Sea Dragon
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Sea Dragon
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (Adventure Cove) · US · Philadelphia Toboggan Company Junior Wooden Coaster
“Beside the zoo paths, Ohio keeps its little wooden dragon.”
UNOFFICIAL · NOT PARK-ENDORSED
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Also by Philadelphia Toboggan Company
Fast facts
- Sea Dragon is a classic wooden coaster in the Adventure Cove area of Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. columbuszoo.org
- The ride opened in 1956 under the name Jet Flyer. columbuszoo.org
- Philadelphia Toboggan Company built the coaster, with John C. Allen named in its design history. columbuszoo.org
- Its double out-and-back, figure-eight course begins with a thirty-seven-foot hill. columbuszoo.org
- The coaster is listed at 1,320 feet of track and reaches 40 km/h. en.wikipedia.org
- Sea Dragon has no inversions. en.wikipedia.org
- In 2022, American Coaster Enthusiasts named Sea Dragon an ACE Roller Coaster Landmark and described it as Ohio’s oldest operating roller coaster. cdn.ymaws.com
The story of Sea Dragon
The little coaster began work in Powell in 1956, when the place beside the Columbus Zoo was still part of the older Zoo Amusement Park story. Then called Jet Flyer, it belonged to a postwar fashion for family-scaled wooden coasters, built for younger passengers and the grown-ups who came with them. columbuszoo.org
Its builder was the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, and the Zoo records connect the ride with John C. Allen’s early years in charge of that famous firm. Construction was supervised by PTC engineer Frank Hoover, giving this modest figure-eight a proper place in the company’s mid-century craft. columbuszoo.org· cdn.ymaws.com
In 1984, with the surrounding park recast as Wyandot Lake, Jet Flyer took the Sea Dragon name. Its dimensions remained pleasingly compact: a thirty-seven-foot lift, 1,320 feet of track, and a top speed of 40 km/h, all arranged without an inversion. columbuszoo.org· en.wikipedia.org
When the Zoo took the property back in 2007, Sea Dragon was refurbished and returned for visitors in 2008. Its old-fashioned operation helped earn ACE recognition in 2022, and in May 2026 the Zoo marked seventy years of this small wooden landmark still carrying families around its familiar bends. columbuszoo.org· cdn.ymaws.com
Sources
- columbuszoo.org Acceptable source
- columbuszoo.org Acceptable source
- en.wikipedia.org Acceptable source
- cdn.ymaws.com Acceptable source