Marvel Cave Improvements

[Copper]

This year several thousand dollars were used for Marvel Cave. Lights and walk ways were improved and the cave received new handrails. The next step is to open the Mammoth Room up to the guests on the “Lantern Light Tour.” What would you want to see be added, removed or improved in Marvel Cave in the future?

[shavethewhales]

Is there any sort of map of the cave anywhere? It sounded to me like they haven't even explored all of it yet, and quite a lot is still unaccessible to guests.

It'd be cool if they were able to open up another mouth to the cave somewhere else on the property and go into some other parts, although I have no idea how the cave is laid out...

[Coaster]

Yeah I've been on the tour many times and I'm ready to see some new things.

[History Buff]

How early do I have to get there to reserve a lantern tour on Saturday?

[Copper]

Usually by 11 you will be good. You can reserve a spot by calling the Cave’s Information Desk at 417 338-2611 ex. 6173. You can call and do that as early as you want. If the cave is doing half tours the Lantern Light Tour is canceled, due to not being able to go through the cave.

[History Buff]

That's what I was wondering.  Is the cave flooded?

If you get a half tour, where do you go out?  Back up the steps?

And tell me more about the Mammoth Room.  Is this something I haven't seen?

[Copper]

Yes the cave is flooded, but by Saturday there is a possibility that it will be down and tours can continue, no guarantee, Table Rock Lake is up 12 feet and that does affect the cave. Half tours are from the top to the bottom of the Cathedral room, sometimes the Shoe Room and then back up the same way you entered. They will start work on the new walkways in the Mammoth Room in a few weeks and maybe be ready by the summer, again no guarantee. If they do get that area opened up you will get to see the Spanish Ladder that the first known explorers saw and maybe they will reconstruct the cabin in its original spot. You can see the watery entrance to the Lakes Passage in the room as well. 

[History Buff]

Awesome.

Great info as usual; I'm really interested in the history stuff.

[History Buff]

Thanks for the great advice, Copper.  They were running half tours in the morning, and they didn't think lantern tours would be operating.  I never checked back to see if they changed their minds, but I will be doing this some time this summer.

[Old Guy]

There has been talk of opening other parts of the cave for years, the problem being areas like the lakes passage can only be accessed by crawling through long passages, dropping down several drops, only to end at the grand cravas, two narrow walls you must chimney down. All that to get to the lake. One you are there its cool though. Mystic river is a mud crawl that just keeps getting smaller, and lost river passage behind the dam is structuraly unsound do to the flooding and pressure from the water. Short of dropping an elevater to the lake like blanchard springs did, It would be difficult to add a commercial tour.

[Copper]

Well, the Mammoth Room is slated to be open to the Lantern tour guests. After that a Wild Caving Adventure is also in the works. The wild trip would start in the Mammoth Room and end behind the tower in the Cathedral Room. You would get to travel through the Bat Room and the Dungeons.

I have seen the plans for elevators being built from the Wagon Works restaurant (then Garden restaurant) down to the Lakes Passage, the plan was for new passages to be built next to the originals, so the guest would walk instead of crawl. This would be extremely costly, and doubt it would ever happen. Another plan shows the elevators built from the left side of the Hospitality House (refreshment stand side) and going down into the Mammoth Room, removing the tower in the cathedral room and opening up both sinkholes. This seems to be the best plan, but still very costly.

I would like a bridge crossing the sinkhole. This would be nice because it would make it easier for guest entering the city. Once you enter through the turnstiles you could go straight to the stroller booth and Eva and Delilah’s Bakery or you could make a right and go across the bridge directly to the Hospitality House. It would help stop the bottleneck that happens next to the stroller booth.

[History Buff]

removing the tower in the cathedral room

How about this - replace the tower with a SLIDE.  It would be a one of a kind, wouldn't take away from the cave, and it would be super fun.  At the bottom would be a bunch of foam rubber rocks to crash land into.  Plus it would be the first of its kind in the world.

[shavethewhales]

^Heh, haven't you seen the Landing lately? They've been trying to get rid of anything that anyone could possibly hurt themselves on across the park. If they put in a slide, it'd get torn down in two years and replaced by a massive version of those craptacular crawl-through thing-a-ma-jigs that kids always get stuck in.

[History Buff]

Yeah, I know.  The place is wrought with safety everywhere.  Maybe we could develop some kind of bubblewrap suit for everyone to wear while they walk down Cardiac Hill - just in case one of those fogies on a scooter bumps into them and they roll down the hill.

That slide into the Cathedral Room could be awesome though - maybe a controlled slide, like on a cart with wheels.  They had a ride in Opryland that was like that, like a toboggan that went through dips and turns.  It was a great, smooth ride.  The problem is they would have to install a vehicle return system, and that wouldn't be good.

How about offering an option to rappel down from the sinkhole for an extra fee - while wearing the bubblewrap suit of course.

[athenebelle]

Can you believe I registered just to write to this topic?

As a caver, I would love to see a series of wild cave (meaning sections of the cave which are not easily changed to accommodate walking paths) tours.  I would even be willing to pay for a tour like that.  The biggest problem with that sort of tour is that as you have more and more people going on those tours you would be causing more an of an impact on the cave.  They would have to limit the tours extensively (probably a ten person max, more than that and you have a permanent negative impact on the cave) and it would end up being extremely low capacity tour.  In addition, they would have to make sure they had enough helmets for a variety of people.   I have to question whether it would be worth it to add a tour like that.  As the same time.....I would be willing to pay to go on it.