My SDC pictures, c. 1983

[Merav]

New to this forum.  Hi!

These are only some of the photos that I once had.  They're a bit faded.   

https://plus.google.com/112067062385768558463/posts/9EPUBFKHdJt

Oh, how I used to love this place!  I was always interested in the past (especially the past of the Ozark region I grew up in) even as a child, so visiting this place was like going back in time for me. 

I've been in more recent years (2010 was the last time) and it just wasn't the same.  I was almost crushed to see a goofy animatronic grandfather in Grandfather's Mansion, my favorite park attraction.  A prop which in my day was used to much spookier effect was the rocking chair in the parlor rocking with no one in it.  In the next room you'd peep into was the bedroom and the shadow of grandfather in the shower, singing an an old-timey song in a baritone.  Grandfather was best when left to the imagination, and the guy sitting in the chair isn't even dressed like anyone who lives in a "mansion." 

In my honest opinion, the park was better when it didn't dumb everything down for the very young and it offered souvenirs actually made in the region as opposed to all the "Hecho en China" stuff of today.  But what do I know!  I might be a relic of the past.   

[History Buff]

We're all relics, Merav.  Welcome to the forum.

Grandfather actually really hasn't changed all that much in many, many years.  Some of the changes in there are the addition of "portraits" that change as you walk by them, the removal of some of the special effects in the main room (You can't climb the ladder any more, and the sound effects don't always work when you grab for the gold nugget.), and the removal of the waterfall out front.  Grandfather's still in the shower, isn't he?  And I believe the fellow in the rocking chair has been the same for a long time.  I have found that my memories of the SDC of yesteryear are usually better than the real thing actually was.  I would hope that the place could keep its charm.  Our children will remember the place, but will likely remember it for the rides and not as much for the charm and mystique.

[Merav]

Thank you, History Buff.

Ah...perhaps Marcel Proust said it best.  “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.”

[How-doFolks]

Those are great photos! Thanks for sharing! Just goes to show how much SDC has changed, especially from the church window. I just wish i could find my dads old 8mm films of us from back in the 70s. I would make a YouTube video of it.