Category: Attraction Type

Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure

       The Speelunkers cave opened for the 1992 season without the original Speelunkers. It was now the “Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure “. The new version of the ride featured Bugs Bunny and the other Looney tunes characters in center stage.

       Also, known as the Gold River Adventure, the ride tells the story of Yosemite Sam’s robbery of the “payroll”. “Sheriff” Bugs Bunny and his friends are responsible for seeing that the gold is returned and that Yosemite Sam is locked up for his misdeeds. As would be anticipated, the story ends happily.

       The ride intimations and features were designed by R & R Creative Amusement Design, and built by Sally Dark Rides, a ride and animation company. According to the company, the ride contains 29 animated characters, and a total of 125 animations and other special effects.

        Although all of the inhabitants of the cave were removed and replaced, the ride structure itself remained the same. The special effects, such as the storm and rotating barrel were removed. The make-over cost $5 million dollars and opened in June of the year.

The Cave Ride opened in the park in 1964, making it the sixth oldest operating ride in the park. The Cave Ride was perhaps one of the most innovated rides at Six Flags Over Texas. Of course, the Cave took its inspiration from Dark Rides everywhere. Floating through a dark tunnel was certainly not a new concept, even in 1964.

The ride is simple in design and operation. Riders float through the ride in small “tubs”. The “tubs” are basically a variation on the Flume’s Logs. This makes sense, since  the Cave “river” is basically the same as the Flume “trough”. The “tubs” have change somewhat overtime, with the seating going from around the inside, to front to back, as with the logs, to side by side in rows.

    What made the Cave special, however, was that it was inhabited by Six Flags Spee-Lunkers, a characteristic that made it unique among dark rides. The Spee-Lukners are small creatures, about four feet tall. There most prominent feature is their long  triangulars faces.

    The ride had no real story line, the riders simply saw the Spee-Lunkers doing various activities. Highlights of the trip included, the storm scene, complete with lightening and thunder; the barrel, in which the tub went through a large barrel which rotated around it, creating the illusion that the through was rotating; and the air and water sprayers at the end of the ride.

    Some scenes were removed and replaced with other scenes as the years went on, so the ride was not exactly the same over the years. At the end of the 1991 season, the Spee-Lunkers were removed from the cave and replaced with characters from the Warner Brother’s Looney-Tunes. Due to the significant changes made in the animinations. the ride after 1991 is covered in the Gold River Pages.

      The Spee-Lunker scenes, in order as much as possible, were:

Speelunker
Writing on Stone Table

One Spee-lunker writing with a hammer and chisel on a large stone tablet. Made a distinctive “chinging” sound.

Three Speelunkers
Riding turtles

Three Speelunkers riding in a large circle in and out of a cave. The turtles were mounted on a carousel type mount, so the speelunkers road around in a large circle

Treasure Chest

A large treasure chest. Over the years, different treasures were featured, including the standard jewels, gasoline cans during the gas shortage and coffee bags during the coffee shortage. The lid opened and closed as the riders went by.

Two Speelukners
playing “catch” with a bolder

Two speelunkers playing “catch” with a large bolder which went out over the tub as it passed underneath.

Shark Fighter

SpeeLunker in a sinking tub  using a sword to fighting off a shark lurking up out of the water.

Mad Organist

Speelunker playing a large pipe organ with his friend pumping the organ.

Spee-Lunkner
String Band

Five spee-lunkers: a band director standing, with four string players sitting on mushrooms and playing harps;

Spee-Lunkner
Country & Western band

In later years there was a country and western band with a bucking bull ride.

The Storm

The Storm scene started as you came upon the boat. Lightened flashed in the distance. Thunder roared and the sound of rain falling could be heard.

The Boat

As you came up on the boat, you saw the outside of a large sailing boat, which rocked back and forth. As you came around the front of the boat, it was if you were now inside the boat and seeing scenes from the boat on each side.

The Prisoners

Prisoner sawing away at his bars. (on the boat.)

Card Players

Two Speelunkers sitting at a table playing a game of cards. (on the boat)

The Barrel

The tubs went through a long barrel which rotated around the riders, creating an illusion that the whole river was rotating.

The Skiers

Speelunkers skiing down a mountain. One upside down, with his head in the snow.

The Finale

Speelunkers representing each of the six flags shaking hands with each other. Shown are the “Mexican” and “USA” representatives.

(c) Davis McCown, 1999