Manufactured by RG Mitchell of Skegness, the Tots TV ride was released in 1998.
Manufactured by RG Mitchell, Snow White's Enchanted Castle was a two seater ride released in 1997. It was a tall castle tower, most frequently coloured in grey and blue with various embossed symbols on the outside. When a coin was inserted, the castle rotated back and forth.
Snow White's Enchanted Castle - 2000 RG Mitchell Catalogue
A little later, a reinvented version of the ride was created and sold alongside the original. This was the "Haunted Castle" in purple, with various ghost, bats and things that go bump in the night pictured on the outside.
Haunted Castle - 2000 RG Mitchell Catalogue
Both rides featured a themed interactive game including a light-up screen and eight push buttons for different sound effects.
Snow White's Enchanted Castle - Caesar's Amusements, Hemsby, April 2017. Unfortunately, the volume on this unit was very low. Combine this with the fact that the arcade was extremely noisy and you can hardly hear the ride at all on the recording. (It's a miracle that you can hear anything at all to be honest!)
The castles measured 46" x 76" and weighed 231lbs. They cost £2,795.00 each to purchase as of the 2001 price list.
RG Mitchell of Skegness acquired the rights to Postman Pat in the late 1990s, and launched this "new, improved" version of OMC's earlier ride at the ATEI in January 1998. While at first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that the ride had not undergone many changes, the interior underwent a complete makeover and included one of Mitchell's trademark "rolling road displays" on the dashboard. Like its OMC predecessor, the ride has two sound effect push buttons, one for the "toot toot" of a horn, the other for Jess's "Meow".
2000 RG Mitchell Catalogue
The movement of the ride also differs from OMC's usual oscillating motion to a more standard smooth forward and back.
Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Gardens, April 2017. Sadly, the audio quality on this particular unit wasn't great, but I tried my best!
The ride measured 55" x 29" x 46", and weighed 231lbs. It cost £2,495.00 to purchase, as of the 2001 price list.
Released in the late 1990s, the Superbike was manufactured by Cogan. It is a small motorcycle which came in either red or yellow. When in action, the ride alternates between the general rocking motion and a rotating movement. The speed and engine sounds can be altered using the accelerator and brake controls on the handlebars.
2000 Cogan Flyer
Planet Fun Amusements, Ingoldmells, September 2018. Unfortunately, this ride was mute, and my camera also decided to film it out of focus. It's on my list to re-film, but this is the only unit I know of in the UK and it hasn't been working the last few times I've visited Planet Fun.
.png)
Manufactured by Cogan of Italy in the mid-1990s, this ride was a less popular variation of the Ranch Cogan. It consists of two palomino horses pulling a beer wagon.
Clacton Pier, September 2017. This ride has been on Clacton Pier since my childhood. It still played its original music, but unfortunately this is very hard to hear in this video.
Manufactured by Elektro Mobiltechnik of Germany, the Disney Babies Carousel features Baby Mickey and Minnie Mouse and was one of their earliest Disney designs, released in the mid-1990s. These were a common sight at Woolworths at the time, but have sadly become much rarer in recent years.
There are at least two versions of this ride. The first had Mickey and Minnie sitting on building blocks with Disney characters depicted on the side, while the later model has the babies on identical seats to the child riders. The seats themselves also changed shape.
Barry Island Pleasure Park, June 2019. Unfortunately, this unit was mute.
The ride originally played the same tune heard on EMT's Pocahontas Carousel and Merkur Gaming's Modhesh rides.
Manufactured by Elektro Mobiltechnik of Germany, this was one of the earliest in their wide range of Disney kiddie rides, released in the mid-1990s.
Skegness Pleasure Beach, June 2017. This unit had been refurbished with a Stamar timer.
There are several versions of this ride. The first is the one shown in the video above, on the high long EMT base. I have fond memories of these in Woolworths clothing departments in the 1990s. I seem to recall them playing the same music heard on the EMT Pocahontas carousel and Modhesh rides but can't be certain.
The second version was released on a smaller EMT base around 2002, meaning the coin slot had to be moved into the wheel arch of the car. This version was distributed in the UK by Northern Leisure Kiddy Rides.
Happyland Amusements, Bournemouth, September 2020
Later versions were made by GeWeTe/Merkur Gaming.
Most of these seem to play either the "Mickey Mouse March" or "It's a Small World" when in motion. There is a push button inside for a car horn sound effect.
The Jazz Van was a white and pink vehicle with a musical theme, manufactured by Whittaker Brothers and released in the mid-1990s. The van was sold in both double and single seater versions, the latter having a dalmatian figure "passenger" on one of the seats. The ride played "Pookie Doodle Puppy" when in motion, and there were three buttons for additional sound effects (two different barking dog sounds and a beeping horn).
Jazz Van with Dog - 1990s Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
As with many other Whittaker Brothers rides of this era, the van's colours were updated a few times to give it a more modern look.
Jazz Van with Dog - 2000 Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
The ride measured 57" x 28" x 60" and weighed 245lbs.
Central Pier, Blackpool, August 2018
Green and orange variant - Humber Pastimes, Cleethorpes, September 2021
Tie-dyed variant - Palins Holiday Park, Towyn, May 2017
The same mould was also used for updated versions of Whittaker Brothers' "Road Transport" rides (School Bus, Police Van and Post Van), released in the mid-1990s. The puppy passenger was then offered as an optional extra for those as well.
School Bus with Dog - Merrivale Model Village, Great Yarmouth, September 2012
School Bus - 2002 Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
To add to the confusion, Whittaker Brothers then decided to make further versions of the Road Transport Series around the turn of the 21st century, this time with the Post Van replaced by a Fire Engine. The dog passenger was also replaced, with a different human character made for each vehicle and Welephant the elephant becoming a second option for the Fire Engine! These later versions don't seem to have been very popular and I never saw any of the non-puppy characters in real life.
School Bus with Child Passenger - 2002 Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
The mould itself was also slightly updated in the early 2000s with a small ridge added to the back of the roof of the car, among other things.
Jazz Van with Dog (New mould) - 2002 Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
Another variation of the Jazz Van which used this later mould was the Ice Cream Van. Coloured in white and yellow and decorated with pictures of ice creams and lollies, this van was also made in single or double seater versions, with a yellow teddy bear being the passenger of choice on the single seater.
Ice Cream Van - 2002 Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
Manufactured by Whittaker Brothers of Oldham, this safari trick ride was released in the early 1990s. There were several different versions. Firstly, it was available as either a single or double seater ride (with or without an animal passenger on one of the seats, in other words). The animal in question was either a lion or tiger cub. There was also a cub sat on top of the vehicle. On the single seater version, the roof cub would always be painted as the opposite species to the passenger cub. So tiger in the passenger seat, lion on the roof or vice versa.
Park Ranger - 1990s Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
The cubs always reminded me of Simba from The Lion King, although they were obviously not officially licensed as such!
Park Ranger (with lion cub passenger) - 1990s Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
The third jungle animal character featured on the ride is a giraffe sitting up on the back of the van holiday a 'L' plate.
Park Ranger (with lion cub passenger) - Location Unknown, April 1997
The ride played "Daddy's Taking Us To The Zoo Tomorrow" when in motion and had three push buttons for different sound effects; a roaring lion, beeping horn and laughter.
Double seater with tiger on roof - Merrivale Model Village, Great Yarmouth, June 2021. This is the earliest version of this ride, complete with original soundtrack.
Single Seater (Lion Cub Passenger, Tiger Cub on Roof) - Barry Island Pleasure Park, June 2019. This is a later edition with updated colours.
While the earliest version of the Park Ranger was painted in "camouflage" yellow, green and black strips with red highlights, later versions saw the entire van's colour scheme changed and the ride renamed "Big Top Circus" or "Toytown Zoo".
Big Top Circus - Early 2000s Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
The wildlife characters remained the same in Big Top Circus, but the van was now predominantly white with red and green details.
Toytown Zoo - Early 2000s Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
In Toytown Zoo, the sitting lion/tiger cub passenger was usually replaced by a teddy bear. This van was painted in white and blue.
Old Mac's Van Double Seater (Left) and Single Seater (Right) - 1990s Whittaker Brothers Leaflet
Another version was "Old Mac's Van", a blue van with green and red details which could be purchased with an optional orange-spotted white dog passenger on one of the seats. A cockerel rode on the back of the van in place of the giraffe and the tune it played was, unsurprisingly, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".
Manufactured by Cointronics of Hastings, the Canmobile was a cleverly designed car/drink can hybrid, released in the mid-1990s. It was sold in a variety of different colours/brands including Tango, Cola and Vimto.
Tango Canmobile - Blackpool Pleasure Beach, September 2014
I love how the Tango car plays Hernando's Hideaway (tango dance music) when in motion! Sadly, I can't remember what music the other versions played. They were such lovely quirky little rides which sadly don't appear to have been very long-lasting in their popularity. I can remember them being seemingly everywhere in the summer of 1996, but not so much even by the following year. A hidden gem in the history of coin operated rides.
Manufactured by Photo-Me, the first Rupert the Bear kiddie ride was released around 1996.
Wookey Hole Caves, May 2023
This motorcycle was manufactured by JM Kiddie Rides and made its debut at the Amusement Trade Exhibition in January 1977. It has an actual motorcycle headlamp which illuminated upon coin insertion, as well as twist grip and twin exhausts.
Coastal Bay Hotel, Blackpool, December 2023
As with all of JM Kiddie Rides' machines of this era, it was made to be easily removed from its base and replaced with another toy from their range. The galloper horse and dolphin were described as ideal replacements for this particular model's base.
Coastal Bay Hotel, Blackpool, December 2023
Manufactured by Robinson Partners, this speedboat was released in time for the Amusement Trade Exhibition in March 1956.
Mr T's Amusements, Dymchurch, September 1997
Robinson Partners Stand, 1968 Amusement Trade Exhibition
Burnham-on-Sea, 1960s. Many thanks to Nicola Explores on YouTube!
