All right . I promised a follow up so here it is.
SDC always had a shortage of level land. Durring the aformentioned St. Louis poll, a new coaster concept was pitched tha not only involved the first coaster of its kind, not just a new area, but in fact a whole new town connected by the steam train, wagons and walkways, Williams Gap. You've all gone through it on the train. Out from that spot is long flat and very pretty ridge (including the remaines of an old 1940's cabin and tree house!) that offered a whole new development oportunity.
It was to be a new Deepwoods kind of area, crossed with what was to become forgotten crafts, with woodchips, wildflowers, rustic, with shops like a cooppers, log cabin building, etc. What the area needed was a big draw and it was big. My concept was SDC's first outdoor coaster. The theme was this:
An excentric inventor had recently returned from St. Louis where he had seen a remarkable new invention that sent Money and papers from one spot in a building too another by means of pneumatic tubes!. If it could be done small scale......
He needed a place to build however out of sight of compeditors so he chose the tiny town of Williams Gap to build his prototype.
It started as you walked past the giant pumping engines into the depot facing a large victiorian curved glass wall on big chains. this lifted to present an enclosed glass and wroght iron car with plush velvet seats and brass trim. the door was closed on your car which was to all viable effect (but not really) shot through a glass tube ringed with more iron through the trees, an underground tunnel, then back to the depot. In reality it was a coaster that rode on tracks on the sides of the cars and could do barrel rolls and dip into curves. ( this kind of coaster was invented several years later. I remember playing it on Roller Coaster Tycoon!
) Even though the car was enclosed,the track was really open with rings at intervels except for the firsts few hundred yards where you could see the tracks from the walkways which were indeed glass tubes.
The concept grew to making the area itsef a spot for a grand exposition with halls, rides, a 360 soundscape storytelling theater (my concept again still untried) and games, some of which have now come to pass in the, well, Grand exposition.
The concept got the highest marks on the survey, but proved to costly to implement at the time, and Jack was reluctant to head down that coaster road. "Once a park heads that direction", he said, "your pretty much commited to a new high ticket ride every few years." He was certenly right. Eventualy the path was taken, but long after this concept was forgotten.
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