Lincoln Park P.2

As I mentioned, the Laff In The Dark building was tall enough to house a second floor, and in 1961 it did just that. During that off-season, Dom Spadola and Ed Leis teamed up to create a completely different experience in the Laff In the Dark building. The two East Providence, Rhode Island residents worked under the guise of National Amusement Devices (NAD). Leis was already an established coaster builder, having designed and built Crescent Park’s Zephyr coaster in 1939, and he constructed Lincoln Park’s Comet coaster in 1946, working off a Vernon Keenan design.

The stunts and track from Laff In The Dark were removed and any walls inside the building were torn apart and sometimes recycled. A short section of an overhead floor was erected towards the front of the building and an overhang was connected to that top level. The new cars had tribal warrior masks on the front and were equipped with rubber wheels and enough torque to make a spiral climb to the second floor without the assist of a lift chain. Spadola applied his artwork to the cars.


	In between construction, Spadola spent some quality time in his workshop, crafting figures for the new dark ride: gooney birds, tigers, explorers and…devils. Clearly, the new dark ride was to have a jungle theme, but devils?

Finally, on Easter Sunday 1961, the big reveal. Those entering the park from the main parking lot were serenaded by screeching jungle birds, the pounding of native warrior drums and the roaring of lions. Behold the Mystery Ride! How appropriate!

Flanking either ends of the façade were dual witch doctors, gyrating on rotary crank motors.

Above: In the center of the balcony were two native warriors who lunged forward as the car passed them.

Below: The signage above the entrance and exit read “Ride In Rhythm To The Congo A Safari Sensation”.
Those in line would marvel at the first floor center cutout: an elaborate animated scene showing three African
native women laughing and scrubbing newly shrunken heads on washboards while a warrior impatiently sat and waited.

Still, it left onlookers scratching their heads as to why the name Mystery Ride and not Jungle Ride, Congo Ride or Safari?
And that is exactly what Spadola and Leis wanted their audience to ponder.