Look What I Found in a Roller Coaster Book

Another post about a book??? When I was a kid I used to love the small selection of children's books about amusement parks in our library. I probably checked out each of them a dozen times. So, the other day when I was cruising the kiddie section of the library looking for books for my son I decided to see what they had to offer on the subject of amusement parks. I picked up this little gem called ROLLER COASTERS by Gil Chandler (Capstone Press, 1995) It's the kind of book I would have eaten up as a kid, tracing the history of roller coasters all the way up to the most modern of thrill machines. It's chock full of pictures of some of the greatest roller coasters ever built like THE CYCLONE in Coney Island and Kennywood's STEEL PHANTOM.
So I'm leafing through the book and I come across a write-up on Kings Dominion's AVALANCHE. And what ride used to be the AVALANCE's next-door neighbor, boys and girls? That's right...SMURF MOUNTAIN! Check out this picture which the lift chain to the AVALANCE on the left and the exterior of the SMURF MOUNTAIN side of the mountain pre-Volcano. The red roofed shack in the lower middle of the picture was a large queue area where the line snaked back and forth over ten times. (I remember only having to wait in line in this section the first season the ride was open, after that year you could always just walk right on the ride.) The red roof to the right was the loading station. The train proceeded out of the station towards the AVALANCE and entered the mountain through the opening you can see slightly above the queue area. The lighter colored roof infront of the SMURF loading station was the loading station for THE HAUNTER RIVER, another dark ride housed in the mountain. Always happy to share some Smurf Mountain information whenever I find it!

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