Monster Plantation makeover

Arts and Culture

Monster Plantation makeover

Monster Mansion and open its doors in May 2009. Designers want 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 tune of the ride will continue to play — but it’s getting a makeover to make it last.

After 28 years of operation, the Monster Plantation ride at Six Flags Over Georgia will be redesigned and open in May 2009 as Monster Mansion.

Designers want a brighter, fresher, dusted off version of the five-minute boat ride.

Ride designer Gary Goddard, who created Monster Plantation when Six Flags dismantled the Uncle Remus Okeefenokee swamp ride in 1980, will be leading the update.

Goddard says there was talk at Six Flags of demolishing the Plantation to install a new ride, but it would've crushed fans.

"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?"

They're holding on to the classic parts — yes, the catchy, kid-sung tune of the ride will continue to play — but it's getting a makeover to make it last.

Monster Plantation was cutting-edge when it opened in 1981. It was the first attempt at an animatronic ride of that scope outside a Disney park.

Former Disney ridemakers designed and built the project for about $3 million during a whirlwind nine months.

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 computers.

Over the years, the park didn't make many updates or changes; the original craftsmanship held up.

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, TV and movies.

The animatronic monsters won't be replaced but the lights, special effects, water effects and the audio system will get an overhaul.

The characters were inspired by the monsters' Southern home. Buzby is a fun-loving, beanie-wearing kid monster named for former Georgia Gov. George Busbee.

Often mistaken for a sheriff, Billy Bob Fritter is actually a marshal. His faithful dog, the one beside him as he warns humans not to go into the monster marsh, is Fritter Bitter.

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After 28 years of operation, the Monster Plantation ride at Six Flags Over Georgia will be redesigned and open in May 2009 as Monster Mansion.

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