David King, Sales and Marketing Manger was kind enough to take me up to the park for a tour.

For those unfamiliar with Ghost Town in the Sky, the park first opened its doors in June 1961 as one of the first theme parks in North Carolina (preceding Carowinds by 12 years).  Ghost Town is a Wild West-themed park where adventure waits around every corner.

The park operated from 1961 until 2002 when it closed and new owners were sought. 

The park is located on top of Buck Mountain in Maggie Valley, with only one access road.  The road was an adventure in itself as it is the steepest state-maintained road in North Carolina!

For the first few months of the park’s reopening, guests will take the chair lift or incline railway to the top of the mountain.  At some point in the future, shuttle service will start again via the access road.

The incline railway features inclines that vary from 30 degrees up to 77 degrees (steeper than most of the roller coasters in the world today!).

The chair lift is the second longest in the United States and moves at 310 feet-per-minute along its 3,370 feet length.

As the chair lift and incline were both still under construction, David King and I made our way to the top of Buck Mountain via the access road to begin the tour.

If you were to take the chairlift or incline railroad, the first thing you would see as  you reached the summit is the Cliff Hanger roller coaster (formerly the Red Devil) on your left.

Cliff Hanger has shed its famous red and white color scheme for yellow track and supports, red trains and a blue station.  In the photos you may see track that is white, but this was because they were still in the process of painting the coaster when I visited.

The entire ride has been sandblasted and every inch of it checked to ensure safety.  The coaster practically looks brand new.

To the right of the coaster’s vertical loop is a new restaurant that will feature pristine mountain views as well as great vantage points of the coaster.

Cliff Hanger is one of the most unique steel coasters in the world.  Instead of leaving the station and ascending a lift hill, you take a right-hand turn out of the station and immediately drop and fly up into a vertical loop.  The ride does have a lift hill, but it’s actually at the end of the ride. 

The whole section of the park (renamed Heritage Town Square) around Cliff Hanger, like the rest of Ghost Town is getting a major face-lift around every corner.  The park’s owners are also looking into the possibility of keeping the Heritage Town Square level opened year-round.

On up the mountain you come to the “town” of Ghost Town.  The park has done an amazing job restoring the 40 replica buildings that make up the 1880-themed western town.  We strolled through the town and you could just feel the nostalgia of the place.  I could just imagine Gary Cooper coming out of the Silver Dollar Saloon and a gunfight ensuing. 

The town features the formerly mentioned Silver Dollar Saloon, which will feature daily can-can shows, a replica school, a church (that will hold services on Sundays), a jail, as well as a saloon and various shops.

Besides the obvious upgrading of the shops, King stated that the infrastructure in the shops (most notably the number of electrical outlets) was far below today’s standards.  Each shop only had two outlets!  The park has done an excellent job getting all of the buildings up to code and at the same time making them safer than ever.

Encircling the town is a small railroad that will also reopen with the park.  Just be on the lookout for robbers.  Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Located next to the town is another rides area, that will feature the park’s kiddie coaster, a new drop tower, a Chance Yo-Yo swing ride called the Gunslinger as well as several rides.  The Sea Dragon pirate ship will not return in 2007, but should be back operational in the near future.

The park also had at one time an indoor scrambler.  The ride will now operate outside in a new location. 

Some people might remember that there was a large sink hole at the park several years ago due to a storm that had washed out part of the pavement.  The park has rebuilt this section now with a huge retaining wall that should keep things from sliding away again.

Overall I was very impressed with the park’s new owner’s commitment to restoration of the park and putting quality and safety first in everything they have done.  So many people would have just come in and basically reopened the park as-is, but Ghost Town is getting a quality overhaul in every way.

The park has also already been a huge boost to the local economy with nearly 100 people employed for the construction and refurbishment of the park.  When operational, the park will employ 300 seasonal employees.

With so many small parks in America and around the world going under these days, it appears that Ghost Town in the Sky is going to buck the trend.  The future seems bright for this park that was once in limbo.

The park will reopen May 25 and R.B. Coburn, founder and former owner of Ghost Town has stated that he hopes to be at the park’s grand re-opening.

My personal thanks to David King for taking time out of his busy day to show me around Ghost Town.

For even more photos, visit my photo album.

For more information on Ghost Town in the Sky visit their official site: www.ghosttowninthesky.com.