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[okiebluegrass]

You can still hit your head on the buses if you're not careful. Ask me how I know..

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

The green trams were an institution of SDC! No they were not pretty, and yes the smell of butane was not the best smell that could emit from the ride, but they were consistent. I have fond memories of them. They ment your finally here. You are ready to take on the day, as the smell of asphalt and butane hit your nose and excited voices rang! I miss the green trams and the way they stuck out and said LOOK AT ME! I miss riding backwards only to twist this way and that to catch a glimps of the park ahead. It was pure fun, and now its institutional white. Clean, white, dull trams.

[rubedugans]

Think about it....they were the first, and last rides you went on during your trips to SDC! They were as much of an icon as the short lived diving bell, or FITH, and the trams had a heck of a lot more riders that any other ride too....

I was able after they were removed to sneak one last "ride" on the green trams. They were stored in a Branson parking lot out of view, and I came across them one day, and photographed the heck out of them! (I think I even sat in the announcers seat!) The engines were absent from the lot, but all of the cars were still there!

[Junior]

They used those green trams as far back as my first visit in 1970, if I remember correctly. Probably gasoline powered at the time, not butane. Some things just gotta change...but I agree, it's hard for me to jump on a bus to ride up to the ticket booths...I keep looking around for the green trams. In my time as an employee on park, and going back to my first visit in '70, the cave folks, ticket booth and turnstyle people, and parking crews all dressed in an "official" brown or tan uniform that had a Marvel Cave Park patch on it. They looked like state park employees, which was probably the reason they were dressed that way...to look more "official." That was the difference between the modern SDC as a theme park, and the folks like me inside SDC who were dressed as citizens...hillbillies...or more sophisticated townfolk. Also in my time, the costumed characters from the 1880's seldom ventured past the hospitality house doors. Now some of the characters greet you as you get off the buses at the ticket booths!

[Makayna]

Welcome to the forums Makayna. I last rode the old green trams in 2002. I kinda miss em. The new trams are ok. I liked the balloons and hopefully they bring them back. What I miss about the trams is being able to face the person with you. I don't think you can do that with the new ones. It also seems a little cramped on the new ones. Anybody else feel that way?

Thank you very much.

I actually think the new trams are LESS cramped.  If I remember correctly, the old ones didn't have individual seats like the new ones do.  So, oftentimes, people would squeeze in right next to you to cram as many people into one seat as humanly possible.  With the new trams, it's 4 people.  Period.

I also think the new trams are faster, maybe?!

Either way, it doesn't really matter to me what I ride to get to the park... as long as I get there with plenty of time to ride the rides and see the shows I want to see.  I guess the trams aren't that significant to me either way, which is why I don't have a sentimental attachment to the old ones.  Now, if they got rid of trams altogether.... 

[Ozark Outlaw]

Now some of the characters greet you as you get off the buses at the ticket booths!

It's funny you should mention that. Terry Sanders himself greeted us this past week as we exited the parking lot bus at the front entrance. Ugh, at least the white trams are still trams.