Shane's Amusement Attic

[montezooma"Can I get clamshells out of this ATM?"]

What I do wonder is that if this coaster had come into reality, what reliability would have been like (being, the elevator system). I'm no expert/engineer but I can almost see that being a first of its kind and lifting that much train up quite a distance, I can almost forsee a lot of down time...no pun intended

Of course with all prototype systems there are going to be problems to work out but all in all this really wasn’t any new sophisticated system, nothing more than a transfer track that moved vertically rather than horizontally.

[Six Flags EnthuseastDoesn't know how to spell "Enthusiast."]

Those were very interesting concept drawings and theme ideas! It's too bad that it wasn't approved to be built.

I think the Aftershock theme would've been the best for that ride in that area, and the idea of the 'evacuation vehicle' being knocked back down to the ground was creative. I wonder what other themes would've worked with that ride, and what other parks would've considered using this ride if it was successful...

[David HDonkeys are my way of life!]

Burning question: Was "Stealth" ever really intended to have a "Mission: Impossible" theme, as has long been rumored?

It was discussed for Stealth to be a Mission Impossible theme. As a matter of fact "Stealth" was the name given to the project while negotiating was done to get the license. Tom Cruise is a major partner in that franchise and he is the one that killed the deal not Paramount.

So it WAS Cruise all along... what a party-pooper. An M:I theme would have been SO GOOD for that attraction.

I blame Scientology. ALL HAIL XENU!!!!!!

Maybe they should have inserted Xenu into the Mission Impossible theming somehow to get it approved?

What's amazing to me is how much the Scientologists still deny Xenu and all of the sci-fi stuff that scientology is based on.

[montezooma"Can I get clamshells out of this ATM?"]

That looks like it would have been an impressive ride. I'm still curious about what size the train would have been if it was an elevator style lift. It just seems like it could have been enormously heavy and seems like the elevator could be slow to cycle.

How many ride concepts get developed to this extent and then shelved? Is this fairly common or quite rare?

The train was a typical Morgan Hyper Coaster train and like I said before this really was nothing more than a vertical transfer track and was used to save the space that a typical 200’ tall hyper coaster uses.

[montezooma"Can I get clamshells out of this ATM?"]

Shane,

Based on your experience how often did the city of Santa Clara kill projects like this and provide roadblocks versus a lack of "want" (for lack of a better word) from Paramount to invest in big attractions the park?

The hyper coaster was first proposed to the city and was shot down because it was too close to the property line. This is the coaster that was originally designed from Morgan and shown in the plans. After it was shot down the coaster was moved further from the property line, right on the midway of County Fair and within the Demon…it was shot down again and from their the project just lost steam.

[giscoStarbucks Enthusiast]

It's a bummer the city kept shootting down the ideas.

[montezooma"Can I get clamshells out of this ATM?"]

Gold Springs Country

Season 5 seems to be turning out the "season that never was". Here is another exclusive to Shane's Amusement Attic: Gold Springs Country.

San Diego once was a hot bed of theme park activity. Too bad none of them ever came to reality. It seems this area surely could have supported a major theme park. Perhaps the stars were never in alignment for this beautiful city to have a park...but I would guess it had more to do with money than stars.

A few years after AeroWorld closed up shop another park came into play further east of Downtown on an Indian Reservation that is now know as Viejas. This park paled in comparison to the uniqueness of AeroWorld. Its themed lands were pretty much "off the shelf" themed lands...the typical western land, adventure land, storybook land and future land...yawn. However Landmark did a beautiful job in disguising those simple ideas into some pretty cool looking themed areas. I particularly like the idea for their water park based on surf songs (maybe this figured into conception of Cowabunga Bay...maybe not).

Gold Springs Country was more than just a theme park it was a entertainment destination which included a shopping and dinning complex, waterpark and major amphitheater. It would have been a great addition to the area and with the giant success the Indians have seen with Viejas I am sure this park would have been a hit.

Although the park never became to exist, one great thing came out of it. I was invited to a investor meeting for the park where I met one of the park designers who worked for Landmark at the time. His name was Anthony. Anthony later became the VP of design for Paramount Parks. He remembered meeting me at this meeting and thought I would be a great addition to the Paramount team. He offered me a job as the creative director for Carowinds...and the rest is history.

[MechanicCan you see the donkey in my toast?]

Wow, that looks like it would have been awesome and could have rivaled Disneyland.

[chadsterThe Pony Express can't find my teepee]

Shane, I don't know where you hide all this stuff (your attic, I know) but this season has been epic. I can see your point of all the "lands" and I was glad to see they actually put a little thought into it.

A few things stood out: 1. Calico Mine - Was that going to be a knock off of the one at Knotts? 2. Beach Boys' - I assume since they were using their name and song titles in the water park attractions that either they had an IP or investment deal? 3. Holy Water Batman! I don't know much about SD, but that park looked like it was going to be a water hog, and by today's standards, that would likely be a no no in California. Was the land it was to be situated on already have a lake or was it to be man made?

Thanks again!

[SoCalCoastersYoung and Stupid! I blame my parents.]

Very interesting...it almost seems as if they took the best qualities of classic Knotts and mixed them with the best of Disney!

This park could have very well rivaled Disney had it been built...the level of detail and theming on this park looks astounding.

Was there any kind of an estimate as to how many people this would have drawn in?