Death of Ocean View Park

[Zimmy]

So not to be confused with "Roller Coaster," which was partially fillmed at KD and included the demolition of Chessy at Ocean View Park, there was a made for TV Movie, called "Death of Ocean View Park."

This film apparently also used footage from Ocean View Park and seemed to be about unexploded naval ordinance randomly exploding.

 

[MrLaptop]

What the heck did I just watch?
I guess this is the closest you can get to a death park like in RCT3.

 

[Unagi]

I miss that place!

My parents use to take me there all the time. The Skyrocket was my first big coaster.

 

[Zimmy]

We never went, well I didn't anyway, maybe Nic did.  I always thought it was called Chessie.

 

[GeoUSA]

So not to be confused with "Roller Coaster," which was partially fillmed at KD and included the demolition of Chessy at Ocean View Park, there was a made for TV Movie, called "Death of Ocean View Park."

Thanks for posting the video, Zimmy. A friend just posted it on Facebook so I was checking to see if it was here yet. From the news of 1979, I remember two attempts with dynamite to bring it down failed and required a bulldozer. In this video you can see how amazingly close to the busy street this wooden coaster was. It also shows some of the dynamite explosions. It was named The Skyrocket until just before demolition when the name was shortened to The Rocket for the two Hollywood films. It's funny the "Death of Ocean View Park" was a Playboy production. There is some great park history here.

 

[Nicole]

So, a friend just sent me a link to the full cinematic marvel that was the Death of Ocean View Park:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Unagi]

^Weird seeing all the local places like the ODU campus and Hermitage Museum in that movie!

 

[GrandpaD]

What's funny to me was they had to shoot the climax 3 times because the old coaster was a strong ol' gal.

For the climax, the primary supports of the coaster were fitted with explosive charges. At the signal of the director, one of the wooden trains, filled with mannequins, was sent for its "last" ride down the aged track. The charges were set off, blowing the large wooden posts to smithereens, while at the same time, huge, fiery gasoline explosions were set off for visual effect. The coaster refused to budge.

Inspections were made, new charges were set on the secondary supports, and the scenes were re-staged. The charges went off, the coaster remained standing.

Unwilling to spend any more time or money on explosives, they finally devised a way to bring down the Rocket once and for all. A bulldozer, off camera and fitted with cables tied to strategic points along the track, finally did what the dynamite could not do, and amid the smoke and fire of one final gasoline bomb it slowly dragged the coaster to the ground.