Miracle Strip to disappear forever

[jensieblue]

Thank you thank you for acknowledging Miracle Strip and Goofy Golf!!! My memories!!! The Spider (on a cable) hole; the fish you walked through; the breeze on a dark night illuminated so brightly - what else, what else??

The Miracle Strip: the WALK through haunted house with room of a dozen doors and only one way out; the unsettling swinging hallway with blasts of air from below. And the cars you actually "drove" on the "highway" despite the ridge in the middle that I ignored once I knew it was there!!! The bumper cars, log ride and the Abominable (sp?) Snowman finally, where it was so cold.

Does anyone remember more? I would love to remember!!!! Thank you,

unabashedly sentimental on this topic.

What about the Scrambler Ride that was in an enclosed building lit with black lights..so scarry and Bumper Cars A good way to take out your aggression. I just read in an Alabama chatroom, that a place named the Hangout, is open in Gulf Shores...I thought that name should belong to PC

 

[rapunzel]

What about the Scrambler Ride that was in an enclosed building lit with black lights..so scarry and Bumper Cars A good way to take out your aggression. I just read in an Alabama chatroom, that a place named the Hangout, is open in Gulf Shores...I thought that name should belong to PC

The scrambler inside the domed building was the Abominable Snowman...and it was my absolute favorite. Every vacation, my family had a routine -- Tuesday night was for Goofy Golf, Thursday night was Captain Anderson's, and Friday night was Miracle Strip. For me, there were only two things I waited all year for -- my daddy taking me way out passed where the waves break to "ride the waves" which basically meant floating on the cheap air mattress sold at the Y gas station in water too deep for me to touch the bottom. The second -- and best -- was to ride the Abominable Snowman over and over. My sister was a teenager and cute, so it was sometimes possible for her to flirt with the dj (the Snowman was a scrambler in a big concrete igloo that was air conditioned to about 60 degrees, and there were disco lights and they played really loud music inside) and he'd play the songs we requested. I especially remember the one guy who played My Sharona and Devil Went Down to Georgia for us about 10 times each. The Starliner was so much fun -- there's nothing like an old wooden roller coaster. The log ride was so much fun, too. I think the Snowman and the Log Ride were favorites because they cooled you off. There was an old west train ride (it may have been brought over from Petticoat Junction after that place closed) and it must have been functional before Alf Coleman was built, because the bandits came at you somewhere in the vicinity of Shipwreck Island, and the old ghost town still stands at the Raccoon River Campground.

Gosh, I miss the Miracle Strip. What a loss.

 

[kitlit]

The swings were always my favorite. I could ride those things all night! I loved the wind in my hair, and the breeze, and seeing all the lights along the strip as the cars drove (crept) by...

I also loved the Snowman, and Dante's Inferno, but they didn't love me... :sick:

So many great memories! Actually, the first time Swafia ever kissed me was at Miracle Strip, when we were 16.

 

[rapunzel]

The swings were always my favorite. I could ride those things all night! I loved the wind in my hair, and the breeze, and seeing all the lights along the strip as the cars drove (crept) by...

I also loved the Snowman, and Dante's Inferno, but they didn't love me... :sick:

So many great memories! Actually, the first time Swafia ever kissed me was at Miracle Strip, when we were 16.

Dante's Inferno was the spider in a dome, right?

 

[kitlit]

Dante's Inferno was the spider in a dome, right?

IIRC, the spiders were up toward the front, near the Snowman, and Dante's was back in the corner, next to the Music Express (that one was funn, too!)

A lot like the Snowman, it was a scrambler, and it may have had some spiderweb decorations, but it was the one with the giant devil's head; you walked through the mouth (complete with fangs, and a tongue-shaped ramp) to get inside the dome.

 

[Desso]

I never thought I would see such heart-warming nostalgia expressed over the loss of Miracle Strip Amusement Park. With so much anti-PCB rhetoric, it is refreshing to know so many people enjoyed, like myself, the old park so much. The Music Express, Dante's Inferno. The Toboggan, The Hammer, and The Abominable Snowman were all favorites growing up. The rattle-trap Starliner coaster had to be the best though. It was a big deal to work there in the summer when I was a kid. Didn't pay much, but you were really something on the block, and you got a summer pass to go as often as you liked. I made more "renting" the armband out than the wages (less than $3.00 an hour). I used to have to hose off the Paratrooper ride after the guest loss their lunch or dinner among other character building resposibilities. I've got pictures of us in the Sky-Tram I'll try to find. Panama City Beach was great for kids in those days, unfortunately now the smoke, knife, t-shirt, and adult toy shops wedged between high-rise condos just aren't as appealing. Does anyone remember the genie that sat in front of the Wild West Town? You hadn't been to PCB until you climbed the stairs and sat in his hand for a picture.

 

[Desso]

We always tried to figure out where we would land if the swing broke. And the name of the spider outside the domes was Momo.

 

[ShallowsNole]

The swings were a teenage favorite. We would load up with several pairs of cheap flip-flops and kick them off at the "height" of the ride to see if we could hit anyone out on the strip. Only once were we ever asked to stop..

 

[Hop]

one of my little best friends threw up on me inside the bullet....

 

[2bohemians]

Wonder how many times us SoWal peeps have been on the rides together ... way back then .... and didn't even know it?