flooded mine question

Junior · October 19, 2010, 04:26:00 PM

The Sounds of SDC album was made during the time I worked on park. I knew all the people recorded on the album, and worked directly with many of them. I was also present for part of the recording sessions. Some of the hoedown stuff toward the end was recorded when the end of the day hoedown and related activities took place on the town square. I remember them starting and stopping the events a few times as they tried to get the audio equipment checked to record things. I've got a copy of the album, and it turned out pretty good for what it is. I'd recommend you get a copy on ebay or through friends if you are a big fan of the park!

rubedugans · October 19, 2010, 04:44:19 PM

If we can get ahold of John, since he is on the record, we will know a more specific date...so Junior we have from sometime in the late 70's-early 80's correct?. From the performers and record itself, I was estimating 1980.

Junior · October 20, 2010, 11:45:36 AM

1980 is probably the right year...if not, 1981, but I'd say with about 90 percent assurance, '80. I say that because in '81 I was working a night job at an area theater, and would not have been able to be present at the evening hoe down...so 1980 I think it was.

coalesce99 · December 13, 2010, 02:41:31 PM

Hey, what used to be in the room with the saw blade? I think it's in the deep recesses of my brain, but I can't quite remember. I do remember it used to have the lights go out and it was much more scary.

coalesce99 · May 14, 2012, 01:43:42 PM

Any response to my question from 1 1/2 years ago?

Junior · May 14, 2012, 05:02:19 PM

Most of those scenes have not changed much over the years. A tweak here, a tweak there. I really could not tell you what specifically was there, and I worked at the Flooded Mine in '81 and '82 on a part time basis! I do think the dummies they use at FM in recent years have cartoonish look tothem. I miss the days when they had a more serious look, and when they used a a hidden film projector that shown moving and singing faces on a couple of the figures. The humidity from the water caused the projector to break down a lot. I can tell you the current scene in the tower area used to be where a fake rock slide with strobe light flashing on the foam rubber rocks used to be. A net caught the balls, and they were lifted by some device back to the top of the tower to be "dropped" on the next boat.

betamike · May 14, 2012, 05:40:11 PM

Quote from: coalesce99 on December 13, 2010, 02:41:31 PM
Hey, what used to be in the room with the saw blade? I think it's in the deep recesses of my brain, but I can't quite remember. I do remember it used to have the lights go out and it was much more scary.

The Saw blade used to "release" when the lights went out and using a strobe effect to make it look quicker than it was, it would come out toward the boats.

Junior · May 15, 2012, 08:39:39 AM

Betamike jogged my memory...he's right! I enjoyed that scene like that, too. Remember when the gas leak and dead canary was there? The strobe effect would go off when the water was blasted up! That was good, too.

Gilligan · May 15, 2012, 09:00:33 AM

The dead canary was my favorite part!! I always looked for it.

coalesce99 · May 15, 2012, 02:33:22 PM

Quote from: Junior on May 14, 2012, 05:02:19 PM
I can tell you the current scene in the tower area used to be where a fake rock slide with strobe light flashing on the foam rubber rocks used to be. A net caught the balls, and they were lifted by some device back to the top of the tower to be "dropped" on the next boat.

I remember that. It was awesome!

Also, I remember the saw scene being much scarier.

But, I also seem to remember when it was new...like there used to be something else there.

Also, the prisoner that it says "DO NOT FEED PRISONER" His face used to move, didn't it? Maybe that was the projector to make his face move someone was talking about.

Also I miss the guy on the rock right at the end

mhguy77 · May 15, 2012, 03:08:24 PM

QuoteI can tell you the current scene in the tower area used to be where a fake rock slide with strobe light flashing on the foam rubber rocks used to be. A net caught the balls, and they were lifted by some device back to the top of the tower to be "dropped" on the next boat.

I remember that. It was awesome!

The rocks are what made the mine in my mind, that and the problematic moving faces really gave it the edge.
Seems like they remove the stuff that really made the mine the mine.

eak3littlejohs · May 15, 2012, 03:10:20 PM

wasnt there prisoners n the water that was outside....n they were like spinnin around?

Junior · May 15, 2012, 05:07:11 PM

The removal of strobe lights...only thing I can guess is some people have a bad reaction to them...gives some people seizures. Also, budget reasons could be another reason that the scene effects are less than years past. They probably are looking for things that don't require much ongoing maintenance so people are not tied up in making repairs. (tilting room at GM is an example.)

KBCraig · May 16, 2012, 09:01:50 AM

Quote from: mhguy77 on May 15, 2012, 03:08:24 PM
Seems like they remove the stuff that really made the mine the mine.

...and added a bunch of stuff that wasn't about the mine at all, like the guns.

Zephon · May 16, 2012, 10:26:32 AM

There was one season back then (80's) that they installed "lasers" in there. I have that in quotes because they weren't real lasers but devices that emitted a very tight beam of light. I don't even know if they lasted the whole season. They were a maintenance nightmare, not faring very well in that humid atmosphere. I wish I knew what happened to them, they'd be fun to play with.