SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City & Celebration City Discussion => SDC Memories/ Park History => Topic started by: MattPaasch on January 07, 2008, 02:38:29 PM
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I have found a picture of my brother and I ridding a ride at SDC around 1986-1988. It was located behind the Carousel Barn, across the tracks from the Train Depot, near the old petting zoo (where the Carousel is today).
I can't remember the name of it. Anyone want to help me?
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I want to say it is called Gandy Dancer. I am not 100% on the name. The track is still there under a lot of weeds and grass.
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That is indeed the Gandy Dancer, and we have a couple of pics here on the site of what's left of it as of this last fall -> http://www.sdcfans.com/galleries/sdc_sept_07/sdc_sept_07_gal.html
Do you have any memories of what it was like? I never got to ride it.
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I wonder why they ever quit using it. It'd be great if they brought it back.
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Wasn't that like a sit-down version of a "pump cart"? KBF has one similar called the Huff and Puff Railway
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Kids tended to poop out half way around and the ride opperator had no choice but go climb on the car and pump it back. This made a low capacity ride even slower and eventualy to costly to staff. Too bad, it was fun.
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wow, so nothing keeps you inside the ride?
that sounds WEIRD.. :o
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^Well it's not like there were any tremendous forces to throw you out of the car. ::) Besides, this was before the age of intense regulations, restraints, and lawsuits out the butt.
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Kids tended to poop out half way around and the ride opperator had no choice but go climb on the car and pump it back. This made a low capacity ride even slower and eventualy to costly to staff. Too bad, it was fun.
I got to thinking about this today. Couldn't they just put in a simple chain system that the ride operator can turn on and pull the kids around if the kids start to poop out? And to make it so more kids can ride they could put in another track so there are two tracks going around at once and then it could be a race type ride.
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I got to thinking about this today. Couldn't they just put in a simple chain system that the ride operator can turn on and pull the kids around if the kids start to poop out? And to make it so more kids can ride they could put in another track so there are two tracks going around at once and then it could be a race type ride.
I like your idea! Let's bring back the Gandy Dancer and make it a race type ride! That would make it less likely that kids would poop out halfway (nothing like a little competition to push the kids to finish the ride), plus it would be a ride where they could get some exercise. Waving that Wii remote around just doesn't cut it! :)
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You know, I tried like crazy to find the Gandy Dancer track, but I couldn't see it for the life of me. I looked all over the area behind the Carousel Barn and near the carousel... I dunno why I couldn't see it.
~ "Becky" Joy ~
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It is still there. It is a little over grown with vines and such. I think the entrance to the ride is even still there behind the Carousel barn. You can really see the tracks if you ride the Train.
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Hey, it turns out the Gandy Dancer is still there, despite the construction being so close. In fact, it looks like the new construction won't even reach it, so unless they purposefully go in and take it out, it will live on till it rots.
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^Cool! It deserves to live on...a nice piece of nostalgia for the park. :)
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my brother and i tried to make a race out of it when we were little, we would see if the one in the front car could stay out in front of the trailing car without getting run into the back of or getting yelled at for doing it.
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I'm assuming this is gone now that they built river blast. :(
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It was gone well before they built River Blast.
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Gandy Dancer was moved to the future River Blast area, but saw little guest interaction due to being so hidden in the woods behind the carousel barn.
The self-propelled ride was stuck in the Sawyer's Landing area along with the balloon ride (now being reconstructed in the 2015 Fireman's Landing addition, the small Ferris wheel, a tiny kiddie coaster, and the beloved carousel (now Hugo and Mary's Carousel in Half Dollar Holler.
I was in high school when the Gandy Dancer was moved to the area from across the road, near the Lost River, so I was too big to ever ride it. I would love to have something like this in my back yard, though, though I'm not sure how difficult it was to maintain or to propel.
When the tracks were moved, their former piece of land was used as a sledding area for the first Old Time Christmas, so that may give a timeline for the move. Snow machines covered the ground with slippery white stuff, and kids were treated to actual sledding on old-time sleds with rails. The hillside was certainly not a steep grade.
The ride was only open for a year or two in its final location, and was removed during construction of River Blast.
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Well, on Sunday (03/24/19) I discovered one of the old Gandy Dancer carts still being used for flowers. You'll find it right across from the guest relations building before the park entrance.
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Yup, it's hard to miss once you first notice it. I always look for it now. One of the few remaining homages to an old ride. I wonder if most of the PTB/workers even realize that it was part of an old ride.