Monster MAKEOVER

Twenty-eight years ago, Six Flags Over Georgia theme park came to ride designer Gary Goddard with 25,000 square feet in a dark building with a stream running through it. Goddard’s team took the hull of what had been the Tales of the Okefenokee ride and remade it into Monster Plantation, today one of the park’s oldest attractions.

This year, park management returned to Goddard with the same 25,000 square feet and curling river, plus nearly three decades of nostalgia. They had a request: Help us update it, but don’t ruin the memory.

The result? A new attraction called Monster Mansion, which is scheduled to open its doors in May. Goddard’s designers plan a brighter, fresher, dusted-off version of the five-minute boat ride. They’re holding on to the classic parts —- yes, the catchy, kid-sung monster tune will continue to play —- but it’s getting a makeover intended to last.

“It will be memory,” Goddard says, “times 10.”

Here’s how they built the monsters and their picnic, then and now.

Creation

Then: Six Flags guided riders through Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus stories starting in 1967, but dismantled the Okefenokee swamp ride in 1980. It wanted a new ride for kids, families and maybe even finicky teens.

The monster theme was born in the imagination of Al Bertino, a longtime Disney animator and Imagineer. When his young granddaughter pretended to be a monster, he realized they could be playful, scary and familiar to all.

Former Disney ridemakers designed and built the project; it was Goddard’s company’s first big project. They did it during a whirlwind nine months for about $3 million, and opened it in 1981.

Now: Goddard says there was talk at Six Flags of demolishing the Plantation to install a new ride, but that move might have crushed fans who rode it as enchanted children, love-struck teens and eventually as parents looking for nostalgia —- and air conditioning. “This is part of Atlanta, it’s part of our thing,” said Goddard, who lives in California. “How can we keep the best of what’s there and freshen it up?” The renovation went to some of the Plantation’s original creators, including Goddard and his company, Gary Goddard Entertainment. The company also designed the hub format of the Georgia Aquarium and its “Deepo’s Undersea 3-D Wondershow.”

Characters

Then: Characters were inspired by the monsters’ Southern home. There’s Mizzy Scarlett, the hostess of a monster picnic who extends the invitation to human guests; Buzby, a fun-loving, beanie-wearing kid monster named for former Georgia Gov. George Busbee; and a character often mistaken for a sheriff. His title is marshal, thank you very much, and his name is Billy Bob Fritter. The monster marshal who warns humans not to go in the marsh has a faithful pup: Fritter Bitter.

Now: Plantation fans worried about “commercialism hitting the place,” the chance that Scooby Doo or Looney Tunes characters would replace Atlanta’s monsters, said Robert Ulrich, an American Coaster Enthusiasts regional representative who lives in Marietta and rides Monster Plantation every year.

Not to worry: Goddard says they’ll re-outfit characters, brighten up their fur and feathers and add new monsters, too. But they won’t build anything found in video games, movies or on TV. It’s unusual these days for theme parks to create original, story-driven rides, says Robert Niles, editor of themeparkinsider.com. “The key is that the ride has to make an emotional connection with the audience,” Niles said in an e-mail.

Technology

Then: Monster Plantation was cutting-edge technology at the time. It was the first attempt at an animatronic ride of that scope outside a Disney park. It relied on more than 100 original characters and hydraulic fluid pushed into pneumatic cylinders. More than 7,000 feet of wire connected the monsters to a central computer.

Over the years, the park didn’t make many updates or changes; the original craftsmanship and stainless steel parts held up.

Now: Designers could have removed the animatronic monsters to make the ride a computerized video thrill, but Goddard wasn’t interested. “They can see that in the movies,” he said. “That’s the whole point —- there’s something physically there in front of you.” Some technology will get an update, though, especially lighting, special effects, water effects and the audio system, which will play a freshly mixed version of the famously cheery monster song.

A MONSTROUS MELODY

The Monster Plantation theme song has been getting stuck in riders’ heads for 27 years. Designers of the renovated ride considered changing it, but thought fans might be outraged.

Here are the song’s original lyrics, as provided by Six Flags; they didn’t all make it into the tune played on the ride. To hear the song as it plays during the ride, go to ajc.com.

Oh, come on now, you’re invited!

To what?

To a picnic!

What kinda picnic?

Monster picnic, but humans are allowed today.

So, join the monsters at the mansion.

Relax and come inside, relax enjoy the ride!

—- Jamie Gumbrecht

IF YOU GO

Monster Plantation will remain open for the rest of the 2008 season. Six Flags Over Georgia is open this weekend and Fridays-Sundays through Nov. 2. Monster Mansion is expected to open in May. For more information: www.sixflags.com/OverGeorgia.

ON AJC.COM

> You’re invited —- to what? To a picnic. A monster picnic. Hear the song and see the Monster Plantation ride online. www.ajc.com