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Park News - (5/27/09) Ghost Town did open last weekend as scheduled, but minus a few attractions. According to this news report the state inspectors are back this week to try and finish up their work on Cliffhanger and Geronimo Drop. The later should open this weekend no problem, but they didn’t make any promises about when Cliffhanger may be finalized and ready to go. However the park also mentioned that once the coaster opens, they will focus their efforts on getting the incline railway open once again.
  (5/22/09) Good news for Ghost Town as days before the park was to open for the season, things were not looking good on the financial end of things. According to the local news a mystery investor has come forward to save the park and ensure that the park opens this season and gets a second chance. Personally, I think if they can get Cliffhanger open finally, they’ve got a good shot at survival.
  (5/15/09) Good news for Ghost Town in the Sky it seems, as this article indicates that a “team” of state inspectors will arrived at the park on Monday with the goal of getting everything certified to run for the May 22nd, opening day. Included in the list of items is a complete inspection of the roller coaster. They seemed a bit pessimistic about clearing it in time for opening day, but said a more realistic schedule may be the following weekend if all goes well.
  (5/6/09) Bad news for Ghost Town In The Sky as the financially troubled park has now come to the city of Maggie Valley to ask for a $200,000 loan so they can open for the season on May 22nd.
  (4/13/09) The latest buzz from Ghost Town In The Sky is that the group has created a new LLC company called “Resurrection Partners” as a means to provide the needed cash flow to get needed emergency financing in place to finish up the needed work to get the park up and running for the 2009 season. You can read all the details here.
  (3/26/09) While Ghost Town In The Sky is banking on getting the Cliffhanger open this season to ‘save’ the park, the coaster is apparently not ready to reopen anytime soon. Not only does the state still have several tests left to run on it, but the maker of the new trains (Rotational Motion) is still owed about $150,000 for the work they’ve done and have no intention of finishing up the trains until they are repaid.
  Even worse, while the park claims they submitted data from over 400 test runs on the coaster last year to the state, the state says that they haven’t received anything yet, nor have they made an appointment to get these final inspections done at this point in time. It also seems there some discussion still open, even now, as to if the coaster needs over the shoulder restraints or not.
  (3/19/09) A rather long article all about the status and last two seasons of Ghost Town In The Sky can be read here. This article mentions that while the Cliffhanger and Incline Railway are “close” to being finished, nether is ready yet. The Cliffhanger is closer however, as it is operational, and the delays have apparently come from the state who has been demanding a higher than normal number of tests on the coaster and new trains before they’ll sign off on it. Lets hope this is the season they get it open… as it could be the determining factor if the park survives the recession or not.
  (3/13/09) Late last Summer when a few people had privately asked me which parks I considered to be in danger of not being able to survive through to the 2009 season due to the recession there were two parks at the top of my list. Hard Rock Park of course, and my second choice at the time was Ghost Town In The Sky. In my opinion the fragile little park had not has the best two seasons it had following it’s re-birth, being unable to reopen a few of the park’s most popular attractions including the iconic Cliffhanger coaster. To be honest, I was fearing the worst for Ghost Town In The Sky far before the big recession fears arose, as my initial fear was then gas spiked over $4 a gallon and people began to cut back on their long-distance driving, and with Ghost Town’s very out of the way location, I figured it was bound to take a hit for sure.
  The reason I’m bringing all this up now is because according to a statement issued by the park, Ghost Town In The Sky has now officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganization. The park says that they have been unable to secure the funds needed to pay off the debt as well as complete rides needed to help “broaden Ghost Town’s appeal.” However the article mentions that the Cliffhanger is now open however and the project they really need to finish is the incline railway which will allow them to save money by using it to shuttle guests up to the park instead of using busses. The good news is that Ghost Town is still set to open for the 2009 season on May 15th, so if you haven’t had a chance to visit Ghost Town In The Sky, this could be your last chance to do it.
  (4/17/08) Yet another industry visionary has passed away this week, this time it was Ronald Braxton (R.B.) Coburn who built Ghost Town In The Sky. A memorial for Coburn is being planned by the theme park, though details were still being discussed.

2009 - Cliffhanger - (7/3/09) I knew this wouldn’t take very long... here is a nice video showing off all of the new Cliffhanger coaster, off-ride footage and on-ride POV.

  (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. Now lets see how long until some video footage of it shows up.
  (11/19/08) After waiting two summers to find out what is going on with the Cliffhanger and the Incline Railway, the local news has the scoop. They say that the problems are close to finally being fixed, but they are not quite there yet. Cliffhanger is still being held up by the state safety inspections crew who report that there are some structural integrity problems. So far they have had to fix the footers and perform a full inspection of every inch of rail on the coaster and performed nearly 400 successful test runs.
  (9/2/08) Good news from Ghost Town In The Sky as I’ve been told that the engineers and crews have been testing the Cliff Hanger coaster for the past two weeks in anticipation of this week’s visit from the state to get the final certification needed to open it. More on this as we find out.
  (11/16/07) While at IAAPA I spotted a booth for Rotational Motion, the company who is making the all new lap-bar only trains going into Cliffhanger. They had one of the cars on hand to take pictures of before we see it in action on the coaster next spring.
  (7/24/07) It seems the cause of the delay in reopening Cliffhanger at Ghost Town in the Sky is a needed “redo” of the cars which has become a bigger project than expected. According to the press release issued by the park:
  Over 14,000 parts and components, not including nuts and bolts, will be used in constructing the cars for the train, and each part had to be redesigned, fabricated and tested even before being assembled. North Carolina Department of Labor officials have been involved in the process of inspections during each stage of assembly. The Cliff Hanger will boast a magnetic brake system to assist the existing air brakes and to improve rider comfort. 
  This one-of-a-kind roller coaster will have a custom-built train on it. Although there are trains that could have been purchased with standard seat configurations, Ghost Town’s roller coaster will feature all new components and a completely new, one-of-a-kind train that has open-air cars and custom seats. Coaster enthusiasts will be pleased to know that the new train will not use standard over-the-shoulder harnesses. The new seats will utilize ergonomic padded lap bars and retractable seatbelts which were specially engineered and manufactured for the coaster.  There is not a train on a roller coaster like it in the world.