#Calico mine ride series

Throughout the warehouse, an army of life-size animatronic figures stood in varying states of completeness - including headless 'Terminator'-like steel skeletons, gun-metal grey fiberglass bodies and fully dressed characters with realistic silicone faces and hands. During a recent visit to Garner Holt Productions in an unassuming low-slung warehouse complex in a quiet industrial park, I watched as workers tested the movements of animatronic forty-niners that will soon populate the Calico Mine Ride. Photos: Inside Garner Holt Productions | Profile: The man behind the magic About 60 engineers, mechanics and artisans at the San Bernardino-based scenic shop have been busy since September building animatronic miners, dynamiters, gold diggers and donkeys for the classic mine ride which is set to reopen this summer. The delicate balance of modernizing and preserving the Calico Mine Ride falls to Garner Holt Productions, which has outfitted dark rides at Disney and Universal theme parks as the world's largest designer and manufacturer of animatronics.

#Calico mine ride series

After a slow climb up a series of narrow passageways, the dark and spooky ride passes underground waterfalls, mysterious glowing caverns and dangerous cave-ins while making several passes along the edge of the 65-foot-tall gold mining glory hole, the centerpiece of the attraction. Built for $1 million in 1960, the Calico Mine Ride at Knott's carried riders by ore car into the dimly lit tunnels of an 1880s gold mining operation. While the Disneyland attraction closed in the 1970s, the Knott's ride has endured despite changing consumer tastes and a heavy toll on the attraction that caused some animatronics to grow static and stiff. Timber Mountain Log Ride renovation: Preview | Review | Photos The Knott's mine ride - along with the similarly themed Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland that debuted the same year at Disneyland - were among the first immersive themed rides featuring elaborate show elements and animated characters.

Legendary ride designer Wendell 'Bud' Hurlbut - who conceived, built and operated the Calico Mine Ride along with the 1969 Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's - was one of the first creators of theme parks in the United States. Photos: Calico Mine Ride at Knott's Berry Farm After transporting more than a million riders a year over the past half century, the 1960 Calico Mine Ride at the Buena Park theme park is undergoing a complete overhaul that will see the addition of nearly 50 animatronic figures as well as technical and structural upgrades to the seven-story manmade mountain. A long-overdue renovation of the Calico Mine Ride will introduce state-of-the-art technology to the first major Knott's Berry Farm attraction while preserving the groundbreaking work of a legendary theme park innovator.