2 More Pretzels, Please

Yesterday, I posted about the Pretzel Spook House Ride in Rock Springs Park. Besides this very popular dark ride, Rock Springs had two other rides made by the Pretzel Company. They were both Kiddie Rides.

A daily receipt log from the park's final years shows two Kiddie Rides manufactured by the Pretzel Co. of New Jersey. (Courtesy of Richard Bowker)

Recognizing that the post-war baby boom was on the horizon, The Pretzel Company began work on establishing a line of kiddie rides and Rock Springs purchased two of them.

The Kiddie Whirlo, seen here in 1969, was a junior version of the Buckets or Spineroo shown below beyond the Turnpike Jr. (Both Courtesy of Rich Brookes)

Pretzel started to diversify their ride lineup in the mid-'50s, advertising their "Big 3", with the Whirlo and Kiddie Circus joining the Pretzel ride. Rock Springs’ Whirlo was located at the northern end of the upper park mall at the end of a line of several other Kiddie Rides, including the Kiddie Ferris Wheel, the Kiddie Autos, Kiddie Airplanes and Kiddie Boats.

Pretzel later introduced their enormously popular Thunderbird Jr. This Kiddie Turnpike ride showcased miniature electrically powered T-Birds with fiberglass bodies authentically scaled from Detroit blueprints. Rock Springs’ Turnpike Cars ran at the southern end of the upper park mall near the chainlift hill of the Cyclone Roller Coaster. (Courtesy of Richard Bowker)