Jackdude101 Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 (edited) Dry Gulch, U.S.A. is located near Adair, Oklahoma northeast of Tulsa, and operates as a Christian summer camp...which has a legit historic narrow gauge steam train, a carousel, bumper cars, go-karts, an arcade, restaurants, and a sprawling Wild West-themed town (they don't have any roller coasters, because that would just be silly). In addition, the site switches gears during the Christmas season when it opens up to the general public and runs as "The Christmas Train" (you'll never guess which of their attractions is the central focus), with everything decked out in Christmas flair, retellings of the birth of Christ, and so forth. Supposedly, each season when the limited number of tickets are put up for sale, they sell out within the first few hours. If any of you ride credit hunting enthusiasts are interested in this place, you better make plans to get tickets and fly out to Oklahoma this season, because the church that owns the property put it up for sale this year, and normal operations for the site are only guaranteed until the end of this year. On a related note, I wrote a brand-new Wikipedia article this week about this place here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_Gulch,_U.S.A.. Edited August 20, 2016 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcoastermark Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Would like to read it but Wiki doesn't have it listed yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackdude101 Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 Would like to read it but Wiki doesn't have it listed yet. Try the link now. I typed it wrong before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcoastermark Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Ok works now. Cool history of the trains. (one of them from KD ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Having went to what was then called "Camp Dry Gulch" many, many years ago it's interesting to see how the place has changed. When I first went there they had some really neat watersides. (At least neat at the time.) That was actually the first time I went down a "speed slide" with a "vertical" and by vertical I mean just a straight angled drop. At that time they also had a sky coaster kind of ride. Where you would harness up, and the rest of your team would pull on a rope that would then pull you up in the air, once at the top you had to pull a ripcord which would send you into a short freefall, before then swinging you up into a giant arch back and forth. There was also the "one time at church camp" story, which was ironically the first time I realised I was gay, but that's not a family friendly story. Anyway, interesting to hear about how it's doing now. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 This is close to me, but I never considered it to be anything really like a theme park. The Christmas event is the only time it's open to the public anymore, IIRC. The vast majority of the time it's just a church camp with a train. I do remember when it was briefly operated more like a park, and I went as a kid. It was a lot of fun, but I never got a chance to go back. Tickets to the Christmas train sell out instantly, and it will be even harder to get them this year. I hope someone with some vision buys it out. Tulsa is dying for a good theme park. Frontier City is OK, and SDC is beyond wonderful, but Tulsa can support something nice and small on it's own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackdude101 Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 I found the real estate listing for the Dry Gulch, U.S.A. property today here: http://www.cbre.us/o/tulsa/properties/dry-gulch/Pages/home.aspx The entire property, along with all of the buildings and rides, is for sale at $13,600,000. Who wants to get a pool going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 $13 million?! No thanks! That's as much as a house!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Man the pictures make it look really nice - I barely remember what it was like as a kid. I really hope someone scoops this up and opens it back up to the public - at least more so than it was. A retreat center/youth camp is still probably the best business model, but some public weekend festivals would be nice at least. $13.6 million isn't that much, but I'm not sure how many churches are still around that would jump on this kind of thing... I could see GUTS trying something though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcoastermark Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 May it rest in pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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