EXCLUSIVE to sdcfans.com: Diving Bell concept art & film production shots!!!

[Junior]

In 1975, SDC Co-Founder Jack Herschend approached Tom Reidenbach, an architect and designer that specialized in theme park attractions. Herschend asked Reidenbach to come up with concepts for attractions for a planned new section of Silver Dollar City called "The Deepwoods." Reidenbach pitched the idea of Rube Dugan's Diving Bell to SDC, and the PTB gave the project a green light. The simulation attraction debuted to excited visitors in the 1977 season. The diving bell operated until 1984, when the building was gutted and changed into The Lost River, which opened to the public in 1985. Check out my Flickr site, see NEVER BEFORE SEEN photos of concept art, NEVER BEFORE SEEN photos of the filming of the diving bell film in California, and a couple of NEVER BEFORE SEEN shots from early 1977 at SDC as the diving bell was being constructed. When I was working on my diving bell booklet last year I emailed Reidenbach, who was kind enough to send me details of the concept and construction of the diving bell. The photos you will see on the Flickr site are Reidenbach's, he gave them to me for use as illustrations in the booklet and for an article that has not yet appeared in print. The photos arrived too late to make it into the limited first edition of the booklet, so you, my friends at sdcfans.com, are getting to see these shots for the first time ever, as Tom's photos have been kept since 1977 in his personal files at his office in Florida. (By the way, Tom was handpicked by Walt Disney to be a part of Disney's personal team. Since his beginning in the business all those years ago, he has worked for many, many theme parks. He helped design the King Kong attraction at Universal Studios, and as of last year, was a consultant for a huge theme park being built in China.) I want to give a heartfelt thanks to Tom for allowing me to have some of his photos for use in my projects. This man is one of the greats in theme park concept and design, and I genuinely appreciate the fact that he took the time out of his busy schedule to provide me with his emailed comments and photos. 


                                                            http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniordugan


  I hope you enjoy these rare, never before seen photos from the personal archive of the concept man behind the diving bell project, one of the most beloved, innovative attractions to be enjoyed by the public at Silver Dollar City.  -JUNIOR

[DollarCityBoy]

That was a lot of fun to look at! Thanks so much for posting these.

[betamike]

Thanks for the amazing treasures Junior!  The concept art of the loading area just before you boarded the diving bell is spot on from what I remember as a kid.  I can still hear that cavernous dripping sound and smell the water from the pools.

[mhguy77]

Great pictures.
I remember the year the Diving Bell opened, I was maybe 9 or 10.  At that time my Mom would let my brother and I explore on our own for a few hours at a time at the park ( this was the late 70's)   She always took my little brother into the DB and he would cry and cry thinking the thing was really under water and he was gonna die.......my Mom has since past but I wonder sometimes if she thought it was a little funny and liked to get him all worked up. 
It was a wonderful time at SDC, it was still kind of a smaller place with a more homey feel to it.
Thanks Rube for sharing these pictures, it brings me back to a great time in my childhood.
Keep em coming ....

[Junior]

Glad you all liked the photos...I do have more, and maybe I'll have a chance to dig them out of the file cabinet sometime in the future! In the meantime, we'll all just enjoy this little peek into the past, just before the new season opens with another new attraction for kids, the Half Dollar Holler!

[sanddunerider]

As always, great info and pictures! thanks!