Ghost Town in Sky, North Carolina to reopen

[westcoaster]

I had been to the Ghost Town when I was a kid love it! The chair lift there working on is definitely the steepest in the nation(its Incredible for sure!!) The whole park has a great feeling to it. If anyone gets a chance read the article below and Comment on the park , Especially if you've been there!

MAGGIE VALLEY  Five years of neglect has taken its toll on Maggie Valley’s famous mountaintop amusement park.

Cables that used to lift visitors more than 1,000 feet from the parking lot to the park are worn out and must be replaced. Concession buildings are dilapidated, roofs worn out from exposure to the elements. Many rides appear beat up: paint pealed off, machinery dead, some beyond repair.

But Ghost Town’s management and many neighboring businesses are hopeful. As crews work to resurrect the park’s worn-out equipment, local motel owners are already receiving reservations from tourists planning summer trips to the park.

“The park has a tremendous reputation,†said Bob Cordier, Ghost Town’s general manager.

“I have people call me all the time, saying, ‘I came in the ’60s, I brought my kids in the ’80s, I want to bring my grandkids in the two thousands,†he said. Cordier estimates he has received 30 calls like this since the owners announced Ghost Town’s reopening.

Rapid renovations

Ghost Town closed in 2002 after 40 years of attracting up to 300,000 visitors a year. An investment firm announced plans last summer to reopen the Western-themed park in May, stirring excitement among many Maggie Valley business owners who depend on tourism to thrive.

Cordier said the owners are enacting an ambitious plan to finish renovations early so employees have ample time for training. That gives workers around three months to resurrect a park that looks like a real ghost town.

By May 25, the wiring installed in the 1960s throughout the park will be totally replaced, and sections of sunken pavement on the 4,000-foot mountaintop must be reinforced and repaved. Two new rides will be installed  a 100-foot Drop Tower and a family-friendly roller coaster  to replace a few old rides that were sent to the scrap yard.

To make sure the park’s ski lift is in perfect working order, Cordier said they brought in the foremost incline expert in the world. He said the Ghost Town lift is the steepest in the nation, ascending at a 77-degree angle in sections, and also a very popular part of the amusement park experience.

Cordier said the mild winter so far has been a stroke of good fortune for the renovations, as workers must be shuttled to the job site via a two-mile service road that winds back and forth up the mountain.

To encourage the crews toward their final goal, Cordier circulates memos around the job with quotations from the many people who have expressed excitement about the park’s reopening.

“We’ve got what I feel are huge expectations to live up to,†he said.

Marketing nostalgia

Ticket sales have been moderate so far, Cordier said. But, he expects business to pick up once they begin unrolling an aggressive marketing campaign.

The park recently hired David King, formerly of the Asheville Tourists baseball team, as director of marketing.

King said his first priority is to tap into people’s fond memories of Ghost Town to inspire return visits.

“Come relive the history’ is what we’re going to play off of,†King said.

He is in the process of developing an educational package for local schools that he says will combine the fun of the amusement park with the history of its Wild West theme.

King said they also will target youth groups and tour groups.

In former days, King said Ghost Town did little in the way of actual marketing. Since he took the job, he said the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses have been extremely helpful, providing contacts and tips to get the ball rolling.

Ghost Town fever

Business owners in the valley are also busy preparing for the Ghost Town revival.

The Maggie Valley Area Visitors Bureau has received many calls in recent months from people interested in buying property or businesses in the valley, according to the bureau’s director, Lynn Collins.

Waynesville contractor Rob Poulin said he actually had to turn down a job at Ghost Town because he was too busy with jobs in Maggie Valley helping prepare for the park’s reopening.

“They had called me to look at some work up there … (but) everybody wants to open for May so I couldn’t even go up to Ghost Town and do some work,†Poulin said.

When he finished building a rental home in the valley, the owner bought an adjacent lot and hired him to build another home, Poulin said.

He said he has done renovation jobs for a number of local hotels, too.

The Stoney Creek Motel is already receiving reservations from people planning trips to the park, said Mandy Hartline, the motel’s owner.

“People are already getting the Ghost Town fever,†she said.

Hartline said her business and many others in Maggie Valley are depending on Ghost Town’s success.

“It’s either that or we will be a ghost town.â€Â