Old Chicago Memories

This is a page for everyone out there who ever visited Old Chicago to relive their experiences with the rest of us.   If you want your Old Chicago memory here just e-mail it to me.

From:  Paul B. Drabek (Me)

I have put many of my memories of the park into the page and here are my other memories.  I remember the Rotor at the park very well because it got me extremely sick.  My stepfather went on it and we were on top looking down into it and it gave me some of the worst motion sickness.  Also I remember going to the park and my Mom and Rick paid for my sister Joan and I to go into the park while the two of them sat watching.  The park was completely dead and we went around and around on the log flume and after a while we went out of the park to see Mom and Rick and they told us that they were getting married.  I don't remember too much more about the park except the Lions outside of the park were modeled after the lions in front of the Chicago Art Institute and I climbed on top of it and got my picture taken.  Sadly all my Dad's photos have been lost so I don't have that picture.

From:  Dave Sandborg 

I visited Old Chicago in my youth.  I believe I went two times.  I think
the first time was still while the park was in full swing, and the second
was when it was in decline.  I don't remember much for sure--my impressions were very vague--but I seem to recall the park not being very crowded on my second visit.

I don't remember the rides very well.  I know they had a flat ride that I
liked a lot.  I think it was called the Bobs (I had no idea that there
might be a coaster association with this name), and consisted of tubs that
swung out freely as the ride went around on a track with some hills.
Geauga Lake has one of these called the Yukon Yahoos, and Cedar Point also has one, possibly called Matterhorn.  I loved this ride at the time.

I don't really remember the coasters clearly at all.  I have the impression
the Corkscrew got very close to the roof, but I don't really remember the
ride experience at all.

Oddly, the one thing I remember clearly is when a guy at the dunking booth
was trying to get me to play by calling me "four eyes."  This was located
on one wall of the park area, along with some other games.  This is when I
remember the park not being very crowded, because there weren't too many
other people for him to make fun of as we walked by.  It's really the only
visual memory I have of the place now, unfortunately.

I'd like to see the materials you've gathered.  It's possible that they
will spark some more memories for me.  I really have so few.

Dave

From: Jim W.

Paul,

Yes I remember Old Chicago.  Only visited a few times.  In retrospect, I
remember the park did have some cool names of rides.  In addition to the
Chicago Loop, I thought the Crash of '29 was a neat name for the bumper cars.  I also remember the Four Seasons dark ride which I liked a lot.  Seem to remember a YoYo as well.

I remember getting sick on the Rotor, one of the very few times I got sick at a park.   Took a rest and then went on the Tilt a Whirl and got sick again.
Pretty stupid.

I remember they had these funny box like things hanging from the sky.
Supposedly to dampen noise.  The sky or lack there of was a negative.  Wish they had skylights like Camp Snoopy at Mall of America.  For an indoor park, that one does a good job of making you feel like you are outdoors, almost.

Interestingly, the site still attracted me years later.  My two passions in
life are parks and cars.  I've been back several times for classic car auctions
(the site is now a car auction), and in my brief stint as a car dealer, have
been there to buy and sell.  Still wish it was a park though, and better yet,
wish some of the other outdoor parks in Chicagoland had survived.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures or other memorabilia to share.  Do you know the dates of it's operation?  I want to say from about 1974 to 1981, but that's only a guess.

Will look forward to your site.

Have fun, and Merry Christmas,
Jim W

From Christopher

Like I said before I went in August of 1976 to the park so I'm sure some
things changed.  But here is what I remember:

After entering the park (which you entered by going down spiral concrete
ramps that led from the mall level to the park level) I will describe the
rides I remember in a Clockwise fashion.  Obviously there were probably more "flat" and kiddee rides than I remember.  But any of the big things I
remember because my brother and I went on them.

If you looked into the park directly from the ticket booths the first ride in
front of you was the Log Ride.  It was a rather short ride and the water
channels were made of cement instead of fiberglass which I remember as being weird.   The ride was kinda boring; it meandered around and ended in a small hill (probably only about 25 ft).

To the left of the log ride was the Chicago Loop which was the Corkscrew
coaster.  This was a standard Arrow model but since it was enclosed it made a really "neat" noise when it travelled on it's circuit. 

Working around the outer circle (which the park was laid out in) the next
ride was the Enterprise.  This ride was placed directly against the wall;
when the ride was elevated to its peak it was parallel w/ the exterior glass
wall that separated the amusement park from the mall.  I remember riding this
since it was my first Enterprise and it actually scared me back then. 

The next ride on the circle (and it was directly behind the Chicago Loop) was a Chance Yo-Yo.  Walking past this there was a large food stand and I believe some kind of show stadium.

The next thing on the circle was "The Cat" rollercoaster.  I remember it
being flush against the wall and I remember it having the longest line we
encountered all day.

The only other ride I remember was a dark ride that was called "The Four
Seasons".  It was extremely lame as I remember.  But what was neat was that
the entrance to the ride was flush w/ the amusement park wall.  In other
words the track traveled under what must have been the walkway for the Mall.

The day we went to the park it wasn't crowded at all and we did most
everything in about 3 hours.  I remember thinking the layout seemed odd since a couple of ride entrances would be close together and then there would be patches of dead area filled w/ food shops and game booths.

Something I read about in articles about the park and something I experienced at that time was the weird noises that the rides generated and that the indoor park contained.  In the last few years of the park major bucks were spent (apparently) on sound dampers.   When we visited it wasn't that all the rides were noisy. Rather the just echoed in a really strange way.  The sound from the Chicago Loop was so distinguishable that you could tell exactly where the train was on the coaster even if you didn't look just by the
"pitch" of the sound.  I don't know any other way to explain this but I would
be interested to hear if anyone else remembers this.

I hope this helps!  Good luck w/ the site........

Christopher

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