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[haytater]

Where in relation to the city is marvel cave? Is the hole in the direction across the street from Eva and Delilah's?

[marolinesdad]

yes...   That is the Sink hole to the Cathedral Room.

[haytater]

How far away from the street is it? Do they have it blocked?

[DocSpeleo]

The sink hole is right next to the road you use from the turnstiles to the Hospitality House.  In the fall when there are no leaves on the trees you can see it much better than when there is a lot of green stuff growing.

Of course it's fenced off.. after 1976 when 2 small children rolled off the road and into the sinkhole they had to do something about that....

[DocSpeleo]

Okay of course I was kidding about that kid rolling in... lol  but I often use that in my cave tour..hahhahaha

anyway... The cave is not under the park.  It goes the other direction towards the parking lots.  There is one passageway that goes under Thunderation but it is inaccessible due to vibrations causing rockfall back there.  the mammoth room is under the hospitality house.  I was told that there was a plan to put in an elevator from the HH to the Mammoth room but 15 million dollars was a big investment for a hole in the ground and that idea was not pushed any further.

[sdcforever]

^I'm guessing the passageway was accessible before TNT was built?  Did they know that the vibrations would cause rockfall and make it inaccessible?  Just curious if they took that into consideration before building the coaster.

[DocSpeleo]

Yes the passageway was accessible before TNT.  The original plan had TNT going into the cave in that passageway and back out. 

[Zephon]

Believe it or not, but a fellow named George Cramer and I built that fence that goes around the mouth of the cave.  It was quite a job, digging the post holes by hand, carrying 5 gallon buckets of concrete down the hillside to set the posts in, and stretching the woven wire around.  I was bending over to clean dirt out of one of the holes and my hardhat fell off, went bouncing down and into the hole.  We found it later at the bottom of the mound.  I was pretty thankful that I wasn't still in it.

[haytater]

Whew, that would have given me quite the scare. Thanks for the info guys.

[haytater]

Doc, I had a tour guide who threw a fake bat into the crowd when he turned the lights back on in the shoe room. Bout sent a lady over the edge into oblivion. Do you know him?

[sdcforever]

Yes the passageway was accessible before TNT.  The original plan had TNT going into the cave in that passageway and back out. 

I had heard of that original plan and wondered if it was true.  That would have been an interesting aspect of the ride.

[DocSpeleo]

Whew, that would have given me quite the scare. Thanks for the info guys.

haha yes i know him... he gives an interesting tour.. maybe not the most factual but it is a very fun tour to be on... his bat has gotten him into trouble a few times but all in all he is a good guide and most people can take the bat joke...

funny thing is that it's a big hard rubber bat... we have soft ones but he never switched to the cute cuddly bat lol

[marolinesdad]

DocSpeleo....   I like your cave Tour in person and on your web site...  Everyone if you haven't seen this here it is.   http://jeromysworld.info/sdccaveguide/index.htm

[mike_kelly87]

I have to reccomend the lamp light tour to EVERYONE. It was the best cave tour I have been on in quite some time. The group is only 20 to 30 people and they actully stop at places and tell stories about the cave. You get alot more history, ghost stories, etc... It was a very pleasant suprise.

Plan on it taking close to 2 hours though..

[sdcforever]

I have heard the lantern tour is great!  I definitely plan on taking it sometime in the future, I'm just not sure when.