Return to Smurf Mountain

My love for the old Kings Dominion attraction Smurf Mountain has been fueled over the years by the fact that very little about the ride can be found on the internet. This has added a certain level of mystery to my nostalgic memories of the great ride. My quest for knowledge about Smurf Mountain increased when I was going through a box of old travel brochure and came across KD's 1984 brochure. The small publication has not one mention of Smurf Mountain! When you open the brochure the Smurfs are there to greet you...but then nothing at all is said about the new ride. There is this generic announcement that the Smurfs are coming, but the words "Smurf" and "Mountain" do not appear together anywhere in the handout! There's even a picture of 1984's other new ride: The Berserker, claiming it to be the "thrill-of-the-year".

Inside the brochure is a collage of pictures from the park, including a picture of Vanity Smurf which happens to be the largest picture in the layout! Take that Berserker! Under Vanity you can see Rhinos from the also-gone Lion Country Safari Monorail ride. The splash down photo on the far right is the finale of The Haunted River, Smurf Mountain's next door neighbor. There's a picture of the interior of the ride next to it, with pirate skeletons sitting at a table. (Scary!) The roller coaster to the far right with the red train running is the King Cobra.

The text of this brochure also features this plug for their food line-up: "Now wouldn't you like a sub or fried chicken? A salad, a taco or sweet treat for lickin'?" Indeed I would Kings Dominion...indeed I would!