Kiddie ride

The kiddie ride was first invented in 1930 by James Otto Hahs of Sikeston, Missouri.[2] Originally called the Hahs Gaited Mechanical Horse, the ride was originally conceived as a Christmas present for his children. However, Hahs soon realized the money-making potential and set about commercializing it. Initially, he used wooden horses, not unlike those found on a carousel, and commissioned carousel makers to make the horses. However, he found these horses to be too heavy and decided that aluminum would be a more suitable material. When told it couldn't be done, however, Hahs went ahead and invented a process to form horses out of metal. The rides would be manufactured at Hahs Machine Works in Sikeston, and they were recognized as the most original invention of the year in 1932. In 1933, Hahs struck a deal with Exhibit Supply Company to distribute his horses, with a 5% cut going to Hahs. When the patent on the ride eventually ran out, he retired from the wealth he had amassed from sales. In 1953, Billboard magazine called it "1953's fastest growing business".[1] Years later, aluminum horses would be replaced by fiberglass.

Developed around the same time, the Link Trainer was initially intended for use as a coin-operated entertainment device as well as a tool for training pilots.[3]

Many very old rides do not feature music; also, some vehicle rides may favor engine sounds instead of music. However, on rides that feature music, early rides (and cheaper modern rides that imitate more well-known rides) are equipped with simple integrated circuits that continually playback one melody or repeat a set of melodies in sequence. These have evolved in the sense that the earliest musically-enabled rides played back only a single monophonic melody repetitively. In contrast, later ones played multiple polyphonic melodies whilst sometimes including short sound or speech samples. Later rides could also use a tape deck, while more recent rides may have a solid-state audio playback device akin to flash-based MP3 players. Usually, the music chosen is generic children's songs, while on licensed rides, the theme song for the licensed character would be used.[4] However, in rare cases, some rides play traditional pop music, and for private rides, the owner may request a song that has personal relevance to be programmed into the ride.

Many modern rides are programmed to play multiple melodies, with the music changing each time the ride is used, the logic being to prolong the interest of the child on the ride.[4] However, some modern rides, in particular licensed character ones, are usually programmed to play a single melody or song, which is usually the theme song of the character's television show or film. There are also some exceptions where there are licensed rides playing totally unrelated pieces of music or non-licensed rides that play only one particular tune, for example, a song about cars on a car-themed ride, the Thomas theme tune on a Thomas the Tank Engine ride, the Postman Pat theme tune on a Postman Pat ride and the Fireman Sam theme tune on a Fireman Sam ride.

Certain rides exist that do not emphasize music but play a running narration or tell a story instead. They usually have generic instrumental music running softly in the background while the story is being told.

Newer, more advanced rides do not usually start as soon as coins are inserted; instead they prompt the rider, parent or guardian to press a start button, so as to allow the rider to seat him/herself comfortably before starting the ride. Often, these rides will also play a message before movement begins and may also play an ending message once the ride ends, to let the rider know that it is safe to disembark.

Other safety precautions commonly found in more advanced rides include:

• allowing use of the start button to pause the ride, so the rider can reposition themselves or even disembark safely if desired;
• safety sensors that detect if anything is potentially obstructing the ride's movement and stop the ride accordingly until the obstruction is removed;
• overload sensors that stop the ride from moving if the weight limit on the ride is exceeded;
• a slow start/stop action so as not to shock or frighten younger riders.

To attract attention, most rides occasionally flash their lights or play a sound, or both, at set intervals, although many older rides, as well as low-cost, or knockoff, rides do not have an attract mode.

Some rides may, as mentioned above, narrate a story through sound or using a video monitor, the latter providing limited interaction with the video displayed.

Coin-operated horse ride

Coin-operated carousel ride closed during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Arthur
• Batmobile
• Barney the Dinosaur
• Bear in the Big Blue House
• Boat
• Brum
• Bumble Bee
• Bunny / Rabbit[5]
• Bus
• Campervan (introduced by the TV series Sooty & Co.)
• Clifford the Big Red Dog (introduced by the TV series of the same name)
• Digger (introduced by the TV series Bob the Builder as Scoop)
• Dinosaur (introduced by the TV series The Flintstones as Dino)
• Dog
• Dolphin
• Elephant[6][7]
• Fire truck
• Garfield
• Helicopter[8]
• Horse or pony[9][10][11][12][13] - Perhaps the most popular kiddie ride.
• Ice cream truck
• Jay Jay the Jet Plane
• Jeep
• Jumbo jet or other airplanes[14][15]
• Ladybug or Caterpillar
• Larrymobile
• Mickey Mouse[16][17][18]
• Miniature carousel
• Motorcycle
• Muppet Babies
• My Little Pony
• Panda[19][20] (usually in the form of a small ship with a panda sitting facing the rider)
• Peacock[21]
• Police car[22]
• Police motorcycle
• Post van (introduced by the TV series Postman Pat)
• Roller coaster
• Sailor Moon
• School bus
• Sesame Street
• Space Shuttle
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sports car
• Stagecoach
• Steam Roller (introduced by the TV series Bob the Builder as Roley)
• Swan[23]
• Taxi
• Teletubbies
• Thomas & Friends
• Tractor
• Train[24][25] (usually stationary and not on a track, but train kiddie rides that move on a small track do exist)

In many cases, kiddie rides in the likes of well-known copyrighted characters or objects from films or television shows can also be found, usually at bigger shopping malls that can afford them due to the higher purchasing costs. A classic example would be the Batmobile rides.

Another example of a character kiddie ride would be a Clifford the Big Red Dog kiddie ride, manufactured by Jolly Roger Amusement Rides of the United Kingdom. This ride costs around $5000 in the US when purchased new. It plays the theme song from the PBS Kids TV series when in motion. The push button on the ride triggers Clifford barking sounds.

Yet another example would be a Bob the Builder ride, which features Bob climbing onto Scoop with 4 sounds and Pilchard in his shovel. This ride was also manufactured by Jolly Roger Amusement Rides and released around January 2000.

In 2015, Northern Leisure released a SpongeBob SquarePants kiddie ride based on the Krabby Patty Wagon from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. This ride has SpongeBob seated next to the "rider's seat", and his pet snail Gary rides on the back of the ride. This SpongeBob-themed ride also includes a screen displaying the lyrics to the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song. The lyrics to the theme song have to be sung out by whoever rides it (known as sing-along). The attract mode is also the SpongeBob theme song, and each of the 3 buttons on the ride plays a sound effect: a horn, bubble noises (commonly used in transitions from a scene to another in SpongeBob), and a dolphin noise.

In 1994, R.G. Mitchell released a Thomas the Tank Engine kiddie ride with 4 push buttons which trigger "You're a really useful engine!" (Thomas: blue), "I need you to help the other engines" (Sir Topham Hatt: yellow), a whistle sound (James: red) and a steam sound (Percy: green). There is also a mini version of the aforementioned ride for places that don't have enough space. In 2006, Jolly Roger Amusement Rides of the UK released their version of the Thomas the Tank Engine kiddie ride in two options - standard and video.

Jolly Roger Amusement Rides is also known for making other licensed kiddie rides, including a fire truck and an airplane featuring Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy, a seesaw, train and police van featuring the Pink Panther and Inspector Clouseau, and a sailboat featuring Popeye.

Another example would be a Superman kiddie ride featuring the Man of Steel "stopping" the train you're in (meant to look like it's emerging from a tunnel into a rockfall.) When in motion, it plays the Superman: The Animated Series theme (in a lower pitch, the PAL version) and has four buttons: "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird... it's a plane... it's Superman!!" "Superman! Faster than a speeding bullet!" "Superman! More powerful than a locomotive!" "Superman! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" (these are all taken from the Superman radio show, but voiced by Don Kennedy.) Like some of the above examples, it was manufactured by Jolly Roger Amusement Rides. This ride was released in January 2000, although it was copyrighted in 1999.

Kiddie's Manufacturing made three kiddie rides based on The Flintstones: the Flintmobile, Dino and Loggin Continental. All three play "Meet The Flintstones" when the ride is in motion and were released in 1994. Dino is probably one of the most common character rides.

Character rides costs much more than generic rides when purchased new. The higher cost stems from the royalty of the voice samples and theme song as well as character licensing fees.

Knockoff rides that feature figures that look like those of famous cartoon characters exist. Commonly knocked off characters include: Pikachu from Pokémon, Disney's Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, Despicable Me's Minions and Hello Kitty. They are cheaper than real licensed rides, and are found at smaller establishments. However, as the name suggests, they are not licensed, and in certain areas with high intellectual property rights recognition, purchasers of knockoff rides can potentially get themselves entangled with legal complications. Furthermore, the ride figure might not be designed to look as close to a licensed character compared to genuinely licensed rides, possibly resulting in diminished recognition. Occasionally, there are some countries where knockoff characters are found in fairground rides. These feature paint jobs of popular characters that are featured on the rides without a license from their respective owners. Some vehicles in said rides can also be based on popular cartoon characters, including Disney's Mickey Mouse and Goofy, Looney Tunes' Bugs Bunny, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bart Simpson from The Simpsons.

While kiddie rides are primarily used to garner extra income for commercial areas like shopping malls, supermarkets and amusement centers, like classic arcade game machines they are becoming increasingly common in homes in many developed countries, usually bought by game collectors and families. This renaissance is being led by Denver-based Kiddie Rides USA, and has received coverage in many magazines including Time, Fortune, United Airline's Hemispheres, and on CNBC.[28][29]

Many of the rides are ex-location units which have been written off by the original owner, usually to make way for newer games or rides, and bought for a fraction of what they would cost brand new, either directly from the previous owner or on online auction sites like eBay.

Usually, older rides would be slightly modified; the coin mechanism is replaced by a push button switch to allow for free play, while more sophisticated rides that have a mode switch would be set permanently to free play.

• "Rise and Fall of the American Kiddie Ride"- Jake Swearingen, The Atlantic, Dec.2014.
• Media related to Kiddie rides at Wikimedia Commons
• "Remember vintage coin-operated rides?" Click Americana, Jan. 1953.