Small, portable roller coasters have been
a staple of fairs around the world, and have often made their
way into amusement parks and theme parks since they don't
require a great deal of space and are quickly and easily
assembled. As the roller coaster designers of the 1970's and
1980's began creating bigger and more thrilling rides, the
portable coasters have nearly disappeared from major parks,
relegated to small parks, boardwalks and carnivals where space
is often at a premium.
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Along with the Runaway Mine Train, Big Fury was one of the two
roller coasters at Great Adventure for the opening season in
1974.
The compact ride was tucked into the trees in the Strawberry
Fair area of the park, partially obscuring it from view which is
why so few pictures of the ride exist.
The Big Fury was a
Pinfari
Zyklon (Z64) model. It only opened during the last few
weekends of 1974 due to delays in its shipment from Europe.
To make up for the void (and
missing capacity), the park quickly added the Swiss Bob and the
Matterhorn
rides. These were last minute additions situated close to the
Big Fury site. Because of their last minute nature,
neither ride made it onto any of the
1974 maps or pamphlets.
Big Fury was a leased ride (similar to
the original Enterprise and Wild Rider Troika rides) which
explains why it was removed and replaced with an
almost identical attraction.
The coaster featured "wild mouse" style cars with a capacity
of 4 passengers each. The brightly colored ride vehicles
zipped around the tightly twisted red steel track and white
supporting structure providing mild, family-friendly thrills.
The highest point of the ride was the support towers for the
ride's lift hill, rising just above the surrounding tree tops.
Big Fury only lasted through the 1977 season, being
replaced with the Wild Rider, a similar compact portable coaster
which took its spot for the 1978 season.
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