Kid Arthur’s Court, horses and other vanished Cedar Point attractions: Cleveland Remembers Parenthood Ideas

Kid Arthur’s Court, horses and other vanished Cedar Point attractions: Cleveland Remembers

June 21, 2011 – 10:39 am

Kid Arthur’s Court, horses and other vanished Cedar Point attractions: Cleveland Remembers

I’ve been around for a little while. Most people I talk to don’t remember the horses at Cedar Point. There was a stagecoach ride. It was one of my favorites. I can’t remember if it was a team or four-in-hand, but I do remember having to ride that. (Editor’s note: See a video of the horses and other old attractions.)

And the train was a one-way ride. There was no frontier land back then. One of the highlights of the train ride were the train robbers chasing the train down on horseback. They wore bandannas on their faces and shot their pistols in the air.

You used to go in with your cooler and set it on a picnic table (in the park). That reserved that table for you. We would all meet back there at a designated time for lunch, then for dinner. There were 6 kids in our family and buying food from the refreshment stands was a huge treat that we didn’t always get.

I do remember when they first started the “all you can ride” practice. We had to wear bracelets showing you had paid for this. Before that, you had to buy tickets for the rides.

There was a double ferris wheel right as you walked into the park. Scared the devil out of me, but I had to get on.

We went every year as I grew up. I have a million memories of Cedar Point.

– Tom Hennessy, Lorain

Back years ago, before Millennium was built and before the Ferris Wheel was moved across the park and Wicked Twister went in, there was a place called Kid Arthurs Court. Ball pits, a maze and a climbing rope. Just what a little kid needs after half a day in the park and I fit the bill of a little kid that needed to release some energy and get out of the sun. (Editor’s note: Read more about the court in the PointBuzz forums.)

Set next to the lake, you always got a breeze. The screams and laughter of those kids already enjoying a ball pit carried on that gentle wind to me as I walked closer to it, gearing me up for the fun that was soon to ensue.

Every year I would be given the map you got when you paid for parking and I would try my best to hold on to that thing the entire day. I would place it in the strap of my mini fanny pack — in the 90s a fanny pack was a must. I could hold on to that map most of the day but for some reason as soon as I hit the ball pit, it was gone. Every year I told myself that I would hold on to it and finally in one of the last years that Kid Arthurs Court was in the park, I was able to hold on to it! Sure, I lost it about 10 minutes later walking around, but I made it through the ball pit with it!

Soon after Kid Arthurs Court was taken out of the park, I ditched the fanny pack, and started to keep the map in the car and move on to bigger rides. I now collect the old maps as a bit of remembrance but I still get that same thrill I got as an 6 year old when I get handed that map and still make jokes about Not going to lose it this year! Each time I ride Wicked Twister I think back to those ball pits and all the other old rides and attractions that made up my youth at Cedar Point.

– Jessica Beaty, Elyria

Parenthood Ideas