Amusement Parks

Reporting from Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pa. - As one of the oldest amusement parks in America, Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pa., has always been geared toward youngsters under 12 years old. Photos : Top 10 kids' rides at Idlewild Park Idlewild is about firsts and lasts. For generations, kids have ridden their first merry go round, Ferris wheel and roller coaster at the idyllic park. At the same time, Idlewild is home to many last-of-their-kind rides, including a caterpillar, haunted swing, tilt house and Tumble Bug. A cross between a wooded national park and permanent carnival, Idlewild stays true to its origins by allowing visitors to bring their lunches in coolers and baskets.

Disney this summer will truly become the happiest place on Earth for Starbucks devotees, who will no longer have to suffer caffeine withdrawal when they visit some of the mouse-eared amusement parks. In June, the first of six Starbucks cafes will open at Anaheim's Disney California Adventure in the park's Fiddle, Fifer & Practical Café on Buena Vista Street. In keeping with the café's 1920's Los Angeles vibe, Starbucks baristas will be clad in appropriate vintage attire.

Being the theme-park discount leader is no romp in the park this summer. Knott's Berry Farm said Thursday it will admit Southern California children for $9.95 on tickets purchased at Ralphs markets, shaving $3 off an existing discount promotion, in reaction to Walt Disney Co.'s move to let local kids in free to its California Adventure park. The deal begins Wednesday and runs through Sept. 4. Adult tickets remain $21.

David W. Kenney, SeaWorld's first veterinarian, who played a key role in bringing the original Shamu to the San Diego amusement park as well as a gray whale believed to be the first raised by humans, died Feb. 14 in Montrose, Colo. He was 77. The cause was cancer, said his sister, Meredith Maler. Kenney was hired by the park a few weeks before its 1964 opening and over the next several years displayed an ingenuity and dedication that helped the fledgling tourist attraction build and maintain an impressive collection of marine animals.

The Southland's two major water theme parks, Raging Waters and Wild Rivers, will be showcasing new rides to woo visitors this summer. The mere sight of the Wedge might make even an extreme athlete hurl. Raging Waters' newest thrill ride, opening Memorial Day Weekend, looks like a vert ramp, the U-shape apparatus that skateboarders ride up one side and down the other. But even the sickest skaters (skater-speak for the best) have never ridden anything like this.

Disney this summer will truly become the happiest place on Earth for Starbucks devotees, who will no longer have to suffer caffeine withdrawal when they visit some of the mouse-eared amusement parks. In June, the first of six Starbucks cafes will open at Anaheim's Disney California Adventure in the park's Fiddle, Fifer & Practical Café on Buena Vista Street. In keeping with the café's 1920's Los Angeles vibe, Starbucks baristas will be clad in appropriate vintage attire.

Disney officials announced Thursday that they will beef up emergency services by stationing full-time city paramedics at their Anaheim theme parks, a plan that will cost them $1.4 million annually and speed response time. The Disneyland Resort will contract with the city to have four paramedics stationed at both Disneyland and the company's new theme park, Disney's California Adventure. The paramedics will serve the parks, Downtown Disney and the three resort hotels.

A Northern California legislator came here Tuesday to announce yet another legislative attempt to force state government oversight of California's 71 amusement parks. Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) said he will introduce legislation this week to address growing concerns about accountability at the parks, compounded by the death of a Disneyland patron in December.

Why are there more complaints than usual this year about the cost of visiting big amusement parks? It's "totally outrageous," writes one Whittier woman whose day at Disneyland for her family of five cost $311.50. "It's obvious," she comments, "that (they) are in a moneymaking business." Indeed they are. Corporations don't run parks as a public service. At the same time, consumers don't have to go. This is recreation, not necessity. But that's too simplistic.

The developers seeking to build an amusement park at the corner of Harvard Avenue and ichelson Drive will meet with residents over the next few weeks in an effort to work out differences over the controversial development. The meetings are designed to focus on crime, parking and other issues raised by opponents of the Palace Park development.

The carnival-like atmosphere of the Balboa Fun Zone apparently will not pass without a fight. A group of preservationists has launched a Facebook campaign to halt plans for ExplorOcean, an ocean-themed educational center that would essentially erase the 1930s-era amusement park from the heart of Balboa. The Fun Zone has become something of a game piece in the debate over whether Balboa has become scruffy and in need of a face-lift, and whether a gleaming new development would kick some needed life into the area.

Centuries before the bride of Frankenstein first screamed and hissed on the big screen in 1935, the legend of the wailing woman who drowned her children was already terrifying kids throughout Latin America. But only now, with Latinos constituting the largest minority group in the nation, has the tale of La Llorona started to creep into the nation's Halloween festivities. And she's not the only Latino myth infiltrating the autumn celebration of all things scary and gory. The trend in Southern California and other heavily Latino regions seems fueled by a growing Latino middle class that visits theme parks in greater numbers and the rising popularity of Halloween, now the second-biggest holiday for spending in the country, behind only Christmas.

The horror movie that is John Murdy's life opens in 1974 on a bloody scene of carnage in his family's Hacienda Heights living room when he's just 7 years old. Eccentric Grandma Rose Kavanaugh convinces the Murdy kids to stage a murder scene to surprise their parents when they return home. The children toss knives on the floor, cover themselves in ketchup and play dead on the carpet. "We all thought it was a great idea," says Murdy, 44, laughing at the recollection like a homicidal maniac.

Reporting from Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa.-- The campgrounds, picnic groves and trolley parks that proliferated in Pennsylvania and Ohio in the late 19th century have survived through lean times and changing tastes to become some of the oldest operating amusement parks in the U.S. Photos: Vintage rides and attractions at America's oldest amusement parks Like many of the oldest theme parks on my trip across America's Coaster...

Reporting from Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pa. - As one of the oldest amusement parks in America, Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pa., has always been geared toward youngsters under 12 years old. Photos : Top 10 kids' rides at Idlewild Park Idlewild is about firsts and lasts. For generations, kids have ridden their first merry go round, Ferris wheel and roller coaster at the idyllic park. At the same time, Idlewild is home to many last-of-their-kind rides, including a caterpillar, haunted swing, tilt house and Tumble Bug. A cross between a wooded national park and permanent carnival, Idlewild stays true to its origins by allowing visitors to bring their lunches in coolers and baskets.

Reporting from Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pa. - With its extensive collection of turn-of-the-century rides and attractions, Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pa., is a living, breathing, trapped-in-amber ode to the "Golden Age of Amusement Parks. " Photos: Top 10 oldest rides and attractions at Kennywood As you pass through the tunnel from the parking lot to the park, you're transported back in time to a place full of memories and free of worries. Filled with vintage wooden coasters and rare old rides, the quaint and nostalgic park is the kind of place passed down from generation to generation.

Six Flags Magic Mountain reopened Thursday to its biggest crowd of the year, park executives said, a day after Daniel Vega, a 15-year-old Fontana boy, was shot to death in the parking lot. Two others shot in the incident, the victim's 14-year-old cousin and a 37-year-old female bystander, were in good condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, officials said. Meanwhile, sheriff's detectives questioned the many witnesses to the 8:40 p.m.

Ogden Corp.--a conglomerate that converts trash to energy, is privatizing 33 Argentine airports and owns the Tinseltown dinner theater in Anaheim--said Friday it agreed to buy Castle Amusement Park in Riverside from Buena Park-based Hurlbut Amusements Inc. Terms of the deal for the privately held, 30-acre park weren't released. Castle's 30 attractions include four heavily landscaped miniature golf courses, go-carts, a log ride and a 101-year-old carousel.

"Cars 2" is a hit with the younger crowd, thrilled to see familiar animated friend Lightning McQueen engaged in action-packed motor racing and fender-deep in cool, spy-world gadgetry. The new Pixar animated sequel also features Mater the tow truck and many of the characters from the original 2006 film as they travel overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix and become entangled in James Bond-esque intrigue. But young visitors to Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre can take the adventure further.

I need another vacation. I began the last one with a colonoscopy. It was either that or talk to Steve Soboroff about his time with the Dodgers. The rest of the vacation was spent with the three grandchildren, who make more noise these days than a Dodger Stadium crowd. It's hard to describe the steady din. The twins still kind of grunt, especially when they are eating. You know, like Tom Lasorda . The 7-Eleven Kid , meanwhile, turned 6 on Monday and someone thought it would be a good idea if G.P. took the kid to California Adventure a few days before that.