Idora Park
Youngstown, Ohio
October, 2000
Page One




On the way to Knoebels Amusement Resort in Pennsylvania for the 2000 Phoenix Phall Phunfest coaster enthusiast event we stopped off in Youngstown Ohio to explore the remains of Idora Park.  Idora Park was Youngstown Ohio's amusement park.  It ran from 1899 through 1984. 

Idora closed down due to a tragic fire that destroyed the Wildcat coaster and a dark ride right before opening day 1984.   The park stayed open after the fire and opened for a few picnics the next year but without Idora Park's signature attraction, the Wildcat, the park was doomed.   All the rides that could were sold off and all that remains are foundations, the ballroom, coasters and memories.

Note since I wrote this back in 2000 the city of Youngstown finally leveled the remains of the park after the Ballroom burned to the ground.



Over the next fifteen years the trees have retaken a large portion of Idora Park.  You can only see a small portion of the Wildcat peeking from it's cover.  Here's the lift and the first drop.  From all accounts the Wildcat was one of the most intense coasters ever built! It has been reported that along with the Wildcat's fast and furious ride there were plenty of surprises along it's course.



Here's a view of the first drop and lift from the midway.   It's hard to see how exactly this ride was laid out through all the leaves, but of what I have seen of it in postcards and historical photos it looked like one intense ride.



The Wildcat was laid out in a figure eight shape.   This hill was right in the middle of the ride.  There was the first drop that would go up another hill at the back end of the ride that was legendary for intense lateral G forces and then down and over this hill in the middle of the 8.



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Copyright 1999 - 2011 Paul B. Drabek