Hello all,
I have a lifetime of SDC memories, including those I am now making with my own children (the 4th generation to visit the park). Reading others' posts has helped my own park memories flood back. For now, I'll share my own magical childhood memories from the 70's.
One of my first solid memories from when I was very young was "Granny", who made the lye soap. I remember her being so nice. I had found a huge walking stick insect (well, huge for a child) in the park and Granny carefully wrapped it in paper and placed it in one of her soap boxes so I could take it home.
I do remember when "Jim Owens Float Trip" and "The Flooded Mine" were the only two themed 'mechanical' rides in the park. The float trip was great fun with some nice thrills, like skirting the large whirlpool and the various dangers in the canyon (who remembers the tipping outhouse?).
The flooded mine was simply awesome and cutting-edge for the time (easily as good as another popular park's pirate ride). The "Mine unsafe; Enter at own risk" theme was perfectly executed outside and in the queue area, which made the ride wonderous and more exciting. I do miss the original stone mountain roof that was ominously littered with destroyed mining equipment.
As I write this, I'm realizing why the Flooded Mine has always been my favorite ride. SDC was expertly themed as the 1880's mining town "Marmaros" with discarded and/or repurposed mining equipment placed around the town (more so back in the day when the park was smaller). In my young mind, this made the Flooded Mine the functional center of the park. I recall looking at all the massive mining equipment scattered around the outside of ride and trying to imagine what catastrophe could have happened to throw the pieces of equipment there and into the other areas of the town.
So many more childhood park memories from the 70's, but this post will get quite long so I'll briefly highlight in no particular order…
- Getting my own floppy hillbilly hat to take home, just like the kind worn by all the cool people who 'lived in' in the park.
- Using a hand-cranked jig to make my own length of rope in the town square.
- Hand-pumping water that flowed "uphill" in the slanted room in Grandfather's mansion.
- Candle Dipping our own candles. Always made each visit, but never burned them.
- Enjoying the best tasting apple butter on our biscuits at Sunday breakfast back at home after each visit.
- Watching Dad shooting firearms at the Gunsmith shop.
- Speaking into the "talking railroad bucket" by the tracks on the edge of town and expecting an answer because you just knew it was connected to another person's bucket deep in the woods.
- Walking (running) under the fatal-looking traps over the entrance of Herman the Hermit's Tree House warning you to stay out, and without any safety netting over the entrance bridge.
- Being amazed by all the crazy inventions in Herman the Hermit's Tree House.
- Exiting the Tree House through the creepy, cold, pitch-black infinity room full of stars.
- Waiting while Dad bought a humorous cowboy carving each visit from his favorite woodcarver.
- Watching the long lines to ride "Fire In The Hole" the year it opened… and being too terrified to ride it. I could brave flooded mine shafts in a boat, but being trapped in a burning city was another matter. :)
- Watching the mule-powered sorghum mill in the town square. (It was in another area of the park on a different visit, but I cannot remember where. The Deep Woods, perhaps?).
- Riding the Flooded Mine the first year the falling rubber rocks "cave in" effect was added. Boats had to stop in the middle of the ride in a queue waiting for their turn to be under the new effect.
- Waiting forever to ride the new Rube Dugan's Diving Bell the year it opened, and getting to (being told to?) play in the nearby playground while our parents stayed in line.
- Being so proud of myself for finding the hidden switch on the dock used by the Rube Dugan guides to control the 'faux' diving bell that would visibly head out into the lake, submerge and eventually return to create the illusion for those waiting in line that the Diving Bells were real.
- Waiting in stop-and-go traffic for what seems like hours when Highway 76 was the only road through Branson to the park (and sometimes hearing Dad use his bad words) :).
Hey, your memories are mine, too! Thanks for sharing. ;D
Yup, that was my visits in the 70's also. I especially loved the dark room with the stars and the sorghum press in the middle of Main Street. I remember my brother dropping his hat off the swinging bridge because he assumed he could get it back. Uh...no! Ha! Do you remember walking around by the waterfall?
Great post Dragon Dad!! I remember the "cave in" effect on FM. Almost forgot about the starts in the dark room. I always wanted a floppy hillbilly hat & corncob pipe when i was a kid, but never got one. :(
Did you ever see water bucket fights outside FITH? Have any memories of the Cave?
Again, great post! Made me think of my own childhood at SDC, Thanks for sharing your memories. They are worth repeating.... :)
Yes, HowDo! I remember the water bucket fights! I hope this thread keeps going forever! On our wedding trip 35 years ago, we spent a day at SDC during the Crafts Fest. It was a beautiful day and so crowded they opted to stay open an additional hour. I thought we had died and gone to heaven. LOL!
Those water bucket fights in front of FITH were part of the line entertainment back then. We did similar activities at the diving bell, the Ozark bathing suit contest, the Ozark diving contest, turtle races, tug o war, we had stilts for kids to walk on, one of the Juniors was a juggler, we all sang little novelty songs for the crowd, sometimes, the Juniors brought guitars and played, we had the toss test, and told jokes and stories, plus the regular "Howdy, how are you doing, where are you from?" stuff we did. We kept the guests entertained. If they had small kids, we had the adjacent playground, and we would get stale popcorn from the candy and cream shop and let kids feed the fish in Lake Silver. Ah, memories! :)
The town sheriff would always give me a star when I got there and 'deputize' me. I remember the one mule swing. I can't remember the first time I rode FitH, but it's been a long time. I remember making a rope and the coin press and log rolling below the waterfall. I remember the animatronic that is drowning in the whirlpool at Jim Owens. I remember paying to play a game where you are throwing sponges at targets and trying to have it drop a bucket of water on my sister. (This would have been in front of the Wilderness Waterboggan) I remember Rocky's treehouse before it was Huck Finn's Hideaway. I remember the rope maze and the ballon ride. Most of my memories are from the 80s (I turned 5 in November of 79) but the city just aint the way it used to be anymore.
I am an 80's child, born in 1980...but many of these are the same for me as well! Excluding the first year part! Diving Bell, FM, FITH, Apple Butter, Treehouse, Craftsman, samples, etc...
Good times, I hope that's what heaven is like!
I don't know, but I'm sure there is bluegrass in Heaven ;D