I was wondering about few things that i've always had memories about SDC of but not real sure if they were real since it would have to have taken place back when i was just a toddler (late 70s, very very early 80s).
One, which probably isnt true but i was hoping someone could shed light if it was, was i remember either it being on the float trip ride or the flooded mine seeing a plastic piggy bank that looked like the incredible hulk in there. i know, it sounds weird.
The other, is i'm pretty sure true, but i remember my parents and i standing by a place right after you cross the bridge that has the sounds of clomping horses. I remember a small crowd of people watching some guy that was standing there, i think inside a glass box, acting like he wasnt real, then all of a sudden he came to life and scared the crap out of everyone.
things i'll always remember though that i still love are going through the small door in the side of the toy store (which is now the christmas store), my grandparents letting me buy one of the really, really long wooden rifles, and a couple of books i used to have from there. one was a book about a wooden toy puppet that was carved at sdc that comes alive. the other was the very old coloring books that used to feature all kinds of different things from around SDC, like a pic of the guy holding his hat, swirling in the whirlpool. Man, i wish i still had those. A few years ago, we went there and inside the large caroseul building they were having a kids lego and activities thing going on. they had a few pages of the coloring books but were just xeroxes.
Great stuff :)
Jedi- a lot of what you described was the old "Jim Owen's float trip" which is where the American Plunge now stands. The large wooden bridge had the sounds of horses crossing it back then as well. It still does today, but it is turned down so low, you really can't pick up on it. At one end of the bridge, there was a "ticket booth" where a person used to sit, but today they have a dummy stationed inside.
Yep, back in the day, they certainly played the "baldknobber" image to the hilt. That was the riders you heard crossing the bridge. About the only mention of them today is on Fire in the Hole. I did notice Monday that they turned the sound up on the monologue outside the ride. (Even as a kid in the early 70's I would sit under the trees and listen...and I still do today!) Certainly the GOOD OLD DAYS.
Over the weekend, the group I was with began discussing how they think Branson hit it's peak in the mid 90's. As we drove around the area, we notice all the empty buildings and theaters that are for sell. Pretty sad looking in some places.
Growing up during the same period I can relate to some of the experiences you mentioned. The rifles were always a part of the gun shop/former toy store on ALL of my visits, as were the animatronics on the Float trip/ American Plunge depending upon your exact years of visiting. I still have 2 pristine uncolored coloring books, and well one that is totally massacred by some girl with a black crayon (hmm wonder who that could be STLPHOTO???) OKay she was older it probably was me that scribbled...but I digress. As far as a cart, I remember the rainmaker, possibly a medicine man...I am hazy about a man in a box OTHER THAN a man stationed in the actual bridge toll booth. I do remember a hulkish man pulling apart bars in the flooded mine, he was big and pulling bars apart in a hulk like fashion I mean...but no green monster a-la Lou Ferrigno comes to my memory.
oh, i know about the guy in the little ticket booth. The guy i'm talking about appeared on the other end of the bridge, right next to the first building on the right. I believe it was probably one of the little street performances that used to happen so often back then. He might not have been in a box. like i said, it was a very long time ago. (30 years or so).
Thats cool you still have those coloring books. i tried to find images online of that or the book about the little woodcarved puppet but cant find anything at all.
Growing up during the same period I can relate to some of the experiences you mentioned. The rifles were always a part of the gun shop/former toy store on ALL of my visits, as were the animatronics on the Float trip/ American Plunge depending upon your exact years of visiting. I still have 2 pristine uncolored coloring books, and well one that is totally massacred by some girl with a black crayon (hmm wonder who that could be STLPHOTO???) OKay she was older it probably was me that scribbled...but I digress. As far as a cart, I remember the rainmaker, possibly a medicine man...I am hazy about a man in a box OTHER THAN a man stationed in the actual bridge toll booth. I do remember a hulkish man pulling apart bars in the flooded mine, he was big and pulling bars apart in a hulk like fashion I mean...but no green monster a-la Lou Ferrigno comes to my memory.
Nah, it was probably me Rube, I had a mean streak as a child...LOL. I do remember the animatronics on the Plunge and the horse noises still play as you cross the main bridge coming from main street (after passing the candy store) and there IS a ticket booth there but I don't ever recall anyone being in it. The big bald guy pulled the bars apart in the Flooded Mine but he wasn't green.
Hmmm... Book about a woodcarved puppet. Are you perhaps referring to this? (click on it to see full size)
(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/sdc_joy/Personal%20SDC%20Collection/Books/th_S6300073.jpg) (http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/sdc_joy/Personal%20SDC%20Collection/Books/S6300073.jpg)
I've seen it several times on Ebay (that's where I got my copy). It's much easier to find than "The Littlest Mule"; that's the only one of the 70s kids books I don't have.
Joy
Just ask Tinaalsgirl!
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Dollar-City-Story-Littlest/dp/B002BM71GQ/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248982364&sr=1-19 (http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Dollar-City-Story-Littlest/dp/B002BM71GQ/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248982364&sr=1-19)
Don't forget " Silver Dollar City's abc words & rhymes"
There are some great illustrations in this one
or "Zeke Hatfield and a ghost named Rocky"
yep! thats the book i was talkin about. you dont happen to have pics from the coloring books do you?
Something...oh say...roughly...like this?
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/rube.jpg)
This is great! My favorite page!!!! Ask for something, and I usually have it!!!! It should be a new game...DOES RUBE HAVE IT!!!
QuoteYep, back in the day, they certainly played the "baldknobber" image to the hilt. That was the riders you heard crossing the bridge. About the only mention of them today is on Fire in the Hole.
Not exactly true if you count subtleties. After reading the
Bald Knobbers book, I realized Phoebe Snapp's Taffy is one of these. I believe Phoebe's dad was killed by the vigilante group (a real reference to a real event). Other clues abound in the City, but I can't remember them. It makes for a good study if somebody has the time.
I'd love it if they would take on Bald Knobber days around Halloween. As much as they probably don't want to "haunt the park" during that time, there's nothing wrong with scaring people, and it would allow extended hours to attract a crowd for some fun stuff.
I was such a geek that I kept all my books (littlest mule, ABC's and Zeke & the Ghost, Wooden puppet) as well as the coloring book. I was the kid who never took his toys outside to play with for fear of getting them dirty. At least now I can look at all my SDC souvenirs and enjoy them.
It is interesting to think about a guy in a glass box to the right end of the bridge (going toward Thunderation) as the heat from the Glassblowers would be pretty extreme. I do know that there is a gate there at that exact spot that we used to use to access the Corn Syrup vat to measure how much was in there. Before Thunderation, it would have been a good access point for any SDC citizen to enter on stage by and possibly scare some young'uns
I miss the Jim Owens Float Trip almost as much (if not more) than Rube Dugan's Diving Bell. I remember a lot of crazy stuff from that ride (going the opposite direction that you do now, the ghost of the husband, the twinkle lights, dwarves, etc...), but no green piggy bank unless it was in the dwarves scene.
Dwarves? Really?
I wonder if that's something I thought I remembered as being at SF/Texas? I think I have some false memories that are getting mixed up with other false memories.
Yeah, it was a bit like a Snow White and the seven dwarves set up.....relevant to the thread for sure but I am pretty sure I remember elves, dwarves or something of the kind.
A bit of a history lesson from Old Guy
http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=42.msg1630#msg1630
How is it that every time "The Littlest Mule" pops up for sale, it's when I'm broke? LOL Thanks for the link!
I really, really think they should bring Rube Dugan's Diving Bell back in some fashion. Even if for now they just bring the character(s) to the Geyser Gulch/Splash Harbor area...
And they really, really need to put some theming back into American Plunge.
Joy
Quote from: History Buff on July 30, 2009, 06:45:45 PM
Dwarves? Really?
I wonder if that's something I thought I remembered as being at SF/Texas? I think I have some false memories that are getting mixed up with other false memories.
Yeah, the gnomes, dwarves or whatever they were supposed to be were real. They use to yodel and work in the cave. I can still hear the tune in my head, just don't ask me to imitate it. ;D
I remember sneaking a peak behind the waterfall years ago and seeing several of the little Gnomes laying all over the place dismembered (the horror). Some were sitting up on the structure that holds up the false rock of the waterfall. It made for a bizarre little scene.
thank you rube for posting that! brings back good memories. wish i still had those books and i wish they still sold them, but i know they couldnt because of how obsolete it would be. Are there any videos out there showing the diving bell or maybe better videos than the one from youtube showing the float trip? I was alive when both were still there but too young to really remember anything. Well, unless you count a stupid incredible hulk piggy bank that i think my mind has decided to randomly stick in my brain for some odd reason. :D
Now that you all mention the gnomes though, it does seem some part of me remembers them in there somehow. I didnt realize the float trip went backwards. pretty interesting. Do they still use the old channels for anything at all now? It seems kinda odd they'd still have them after all these years, plus still have water going through them. I'm assuming you used to get on board your boat at the line-overflow house for the american plunge?
They really need to do something with that cave, aka cement tunnel now in the AP. That thing is a disgrace. totally sad. That and fix the guy in the whirlpool.
A couple other memory things: is it true a boy scout jumped in there to save the whirlpool guy once? Also, did they used to have people balancing on logs in front of the waterfall? Thanks!
Quote from: RollaJedi on July 31, 2009, 08:56:29 AM
A couple other memory things: is it true a boy scout jumped in there to save the whirlpool guy once? Also, did they used to have people balancing on logs in front of the waterfall? Thanks!
I don't know about the Boy Scout, but I do know they used to have log balancing contests in front of the waterfall. So that is a real memory. :)
Yes, you used to board the Float trip through the building by the Gun Shop and you can still see the loading docks across from the AP queue line. They keep the channels there for overflow water and it would have cost too much to take it out I assume.
You can still see the Jim Owens float trip sign on that building. I would love to see a video too, but I am pretty sure that although it exists, not a lot of people taped that ride (even though it was my favorite) as opposed to other rides.
Here is a picture of a Citizen themed greeting at the Float trip back in the day and another picture taken recently of the same building.
^Interesting pictures. I notice in the bottom picture it says "Explore the Mighty James". I guess that means that Jim Owens' Float Trip is supposed to be along the James River?
Good catch.
More history on the real Jim Owen (not to get too off topic)
http://www.projecttaney.org/50083/owen.html
Here's a pic of Phoebe Snapp from
Taney County Missouri by Vicki Layton Cobb. She probably didn't own a taffy shop in real life though.
(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/MrHoggatt/Silver%20Dollar%20City/Picture1-1.png)
Back to false memories:Would the float trip have been frightening to a small child? I remember riding a ride that went through a cave when I was little, and it scared me to death. Then, when my parents took me to FitH (now my favorite ride anywhere) and I saw the dark, cavey walls, I threw a screaming fit to keep them from making me ride. That is one of my first memories ever. I don't think the AP would have scared me in that way (dark and cavey), and I'm pretty sure it wasn't FM either. It has confused me for a long time, but if the float trip might have had a long, dark cave, maybe that was it. Or maybe it
was the FM.
I feel like I'm the one that's been swirling in the whirlpool for all these years.
Now that you mention it I remember being scared of the ride. It seems there were two tunnels on the ride and the first was very scary. Then a couple of years later the ride was not as scary. Why??????
Firstvisit and History Buff, I'm pretty sure the float trip would have been frightening at times to a small child. I never had the privilege of riding it but have read about it and seen a few home movies of the ride and some of the displays on the ride were strange and scary. So that's not a false memory. As for why it wasn't scary a couple of years later, Firstvisit, there are probably two reasons. 1) You were a little older and didn't scare as easily, and 2) The ride was toned down in the last few years before it was replaced by AP. :)
I agree that a young child might have been frightened by the Float Trip. Although it was gentle in nature, the voice over of the woman (it had audio with it) always spooked me. I recall that "something" was following you at one point in the ride. Now that I think about it, it was just an air jet from below the back of the boat, but the realism of that made me hold onto my parents a little tighter.
thats some great pics! thanks!
i'm glad somebody said there was a second tunnel because i too remember there being another. It seemed like it was bigger and was much straighter than the other one. THIS is the place i'm pretty sure they had the hulk piggy bank. Why it was there? i have no clue.
Man, i wish there was like a source (literature or an interview) all about these old rides like the float trip and diving bell. Is that door thats closed in that picture where you got on the float trip?
And all this time, I've been thinking I never got to ride the Float Trip. Now, I'm thinking, maybe I did. Of course, I still wonder what the dwarves were all about. What was the thinking? What was the theme - I had thought it was ride down the James River.
QuoteAlthough it was gentle in nature, the voice over of the woman (it had audio with it) always spooked me.
Does anyone remember the audio? The theme? Special elements in the queue?
Well, most of the float trips taken by the people I know involve lots of alcohol, so maybe seeing dwarves actually is part of the whole experience. that, and pink elephants, purple aligators, flying cars, and other random halucinations. :)
Not sure, but I do remember it was narrated. Or at least right after you launched it was narrated (through the part that is the bridge over to Wildfire)
Quote from: RollaJedi on August 03, 2009, 04:00:58 PM
Well, most of the float trips taken by the people I know involve lots of alcohol, so maybe seeing dwarves actually is part of the whole experience. that, and pink elephants, purple aligators, flying cars, and other random halucinations. :)
And Incredible Hulk Piggy Banks - there you go!!
;D I'm pretty certain this is the bank i'm talking about. its from the late 70's, so it fits in with the time correctly.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Incredible-Hulk-Head-Plastic-Bank-1976-Marvel-Comics_W0QQitemZ360174353124QQcmdZViewItem
Ah, and here I was thinking it was a green, muscular porcine creature. I hope that thing never finds its way into SDC, and if it was once there, I can't imagine why...
I think there was a face that looked like that on the float trip ride. A light quickly showed the face then it went away.
The person that scared you was most likely Wayne Milnes. He is a great entertainer and worked at the city from the early 70's to the 90's. He was known for his "mechanical man". He would draw a crowd, and then he would break character, it scared the crowd, and he would get a BIG laugh. He did this throughout the city.
There was never an "Incredible Hulk" type piggy bank thingy at the Float Trip. So that's a false memory. But...towards the end of it's life, as one road through the cave, there were a couple of "reverse" faces embedded in the cave walls. As you floated by them, they appeared to "turn and watch" you go by. There was also a glassed off room in the cave that you would float by; it had kind of a haunted saloon type interior with a piano and "ghosts" floating around. This was done with mirrors. That room may have had gnomes at one time also. In addition to some of the things already mentioned, some of the "sights" one might see on the float trip included a tipping outhouse, an encampment with a moonshine still, a bear cub shinnying up a tree, "echo rock," a real prairie dog town, a couple of places where there was water shooting across the "river" and it stopped just as you reached it.
There was a time in the mid-late 70's when there was a medicine wagon show in front of the glass blowers shop where the street access to the demo area has now been opened up (used to have to go thru the merchandise area to get to the demo). Medicine men were Art Runyan and DA Callaway, playing piano, singing, and hawking "pills" with the help of a beautiful assistant.
^I want that back too. I think I was too young or too stupid to understand and appreciate the medicine show - seems like something a versatile character actor could pull off. I wouldn't mind a mule-driven medicine wagon, horse-pulled rainmaker, even if the same guy had to play all the parts a couple of times a day.
As for the cave and everything, that would explain why I was so scared on that ride I thought I never rode. I definitely remember the inverted faces, and some of the other scenes were kept in the American Plunge - before it was streamlined into the amusement ride it is today.