Another Super Grover's Cable Glide?

UPDATE: Thanks to Jeff Davis, VP of Operations at Sesame Place, the name of this attraction is now known. This was called Twiddlebug Hop.

Image from Flickr

Here's an undated shot of a rope swing attraction that went over top of some "speed bumps". Was this was a later version of Super Grover's Cable Glide? The building in the background (then the Computer Gallery, now Cookie's Cafe) would put it near the right location.

Image from Google Street Views

Here is another shot that appears to be from the other side.

Image from Flickr

In the past we have uncovered two different Super Grover's Cable Glide attractions. Is this a third one? I'm not sure.

The two Super Grover's Cable Glides we know of include one that was very high:

Images from YouTube

and a smaller version that appeared to be further from the buildings:

Image from Flickr

Perhaps the "speed bumps" were put in to keep kids from being able to fall as far if they let go of the rope.

Any idea? Let me know in the comments!

The location of Super Grover's Cable Glide

There used to be a zip line ride at Sesame Place called Super Grover's Cable Glide.

It is listed in the 1980 park brochure and has been there since opening day.

Image from Henson

It is described as "a fast and breezy to go from here to there, by riding a rope on a pulley and sweeping 120 feet through the air just a few fee above the ground.

Images from YouTube

I also found images of a much smaller version of the attraction:

Image from YouTube

I contacted Jeff Davis, VP of Operations at Sesame Place and asked him if these were two separate rides or if both were part of the same "Super Grover Attraction:

The answer is that they were both Super Grover's Cable Glide and they were  located behind, what was then The Computer Gallery. This would put them just out of frame on the left hand side of this image:

 Image from Henson

This makes sense since you can see a street just beyond the fence in the pictures of the smaller track. If you look to the far left of the image above you can see that the street in front of the park bends around to the side of the park.

Many thanks to Jeff Davis for helping to answer this question.

A Tale of Two Cable Glides

Last week I did a post about Super Grover's Cable Glide but something just wasn't right.

It's hard to find information on these old rides so it was a combination of old newspaper articles, stills from YouTube videos and fuzzy recollections (from 30 years ago) that were assembled into a description of the ride.

Multiple newspaper descriptions described it as a zip line that went "across a 120' valley."

But these pictures showed a much smaller valley:

1980:

Image from YouTube

1983:

Image from YouTube

After the post went up a reader named Jason commented:

This is what I've been waiting for you to dig up. This ride is the #1 memory I have from the park probably because Super Grover was my favorite character. 

I am fairly certain that the original version of the ride had four sets of ropes. Two in the lower valley course, which you have pictures of, and two in a different higher course that launched from a deck but had a ramp on the opposite end. You can see this second version briefly at the 4:00 mark in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuskb8fEuNE
From that video it looks like they were next to each other. In all the pictures you have the higher course would be directly behind the camera.

Here is what you see (for about 3 seconds) in the video he mentions:

Images from YouTube

Now THAT looks more like the 120' valley that was described... but then, what was this attraction?

Image from YouTube

Was this just a smaller version of the same ride located next to the "big kids" version? I'm determined to find out.

Sure, it's trivial... but isn't that what the internet is all about?

Super Grover's Cable Glide

Super Grover's Cable Glide (sometimes called Grover's Cable Glide) was an opening day attraction at Sesame Place in 1980.

Kids would line up on the either side of a valley and would grab on to a zip line. The park employee would then swing them across a 120' valley.

The bottom of the valley was filled with mulch in 1980:

Image from YouTube

By 1983 the mulch had been replaced with sand.

Image from YouTube

 When the park first opened the single pit accommodated two zip lines and had four employees. The employees were stationed on the platform (one at each end of each zip line.)

Children would line up at either platform.

As the child held the zip line, an employee would run down the ramp pushing the child to the other side. Once the child got to the other side another child was pushed across.

In 1983, the procedure had changed. There was now only one zip line with an employee at each end and one at the bottom of the pit . The employee on the end would push the child forward to the employee in the middle who would send the child the rest of the way with another push.


In October of 1980 a 12 year old girl named Karen broke her wrist falling off the zip line. Perhaps this instigated the changes in setup and the decision to change from mulch to sand.

Super Grover's Cable Glide was located at the edge of the park, in fact, you could see the street from the platform:

Image from YouTube

Image from YouTube

The ride was eventually removed as the park expanded.