Would it be cool to do daily posts here? I think it would. Hopefully it might get some people to read this blog, especially if the posts are of "quality" content. So, to start Bayern Kurve Blog, I present a few pictures my dad took of Idlewild's Story Book Forest in 2012 and 2013, which were my first visits to the park.
One of the area's most well-known buildings is the Crooked Little House of the Crooked Little Man. Reportedly, the carpenters never needed to use a level in its construction! But that's probably just a tall tale.
Moving along, we past the Three Billy Goats Gruff, live animals that still call SBF home.
Jack and the Beanstalk was one of the Forest's coolest displays, but has since been removed. Was it because of structural concerns? I'd like to know; it always looked as if those huge figures were perilously hanging off the stalk.
Here we have the Golden Knight and Guinevere, along with the dragon formerly seen in Kennywood's beloved classic darkride, Le Cachot.
Here's the dragon as in the ride. (Not my picture; I found it on some darkride website awhile back.)
Since when this picture was taken, the knight figure and Guinevere have been done away with, and the dragon is desperately in need of a new coat of paint. (If these seem like negative changes, they are, but Story Book Forest does gain new coats of paint and touch-ups every year. They're just selective, I guess.)
Finally, at the path's exit, we find this amazing smiling Jack-in-the-Box. It was perhaps the funniest (and maybe even creepiest to some) display in Story Book, but it was removed at the end of 2015 for SBF's 60th anniversary addition, the Enchanted Castle:
Don't get me wrong, the castle is very nice, but it's not even on the spot of the old Jack-in-the-Box. I hope it still exists and can be brought back some day.
I hope you enjoyed this very speedy (and not at all balanced) tour of Story Book Forest. SBF is something that I hope to explore in-depth in the future on here. I'm fascinated by its old state, when it was home to many hand-painted signs and artistic flourishes, which was not so long ago but has mostly disappeared today. Even like this, I'd have to say that Story Book is my favorite part of Idlewild. I just wished I knew if the park still had an in-house artist...
3 comments:
I have some great childhood memories of similar, stand-alone parks, Children's Fairyland in Oakland, Fairy Tale Town in Sacramento, and Storybook Gardens in Wisconsin Dells (which, sadly, closed in 2011). I think it's great that Idlewild has something like this as part of a larger amusement park.
Keep documenting this place, because, as those of us who have been watching our beloved amusement parks for decades, you never know when individual features (or the whole place) will disappear without warning.
I've heard of both of those; they certainly were a trend to build in the 1950s-60s. Idlewild's used to be a separate park with a separate admission, but it was still owned by the same people as the amusement park. They were combined in the 1980s, I believe. Story Book Forest my favorite part of Idlewild.
*is my favorite part...
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