It was the main reason for going. Fantastic coaster...
Big Dipper and the Wild Mouse
I remember riding both of these at Springlake, when I was a kid. The Mouse would snap your neck around quite a bit, you would have a slight bit of whiplash the next day.
Man, that was a long time ago. Went there a couple of times. My Dad had worked there at the park as a hamburger flipper when he was 16. Springlake had the little dipper too, never rode it, went on the Big Dipper with my brother. They also had a plane ride, where you could steer the plane/missle with fins on the front. Does Tulsa still have the Zingo?
Sadly, no. Bell's Amusement Park used to be located on the fairgrounds and the property was leased from the fair board. Like most good things on fairgrounds (ahem- racetracks), the neighbors and the fair board ran them off. A few years ago, the fair board gave Bell's an ultimatum to have their property cleared by a certain date. Bell's was trying to carefully disassemble the rides so they could reconstruct them later at a new location but eventually they ran out of time and had to scramble to clear the property. What's left of the rides are stored in various locations around Tulsa in empty lots, etc. Bell's has tried several times to locate new property and recreate the amusement park and has to a certain degree but only with the smaller kids rides. Maybe someday the Zingo and the Phantasmagoria will live on but at the moment, no.
Where Bell's was is now just a parking lot for the 8,652 horse shows hosted annually on the Tulsa fairgrounds.
I barely remember Springlake.
I remeber riding the Wild Mouse the first time and thinking it was going to run off the track on a 90 turn. I must have been around eight or nine at the time.
I also remember riding an overhead gondola type ride, and getting stuck over the water for what seemed like a long time. At least it was a cool view.
I remeber riding the Wild Mouse the first time and thinking it was going to run off the track on a 90 turn. I must have been around eight or nine at the time.
I also remember riding an overhead gondola type ride, and getting stuck over the water for what seemed like a long time. At least it was a cool view.
This, and gunshows.
That Alpine Skyway ride is where I kissed my first Girl!!! And after Sprinklake shut down, it was moved to the Oklahoma City Zoo and put into operation for awhile.
My mom worked for Fred Jones Ford downtown, and Fred Jones would rent the entire Springlake for a company picnic every year. We had the run of the place. We got into a lot of trouble there, trouble and fun!
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Sure do remember the Big Dipper. Worked there when 15 or 16 also. Next to the Big Dipper I worked what was called The Fun House around 1978 or 1979. That was one wild summer. Sit up in the rafters at the controls pushing buttons releasing air, starting and stopping stuff while people went through The Fun House. One day I was working the ride with sail on it that would allow you to swing out and higher or down lower, one of the cars had the word BROKE written on the sail so I was told not to let any ride in that car. Ill never forget the night it flew off landed over a fence and disappeared, luckily no one was in it. Used to sneak over to the zoo during break and lunch to see some twins that worked there. One day a buddy and I was going to see the twins and the zoo wasn't open yet so we would sneak through some woods and jump the fence, we ran into what we thought was bunch of baby quail and started trying to catch one, then all of a sudden this meanest turkey hen that you ever saw flew in from somewhere and clipped my buddy in the back, acted like the devil, then came at me fighting mad held us off while the little ones got through a fence then flew off to them and was gone. We decided it wasn't worth trying to catch one anymore. Fun Times
Here is an old Springlake vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnfc5aUOjJ0
Thanks for the Video, sure brought back some memories!
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