Farewell Bell's and Zingo....

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by RLitterell

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

Sad to hear about the Himalaya needing to be forwards only. Did bells operate it at full speed in reverse?

I always wanted an ex-himalaya operator to be my airline pilot..

"this is your captain speaking... do you wanna go FASTER?"

And fly the plane backwards []
Is the old steam locomotive still at (What used to be) Bells?

The Dierck's Forrest is still there.  I'm pretty sure it belongs to the fairgrounds and won't be leaving with Bell's since it's not inside the Bell's compound.  We inspected it a year or so back (I'm in the pressure vessel business).  Someone had the idea they were going to get it running again.  As has happened every other time a railroad preservationist has called us on that locomotive, the calls have stopped after they hear the cost to make it operable again.

Teddy Jack- thanks for the operator's view on the Himilaya.  Don't think I'd care to be a jumper.

[Rowdy]

Am I going crazy or was there a lengthy post on the Himalaya?

[Conan71]

Yeah there was, TJ must have deleted it.  Seems to happen frequently to his posts.  All made sense to me.  Maybe he took it down for an edit.

[sgrizzle]

There was, Teddy Jack Eddy posted it and accidentally deleted it (he said so above)

[Rowdy]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

There was, Teddy Jack Eddy posted it and accidentally deleted it (he said so above)

Well, that was weird because I read the entire post and then read where he said it got deleted and it was too long to repeat.  Yet it was still there.  Regardless, it was a great post.

[AMP]

http://www.kotv.com/news/topstory/?id=126201

[Johnboy976]

Wow!! I didn't know the flume had that much history. Originally it was a double log flume ride at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.

[AMP]

This Amusement Park was opened in 1898.

"$60 million expansion plan...a collection of 22 municipal governments, has announced that it is working with Kennywood on its expansion plan."

Kennywood is one of two amusement parks listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the other being Rye Playland Park. It is also one of the few amusement parks that still allow guests to bring their own picnic lunch into the park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennywood

[Rowdy]

I don't feel sorry for them one bit.  They let that place fall apart.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by teddy jack eddy

I can understand the disappointment of Tulsans with the closing of Bell's Amusement Park.  We all had fun there growing up.

What I can't understand is people feeling sorry for the Bell family.  They refused to open their books to the Fair Board, and that's all they had to do to stay on the fairgrounds.  

No one twisted their arms.  If they had just opened their books for inspection, they'd be open for business today.  The Bell family made the decision to keep their books closed, and they knew what the consequences would be.

Since the taxpayers are their "partners" (through the Fair Board) we taxpayers had a right to know what was going on with the "books" if the Bell family expected to keep renting publicly-owned property.

I know the Fair Board was looking out for the best financial interest of the taxpayers.  No way I'd want to subsidize a privately-owned business, just because it's been located on public property for 50 years.  Longevity of a business doesn't entitle it to public subsidies.

I'd like to ask Robby Bell and the rest of the Bell family to stop appearing on television.  I'm tired of their complaining.  

The choice to move the park (or not) was theirs.  They chose to move.

There was never a statement saying "open your books and you can stay around" nor should they be required to. The place I pay my mortgage to doesn't get to see my bank statements.

The county decided that Bells was more of a liability than an asset, everything after that was fluff.

[mr.jaynes]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Phantasmagoria is sort of like Star Wars.  First time, the effects are almost over-whelming and startling.  Then over the years you see the improvements in other productions and they are, well, pretty under-whelming.

That bus startled the crap out of me first time I saw it.  As I remember, it wasn't part of the ride originally but added a few years later, wasn't it?

Phantasmagoria left me completely underwhelmed as a kid, as a teen even. I did like the Wildcat and the Zingo; I loved the Himalaya and the Super Round-Up. Does anyone remember that ride they had near the Log Ride, called Der Wellenflug? It was a bunch of swings that went round and round and up and down? I loved that ride.

[AMP]

Interesting how many Cities around have INVESTED money into their Fairgrounds and Attractions while Tulsa seems to want to close and tear down most of what took years and millions of dollars in time energy and effort to build.  Expo may have a few new structures, but the majority of them stand empty most weekends due to overpriced rent and high   requirements.  

Structures torn down in Tulsa seem to be replaced by some funky corporate structure, grazing cattle or worse yet a parking lot with little or no aesthetic appeal.  Oh, forgot the parking lot tree requirement.  Perhaps some asthetic appeal.  LOL

[mr.jaynes]

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Interesting how many Cities around have INVESTED money into their Fairgrounds and Attractions while Tulsa seems to want to close and tear down most of what took years and millions of dollars in time energy and effort to build.  Expo may have a few new structures, but the majority of them stand empty most weekends due to overpriced rent and high   requirements.  

Structures torn down in Tulsa seem to be replaced by some funky corporate structure, grazing cattle or worse yet a parking lot with little or no aesthetic appeal.  Oh, forgot the parking lot tree requirement.  Perhaps some asthetic appeal.  LOL

But whatever you do, do not tear down the Fairgrounds Pavillion. Not only is it a classic piece of Art Deco, but I dare say that many fun memories were birthes there, not just for a young Mr. Jaynes, but for so many.

[Rowdy]

Yeah who can forget Budweiser Girls and vomiting Funnelcake?

[AMP]

Ah the Pavillion, quite a place for indoor racing indeed before they removed the nice smooth curved walls below the stands.

Indoor Midget Races and Motorcycle Races on Coke Syrup.  Once I used VHT Track Bite cut with methanol sprayed on the polished concrete when we ran the bikes and quads in there.  Quarter Midgets got some super bite on that track.  There is a photo I saw of Curley Sutton in the early 1960s racing his Matchless G-50 indoors at the Pavillion.  

Pavillion hosted a few Monster Truck Mud Bogs and Charlie Orr jumped over a running helicopter during one of those shows.   Tractor Pulls also indors.  Wonder what the dB meter read when they fired up those two Blown Injected 500 Cu In engines burning methanol in there. LOL

Those were the grand old days!