The Caterpillar ride is a vintage flat ride engineered by the inventor Hyla F. Maynes of North Tonawanda, New York, who dubbed it the Caterpillar when it debuted in Coney Island, New York in 1925.

Also, the cars travel a circular, undulating (wave-like) track very similar to that of a Tumble Bug.

This ride is famous for its usually green canopy (one previously located at Geauga Lake had a yellow and black canopy) that automatically, or manually in the case of Heritage Park's, begins to slowly surround the cars and fully encapsulate them once the ride reaches its maximum velocity, though DelGrosso's indoor version called Space Odyssey operated without it.

A high powered fan located at one point under the carriage of the ride, was traditionally used to surprise riders with a blast of air as the cars go around the track.

Dubbed "The Love Machine", it has the appearance of a typical Music Express, but features a manually operated canopy that is striped similar in fashion to the traditional caterpillar.