I think I can shed some light on this machine, for I had first-hand
experience with it when it was at Cedar Point.  I worked for Cedar
Point back in the early 1970's.  The carousel and organ were fresh
from a complete restoration.  The carousel itself was done in-house
by Tom Layton and his crew, the organ by Don Stinson.

At the time it was the most spectacular machine at the Point, in my
humble opinion.  After Don Stinson was finished with the organ it
was one of the most powerful 153's I've heard, before or since.
Unfortunately, several factors came into play.

First off, the carousel was tucked into a corner in Frontiertown, at
the farthest end of the park, pretty much insuring that it would be
underutilized.  Not that you couldn't hear it, for walking down the
Frontier Trail you could hear the bass notes of the 153 at least 300
feet away.

Then in the mid 1970s there was a major management change.  The budgets
for taking care of the carousels and organs were drastically cut, and
the responsibility of caring for the organs was transferred from ride
maintenance to the sound department.  The sound people found it much
easier to stick in speakers and tape players when the organ malfunctioned
rather than just take a few minutes to clean the muffleheads out of the
tracker screens.  The organs were only sent to Don Stinson when they
completely gave up the ghost, or when they were hosting a carousel
group.

When Cedar Fair, L.P., bought Dorney Park it was lacking an antique
carousel, having lost their PTC carousel and organs in a tragic
end-of-season fire a couple of years before.  The decision was made
to move the Dentzel carousel from Frontiertown to Dorney Park.  The
machine was spruced up for the move, and I believe somebody went
through the organ, but I'm not positive.

Since it's arrival at Dorney, from the reports that I've gotten, the
Cedar Fair policy of playing them until they die completely and then
trying to find the money to rebuild them is still in effect.  From what
I've heard, the attitude is that if it's not directly responsible for
creating revenue, then it takes a back seat.  They are more willing to
drop millions on a roller coaster (which will bring thousands of people
through the gate) than to spend a few thousand to keep an organ up to
snuff.  It's how they define return on investment.

Bruce R. Pier

 [ Cedar Fair, L.P. (Limited Partnership), now also owns and operates
 [ Knott's Berry Farm amusement part in Buena Park, California.  See
 [ http://www.cedarfair.com/public/legal.cfm  -- Robbie