If you ever wanted things to go topsy-turvy on you then this is the ride for you. The Tip Top rotates its floor at varying angles, causing the situation to get really tipsy.
– Ride ‘n Ride: The Sky’s The Limit at Hersheypark, 1974
Tip Top was a flat ride manufactured by Frank Hrubetz & Company that operated at Hersheypark from 1966 to 1979. This was the first of three Hrubetz rides installed in consecutive years ranging 1966 to 1968. Tip Top operated in The Hollow region of Hersheypark for three seasons and then was relocated to what is now the Founders Way region of the park adjacent to Fender Bender and Reese’s Cupfusion.
The Hollow’s Second Renovation
The Hollow is an area of Hersheypark along the banks of Spring Creek. The Hollow has been renovated numerous times through the decades, first in 1929, and then a second starting in the fall of 1965 and continued through 1970.
The renovation began with the deconstruction of Hershey Park Theater, a building which had stood in the park since 1908. The building was no longer safe to operate and so it was taken down. This meant that Laugh Land, the funhouse that existed in the back of the theater, was closed and removed. To fill the void of losing an attraction, literally in the open space of the old building and figuratively in the loss of Laugh Land, Hersheypark management decided to install a ride in that location.
Frank Hrubetz’s Tip Top
Hersheypark acquired the Tip Top ride from Frank Hrubetz & Company in early 1966. Tip Top was a new flat ride, having just debuted in early 1965. The first Tip-Top installed was at Palisades Amusement Park in Cliffside Park-Fort Lee, New Jersey. Hrubetz offered both a portable model, suitable for carnivals and fairs on a trailer, and a park model, designed for permanent installation.
The Tip Top ride featured 10 tub-shaped cars, each accommodating up to four riders on opposing benches. Riders could control their car’s spin using a central wheel. The cars were situated on a large platform designed to both spin and bounce.
The Tip Top ride derived its thrilling intensity from its mechanical design. As the ride began to spin, the ride operator would engage a pneumatic arm beneath the platform, repeatedly lifting and dropping the entire assembly. This action created a combined effect of wavy, bouncing, and tipsy-turvy movements. The combination of spinning cars on a bouncing platform delivered a highly intense experience.This characteristic blend of motions gave the ride its name; it was also known as “Bouncer” or “Bubble Bounce” at other amusement parks. Because of its tub-like car design, Hersheypark visitors even nicknamed the ride “Bubble Bath.”
Experiencing Tip Top at Hersheypark
The Tip Top ride was delivered to Hersheypark on March 10, 1966, and opened to park visitors on April 24, 1966. Its installation in The Hollow was significant, as it took the place of a former element of the park’s past. It was installed on the recently leveled ground where the stage of the demolished Hershey Park Theater once stood. This location directly layered the ride’s mechanical movement and noise over the former, silent footprint of the park’s theatrical past, creating a continuity of land use.
Tip Top, Serial Number 914 (making it the 14th Tip Top made at the time), was situated near Spring Creek’s south/east bank, alongside a pathway. It was installed below the new Chicken House restaurant, which was built as an addition to the historic Penny Arcade building and was a complement to Tip Top: diners inside the restaurant enjoyed panoramic views of the Tip Top and The Hollow. A stairway adjacent to the ride led up the Hill, providing access to the picnic pavilions and Bandshell on the right and Chicken House to the left.
The Tip Top remained in this initial location for three seasons (1966–1968). In 1967, it was joined by a second ride from the same manufacturer, Hrubetz: a Paratrooper. This practice of having multiple rides from one manufacturer was common; for instance, across Spring Creek, the Carrousel, Comet, and Mill Chute (which became The Lost River in 1963) were all products of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company.
In 1969, Hersheypark management purchased a large slide called Magic Carpet Giant Slide, manufactured by Aero-Mar Plastics. The ideal spot for this new attraction was on the side of the Hill next to the Chicken House, with riders exiting at the bottom where Tip Top was situated.
To accommodate the Magic Carpet, Hersheypark strategically moved Tip Top to the modern Founders Way section of the park. In 1969, this area already housed the Aero-Jets and the Gold Nugget, and management selected an open space next to another Hrubetz ride, the Round Up, for Tip Top’s new home. This spot roughly corresponds to the present-day location of Dizzy Drums.
The Tip Top ride generated $27,200 in income in 1969 and $28,662 in 1970 within this section of the park. In terms of income among the adult rides, Tip Top ranked 15th out of 19 in 1969 and 15th out of 20 in 1970.
Tip Top gets featured
In 1971, Hersheypark management began evolving the park into a modern theme park when the park was gated and an entry fee charged. Due to this change, Hersheypark altered the kind of advertising it was doing. New advertisements were simple and straightforward and did not feature any rides. That changed on the week of July 11, 1971.
The advertisement, titled Hersheypark is just FANTASTIC!, showcased four attractions: Dry Gulch Railroad, Skyview, Round Up, and Tip Top. Ironically, the photograph used for Tip Top depicted the ride in its original location in The Hollow.
Hersheypark Expansion
Following the successful 1977 season, the high point of the R. Duell & Associates redevelopment of Hersheypark, park management launched a new, multi-year growth plan. Despite the achievement of the 1977 season, substantial updates were already scheduled for 1978 and 1980.
In 1978, a renovation and expansion project, executed in collaboration with the architectural firm Berger/Spiers, directly affected the Tip Top ride area. To accommodate the changes, several nearby attractions, including the Tip Top’s companions, Round Up and Paratrooper, were removed. With their departure, the Tip Top became the final remaining ride from the park’s Hrubetz era.
The Hrubetz era concluded after the 1979 season, and while its sibling rides were lost to park renovations, the Tip Top’s removal was a casualty of evolving operational standards. New rides entering the market featured simpler, automatic operation systems, replacing the need for manual control with timed cycles and automatic braking activated via control panels with features like “Automatic ON.”
The park removed the Tip Top for this specific reason, replacing it with two automatically operated rides from HUSS Maschinenfabrik: Cyclops (Hersheypark’s name for the classic Enterprise) and Pirat (a swinging pirate ship).
This removal freed up space, allowing the Little Red Caboose to be relocated adjacent to the Aero-Jets. Simultaneously, the park’s northward expansion began in 1980, moving beyond the Music Box Theater, the Little Red Caboose, and the Dry Gulch Railroad. The new Pirat ride occupied the Little Red Caboose’s former location, next to the Aero-Jet, on the north side of the Music Box Theater.
Park records offer no clarity on the Tip Top’s final destination—whether it was sold or scrapped after its retirement remains unknown.
Tip Top: A Transition Era Attraction
Tip Top operated at Hersheypark from 1966 to 1979, spanning 14 seasons and bookending the park’s use of Frank Hrubetz & Company rides. Introduced in The Hollow, it replaced the demolished Hershey Park Theater. The ride offered an intense experience with its spinning cars and bouncing platform. It was relocated in 1969 to what is now Founders Way to make space for the Magic Carpet slide.
The ride proved reliable and operated through the park’s major mid-1970s expansions. However, as Hersheypark modernized in the late 1970s, Tip Top’s operational complexity and lower capacity made it obsolete. Its removal after the 1979 season ended the Hrubetz era, clearing land for modern, higher-capacity attractions like Pirat and Cyclops, supporting the park’s northward expansion.
Though the ride’s ultimate physical fate is unknown, Tip Top’s tenure highlighted a significant period of park transition, moving from classic flat rides and historic infrastructure toward modern amusement technology. It served as a key, albeit transient, attraction across two areas before its retirement signaled Hersheypark’s future direction.
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