SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City & Celebration City Discussion => SDC Memories/ Park History => Topic started by: Barreloflaughs on October 23, 2008, 11:24:19 PM
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Some years ago a special set of SDC commemorative pins was put out, and I noticed one of a ride I had never heard of and knew it couldn't just be hidden somewhere in the park. I asked one of the friendly folks selling the pins what had happened to the ride and he told me it was real neat and everything but they just had to get rid of it, didn't know why. What he told me about the ride gave me the impression that it actually went under water and now I've been trying to figure out what it really was. Thanks to this site, I find it was Rube Dugan's Diving Bell. I badly want to ride it.
Maybe I'm just nostalgic, but older, overlooked technology and entertainment excites me much more than the latest. I really wish I'd gotten to go to SDC back when it was really the Wild West Disney Land. I wish things would go back to the way they were even just a few years ago when characters roamed the park messing with people. There's that one skinny guy who used to be on the Branson Channel that was always around pulling gags. I haven't seen him in so long, I can't remember his name. And what about Doc that hung out around Wildfire? How can SDC be SDC without all that great old stuff? What happened?
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The skinny guy you are talking about is most likely Terry Sanders. He is still there, and in fact in full force this year as he has several characters roaming the park. Terry is a very funny guy, who plays his characters really well. He is also from my hometown. :) He has occasionally became Doc Harris this year also.
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Obviously by me name-sake here, I joyfully remember this ride as my first memory of SDC. Funny how a splash of water, and a life preserver thrown at you can stay in there for 28 years!
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I saw Terry as Doc Harris Saturday night. We were walking around the park at about 10:30 p.m. There may have been like 50 people actually in the park at that time. We were walking around taking in the sights near Grandfather's Mansion, and Doc Harris comes out of nowhere. He said hello to us in his German accent. We kept walking on by (I usually just say hi, I don't interact a lot I guess) and we watched him walk right into Grandfather's Mansion like he lived there. The whole time he was talking to himself with his accent. We never noticed him coming back out, but we didn't hang around too long. I wonder how long he stayed in there. Maybe he was checking it for guests since the park was 1/2 from closing.
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Doc Harris has taken up residence in Grandfather's Mansion.
No character actors are around during the Christmas Festival so they are all in other positions. Doc is now taking care of the Mansion....
SO don't misbehave you'll be part of one of his experiments...
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^I think it'd be cool if Terry portrayed Grandfather sometime...
So when Grandfather lost his lease did Doc Harris pick it up? ;)
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^I think it'd be cool if Terry portrayed Grandfather sometime..
I too had just thought about that... this weekend when I was hanging around the mansion with him. I may have to spring that on him on our next work day..
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(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v363/163/118/646965230/n646965230_4761382_9527.jpg)
Doc working near the exit of Grandfathers Mansion....
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^Hilarious! :D Thanks for the pic!
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loved it, even though scared the crap out of me the first time i rode it. mainly the part when they where weighing you before you got in (don't know if that was a gag or an actual necessity) and they would tell you that if we had to much weight that the floor would drop away and we would all go swimming(not a problem if you knew how to swim.oops didn't show up that day at the pool) and then when all the water started rushing in as the depth charges were fired('cause as others did, i thought that we were actually underwater and i kinda liked dry land.) as i grew up i liked to ride it more and more that is until i showed up one year and it wasn't there anymore,boy i'd like to see it come back too
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This, unfortunately, was my LEAST favorite ride in the park for it scarred me for life! I was literally terrified that I was going to get swallowed up by a squid or drown. They had to throw me a life preserver...it was horrible. Remember, rube? ::)
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funny I said the same thing!!!
Posted on: November 11, 2008, 01:42:22 PM Posted by: rubedugans
Obviously by me name-sake here, I joyfully remember this ride as my first memory of SDC. Funny how a splash of water, and a life preserver thrown at you can stay in there for 28 years!
Maybe you were there that day too! Luckily it wasn't me with the life preserver, some bratty girl screaming!
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It's not going to come back - especially not in the same form (though I long for the day it does). I did propose a "tribute" attraction in the Your Attraction Ideas thread (http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?topic=130.15):
Rube Dugan's Treehouse OR Miners' Treehouse:
Huck's Treehouse is revisioned and repositioned. The miners have taken to the trees to throw claim jumpers off their tracks. The new treehouse is complete with spy gear and defensive capabilities (built from items available in the 1800s). Visitors who trespass in the treehouse will see their living quarters, kitchen, and even restroom facilities (outhouse in the sky, placed above a sidewalk in the populous Silver Dollar City).
Miners are working their mines during the day, but a may return at any time for a snack or a nap.
A room laden with special effects gimmicks will serve as the Silver Room, where each miner has stashed his findings.
This concept could pay tribute to the defunct Diving Bell as parts of the facility would be built to resemble the bell, now salvaged from the depths of Lake Silver.
This concept could also take advantage of some of the recent additions to other Herschend parks and could include a zip line and ropes course elements.
I foresaw this as an answer to Disney's Swiss Family Treehouse, only with stuff to do. It would be a terrific upgrade to the closed treehouse already in the park, and it could replace Geyser Gulch (IMO) with a much more themed attraction, but with some of the same features.
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Unfortunately, I never got to ride the Diving Bell. But I love the stories and the pictures! :)
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When the Diving Bell opened, I was of an age to recognize that we weren't actually diving, but the theme, the acting, and the hydraulic movement were so well done that I actually had my doubts the first couple of times. And even after that, I enjoyed it for the show and the adventure.
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I loved that ride,i to wished they still had it.i thought SDC was a blast as a kid even though they didnt have as many rides as they do now.
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That was a great ride. My preacher was one of the designers for the ride before he was a preacher. As a little kid I got to go with him one night to watch him work on the ride updateing the program. I'm telling you WOW, the workings of that ride was out of this world. I wish they would bring it back....
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I have found it! From my newest collection of SDC photos, here is an interior shot of the diving bell. I am unsure of who the "citizen" in the photo from the early 80's is.
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/duganinterior.jpg)
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For those that knew/know Noel, who played Rube, he & his wife are expecting the arrival of their first in July! ;D
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The nostalgic fan in me would love them to bring this back for the 50th anniversary
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Ah the Diving Bell...I recall when that was considered part of the 'new' part of the park.
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I have found it! From my newest collection of SDC photos, here is an interior shot of the diving bell. Diving Bell...Aweosme
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Thank goodness that RUBEDUGAN's dad took those shots on one of their 1984 family visits to SDC. Last year for the diving bell. I've enjoyed them, too. Takes me back to the last season I worked on park. Who knows, I may have taken RUBEDUGAN's and his family on a ride! If anybody has any diving bell shots or video they can pull from family trip albums, I'd love to see them posted here. PLEEEAAAASSE!
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My little brother was maybe 6 at the time used to cry, Lord he would cry and get so upset, bury his head in my Moms lap, it was funny. Strange thing was he was a real swimmer and liked to swim when we were out on the boat with no preserver.
He is 30 now and I like to tell his kids about those times, they seem to get a real charge out of it.
The ride was fun and innovative.
I was young as well but it seems like the wait to get on the ride could be a long one, or maybe that was just through a kids eyes.
The lost river is less of a thrill to me as I can go into the bathroom take off my underwear submerge them into the sink and put them back on without ringing them; without, the 45 min wait.
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^Ha! That's funny!
Yeah, I remember waiting a long time for the Diving Bell also. Not sure if I am mixing my memories but the playground with tunnels that were installed in the queue area sure helped things.
I don't think I have been on Lost River in ages. I love sitting outside of Aunt Polly's and watching the rafts go by mind you, but it just doesn't hold much fascination for me beyond that. I think it's about time for an overhaul. If they did it to Rube's then it is surely Lost River's time!
Back to Rube's though, I was always scared as well and it came from the acting and the fact that it was noisy in parts. I just didn't like being up towards the front where I could make eye contact with the "Junior" or assume the ghost could see me. What I really did like though (and I miss) was the cavernous area right before going into the Diving Bell that had a few fountains and colored lights in it. Little things like that sure stick with you as a kid and if it were still in place today, I would rank it right up there with the cold, musty darkness of Fire in the Hole and the foyer of Grandfather's Mansion.
As they say, sometimes it's not the destination, but the journey along the way and the things you see as you're getting there.
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It is kind of funny how people look at rides differently. I think it probably depends on what age you were when you first come to the park and rode these rides for the first time. A 5 year old riding the Diving Bell for the first time is probably going to have a lot different memory than a 15 year old riding for the first time. I was seventeen When I first got on the Diving Bell. I enjoyed it and rode a couple times that first day. When I came back to sdc the following year the Diving Bell wasn't on the top of my list in things to do. It just wasn't an attraction that I wanted to ride again and again. I guess it just wasn't a big enough thrill to keep someone at my age at the time very interested for long. The point I am trying to make is if I had been a 5 to 10 year old riding the Diving Bell the first time, I probably would have fonder memories of it like many of you out there do.
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Yeah, you're right about that. For me, Geyser Gulch holds no fascination, but if you were a kid when it opened, I'm sure it was the bees knees. Now, I know that's a poor comparison as GG is more of an activity than something you ride, but I was an adult when it opened and all I could think about was how that area USED to be...all nice and serene.
What I think was nice about Rubes was how immersive and detailed it was. Kind of like going on FITH or the Steam Train.
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A five-year-old has that fascination, but an adult would have appreciation. There is probably a section in the middle that thought it was silly.
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Yeah! I think you guys are right. The theme and detail of the Diving Bell was great. Maybe it was too good for a teenager like me riding it for the first time. With the theme and detail, maybe I was at the time expecting another FITH or big thrill ride.
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Wait time for the diving bell was usually under 20 minutes. No specific times for rides, just whenever a crowd gathered out in front. The Juniors working the line usually kept folks entertained, and kids could play in the playground.
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As far as the theming...the entry tunnels were pretty bland. If you go to lost river today and get in line...soon as you cross the threshold into the building up until you get to the loading area, you are walking in what is left of the old entry tunnel for diving bell capsules A and B. Nothing has changed in that tunnel in the period of 1984-2010 except maybe a new coat of paint. When a group got to the loading dock for the capsules, that's where the theming kicked up. Barrels and crates were stacked up as if it were a real dock. The little water feature as you entered made it appear as if the diving bell were floating, and the little paddle wheel turned, as well as a pipe coming out of the side of the craft that drained water.
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When exiting the diving bell after the ride you walked down a little tunnel themed to look as if it were a cave or mine shaft. When you came to the central exit tunnel that's where the waterfall was. it was lit up nicely. Then, as you turned to your right, you could begin to see daylight again...as you turned to exit the cave, a fat vein of silver was embedded in the rocks...the closest anyone ever came to the lost silver treasure!
For those of you interested in secret places around SDC...here is one more you never heard about! Behind that waterfall was a little room. From time to time, some of the Juniors took a smoke break in there. We just stood far back enough where you could not see us. But we were watching you! It was air conditioned in there, and so taking a quick smoke break was nice.
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I'm a bit slow with the newfangled computer technology so I'm going to see if I can do something many of you have already mastered...here is goes...let me try it....nowwwwwww:
(http://) NOPE! Didn't work...OK, I'm asking for help. How can I add a photo to my post? I've got a few old snapshots I'd like to share here directly rather than on the ole Flickr site. Help me, please! I'm an old goat with only limited knowledge of a computer...
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You can sign up for a free photobucket.com or a similar site. Add your photos there, click on the "insert image" icon that looks like a photo, and paste the url/ direct link that will appear with the photo here and it will be good to go. If you get that far, and there are still issues we can attempt to resolve them as needed!
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Ah...thanks. I'm going to try that!