Name this attraction at SFGADV

It was a Cinema 180. They were everywhere back then. It was a canvas
bubble and inside was a round concrete floor (or maybe carpeted at
some of those fancier parks!) and one whole side of the inside of the
bubble served as the screen for the movie, projected from whatever the
latest greatest widescreen full field of vision gimmick there was
then. People would just stand there, or sit on the hard floor. In
the movie, they'd put you in all kinds of scenic adventures - in an
airplane soaring over canyons and waterways and between skyscrapers,
and always include a roller coaster or two. I remember seeing the
Giant Dipper and the Python in the one at Casino Pier but I don't
remember what coasters Great Adventure's had. I think one had a Jumbo
Jet set up at a fair, or it could have been Cedar Point. Other Cinema
180s across the country have been reported with different coasters in
their local versions (reportedly one included SFOG Mindbender) as
there were probably different companies producing the films and
leasing them to the parks.

They always ended with someone following a car very closely down a
twisted road and the car would slam on the brakes and the screen would
go dark just before the camera crashed into it.

There was another part that I think Great Adventure had in theirs at
some point, it showed the old Sunshine Skyway between St. Petersburg
and Bradenton. When they replaced it with the new bridge, for some
time after the old one stood partially dismantled and it more or less
dead-ended over water. Well, they put the camera in a low-hovering
aircraft along the old bridge, which looked good enough to still be in
use, and make it appear as if it was a car moving along the bridge,
then the bridge just ended, and the car kept "flying" over the water,
then flew up, turned around, and showed the "dead end" bridge.

Yeah, people got sick in it a lot, but it was probably the heat and
the noise just as much as the movie. Actually it was a little to the
west from where you remember it - it's where the Buccaneer is now.
That came in 1980 so I guess the Cinema 180 ran through 1979, probably
3-4 summers.

On Mar 18, 8:29 pm, 182feet <send2i...@> wrote:

>
> Yeah, people got sick in it a lot, but it was probably the heat and
> the noise just as much as the movie. Actually it was a little to the
> west from where you remember it - it's where the Buccaneer is now.
> That came in 1980 so I guess the Cinema 180 ran through 1979, probably
> 3-4 summers.

Actually, it was where Black Beard is today, and it ran pretty much
through the 90's.

"182feet" <send2iMac@> wrote in message
news:391ed806-8ff4-4210-85da-6994b510a281@b1g2000hsg..com...
> It was a Cinema 180. They were everywhere back then. It was a canvas
> bubble and inside was a round concrete floor (or maybe carpeted at
> some of those fancier parks!) and one whole side of the inside of the
> bubble served as the screen for the movie, projected from whatever the
> latest greatest widescreen full field of vision gimmick there was
> then. People would just stand there, or sit on the hard floor. In
> the movie, they'd put you in all kinds of scenic adventures - in an
> airplane soaring over canyons and waterways and between skyscrapers,
> and always include a roller coaster or two. I remember seeing the
> Giant Dipper and the Python in the one at Casino Pier but I don't
> remember what coasters Great Adventure's had. I think one had a Jumbo
> Jet set up at a fair, or it could have been Cedar Point. Other Cinema
> 180s across the country have been reported with different coasters in
> their local versions (reportedly one included SFOG Mindbender) as
> there were probably different companies producing the films and
> leasing them to the parks.
>

The one at SFoMA/SFStL was called the Chevy Show: sponsored by... you
guessed it, Chevrolet. It always had the latest Corvette, concept car or,
being the Midwest, pick-up truck on a rotating platform out in front of the
dome. For years it featured footage of Colossus and Revolution at SFMM
which I loved because it's probably the closest I'll ever get to riding them
in their original forms.

I don't remember seeing it there the last time I was at the park (though I
wasn't really looking for it). It seems like it might have been replaced by
a Batman stunt show type thing, but I'm not sure, it's been a few years.
Anyone know for sure?


Andrew Brawley

fade out to reply

Kings Dominon had one on International Street next to the Scrambler. I
remember it was a large circular room where guests could sit or stand.
In front of the screen there were 2 large loud speakers. In the back of
the room was the projection room. They showed a car chase, a dune buggy
race of some sort and a roller coaster. I don't remember what coaster
it was. Anybody know? The show itself was 15-20 minutes long and ran
all day long with no set showtimes. The lines were always short. Mike
in Reston, VA