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[History Buff]

They could build and old school boardwalk, connecting SH to the Wilson's Farm area, along the backside of the lake, and put Rube's back there as well!  Traffic flow, SDC, TRAFFIC FLOW!  Get rid of all these dead ends, please!

There would probably be issues with the train robbery, but the rumor mill has already said the robbery could be changed or deleted.  I'm afraid of your suggestion of a boardwalk, though, because I know that translates to more carnival games (which I despise) and those would not fit with the Rube Dugan theme very well.  (I'm with cjfootball on this one - I just think Splash Harbor, and Geyser Gulch are out of place and could be repainted and reworked to fit better.).

There would be a continuity problem with extending it through the Wilson's Farm area, too.

This ride/show/simulator only needs to appear to be on the water.  It could ultimately share a reworked queue with Lost River, similar to the Wildfire/AP queue.

Of course, they could always make a new lake.  Some of you want Echo Hollow to be removed - how 'bout fillin' it with water?

[themeparkguy]

Dark rides or other indoor attractions- A plus for a theme park open in winter with temps below frezeeing. How long will the cue line be for splash battle come christmas time

[cjfootball_89]

I like History Buff's idea........I think gettin' rid of Echo Hollow is a great idea cuz ever since Jim Dandy and Chosen Few left it just hasn't been worth watchin'. I have Echo Hollow from the 90's on tape and in that movie you can see how full Echo Hollow used to get but now its just a useless place in the park..... Based on what they did with the parking lot area I think that they are very capable of filling part of that in and making another lake.... Then they could build Rube Dugan's on the lake and also have room for other stuff.

[History Buff]

 

[Swoosh]

I want the water/laser show from Celebration City to move to Echo Hollow.  They could change out scenes with whatever festival is going on at the time.  It would also give an excuse for the park to be open later in the summer.

Rube Dugan could be "re-imagineered" to be part of the transportation section of the Grand Expo.  You'd have to change the story line some, but a submarine at a world's fair would not be out of the question... and since they should also add Roaring Falls to that area a lake would need to be built as well.  botta bing botta boom your problem is solved.

[Joy]

Yes! The water/laser show would go PERFECTLY in Echo Hollow. I haven't even *been* to Echo Hollow in at least ten years. Putting that in would definitely ensure my butt being seated in there once more.

Hmmm... I like your idea for Rube Dugan's, too.

Joy

[cjfootball_89]

WOW! We all got so many ideas! Where's the Herschends They need to read all this!!

[Junior]

Ah, the diving bell! i REMEMBER IT WELL. "Howdy there, folks! My name is Junior Dugan, and I'll be drivin' your diving bell..." That was a line I repeated over and over during the years I worked at the diving bell. (1979-1984) As has been mentioned on this website before, the diving bell was replaced with Lost River due to capacity issues. Inside the diving bell building were FIVE diving bell capsules. They held 75 people and 1 Junior each. Only so many folks could move through in an hour! I've seen RUBE DUGAN'S photos posted on this site, I wish I could make out who the "Junior" is pictured in the capsule photo, but I can't. Hey Rube, do you remember what year that photo was taken? If I knew which year, I could narrow down the names as to who that could be.

[History Buff]

^I had no idea there were five capsules, Junior.  I'm sure the folks here would be interested in reading more of the script or any other information about the DB.  It is obviously the most missed attraction SDC has ever removed.

[Junior]

I kept EVERYTHING that my managers on park gave me...memos, guidelines, costume department reciepts, and DIVING BELL SCRIPTS AND LINE ENTERTAINMENT suggestion sheets. I kept all of the weekly company newsletters during that period, too. I have promotional material, brochures, pathfinders, city maps, EVERYTHING from 1978-1984 that I ever got my hands on. So...if there is an interest in this stuff by the SDC Fans on this site, I'll post some of it. Here is one little tidbit that some of you may remember from the diving bell. The guys playing Junior Dugan entertained people waiting in line, and one of the little novelty songs we performed was done to the tune of the Christmas song, "The First Noel." Here are the lyrics..."Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, we ain't got no water 'cause we ain't got no well!" In print it may look kind of goofy, but let me tell ya, it brought down the house every time. Anyone that's a fan of the diving bell will remember the other entertainment while waiting in line like the "Toss Test" with liferings, the tug-o-war games, the Ozark Diving Competitions, and the Ozark Bathing Suit Competitions. Hey, here's one that some of you may remember, "The Honorable Order of the Woodchucks" induction ceremony!?!? Let me hear from you, folks! I'll dig out some of the old jokes and scripts and post some of them here for you if you like.

[marolinesdad]

We want it all...   I think you need your own page on here...

[KBCraig]

+1 for Junior as best new potential resource.

Start posting those scans, Junior! 

[Junior]

Let me see what stuff I can dig out of my file cabinet. Hummmmm....how about a few photos of the diving bell?[/img] (Whoops! Forgive me...I'm new at this computer stuff. I still believe it was wrong to throw out the ole IBM Selectric typewriter. Let me get some help on loading these photos. I'll get back to ya.) In the meantime, how about some Diving Bell "facts known by few?" Russ Maulden is the only guy in diving bell history to have 1) helped build the building in winter of '76, 2) Played Junior Dugan in the '77 season, and 3) Worked the maintanence crew from 78-84. Here is another for you: Kerry Chester was lead man in maintanence at the diving bell all eight seasons it operated. Another? OK! Randy Stowe was lead man (manager) at the diving bell four out of eight seasons. He was lead at the new Lost River, too. Guess what else all three of those guys still have in common? All of them made careers at SDC. All are still employed there in 2010, over 30 years later! John Brewer and his son Lucas Brewer are the only father-son duo to work at the diving bell. In 1977 John "worked the line" in front of the ride, greeting guests and visiting with them. His son Lucas played Junior Dugan that year. Here's one more" Ken Fowler from Republic, MO was a Junior in 81 & 82. He tried his luck at a recording career in the early and mid 80s, and had a song chart on the Billboard Country chart in 1985, called, I think, "It's a Heartache." The Billboard country chart listed the number one through number one hundred songs, and I think Ken's song charted in the 90s. I don't know what he's been up to in recent years.

[History Buff]

I seem to recall a female "Jr."  Am I wrong that girls were also in the role?  It has been a looong time.

[Junior]

You have a VERY GOOD memory! There were a few young ladies that worked occasionally at the diving bell. Because the dialog of Rube and Grandpappy Dugan were recorded as part of the soundtrack to the film that was shown on the screen in the capsules, no women could pilot the diving bell, because throughout the ten minute "ride" Rube shouted orders to Junior. When we were shorthanded, we called upon people from other attractions to help us out. Sometimes a man or a woman would be posted in front of the ride to work "crowd control," in other words, meet and greet people as they got in line, and entertain them with jokes, chatter, or simply by talking with visitors, finding out where they came from, and so on. This allowed all the "Juniors" to be free to take rides. In 1977, a man named John Brewer worked the line on a full time basis, playing a friendly sea captain type character. When the women worked with us, they were culled from the SDC labor pool, from Tom Sawyer's Landing, the American Plunge, and the Paid Games area that operated across from the diving bell 1980-1983. When we had women working the line in front of the ride, we called them "Ruby Dugan." Ruby was a cousin to all us Juniors. Oh, by the way, when we would shout to one another in front of the ride to get a co-workers attention, we would ususally shout, "Hey, cousin!." or "Hey, Junior!" Whenever someone would ask us why all of us guys were named Junior Dugan, we used a clever line that I think Terry Sanders came up with in the 1980 season. We would say, "we have a  BIG family with a SMALL imagination!" It always got a good laugh. Some of the women that played Ruby Dugan included: Jennifer Cameron of Branson, Carol Myers from Tom Sawyer's Landing, Sara Smith from Paid Games, and Phyllis Peacher a student from School of the Ozarks. A really great older man sometimes worked with us 1981-1983 named Aubrey. We called him "The Colonel," because he looked like  Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. He was part of the labor pool, too. There were other "Rubys" and other men that worked the line, too. The names mentioned are all I can remember from off the top of my head.