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What is a trolley park?

Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. Was just scrolling through RCDB and I noticed that Kennywood is classed as a "trolley park" on RCDB. Waldameer apparently is as well. So I came here to ask; what is a trolley park? Is it some category of amusement parks from a very long time ago, as I notice that Kennywood and Waldameer are both relatively historic.
 
So a trolley park is essentially where the park started out doing things like concerts, sports, that kind of thing and then later expanded with the addition of rides? By that logic, would parks like Cedar Point and Geauga Lake class as trolley parks?
 
@Antinos has a good insight there as to where the name came from.

In the UK it's slightly different...

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Matt N said:
So a trolley park is essentially where the park started out doing things like concerts, sports, that kind of thing and then later expanded with the addition of rides? By that logic, would parks like Cedar Point and Geauga Lake class as trolley parks?
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Perhaps technically, yes. And the official, historical definition is as Antinos stated a few posts above.

But colloquially, often trolley park can mean "small, independent amusement park". Independent defined as not owned by a large parent company such as Cedar Fair, Six Flags, Merlin, etc.
 
Ah right! Thanks for the insight, guys! I was slightly confused, because as @Hixee pointed out above, trolley park means something very different here in Britain...
 
From my understanding Trolley parks were basically American non-seaside Amusement Parks back in the Victorian/Edwardian times! Called Trolley parks because they were situated near Tram(Trolley) Stations/Terminuses - i.e. easily accessible to a lot of people as the transport network burgeoned!
 
Just a little something to add here, I believe they started out because trolley companies were used primarily for weekday commuters and they wanted some business on the weekends, hence why they would build these at the ends of their lines. So they could rake in profit not only from the park itself but from their trolley line.

Interstingly enough, there also doesn't seem to necessarily be a "typical" life after trolley park situation as there have been some pretty diverse things to happen to them. Kennywood and Dorney Park both boomed into mid-sized regional parks with large steel coasters, Quassy and Waldameer stayed small but have modern additions alongside nostalgic ones, Camden Park is falling apart. :p So these days it's often associated with an older park with classic rides, but there really is no "typical" trolley park anymore as they've all aged so differently.
 
Jarrett said:
Just a little something to add here, I believe they started out because trolley companies were used primarily for weekday commuters and they wanted some business on the weekends, hence why they would build these at the ends of their lines. So they could rake in profit not only from the park itself but from their trolley line.

Interstingly enough, there also doesn't seem to necessarily be a "typical" life after trolley park situation as there have been some pretty diverse things to happen to them. Kennywood and Dorney Park both boomed into mid-sized regional parks with large steel coasters, Quassy and Waldameer stayed small but have modern additions alongside nostalgic ones, Camden Park is falling apart. :p So these days it's often associated with an older park with classic rides, but there really is no "typical" trolley park anymore as they've all aged so differently.
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Thanks for the info @Jarrett! Out of interest, do the parks still have tram lines leading to them?
 
And to tie things in with your summer hols Matt...BPB was a terminus trolley stop about a hundred years ago, before the line was extended south for about a mile around 1920.
 
Out of interest, as @rob666 mentioned that BPB was technically a trolley park in its early days, would that make Parque de Attracionnes de Madrid a trolley park? While not as old as BPB, it too has been around for a while and is located right next door to the metro line with a stop less than 5mins walk from the side entrance of the park.
 
There's a difference between being on a street car / metro line... and being built by/for the street car / metro line.

Coney Island // Luna Park is for sure on the MTA... but it isn't a Trolley Park.
 
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