Columbia Gardens, Butte, MT
Roller Coaster

Council Crest, Portland, OR
Scenic Railway

Fun Forest, Seattle, WA
Galaxy and Wild Mouse

Happyland, Vancouver, BC
Giant Dipper

Jantzen Beach, Portland, OR
Big Dipper

Luna Park, Seattle, WA
Figure 8

Nat Park, Spokane, WA
Scenic Railway & Jack Rabbit

Oaks Park, Portland, OR
Monster Mouse and Zip coaster

Playland, Coeur d' Alene, ID
Playland Pier amusement rides

Playland, Seattle, WA
Giant Dipper

Playland, Vancouver, BC
Super Big Gulp

White City, Bellingham, WA
Roller Coaster

White City, Seattle, WA
Roller Coaster

Galaxy/Wild Mouse, Fun Forest, Seattle, WA

Gayway at night	Gayway rides
Galaxy 1989

Above are photos from the Gayway amusement park that operated at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, and the Galaxy coaster that operated at Fun Forest.

The Seattle Worlds Fair opened on April 21, 1962 and ran through October 21, 1962. The fair, known as the Century 21 Exhibition, was well attended and successful. Many famous people also visited the exhibtion one being Elvis Presley. The fair was used as a location site for his 1962 film, It Happened at The Worlds Fair.

Besides entertainers, the fair also had various buildings built to represent modern architecture. The Science Center is a good example that offered a futuristic style that people were interested in. Other buildings that became classic landmarks were the Space Needle, and the Seattle Center Monorail.

The monorail was built in April, 1961 by the ALWEG [Bahn] Monorail Rapid Transit. It opened March 24, 1962, prior to the fair's opening. It was referred to as the "magic carpet to the fair" since it acted as the fair's main gate transporting 40 percent of visiting patrons. This was the first full-scale-rapid-transit system and are the only remaining ALWEG built monorail trains in the world. About two weeks after my husband and I had visited the Space Needle in October 2005, both monorail trains (red and blue) had sideswiped one another opon entering a curve that leads into the Seattle Center station. No one was hurt and the trains were restored and back into service in the summer of 2006.

Besides the monorail, the Worlds Fair also offered the Union Oil Sky Ride "which began in the amusement zone, ended in the International Mall on the other side of the park. Each car had a capacity of three people and the cable ride was 1,400 feet long." One of the current owners of the ride, Corky Erickson, described it as "basically a piece of ski-resort equipment with 40 gondolas running on a third of a mile cable." ~ (Seattle PI April 16, 2000). The Skyride was moved to the Puyallup Fairgrounds in 1980 and has since then been in operation for the September fair.

The Gayway (pictured above) was the amusement area at the Worlds Fair that operated 20 rides which came from German and Italian manufacturers. Rides such as Calypso, Skooter, Allotria - a fun house, Geister Express - a two level ride that went through a Swiss nightmare scene, and the Wild Mouse coaster were some of the popular attractions.

After the fair ended, Fun Forest was developed and has operated since at Seattle Center. Besides spinning rides and coasters, the park also offered various independently owned dark ride attractions from the 1960's to the early 1980's. I recall seeing a Flight to Mars dark ride in 1985 that was being worked on. But, upon a later visit in 1987, all of the dark rides had been torn down. I believe there were several Mouse rides that existed prior to when Galaxy (pictured above) made its debut around 1973/74. One of these coasters was called, The Broadway Trip, which made its rounds at other parks around the country. The Galaxy coaster was operating in 1975 since I recall being mesmerized by it as a kid on a family trip to Seattle.

In 1991, Seattle Center and Fun Forest got some improvements made that were badly needed. In 1992, Galaxy was replaced with Windstorm - a newer generation portable steel coaster that has tighter turns and steeper drops.

Recently, Fun Forest has seen a loss in patronage therefore causing some financial problems with the lease. In 2005, rumor had it that the city might be getting rid of the amusement center sometime in the unforeseen future. According to some, it seems that the park is a bit outdated. Hopefully a plan will resurrect that will bring back more patrons to Fun Forest. Until then it's a wait and see game.

Seattle Times Northwest Source.com