....If the gate is broken ..Right ?So ...Last weekend I went to the beach and while I was there we found ourselves at the big Alvins Island on the strip. For those of you who have NEVER been to the beach, Alvins is a HUGE store full of crap. Floors and floors of CRAP.
Coffee mugs with tacky stuff on them, airbrushed tshirts and caps,racks and racks of cigarette lighters,petrified or mummified aligator heads,wind chimes made of sea shells,beach chairs,beach umbrellas,beach toys,beach towels,beach coolers ...lots of crap. There are several Alvin stores spread across the panhandle of Flordia and into Alabama and they are always crowded. We took a group there to just kill time and hang out some ....
While they were inside I was outside with a friend and we wandered over into the parking lot of the abandoned Miracle Strip Amusement Park.
Miracle Strip used to be the spot during the summer ....It was a throwback to old time parks. Alot like Coney Island in NYC. The Big Eli Ferris Wheel, wave swinger, merry-go-round, musik express, paratrooper, teacup ride, spider, train ride, Looper Sea Dragon (swinging boat), Shockwave (Kamikaze), bumper cars, mini-enterprise, the O2 drop ride, a variety of small scale versions and spinning rides kids.The park had the old bumper cars,the big swings,an old wooden roller coster called the Starliner. The park opened in 1963 and was a regular stop for my family during the last part of the 1970's and into the 80's. The park was sold to developers in 2003 and closed in the early winter of 2004. The wooden coaster, Starliner was sold to Busch Gardens in southern Florida.
We walked around to the entrance and the gates were all locked but most of the windows of the ticket booths were broken out.....then we noticed a gate that was broken and laying open...
Well....of course we went in..Not to cause trouble but to see something one more time before its gone for good. There is a good bit of damage caused by recent storms but you could still get a feel for the old park.
We walked around for about 30-40 minutes before finally getting creeped out and leaving but man the memories came flooding back to me while in there ....
Anyway ....it was a cool walk down memory lane.
7 comments:
i have to admit: i am completely jealous of your adventure. i do wish i could run across stuff like that at some point.
SO MANY MEMORIES!! The Starliner was my first REAL roller coaster! and the swings there were awesome! Now I'm addicted to thrill rides and it was all due to good ole Miracle Strip.
Freaky photos Jason, isn't there a horror movie with clowns and such in an old abandoned theme park?!?
Yeah ...but the movie you are talking about is actually a tv show called Scooby Doo
I think what MT is thinking about isn't a scary movie so much as Scooby Doo. Like Luke I am jealous of your adventure, the closest I have come was the time we went to Funtasia after it closed before they built Country's BBQ.
am I the only one that can't remember going to miracle strip??? I remember Big Kahuna!
Some chaperone you are! Good thing you have awesome youth sponsors to actually watch the kids and make sure they aren't dying, while you're off breaking and entering. Ha. And Laura, I think we are too young, or we were just too cool for the "Miracle Strip." I've never heard of it either!
Let me be clear here ...I was not there the day they opened in 1963. although many of you might think i am 95 years old ...I am not !!
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