Baby Boats: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 18:39, 9 April 2025


Location: Next to the big yellow shoe in Kiddieland
Opened: 1963
Manufactured by: Allan Herschell Company
Ride Model: P.T. Boats
Carriers: 6 Passenger Boats, 1 Tug Boat
Capacity: 2 seats per boat. Total of 12 people per ride.
Height Restrictions: Riders over 46" in height may not ride.
Low Thrill

Baby Boats is a kiddie boat ride located at Lagoon.

Ride Details

The ride consists of a series of small boats in a concrete waterway that are towed by a lead motorized boat. The lead boat draws power from a cable reel attached to a freely rotating arm located in the center of the ride. The boats float and have wheeled extensions on their sides that steer them around the course. Each boat has two non-functional steering wheels and one bell that riders can ring.

Baby boats has the lowest maximum rider height (46") of any ride at Lagoon.

Theme elements

The center area of the ride features a rock garden and several colorful fish. Each boat has its own aquatic themed name on a flag on the bow, as well as painted on the stern.

The boat names are:

Lagoon Tow and Tug (unmanned lead boat) - Dark Blue
S.S. Sally Mander - Yellow
S.S. Dolphin - Purple
The C. Horse - Pink
The Goldfish - Light Blue
The Starfish - Green
The Guppy - Orange

Ride Changes

Course changes

The ride has had at least three slightly different waterways. Originally the ride was raised above ground with a more circular waterway. Not long after, a different raised oval waterway was built. It is not clear when the current concrete waterway that is embedded in the ground was built.

1992 Boat replacement

The ride's original boats were made of wood. The lead boat was a small tug boat. In 1992 Lagoon replaced the old wooden boats with new fiberglass ones. At that time the tug boat was replaced with a new nondescript lead boat.

Kneeling pad

In 2000 Lagoon added a kneeling pad to the cement edge of the ride. This offers some relief to the operators as they kneel to help children get in and out of their boats.

2008 Re-theme

The current color-scheme, names and flags were added in 2008. The waterway was painted blue at this time as well.

Video

Click "Expand" to see an On-ride video. Possible spoilers.

Baby Boats On-ride (HD POV) by Deathbyillusion

Click "Expand" to see an Off-ride video. Possible spoilers.

The Girls vs. The Baby Boats by capnkg28

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | '''Opened:''' 1963
 |-
-| '''Manufactured by:''' Allan Herschell Company
+| '''Manufactured by:''' [[Herschell|Allan Herschell Company]]
 |-
 | '''Ride Model:''' P.T. Boats
 |-
-| '''Carriers:''' 7 Boats
+| '''Carriers:''' 6 Passenger Boats, 1 Tug Boat
 |-
-| '''Capacity:''' 2 seats per boat. Total of 14 people per ride.
+| '''Capacity:''' 2 seats per boat. Total of 12 people per ride.
 |-
 | '''Height Restrictions:''' Riders over 46" in height may not ride.
 |-
-! [[File:Ride1.png|frameless|center]] Low Thrill
+! [[File:Ride1.png|frameless|center|link=Ride Ratings]] [[Ride Ratings|Low Thrill]]
 |}
-This is a simple ride. You have an oval water trough built into the ground with some boats that travel around the water in a circle for a couple of minutes. Not exactly your best thrill ride, but for a little kid who love boats, they will love the ride.
+'''Baby Boats''' is a [[Kiddie Rides|kiddie]] boat ride located at Lagoon.
-When the ride was originally built, the boats were wood. The lead boat was a small powered tug boat. In 1992 Lagoon replaced the old wooden boats with new fiberglass ones. It was then that the tug boat was replaced with the new boring lead boat.
-Regardless of the boring lead boat, this ride still remains one of the more popular [[Kiddieland]] rides. Little kids enjoy riding around the water trough and ringing the bell provided on each boat. What a better way for your kid to spend their day than driving everyone around the ride nuts with constant ringing bells.
+==Ride Details==
-Lagoon's Baby Boats is slightly unique. Most PT boats were built raised, but Lagoon had theirs put into the ground. It wasn't always in the ground. When Lagoon first installed the ride, they used the traditional raised design. It's unknown by Lagoon Is Fun when Lagoon put the ride into the ground like it is today.
+The ride consists of a series of small boats in a concrete waterway that are towed by a lead motorized boat. The lead boat draws power from a cable reel attached to a freely rotating arm located in the center of the ride. The boats float and have wheeled extensions on their sides that steer them around the course. Each boat has two non-functional steering wheels and one bell that riders can ring.
-In 2000 Lagoon added a kneeling pad to the cement edge of the ride. Although this made it a little nicer for the operators to kneel down with, most still had sore knees by the end of the day. In 2008 the ride was completely repainted. Each boat was given a color, a name, and a little flag. The water trough was painted blue. The new look made a drastic change to a ride that didn't have much of a visual appeal anymore and really improved the ride.
+Baby boats has the lowest maximum rider height (46") of any ride at Lagoon.
+==Theme elements==
+The center area of the ride features a rock garden and several colorful fish. Each boat has its own aquatic themed name on a flag on the bow, as well as painted on the stern.
+The boat names are:
+* Lagoon Tow and Tug (unmanned lead boat) - Dark Blue
+* S.S. Sally Mander - Yellow
+* S.S. Dolphin - Purple
+* The C. Horse - Pink
+* The Goldfish - Light Blue
+* The Starfish - Green
+* The Guppy - Orange
+== Ride Changes ==
+===Course changes===
+The ride has had at least three slightly different waterways. Originally the ride was raised above ground with a more circular waterway. Not long after, a different raised oval waterway was built. It is not clear when the current concrete waterway that is embedded in the ground was built.
+=== 1992 Boat replacement ===
+The ride's original boats were made of wood. The lead boat was a small tug boat. In 1992 Lagoon replaced the old wooden boats with new fiberglass ones. At that time the tug boat was replaced with a new nondescript lead boat.
+=== Kneeling pad ===
+In 2000 Lagoon added a kneeling pad to the cement edge of the ride. This offers some relief to the operators as they kneel to help children get in and out of their boats.
+=== 2008 Re-theme ===
+The current color-scheme, names and flags were added in 2008. The waterway was painted blue at this time as well.
 == Video ==
+<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:680px">
+Click "Expand" to see an On-ride video. Possible spoilers.
+<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
+{{#ev:youtube
+|https://youtu.be/bz78lprRERs
+|||Baby Boats On-ride (HD POV) by Deathbyillusion
+|frame
+}}
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:680px">
+Click "Expand" to see an Off-ride video. Possible spoilers.
+<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
 {{#ev:youtube
 |http://youtu.be/NUP7sk1K6Q0
@@ Line 36: / Line 79: @@
 |frame
 }}
+</div>
+</div>
+==See Also==
+*[http://www.lagoonpark.com/ride/baby-boats/ Official page]
+*[http://lagoonhistory.com/galleries/mglgallery/index.html Mother Gooseland Gallery] at the Lagoon History Project
 {{Rides}}
 [[Category:Attractions]]
 [[Category:Rides]]
+[[Category:Kiddie Rides]]