Astroland - Coney Island

Astroland Amusement Park
Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park
Coney Island
Luna Park
Scream Zone
Brooklyn, New York

People have been visiting Coney Island and Brighton Beach, located not too far from New York City, since the 1830s. In the last one hundred years, a large number of parks have operated on the island. Three of the most notable parks are these: Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland Park. In 1897, George Tilyou opened Steeplechase Park. It featured the famous Steeplechase Horse Race which had eight wooden horses on tracks. In 1903, Frederick Thompson and Elmer Dundy opened Luna Park which had over 250,000 electric lights. Since electricity was still very new, it was an astonishing sight to visitors! Only one year later, William Reynolds opened Dreamland Park just down the beach from Luna Park. Dreamland had one million lights and many attractions, but it never had the popularity of Luna Park. Dreamland closed after it was completely destroyed in a fire in 1911. Luna Park also burned in a 1944 fire. Steeplechase Park burned in 1907, but it was rebuilt and operated until 1964. The land was later sold to Fred Trump (Donald Trump's father) who then sold it to New York City. Much of the land once occupied by these various parks now is home to housing developments.

In the past few years, a wide variety of plans were proposed, debated, and litigated for this location. Ultimately, Astroland lost their lease for everything except they were retained to operate the Cyclone. Most other rides were replaced when the temporary Dreamland Amusement Park ran in 2009. In 2010, Zamperla signed a 10-year lease and brought in a lot of new rides for the new Luna Park. Currently Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park still operates a small group of rides situated between the Luna Park and Luna Park Scream Zone plots.

Nearly fifty coasters have operated at the various parks of this area! Click here for descriptions of many of the defunct coasters:

Big Apple