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Park News - (7/27/10) July is nearly at a close… and as predicted, Ghost Town In The Sky is still closed. According to this latest news article, the proposed buyout of the park from Al Harper has fallen through as well, leaving the park still in bankruptcy.
    (7/13/10) It’s mid July now… so you may be wondering just what is going on with Ghost Town In The Sky. The answer, unfortunately, is not a whole hell of a lot. According to this article it has been confirmed that the park will not open this season at all as the effort was too much in the time remaining to not only fix and reopen the park’s attractions, but also repair the retaining walls where the mudslide earlier this year started.
    Work on cleaning up and repair the slide damage really hasn’t even started as ther are still waiting for the state engineers to sign off on the repair plan this Friday. That will finally open the job bidding process for the $1.4 million job of cleaning up and fixing the mess, most of which will be paid by the federal government.
    (5/14/10) A nice long article about the whole financial situation at Ghost Town In The Sky that led to it’s failure and how Harper plans on reviving the park under his leadership can be found here.
    (5/5/10) A judge has approved a bid by a new owner to take over Ghost Town in The Sky. American Heritage Family Parks, LLC have offered to pay $7.3 million to several creditors owed money. As part of the agreement, the park will be allowed to open for the 2010 season while the deal is hammered out and approved. Of course they’ll have to solve the mudslide problem first...
    (4/22/10) According to this news report one of the primary owners of Ghost Town In The Sky is seeking to buy the rest of the park out of bankruptcy under a new company, while hoping to walk away from $5 million in debt from the old company. A hearing is slated to take place on May 4th. If not approved, the park is facing foreclosure on May 31st.
    The new potential owner is Al Harper, who also owns the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad as well as other railway attractions elsewhere in the country. Harper has already formed a new LLC company called American Heritage to handle the venture which is offering to buy the park for $7.5 million. Ghost Town is currently $13.5 million in the hole.
    (3/12/10) This news article confirms our report that Ghost Town in the Sky could go into foreclosure in early June unless they get a much needed infusion of cash. According to the park’s bankruptcy attorney, the park also doesn’t have any funding to ever open for the 2010 season. BB&T is calling for a quick liquidation of the park to help pay off some part of the $9.5 million loan they issued, and Ghost Town has already agreed to let them start the procedure… but not before June 1st to give them one last chance of finding new funding. Make the jump to read even more details about the park’s various debts.
    (3/6/10) I’ve been told that BB&T has now given Ghost Town in the Sky a May 31st deadline to come up with $300,000 or else they will begin the foreclosure process on the park. It looks like Ghost Town may very well become… well… a ghost town again.
    (3/5/10) A reader sent in a tip that when trying to call Ghost Town in the Sky both the direct and 800 numbers (800-GHOST-TOWN) are coming up as being disconnected. Not a good sign.
    (2/18/10) Creditors owed money by Ghost Town in the Sky will soon vote on the fate of the theme park, deciding if it will be given another chance to succeed or be forced into liquidation. On another interesting side note, Ghost Town had been behind in making their liability insurance payments over the past several months, though they did manage to finally make a payment and get caught up three days after the mudslide.
    (2/12/10) According to this report an engineer believes that last week’s mudslide could have been twice as bad had it not been for the proactive work of the Ghost Town In The Sky amusement park who had been trying to fix the problem site over the past couple of years.
    (2/10/10) The latest report about the mudslide next to Ghost Town in the Sky claims that the retaining wall that gave way at Ghost Town near the origin of the half-mile wide mudslide was actually just repaired by a contractor back in 2007 and 2008. They have not pinpointed the cause of the actual slide however, saying that the wall’s failure only “contributed material” to the event. There is some question about if the work done was ever inspected by the state or not however. More rain expected later this week could also cause more problems for the area around Rich Cove Road.
    I’ve also been told by a local source that regardless of what happens from here, this is going to cause a major problem for the theme park, as Rich Cove Road is said to be the only way anyone can drive up to the theme park itself. With the road out of action, there simply is no access to the park. As for the Cliffhanger, I’m told that any mudslide that would have happened at it’s location near the sky lift would have slide down the opposite site of the mountain and not towards Rich Cove Road.
    (2/8/10) While we haven’t heard anything about the future fate of Ghost Town in the Sky lately, the local news reports that a massive mudslide struck the area around the park that resulted in the evacuation of many residents. This report claims that the slide may have started when a retaining wall(s) at Ghost Town failed before moving down to the residential area. I’ve even been sent one unconfirmed report from a local claiming that the area where this occurred may have involved the site of the Cliffhanger coaster, possibly causing some damage to the ride’s structure. Anyone else know more?
    (11/20/09) Ghost Town is heading into Bankrupcty once again, and the local news reports that Ghost Town’s plan is to offer their creditors payment for 25% of what they owe… to be paid off over the next several years. Apparently several key creditors were quite upset over this proposal but in the end, it’s apparently going to go before a bankruptcy judge to decide if the deal is to be accepted or if the park will be put up for auction.  Not helping matters is the fact that Ghost Town also failed to provide several financial statements to the court on time.
    (11/12/09) It looks like the end could be near for the rebirth of Ghost Town In The Sky. According to this news report, Ghost Town has ended the season while leaving many employees unpaid for the last few weeks or work. Water and Power service to the park has also been cut for nonpayment.
    (11/10/09) A reader who made it over to Ghost Town In The Sky on the last full day of the season (Nov 1st) reports that Cliffhanger had been shut down once again.
    (8/31/09) Things are not looking good for Ghost Town In The Sky so far. Despite bringing in $1.53 million this season so far, the park has still not been able to cover it’s overhead and operating expenses, of which they have paid $1.845 million so far this year.
    (7/9/09) Don’t look for Cliffhanger to reopen just yet as a bigger inspection and repairs are now needed to get Ghost Town In The Sky’s signature roller coaster reopen again. According to this very detailed article the day after the coaster opened a ride op detected something wrong with one of the coaster train’s seats. The state inspectors were still on site so they were called to check it out, and they discovered a hairline crack in the seat’s frame next to a bolt that attached the seat to the rest of the car. Now it falls upon Rotational Motion who built the custom cars for Ghost Town to come up with a solution.
    (7/5/09) For those curious about what is going on with the Cliffhanger, the release from the park claims that while the ride opened at last on Tuesday, June 30th they had to close it on Thursday, July 2nd  to finalize “minor modifications to the grounds and coaster”.
    “There are minor issues that we ran into after Wednesday’s full-day debut of the coaster.  As we’ve said all along, our guest’s overall experience is our number one priority,” explains Steve Shiver, President and CEO of Ghost Town.  “Although we are disappointed, we will not jeopardize our guests’ safety or experience in any way.” Ghost Town will have the coaster back in operation as soon as possible.

2009/2010- Cliffhanger - (10/19/09) Ghost Town in the Sky’s website has confirmed that FINALLY the Cliffhanger coaster is NOW OPEN! Of course there are only two weekends left in the season to actually ride it… so start planning your trip now before it’s too late!
    (7/4/09) We’ve received a report from Ghost Town In The Sky that the newly opened Cliffhanger will be closed for the entire July 4th holiday weekend. I don’t know what happened, but that can’t be good for it to get shut down so quickly.
    (7/2/09) Great news for Ghost Town In The Sky this week as they have announced that the long-awaited Cliffhanger roller coaster has reopened at last.