They say a picture's worth a thousand words. Well these rare shots
of Towers Street just go to prove the point. For more information on
any feature of the images click for a closer look.
I remember when there
were fields as far as the eye could see...
This amazing aerial
photo from the 50s shows the entire North side of the park just
after it opened to the public. The same picture today would show
Forbidden Valley and the Hotels in the distance with Mutiny Bay,
Towers Street and the Farm where the nearer open fields lie.
Looking towards the lakes you can see
some of the early park attractions, the sea lion pool and lakeside
bandstand (today behind fences opposite Spinball).
Also notice the cars parked on the
fields where Towers Street now exists.
Beyond the trees today you'd be able
to see Forbidden Valley and the Hotels. Where the trees end is
Gloomy Wood and in front the Rapids and Flume.
A closer look at the Rapids and
Katanga Canyon site. Some of the road running through the bottom
of the picture still exists in the maintenance road into Mutiny
Bay
And Mutiny Bay itself with the Flume
site beyond. The courtyard buildings seen here are still in the
park today.
The road running from left to right
through this picture is today Towers Street. The trees towards the
bottom of the picture are where the entrance gates now stand.
And above the trees here is the site
of the Farmyard.
Finally an image of an area which has
changed surprisingly little since the 50s. The road leading up the
left-hand side of the image is the entrance road to the park that
still exists today, Looking closely you can see the gates in the
same location they are today.
A rare look at Towers Street under construction from
above in 1986. Whilst the main attraction here is the construction
itself, the picture also gives us several other interesting insights
into the park of the late 80s.
A look at the freshly installed Grand
Canyon Rapids at the end of their first season in the park.
A next door The Flume. Notice the
white framework station with no roof.
A look over Aqualand (Mutiny Bay)
featuring the Octopus and Cine360 (which would become the 3D
Cinema) on the site now occupied by Sharkbait Reef.
In the lower right hand corner you can
see the coloured canopy of the Crown Carousel and the white Cable
Car station. Both of these would be removed at the end of the 86
season to make way for the Tea Cups.
The other end of Aqualand. The
Mississippi Showboat sits in the top right hand corner, where the
Sales and Info kiosk sits today.
In the courtyard you can see the
outdoor tables of the Pizza Place restaurant (today the Courtyard
Tavern) and at the bottom of the picture are the buildings which
housed the Aquarium and Shell Shop.
The grey circle
marks the spot where the Big Top once resided before it was moved
to the site of the modern Ice Arena. It looks to have been removed
for winter maintenance.
Everything in this
picture has since become backstage areas, today housing the
maintenance and Skyride storage facilities. The trees at the top
of the picture mark the current border of Mutiny Bay.
Alongside the Towers Street
Construction can be seen the park's entrance gates and tower,
which had been built the previous season. Not the space already in
place for the Monorail to run along the entry gates.
The trees on either side of the
entrance are the same one highlighted in the
picture above.
At the foot of Towers Street sits the
Sea Lion Pool as already seen in the picture above.
And finally another shot of the site
which would just three years late be the site of the Farmyard.
