Memories

1980. As a tribute, Eddie added DEL, a fun alter ego of Knott’s Park Decorator Del Langdale (who loved pigs.)

So many of you have expressed your warm memories of the ride over the years, and that means a lot. Why? Ironically, on opening day back in 1980, I sat on a bench with my wife and broke down because I was so disappointed in it. I expected so much, and so many things either did not work as expected, were left out, or just did not live up to what I had imagined. I felt like those “all-nighters” before opening were a waste. Deena, my wife sat there in disbelief in front of the Calico Saloon. She just could not understand this breakdown as she had accommodated all of my obsessive behavior through this period and expected me to be thrilled at the opening.

I had tasted the downside of “perfectionism” and being too emotionally close to a project, expecting it to be something I could control like a model train set. I recall passionately insisting on my way to Marion Knott, saying “This is MY baby!” to which she insisted “NO IT’S NOT!” and proceeded to remind me as to who’s park it was. Thought I was going to be fired. A hard lesson, but glad it happened early on. We do our best to deliver on what we imagine will move the audience, but at times we focus too much on the things that didn’t match our intent or expectations and judge the product as we imagined it, not as the guest will experience it. We forget that the audience only sees what we DO deliver, not what’s missing, and thankfully in this case it was enough. Being too close to the details that were slipping away, I had missed the bigger picture, the ride itself was FUN and addictive. The huge kid appeal of that competitive ride system wrapped in “wacky” quirkiness of “the show”, made an unexpected hit and very repeatable.

It’s gratifying to hear from all of you. Would love to hear your comments and memories. Please post!