Kiddie ride

The kiddie ride was first invented in 1930 by James Otto Hahs of Sikeston, Missouri.[1] Originally called the Hahs Gaited Mechanical Horse, the ride was originally conceived as a Christmas present for his children. However, Hahs soon realized that he has a potential money-maker in his hands and set about commercializing the toy. Initially, he used wooden horses not unlike those found on carousels, and commissioned carousel makers to make the horses. However, he soon found these horses to be heavy, and decided that aluminum would be a better material to sculpt his horses out of. When told it couldn't be done, however, Hahs went ahead and invented a process to form horses out of aluminum. These rides would be manufactured at Hahs Machine Works in Sikeston, Missouri and went on to win several awards, including most original invention of the year 1932. In 1933, Hahs struck a deal with Exhibit Supply Company to distribute his horses, with a 5% cut going to Hahs. When the patent on the ride eventually ran out, Hahs had retired as a wealthy inventor. In 1953, Billboard magazine called it "1953's fastest growing business".[2] Eventually, the rides changed from aluminum to fiberglass.

Developed around the same time, the Link Trainer was initially intended for use as a coin operated entertainment device, in addition to its role as a pilot trainer.[3]

Many very old rides do not feature music; also, some vehicle rides may favor engine sounds instead of music. However, on rides that do feature music, early rides (and cheaper modern rides that imitate more well-known rides) are equipped with simple integrated circuits that continually play back one melody or repeat a set of melodies in sequence. These have evolved in the sense that the earliest musically-enabled rides played back only a single monophonic melody repetitively, while later ones played multiple polyphonic melodies, whilst sometimes including short sound or speech samples. Later rides could also use a tape deck, while more recent rides may have a solid state audio playback device akin to flash-based MP3 players. Usually the music chosen is generic children's songs, while on licensed rides the theme song for the character licensed would be used. However, in rare cases, there are rides that play standard pop music, and for private rides the owner may request a song that has personal relevance to be programmed into the ride.

Many modern rides are programmed to play multiple melodies with the music changing each time the ride is used, the logic being to prolong the interest of the child on the ride. However, some modern rides, in particular licensed character ones, are usually programmed to play a single melody or song which is usually the theme song of the character's television show or film. There are also some exceptions where there are licensed rides playing totally unrelated pieces of music or non-licensed rides that play only one particular tune, for example a song about cars on a car-themed ride, the Thomas theme tune on a Thomas the Tank Engine ride, the Postman Pat theme tune on a Postman Pat ride and the Fireman Sam theme tune on a Fireman Sam ride.

Certain rides exist that do not emphasize music, but play a running narration or tell a story instead. They usually have generic instrumental music running softly in the background while the story is being told.

Newer, more advanced rides do not usually start as soon as coins are inserted; instead they prompt the rider, parent or guardian to press a start button, so as to allow the rider to seat him/herself comfortably before starting the ride. Often, these rides will also play a message before movement begins and may also play an ending message once the ride ends, to let the rider know that it is safe to disembark.

Other safety precautions commonly found in more advanced rides include:

• allowing use of the start button to pause the ride, so the rider can reposition themselves or even disembark safely if desired;
• safety sensors that detect if anything is potentially obstructing the ride's movement and stop the ride accordingly until the obstruction is removed;
• overload sensors that stop the ride from moving if the weight limit on the ride is exceeded;
• a slow start/stop action so as not to shock or frighten younger riders.

To attract attention, most rides occasionally flash their lights or play a sound, or both, at set intervals, although many older rides, as well as low-cost, or knockoff, rides do not have an attract mode.

Some rides may, as mentioned above, narrate a story through sound or using a video monitor, the latter providing limited interaction with the video displayed.

Coin-operated horse ride

• Batmobile
• Bumble Bee
• Boat
• Bunny / Rabbit[4]
• Bus
• Miniature carousel
• Campervan (Introduced by the TV programme Sooty & Co.)
• Cifford the Big Red Dog (Introduced by the TV Program Clifford The Big Red Dog)
• Dinosaur
• Digger (Introduced by the TV programme Bob the Builder as Scoop)
• Dolphin
• Dog
• Elephant[5][6]
• Fire truck
• Helicopter[7]
• Garfield
• Horse or pony[8][9][10][11][12] - Perhaps the most popular kiddie ride.
• Ice cream truck
• Jeep
• Jumbo jet or other airplane[13][14]
• Ladybug or Caterpillar
• Larrymobile
• Mickey Mouse[15][16][17]
• Motorcycle
• Panda[18][19] (usually in the form of a small ship with a panda sitting facing the rider)
• Peacock[20]
• Police car[21]
• Police motorcycle
• Post van (introduced by the TV programme Postman Pat)
• Roller coaster
• School bus
• Space Shuttle
• Sports car
• Stagecoach
• Steam Roller (Introduced by the TV programme Bob the Builder as Roley)
• Swan[22]
• Taxi
• Tractor
• Teletubbies
• Brum
• Arthur
• Train[23][24] (usually stationary and not on a track, but train kiddie rides that move on a small track do exist)

In many cases, kiddie rides in the likes of well-known copyrighted characters or objects from films or television shows can also be found, usually at bigger shopping malls that can afford them due to the higher purchasing costs. A classic example would be the Batmobile ride mentioned earlier. One model looks like a miniature Batmobile on a stand, and occasionally flashes lights and plays a short tune from a Batman movie at set intervals, Another manufactured by Jolly Roger Ltd, a Garfield car ride, Which include Garfield wearing the hat and sitting on the car with car horn sound.

Another example of a character kiddie ride would be a Clifford the Big Red Dog kiddie ride, manufactured by Jolly Roger Ltd of the United Kingdom and licensed by Scholastic UK. The ride costs around US$5000 purchased new. It talks in a girl's voice (presumably the voice of Emily Elizabeth) and plays the theme song from the PBS Kids TV series when it is ridden. A button to make Clifford bark also exists on the ride. A Teletubbies Tubbytronic Super Dome ride was manufactured by Amutec of Mablethorpe. It features Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa & Po on a hill and has 16 Tubbytronic sounds (made in 1999) (another version has Noo-Noo with two phrases) Dipsy has got his hat and a rabbit stands on the hill, Jolly Roger Ltd made a carousel, it features the Teletubbies, plays the theme song, and a push button to hear Teletubbies sounds, Another is a Bob the Builder ride, which features Bob climbing onto Scoop with 4 sounds (made in 1998) (another version has got Roley with 3 phrases (made in 2003), the Scoop version has Pilchard in his shovel). Also, Merkur Kids, the German manufacturer has made a Cars ride where it features Lightning McQueen with brake and accelerate pedals, a green button (does a horn) and a yellow button (to hear Luigi say "You are a famous race car, a real race car", while they also made another Lightning McQueen ride but in Dinoco, and Mater. In 2015, Kiddy Rides UK manufactured a SpongeBob SquarePants kiddie ride based on the Krabby Patty Wagon from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ( which was released in 2004). This ride has SpongeBob seated next to the "rider's seat", and his pet snail Gary rides on the back of the model. This SpongeBob-themed ride also includes a screen displaying the lyrics to the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song. The words to the theme don't play, instead they have to be sung out by whoever rides it (this is known as sing-along). The attract mode is also the SpongeBob theme, and each of the 3 buttons on the ride plays a sound effect: a horn, bubble noises (those are commonly used in transitions from a scene to another in SpongeBob), and a dolphin noise. Thomas the Tank Engine has been made as a kiddie ride by R.G. Mitchell with 4 push buttons which do "You're a really useful engine!" (Thomas: blue), "I need you to help the other engines" (Sir Topham Hatt: yellow), a whistle sound (James: red) and a steam sound (Percy: green). There is also a mini version of the aforementioned ride for places that don't have enough space. Jolly Roger Rides of the UK also made him as another ride, also with a video available, plays the theme tune, and a red push button to blow Thomas' whistle. A Barney & Friends ride was manufactured by Fun2Learn. This features Barney sitting on a train and has 7 push button sounds "A is for Alphabet! Let’s sing it together! A-B-C-D-E-F-G, H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P, Q-R-S, T-U-V, W-X, Y-&-Z" (A is for Alphabet:) "Hi there, I’m Barney, what’s your name?" (B is for Barney:) "Choo Choo!" (C is for Choo Choo, The sounds on this train:) a whistle sound (1 whistle:) "Tickets please, Tickets please!" (2 tickets:) a bell sound (3 bells:) Another Barney Tractor ride, plays Old Macdonald Had A Farm, and a red push button to hear Barney. Jolly Roger Rides is also known for making other licensed kiddie rides, including: a fire truck and an airplane featuring Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy, a seesaw, train and police van featuring the Pink Panther and Inspector Clouseau, and a sailboat featuring Popeye.

Character rides costs much more than generic rides when purchased new. The higher cost stems from the royalty of the voice samples and theme song as well as character licensing fees.

Knockoff rides that feature figures that look like those of famous cartoon characters exist. Commonly knocked off characters include: Pikachu from Pokémon, Disney's Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, Despicable Me's Minions and Hello Kitty. They are cheaper than real licensed rides, and are typically found at smaller establishments. However, as the name suggests, they are not licensed, and in certain areas with high intellectual property rights recognition, purchasers of knockoff rides can potentially get themselves entangled with legal complications. Furthermore, the ride figure might not be designed to look as close to a licensed character compared to genuinely licensed rides, possibly resulting in diminished recognition. Occasionally, there are some countries where knockoff characters are found in fairground rides. These feature paint jobs of popular characters that are featured on the rides without a license from their respective owners. Some vehicles in said rides can also be based on popular cartoon characters, including Disney's Mickey Mouse and Goofy, Looney Tunes' Bugs Bunny, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bart Simpson from The Simpsons.

While kiddie rides are primarily used to garner extra income for commercial areas like shopping malls, supermarkets and amusement centers, like classic arcade game machines they are becoming increasingly common in homes in many developed countries, usually bought by game collectors and families. This renaissance is being led by Denver-based Kiddie Rides USA, and has received coverage in many magazines including Time, Fortune, United Airline's Hemispheres, and on CNBC.[32][33]

Many of the rides are ex-location units which have been written off by the original owner, usually to make way for newer games or rides, and bought for a fraction of what they would cost brand new, either directly from the previous owner or on online auction sites like eBay.

Usually, older rides would be slightly modified; the coin mechanism is replaced by a push button switch to allow for free play, while more sophisticated rides that have a mode switch would be set permanently to free play.

• Media related to Kiddie rides at Wikimedia Commons
• "Rise and Fall of the American Kiddie Ride"- Jake Swearingen, The Atlantic, Dec.2014.