Philly's Drive-In Theater Park

Philly's Drive-In Theater Park was a combination and  located in Bedminster, Pennsylvania. It was operated from 1977 to 1994. It was billed as "The world's first drive-in theater with an amusement park". The park closed for the day before intermission starts.

Early years
In the mid-1970s, a Philadelphia businessman named Andy Caddel came up with the idea behind Philly's Drive-In Theater Park after a visit to Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and another visit to a drive-in theater later that evening. Construction on the park began in 1975. After construction on the park was completed, construction of the theater began in 1976. And after those were completed, the owner was now ready to open that theater/park to the public.

In the spring of 1977, the park/drive-in theater opened to the public.

When it opened it featured three roller coasters:


 * The Drive-In Coaster, an Allan Herschell Little Dipper coaster is located around a drive-in movie screen,
 * The Drive-In Corkscrew, an Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew coaster, and
 * Mad Mouse, an Edwards & Robinson Large-Sized Wild Mouse coaster model.

In 1978, The Sonic Loop opened.

In 1979, Sea Storm and Flyin’ Chairs both opened. The latter replaced the short-lived Yo-Yo ride.

The 1980’s
Throughout the 1980’s, the park continued to slowly but gradually expand with the addition of new rides.

In 1980, Pirate Ship and Great Balls of Fire opened.

In 1981, Flying Dutchman opened.

In 1982, Water World opened.

In 1983, Rock-O-Plane opened.

In 1984, Log Flume opened.

In 1985, Breakdance opened.

In 1986, Dodgems and Mini Jet both opened. Pirate Ship was also removed at the end of the season.

In 1987, Space Shuttle opened.

In 1988, Balloon Race opened. Flyin’ Chairs was also removed at the end of the season.

In 1989, Flight Trainer opened, replacing Flyin’ Chairs.

Later years and closure
At the start of the 1990s, the number of annual park visitors begin to decline - not only due to some people not going to the amusement park section of the theater, but also because people started going to better amusement parks nearby. Despite this, the park would continue to add new rides to the park in hopes of attracting more guests, and in 1990, Antique Cars opened. However, Tilt-A-Whirl was also removed at the end of the season.

In 1991, Convoy and Music Express both opened. That same year, Kennywood opened Steel Phantom (an upgraded version of the Drive-In Corkscrew) andHersheypark opened Sidewinder (an upgraded version of the Sonic Loop), both of which drew many more visitors away from the park. In 1992, the park attempted to get visitors to come back by adding two new rides (Blender and Crazy Bus), reprinting, renaming some rides, replacing a new drive-in theater sign, and even adding an arcade building named Philly's Arcade. It was a success because people really liked going to the arcade, but it didn't help save the theater and the park. Log Flume was removed at the end of the season due to high maintenance issues and costs. In 1993, it was replaced with Cowabunga Falls. Water World closed during the season and would be replaced with Sky Coaster in 1994.

Finally, in late 1994, the entire amusement park shut down due to money and staffing issues, and the rides were sold. The theater continued to operate after that. But in late 1995, the theater closed for good after the owner of the theater ran out of money and was left abandoned for a few years. Several locals came up with the idea of turning the abandoned movie theater into a Philly's Drive-In Theater Park-themed museum, with the movie theater screen being used as the main entrance of the museum. However, the plan failed and it was demolished in early 1998.

Gallery
see Philly's Drive-In Theater Park/Gallery

Incidents
TBA

Trivia

 * The original logo of Philly's Drive-In Theater Park was still on the back of the drive-in movie theater screen after the logo was changed in 1992.

Legacy
The concept of an amusement park located behind the Drive-In movie theater was later revived in 2004 when Amusement Park Drive-In opened. It operated until June 7. 2022 when the all-wooden movie theater screen was destroyed by a fire.