Tumble Bug

Kennywood "Turtle", a Tumble Bug ride

A Tumble Bug is an amusement park ride with a circular track.^[1]

The ride has a central axis and a circular track. The track has changes in elevation in it, and the cars, each attached by a rod to a central pivot attachment point and connected together, are propelled around the track via motors between the cars. Power is carried to the motors via slip ring brushes at the center and cables. Each car body is free to rotate around an axis perpendicular to the track (vertical if the track height is the same as the central pivot attachment point) so the riders experience motion that is rotational as well as vertical. The ride travels in both directions around the track.

Only two full-sized Tumble Bugs remain operating today in the United States, both in Pennsylvania: one at Kennywood in West Mifflin, and one at Conneaut Lake Park in Conneaut Lake. All full-size instances were made by Traver Engineering.^[1] The ride also exists in a kiddie form. The size of the full-size Tumble Bug is 100 feet in diameter. The full-size has 5 or 6 cars, while the kiddie version has 3 to 4 cars. There are more kiddie versions operating today than there are full-sized.

Drive details of Kennywood "Turtle"

Tumble Bug sites

Operating

Tumble Bug at Conneaut Lake Park

• Conneaut Lake Park (1925–present) Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, (known as the "Tumble Bug," 5 car model)
• Kennywood Park (1927–present) West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, (known as the "Turtle," 6 car model)

Standing but Not Operating

• Chippewa Lake Park (??-1978), Chippewa Lake, Ohio

Removed

• Cascade Park (1969–??), New Castle, Pennsylvania
• Cedar Point (1934-1963), Sandusky, Ohio
• Crescent Park (1930's-1979), Riverside, Rhode Island
• Euclid Beach Park (??-1969), Cleveland, Ohio
• Geauga Lake (??-1977), Aurora, Ohio
• Hersheypark, (1933-1981), Hershey, Pennsylvania, (called "The Bug," replaced by Wave Swinger)^[2]
• Idora Park (1941-1984), Youngstown, Ohio, (known as the "Turtle," 5 car model)
• Kings Island (1972–1985), Mason, Ohio, (Sold to Kennywood Park to use for parts on their Tumble Bug)
• San Souci Park, Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania^[3]
• West View Park (1929-1977), West View, Pennsylvania
• Whalom Park (??-2000), Lunenburg, Massachusetts, (Moved to Edaville USA, Carver, Massachusetts in mid-late 2000s, never operated at Edaville. Sold for scrap metal in 2010)

References

1. "Tumble Bug Rides". ridezone.com.
2. Silver Anniversary Twenty-Fifth Annual Picnic Harrisburg Retail Grocers Hershey Park, Harrisburg Retail Grocers, 1932
3. Renita Fennick (May 5, 1996). "For Generations, Sans Souci Park Was Valley's Wonderland Stomach-churning Rides on the Bear Cat and Dreamy Gatherings at the Dance Pavilion Live on Only in Memory".