dave
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Post by dave on Mar 9, 2012 23:54:05 GMT -5
Hi all. When I walked away from my first trip to Hershey Park as a kid, this ride was hands down my favorite. Yeah, strange I know. Anyway, I'm just finding out that it appears Bill Tracy must have had some of his items from the old Gold Nugget attraction incorporated into Gulch when Nugget was closed. I think that's mainly why I liked it so much. Before I go to far into it, does anyone here have any memories of it? There's some things I'm trying to figure out/remember.
Thanks.
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snurl
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Post by snurl on May 18, 2012 3:26:46 GMT -5
What do you need to know? I Rode Hershey's Gold Nugget and the railroad many times as a kid. Hershey re-routed a bit of the railroad a few years back when the park expanded, it was then that the stunts from Gold Nugget made their appearance on the railroad.
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dave
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Post by dave on Jun 9, 2012 22:37:17 GMT -5
Awesome Snurl!! I was hoping someone would be able to help me and my foggy childhood memories. Thanks much!!!
The things I'm trying to remember are:
The old track layout was more like a figure eight. A straight away in the middle of the ride with two loops, one at the begining and one that wraped around the ghost town.
The begining area where the Indians and teepees are at now used to be where the covered wagon was and I believe there was a Indian holding a knife hiding behind a rock that would jump out when the train passed the end of the clearing.
The indians were placed at the begining of the ghost town loop.
There was a skeleton sitting in the outhouse and the skeleton now hanging off the outhouse was hanging from a tree in the town.
That there were far more gimicks in the town that there is now.
I know one of the building's doors would pop open and a lady in a red dress, holding a glass I believe, would come out. I think this very same prop is also in the dark ride at kneoble's grove in the begining but I could be wrong. I also seem to remember a cowboy popping out of the bank and one of the other buildings had a man playing a piano.
Since the track was redesigned, it now doesn't circle around the town and I believe that there is another building that riders don't get to see as it's out of view.
I know the snake has always been there since I first rode it but are there any other gags I'm missing or would you have more detail on them?
Again, thank you very much for offering help and I'm very sorry for being so long winded in my inquires. I've scoured the interwebs but I can't find a lick of info of the ride before the changes and youtube only provides videos of the modern set up currently.
Thanks again!!!!!!
Dave
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snurl
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Post by snurl on Jul 11, 2012 4:42:58 GMT -5
Sorry to take so long to get back here. The original track plan was to head east from the station, past the wrecked wagon on the left. Then across a trestle to the Indian village, around the Ghost town loop, clockwise, then back across the trestle to the arena end loop, counterclockwise. Sometime in the mid '70s the ghost town loop started being run in reverse, counterclockwise.
The first scene was the wrecked wagon, it had a lot of arrows sticking out of it at one time, a wheel slowly spinning. There were some Tracy cactus and vultures there as well. There was a knife wielding pop-up indian in the Gold Nugget but I do not remember ever seeing it on the DGRR. There was an indian burial ground just after the trestle, then the indian camp. Along the trestle there was a gold mine in the hillside, the miner was from the nugget also, he used to be outside on the back porch.
I dont remember any outhouse skeletons but there was one hanging from a gallows pole outside of the jailhouse, (the building you no longer pass). Sometimes he waved. At one time the train would stop in the ghost town for actors to stage gunfights. The lady in the saloon was from the gold nugget, she would spin and laugh as you passed the bar. I think the piano player may have come from the shooting gallery that replaced the GN in '72 or '73. Not sure where the snake came from, he popped in there in the early '70s. Close by there was an indian ambush, several indians behind a stone wall with rifles pointed right at you, sound effects too. I remember noticing a fitting in the ends of the rifle barrels that looked as if they may shoot fog or compressed air, but i don't remember ever seeing it working if it did. The ambush is gone now, too un-PC maybe? Hope this helps jog your memories.
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Post by David on Jul 11, 2012 21:04:55 GMT -5
Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to answer me Snurl!! No worries at all about the delay. That really brought back some memories. I had totally forgotten about the burial ground and the wall of Indians until you mentioned it. I think being PC was a huge reason for the wall removal as well. None of the indians in the ride now are shown as being aggressive. Change of the times for sure. I didn't know the train ran clockwise either. From the time I first rode it, it was alway counter. I remember actors being around before the train departed the station....guys dressed like bandits and what not but didn't see a shoot out in the ghost town. Man, Hershey butchered that ride but I understand making room for progress. It might be my "kid brain" remembering that everything was cooler than it was but it's not the same for me regardless. I guess it was Tracy's items and scenery that really made that ride fun for me and not so much the train, lol. Again, thank you for your time. Your description will hold me over until someone posts a old home movie on youtube of the ride......hopefully
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snurl
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Post by snurl on Jul 13, 2012 3:00:50 GMT -5
Yes, the park has sure changed. The north side of the trestle, just beyond the mineshaft, used to be people's backyards, there was a street up there. Its all park now.
I can remember seeing a wasps nest in one of the indian's hands.....
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Post by David on Jul 15, 2012 17:52:03 GMT -5
I think I remember seeing the back yards too. I remember that something seemed strange, like people hanging out in their yards could see the train going by. I checked out an old park map from the 70's and it looks like the Gulch was right along the very edge of the park before it expanded.
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snurl
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Post by snurl on Jul 17, 2012 4:58:42 GMT -5
Yes. How cool would it be to have a wild west ghost town in your backyard?
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Post by David on Jul 18, 2012 19:19:26 GMT -5
LOL, for me that would have been awesome!! I'm sure I would have been tempted to scale the fence for a closer look afterhours.
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snurl
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Post by snurl on Jul 31, 2012 4:11:10 GMT -5
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Post by David on Aug 4, 2012 19:45:24 GMT -5
Thanks Snurl. I haven't seen them before. I'm still on the look out for vintage pics. Was the barber shop the saloon back in the day?
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snurl
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Post by snurl on Aug 7, 2012 0:39:02 GMT -5
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Post by David on Aug 8, 2012 20:51:41 GMT -5
So that was always the barber shop? Just shows how little I remember. The roof is definitely missing from the bank. I found a home movie on youtube that shows a quick 1 second over head view of the town and the roof is there. I'm suprised any of it is still standing after all of the changes the ride went through. It just seems unnecessary now. That scene for the water ride looks amazing. Very cool! I gotta do a search for more of these outdoor type rides. I wouldn't be suprised if the same company made the gulch buildings as well. Like how many companies could there have been making ghost town buildings for amusement parks? Just seems like a niche industry for sure.
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snurl
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Post by snurl on Aug 9, 2012 2:00:50 GMT -5
Well, considering that the Ghost town has been standing there since around 1962 through all kinds of Pennsylvania weather I'm surprised it's still standing at all. I don't know how many times it has been renovated. I know of two other outdoor boat rides with a historical theme similar to the Fur Trapper's ride at Freedomland. They were at Six Flags over Texas and Six Flags over Georgia. Another similar ride was at Astroworld but it's theme was more fantasy cartoony safari. Sadly both of the Six Flags rides have been removed and Astroworld is completely gone. I will see if I can find a link or two. There is precious little about these two rides on the net. Both had a cool feature where a fort along the river was firing cannons at the boat, Pirates of the Carribean-style. edit: Struck Gold! Follow this link and look under the videos tab for a virtual ride with photos of the Texas version. article.wn.com/view/2012/04/26/Texas_State_students_get_school_credit_for_doing_good_deeds/
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Post by David on Aug 13, 2012 21:34:08 GMT -5
Very nice, thanks for sharing Snurl. Those hanging bodies are pretty gruesome to say the least. Definitely my kind of ride from the looks of it. Funny you mention Pa weather. I was thinking of the blizzard of 96 and what kind of havoc that caused. If the ghost town survived that then it's a heck of a lot stronger than what it looks like.
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