelHersheypark19311963
ZoomerangKennywood19541960
SafariKennywood19611971
Le CachotKennywood19721998
The PretzelConneaut Lake ParkUnknown1966
Devil's DenConneaut Lake Park1968
Haunted HouseCamden Park1919
LafflandSylvan Beach Amusement Park
Laff in the DarkKiddieland Amusement Park 19481979
Spook-a-RamaDeno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park1955
Keansburg Mystery HouseKeansburg Amusement Park19311952
Spook HouseKeansburg Amusement Park19532012
Ghost TrainLagoon Amusement Park19471953
SpooksHouseEldridge Park1940s1989
Ghost TrainLuna Park Melbourne1934