How Crystal Beach

Came to Be

Since people were attending the sideshows more than the religion, John Rebstock discontinued the religion part and changed the place into an amusement park that he officially named Crystal Beach because of the crystal clear quality of the sand on the beach.

The Rides

Down below is a list of most of the rides that were a trademark of Crystal Beach.

Cyclone:

This 96 foot high coaster was built in 1927 and was at the time the most thrilling coaster in the world. It consisted of a steep, curving and hilly track that would swing the riders left and right in their seats.

20 years and 5 million passengers later, the Cyclone had closed down because of decreased ridership and increased old age maintenance.

Comet:

This coaster opened in 1948 and was made of a wooden track that was supported by steel beams (60% of the beams were originally used on the Cyclone.

This coaster was rated in the top 10-world coaster list put out by the Smithsonian Instituted in 1975*. The most thrilling part of this coaster was climbing the first hill to 96 feet while one could look down to their right at the lake water. Just before the steep plunge one could look straight ahead and see the Buffalo skyline and see across the lake on a clear day. In 1985 the park reversed the first half of each of the 2 trains in order to make it one of the only coasters that you can ride ether facing forwards or backwards which made for a completely different ride.

After the park closed in 1989 the comet was auctioned off and rebuilt in The Great Escape park in the Lake George area in 1994. Because of the safety standards the old manual sticks for breaking and starting the ride were replaced with a computerized system like on any modern steel looping coaster. They also had all the seats facing forwards

The Giant Coaster:

This coaster was on a wooden track and supported by wooden beams. Even though the height of the first drop on this ride was about half of the Comet's height it was still a thrill to ride. It was also noted for a lot of bumps from old age. After the park closed this ride was eventually dismantled and only part of it still exists for the rest was burned in a bon fire.

The Caterpillar:

This was a circular ride that went in a continuous circle. Towards the end of the ride a canvas roof would cover the entire ride to make it dark. This ride was removed sometime in the early 1970's.

The Heyday:

This noisy ride went around on an oval shaped wooden surface. The cars were shaped like old Model T's and as they drifted along the curves of the track they would whip around so that the passengers in the back seat got more of spinning thrill from the ride.

This was sort of like the modern Tilt-a-Whirl ride, only it was noisy from being on a wooden track and a roof that partially covered the ride.

The Old Mill:

A slow boat ride that went through a continuos tunnel. Inside this tunnel there would be a few display windows with different handmade birds in it.

Laff-In-the-Dark:

The most famous part of this ride was the two display windows on each side of the entrance. One window had a skeleton playing a rag tune on a piano. The other was the lady (laughing Sally) that kept laughing (maybe at the skeleton's boring piano tune.) The ride itself was inside a dark room where exhibits would light up as the ride approach it. Some of the exhibits were the guy in the bathtub, and the dreaded whistling snake. Those black ultraviolet bulbs and a few red bulbs lighted up most of these displays. The thrill of this ride was approaching the display head on and sharply veering to the left or right, just before crashing into them.

The Wild Mouse:

This Coaster like ride featured a few steep 30 foot drops and also sharp turns on the high parts of the track. In Conneaut Lake Park near Erie, PA, there is a ride similar to this and goes by the same name.

Here are just a few other rides that were part of the park:

Flying Coasters

The Scrambler

Music Express

Flying Bobs

Tilt-a-Whirl

Flitzer

Holiday Bounce (lasted only one season in 1975)

Tip-Top:

A stripped down version of the holiday bounce without the bells and whistles.