Tanna

Yes I do. The well-worn Kricfalusi Special

Perusing through Dark ride catalogues in reference to another post, I'm missing the three dimensional artwork of the dark rides from when I grew up. I found myself on the Sally Corp. page, where they still manufacture dark ride figures. They have a neat look, but what about the upkeep? I don't know if Sally did the Phantom Theatre models, but I recognized the running Shaggy from KI. And let's face it, it was a relatively short time for Shaggy to go... well really shaggy. I know it's cheaper to have virtual reality haunted houses now, but if there were to be a dark ride, it would be nice to have some figures to add depth to the dark ride, if the upkeep and repair of the figures were possible.

You are not alone- same here for me. I'm really hopeful 2016 goes better... It will. Sometimes skipping a year gives a new, fresh outlook to the park.

Total for me= Zippo. But I'm glad to see some members took up the my slack.

And there were heads on the walls in room! Haha! Funny what you remember! Way down on the bottom of the picture, on your right, i think that's him. The witch looks familiar, too. I think she had a back cat on her arm. http://www.laffinthedark.com/articles/adc/adcb8.htm I think the strobe was to cover up the bad artwork!

Thank you. It's not awesome, it's called 'being old'. It would have been a ride through by the time you would've gone through the Wacky House. They refitted it with cars when I was about 8(?) years old. The history of the Haunted House says it was a walk through, but it must've been refitted before my time. I'm 52 years old. When you look at the photo of the Haunted House turnstile rail, I had to reach up to grab the upper rail when I stood in line at the time. Lesourdsville was the "grown ups" park, and only the second amusement park in the area, (Fantasy Farm was right next door). I think the giant rat was right as you entered the ride. And the trick twisted hallway was in it. The Haunted House also had the rolling barrel tunnel, painted with flames. (rolling barrel walkways are funnier if you walk- my mean streak is showing- I used to make my brother walk through the barrel first, he was coordination challenged, and always would tilt towards the turn of the barrel as he crossed, and would sometimes fall down.) They also had a funky hall in the Wacky House because they kept it 2 storie, as I recall. Again, Terp can help if I've misremembered. After looking at some of the videos, I can now see why the Haunted House was difficult to remember- there were strobes throughout the whole thing. I'm talking about both houses at the time, because it's very likely you went through both, and you can see where the memories might blend together. They did for me. Some of the "lights on" tours on YouTube are enlightening as to why there aren't more of these old dark rides. The nail work and rickety woodwork are a modern lawsuit waiting to happen.

As I recall, and Terp can help me remember correctly, I'm sure, this dark ride in Lesourdseville was on the left side as you entered the park, halfway between the entrance and the far side of the left midway. I still can't recall the correct name of the funhouse, but I believe it was "Barrel o' Fun" or "Barrel o' Laffs" It could have been just the stock Bill Tracy "Wacky House" it was located further down the midway, right before you go to the basketball hoop game and the paratroopers. You would've have passed it on your way to the Cyclone. Since the "Barrel o'" house was meant to be a walkthrough, it had a lot of perspective tricks, like a slanted room, an upside down room with a frightened lady in the bed on the ceiling being shocked. It had a walkway with a spinning barrel around it, the twisting hallway, and shaking stairs. It also had the up skirt air blast grid, but by the time I went though it, it was passe, because clothing was casual by that time. I recall waving to my mother on the upper walkway between the tottering barrels, but I can't recall if it was part of the normal walk through, or if I'd been given a tour. We had family friends that worked there, and I saw parts of the park closed off to the public. It's harder to recall all that was in the Haunted House, as I was young. I recall it had bats painted along the wall, and the small cars, which I believe were painted black. You absolutely BANGED into the door as you entered and left the interior of the ride. I know they had the falling beam gag, they had bats strung on wires, and a skeleton that bounced down and then back up as you BANGED through an inner door into another room. There were big spiders, but they were behind a fenced section, I suspect because it was 1970's and there was a destructive streak running through patrons. Come to think of it, a lot of the hallway stuff was behind fencing, and recall there was a woman in distress who was protected by either glass or plastic. At the exit it was painting to look as if you were going to smash into the wall before you took a sharp turn and BANGED into the daylight. In the photo, the long window on the second floor had a woman with long dark hair that opened and closed the windows and laughed. Because the Haunted House and funhouse were supplied with stock gags from the ADA catalog, I had a good time looking at videos under the search of "Bill tracy dark rides" I'm sure that would jar your memory.

I guess I'm not a very particular customer, but I've gotten more than enough waived dinners by managers that decided it took too long for my service, though I didn't notice the time. Maybe it's because I've worked a lot of service jobs in high school? I think because I'm not far away from KI, and just go over for a few hours at a time, I dunno, but I'm not that demanding, I guess. Perhaps I just lose time in the park by looking around and people watching. I've only became angry once in the park, and that was not the fault of the park, but another patron.

http://www.ochh.net/tracylesourdsvillelakepark.html Here's a link to the Haunted House dark ride from LeSourdsville. The was a ride through as long as I can recall, but is listed as a walkthrough. The other dark ride was a Funhouse, (Barrel of Laffs, I think- it had a lot of tottering barrels on the outside )that started as a walk through, then later became a ride through. There use to be a woman opening and closing the upper floor window as she laughed. My brother has the 78 from the park of her laughing. The cars were called Hushpuppies. http://laffinthedark.com/articles/tracy/tracy1.htm This link will have many of the gags that you probably remember.

A food server with a bad attitude makes me not frequent the stand anymore, but if I get a not so perfect batch of fries with a pleasant worker, I usually chalk up the food order to a rushed or off day. I'm not the only person the park, and usually if the food is not a ten, all I need to do is look around me to see how many customers are swarming the stand. A worker has to be ready for rush crowds, but when they hit, it still feels like a locomotive barreling down on you.

I guess it was way back when money meant something. We used to "run away from home" with my sisters' kids to the campground and park when they felt like running away. Surprisingly enough, they didn't grow up spoiled. They do travel a lot though- I guess they are still running away from home in one form or another.

Thank you! I like the brochures! I was So Glad to find out they had a "ladies' hair dryer' in the campground. I didn't have to pack my own. One always goes for the big bouffant 'do while camping. And you know I'm imagining one of those big bubble sit down numbers you see in old movies.

Right ON!!!!! The second paragraph absolutely nails it.I haven't been to the park this year to verify about the employees, but shark6495, the story about Pluto is fantastic. I joined the Twitter feed "Teddy Bear Lost and Found" and always wondered how the Disney always managed to find the stuffed toy a kid lost in the park. That story is just sweet.

I wonder why I'm not bothered by it. Pose silly, go on about my day. The one picture I bought was dandy. I have it on my bookshelf. Except I'll have to look again- I think we have Magenta Lizard's photo idea of the John in the background. In all these years, I've only bought 1 photo. We didn't take our phones into the park that day. They're just kids doing the job they were given, it's not like they are stealing souls, here. I've gotten so used to doing it, it's just part of going through the park like going through a turnstile. I like bkroz's ideas.

Getting the backdrop of the fountains is a good idea. Is the Dino still in front of the fountain? I recall going to KI with a really ditzy cousin, she took her child and three others cousins. And the end the end of the night, there are four wind blown, sweaty, tired, dripping with blue ice cream kids. She wants their picture to remember the day. "Are sure this how you want to remember them? Tired and mussed and gooey?" If she had just stopped for thirty seconds when we arrived, we would have a cute momento of smiling, happy, enthusiastic, clean kids and maybe even a mascot, Another time, I had this awesome evening with that man I married and my cousin Mike. It was an unbelievably great day. And I have a keynote photo to remember it by. It just takes thirty seconds- less time than it takes to whip out your cell phone.

So wait- I always get my picture taken when asked, but if My group were to pose for pictures individually, they will make their quota faster? Would that be allowed? We've always had our pictures taken as a group- just the one photo. Can we take a group, and then individuals, or would that be cheating?

Don't feel bad- I found it once, then promptly lost it. I just figured it fell into a time Vortex.

We went through the kiddy Dino Haunt. It was really cute, and the attendants were really sweet to the kids. I like the Dinos. I like the way they are set up on the landscape, though when I went, there was a critter making an abode inside the back of one. (They also had a maze in Planet Snoopy, where they handed out stuff and candy at every turn.)

I don't carry my phone, but that man I married does. I'm interested in this Coaster Gear. I have thrown possession issues, even if it's someone else's.

Oh! I did not know that! To me The Racers seem so small. I wonder why I thought that.

I think people forget courtesy on Facebook. I'm not suggesting censorship, but common sense helps when you have a wide ranging group.

As late as the early sixties, killer whales were shot as a nuisance. At least with Seaworld, people got attached to them before they got too thinned out.

Somewhere there's a very sad talking tree.

I thought for a second this was Busch Gardens jumping down the Island's throat because they share(d) the exact same attraction with almost the exact same name (Howl-O-Scream's was called Delta Epsilon Delta), but that sorority house is no longer in Tampa. Guess it just boiled down to an actual Delta Delta Delta sorority getting mad and saying, "Hey, stop it", and Kings Island responding with, "Okay." EDIT: Cool to see Busch Gardens with their own take on Knott's Infected attraction where you have laser guns and take down zombies. Its a good idea that they didn't change the name to Scream Queens or they would have the same problem as DDD. Sorority House seems too generic though. How about Sorority House Vampires in honor of Club Blood! Noted that the chick in the neck brace said that the sorority in Scream Queens was founded in Miami U. In Oxford. Nail on head.

The Racer offers such a different ride, I highly doubt they'll remove it. It's so clanky . The Beast, though wooden, has those thick timbers, but The Racer is just wonderful that it's got a relatively small frame, small cars, and even though it's well maintained, it gives the illusion of being rickety. I love the airtime, and I love the false feeling of nearly going off the track. And, as stated before, the line is always steadily full.