Great Adventure Original Proposal- The Enchanted Forest




 Go To The Official Six Flags Great Adventure Website For Current Park Information

Go to the Dream Street Proposal Page Go to the Neptune's Kingdom Proposal Page

The following is the original proposal and concept artwork for Great Adventure which was presented to potential investors in the park.   The plans were quite ambitious, and were never fully realized, though some of the earliest concepts appeared in the park in slightly different form when it finally opened in 1974.   The text is verbatim from the original typewritten proposal and is worded and punctuated exactly as it was originally written. 

These images are from the collection of Harry Applegate, and I thank him for sharing them with me.   

THE AREAS

I.          THE ENCHANTED FOREST

Outside Rides (a sampling)

1.    The Flume – a water roller coaster.   A log ride in swirling, churning waters through the forest, past Fantasies, cascading down hills.

2.    The Runaway Train – a high speed roller coaster through the forest into tunnels, past the Land of the Dwarfs, The Cave of the Goblins, The House of the Trolls, through fire, water, fog, into the mouth of The Dragon, and back to sunshine and safety.

3.    The Flying Saucer – a gravity defying saucer, spinning and rising to a 70 degree angle, bringing on the appearance of Martians and other space travelers.

4.    The Land of Peter Pan – a ride through space at the ends of a giant pole with Peter, Wendy and the pirates.

          5.    Spinning Sombreros – sit in a sombrero and spin through the forest.

6.    The Dumbo Ferris Wheel – a 14-story high Ferris wheel.   A ride with Dumbo and his friends into the sky.

7.    The Grand Prix – drive your own racing go-cart through a thrilling grand prix auto circuit.

 8.    The Bumper – drive yourself; bump into everyone.

9.    The Totem Pole – ride wild mustangs into the sky around a 6-story high totem pole.

Dark Rides – these are rides which take place, for the most part, inside (a sampling)

1.    The Transylvania Haunted Castle – a ride through the rooms and chambers of an enormous haunted castle with ghosts, goblins, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Monkeys of Oz, Witches, Sorcerers, Leprechauns, and all manner of fantastic apparitions. 

2.    Man, Time and Space – the creation of the world, the evolution of man, and on to the outer limits of the universe – stars, planets, reflections, lasers, sound waves – an incredible trip into space.

3.    Keystone Cops – a mile-a-minute chase through the streets of New York, into buildings, through walls, crashing, smashing turning, laughing, falling, jumping with the Keystone Cops.

4.    The Land of Oz – a ride into the Emerald City , using magic and a score of new film techniques.  

5.    The Arabian Knights – a beautiful trip into the land of genies, harems, treasure caves and jeweled cities.

6.    Down the Wishing Well – a ride with Alice into the Wonderland and the Mad Hatter’s tea party, the castle of the Queen of Hearts, the forest of the Cheshire cat and a party with Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Pigs and others.

Other Attractions

1.    Arcade – all manner of marvelous games.

2.    Walk-In Clock – a huge clock with a fantastic movement. 

3.    The Cave of the Oracle – through an echo chamber, a gravity defying room, to the Oracle and your fortune. 

4.    A Motion Picture Theatre with a screen 60’ x 80’, showing spectacular and special short films.

5.    Transportation – climb over, around and in trains, boats, airplanes and cars of the past, present and future.   Ride a double decker bus, a stage coach, a horse-drawn carriage, antique cars, fire engines and a steam engine.

Water and Flowers

Besides the extraordinary beauty of the land and the lakes, there will be many fountains, some more than 100’ in diameter, some shooting 500’ into the sky.   Also a profusion of flowering trees, wild flowers and beds of daffodils, anemones, hydrangeas and other magnificent flowers.

Performances

1.    Puppet Show – famous children’s stories such as Madeline, Babar and Pinocchio.

2.    Wild West Saloon – a restaurant and show involving singers, dancers, ropers, trick riders and gun fights.

3.    Crazy Show – a spiral theatre with insanity taking place in the aisles; pie throwing, water fights, vaudeville jokes, pretty girls and all manner of wildness.

4.    Jousts – outside the Transylvanian Castle King Arthur and his Knights fight for their fair ones.

5.    Lakeside Theatre – for bands, beauty parades, fantasy pantomimes, musical shows, and other entertainment.

6.    Fireworks – from a large lake into the sky at night.

7.    Performers – throughout the Enchanted Forest there are many performers dressed in fantasy costumes and costumes of famous fairy tale characters such as: Winnie the Pooh high wire walkers, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs acrobats, Snoopy trampolines, Peter Rabbit pole climbers, Superman strong men, Peter Pan flying troops, and many fantasy and fairy tale characters just walking and talking. 

8.    Musical Groups throughout the Enchanted Forest – steel bands, drum and bugle corps, rock groups, dixie land band, organ grinder, fiddlers and bagpipers.

Restaurants

1.    Revolving – a 150 ft. restaurant turning past water, forest and rides.

2.    The Chinese Junk – serving Chinese food.

3.    The Candy Castle – candy, cookies, cakes, sweets, ice cream and snacks.

4.    Spaghetti – a restaurant made out of spaghetti, serving Italian food.

5.    Tree House – platforms built into the trees serving sandwiches and other snacks.

6.    The Emerald Bridge to the Land of Oz – food served on a bridge across the water.

7.    The Transylvania Banquet Hall – a medieval hall by water’s edge for large banquets and parties.

8.    The Wild West – chuck wagon and barbequed food in a rip-roaring western saloon.

9.    Stands – serving hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, fruit juices, ice cream, pancakes, french fries, cotton candy, popcorn, caramel apples, health foods, shish kebabs, corn on the cob, frozen bananas, doughnuts, pizzas, fruits, coffee, chicken, bagels, snowflakes, tacos, fudge.

  

Click on any thumbnail for the full size pic




Overview of The Enchanted Forest.   This was proposed for the area now occupied by Congo Rapids and Nitro.



Details of The Enchanted Forest.   This area is now occupied by Nitro with the Hammerhead element approximately where the Transylvania Castle is shown.



More detail of The Enchanted Forest and some of its proposed fantastic attractions.



Another detail rendering of The Enchanted Forest featuring The Land of Oz.   Also featured are a couple of attractions which made it into the park like the Conestoga (Chuck) Wagon and the Log Flume.    An interesting note is they picture the flume with an inline dual loading station instead of the turntable platform that the flumes ended up being built with. 




Another detailed view showing a couple of the attractions that actually made it into the park that would eventually be built including the Giant Wheel, Runaway Train and Western Saloon.













Notes:

The Enchanted Forest ended up being one of the two areas of the park actually built, though never to the scale and scope proposed.   The dark rides never came to pass and the rides like the Flume and Runaway Train never had the theme elements added.

The Enchanted Forest which ended up being built was really an amalgam of elements of The Enchanted Forest, Over The Rainbow, Neptune's Kingdom and Dream Street.






Go to the Proposal Overview Page Go to the Neptune's Kingdom Proposal Page