We are pleased to finally release a photo of Whacky Shack at Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, KS as it looked before the dip was removed! This Whacky Shack opened in 1974 and is known as Tracy’s final project before he passed away in August of the same year. Note: The random and colorful “stained glass” pattern and large opening above the dip is very similar to what was constructed five years later for the Tracy inspired Lumalusion.
This rare postcard offers an incredible view of Pirate Ship Skua. The owners of Hunt’s Pier had an excellent relationship with Tracy, as they commissioned him to install four attractions at their park from 1959 to 1964. Unfortunately, all of these attractions have been demolished.
Enjoy a postcard that features both Jungle Land and Golden Nugget at Hunt’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ all in one photo. Tracy’s attractions sure did get their fair share of attention!
This postcard is actually for the Sky View attraction at Hershey Park located in Hershey, PA, but offers a nice color shot of Tracy’s now defunct Lost River. This is the only color photo that we have ever seen of this ride!
Happy summer folks! The final day for the Tracy Contest will be June 30, so if you haven’t already submitted a photo of the mystery ride at Chapultepec Park, you still have time. Don’t forget, you have a chance of winning a Bill Tracy Project t-shirt! In the mean time, check out this newly-discovered photo of Jack and the Bean Stalk at Fantasy Island in Grand Island, NY. This photo appeared as part of a Fantasy Island souvenir postcard folder and is dated 1963.
After additional research by The Bill Tracy Project, it is now known that the Lumalusion at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas was not built by Bill Tracy.
Lumalusion has been removed from the list of surviving attractions and moved to the influences section of our website. We apologize for any confusion or misdirection this may have caused. The story of Lumalusion is actually quite an interesting one.
Charles Noland of Amusements, Inc., located in Dallas, took some time in December of 1978 to travel to a few relatively nearby amusement parks to find some inspiration. During his trip he visited Whacky Shack at Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas, Phantasmagoria at Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fantastic Journey at Wonderland Park in Amarillo, Texas. At each park he took photos and documented these dark rides so that he could replicate some of his favorite features including Bill Tracy’s famous Whacky Shack facade. Construction started on Lumalusion, a name meaning light illusion, in January of 1979.
Everything was built in-house except for the 16 dark ride fiberglass car bodies, which he made from a Hush-Puppy car body mold that he acquired. Even the building itself was designed and built in-house. The building’s footprint was smaller than a typical Tracy 2-story dark ride. Tracy’s buildings were approximately 70′ x 80′, where Lumalusion was 55′ x 60′ and included restrooms and shower facilities for the park employees. The smaller building created the need for the ramps to be steeper than in Tracy’s 2-story dark rides. This created an interesting challenge as the typical Hush-Puppy car’s motors were not strong enough to negotiate these steeper inclines. A custom built chassis had to be constructed with a more powerful motor for the drive system of the ride car. Specially built safeties were also installed that shut all of the cars down if any two of them got too close together.
The interior was filled with optical and light based illusions. The facade was built completely on a level section of ground. Once finished, a crane lifted it into place on the completed building. After working almost 100 hours per week from January through June of 1979, Lumalusion officially opened on July 4, 1979. The ride has been a favorite at the State Fair of Texas and has remained almost completely unchanged since it opened more than 30 years ago. Lumalusion is a familiar “face”, but is also a unique, durable, and well-built ride in its own right that deserves its own place in dark ride history. This ride is a lasting tribute to the influence that Bill Tracy had on the dark ride industry and is expected to entertain guests at Fair Park for years to come.
A special thanks goes to Charles Noland of Amusements, Inc. for taking the time to share this incredible information with us!
Sad discovery. In the final year of Roseland Park in Canandaigua, New York, Tracy’s Gold Nugget dark ride was converted to Road Rally, a remote control car attraction. As you can see in the photo below, the “dip” was removed to make way for the racetrack, a roof was added to protect the car controllers, and the sign was changed. The interior of the former Gold Nugget was used for storage. Tracy would have been very sad indeed!
Exciting discovery! It turns out that Bill Tracy’s Kooky Kastle dark ride at Paragon Park in Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts also had Hush-Puppy Coffin Cars in use, just as Trimper’s Haunted House! At this time, these are the only two known sets of Hush-Puppy Coffin Cars. Check out this photo from the 1970s of Kooky Kastle’s classic dark ride car!
Pretzel Amusement Ride Co. placed this advertisement in the March 21, 1964 issue of Amusement Business and featured the Orient Express at Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, NJ. Tracy was responsible for the unique facade of this double-decker dark ride and Pretzel executed the gravity-powered ride system. Tracy’s facades were often featured in Pretzel advertisements.
Enjoy this ad that Bill Tracy placed in the March 21, 1964 issue of Amusement Business. This ad is very direct and is the only ad we have seen that focuses only on the financial benefits of having a dark ride re-themed by O.D.D.
This article appeared in the April 21, 1962 issue of Amusement Business and describes the work Bill Tracy was performing on the Jungle Land water ride at Riverside Park in Agawam, MA. Note the construction photo at the bottom of the article showing where Tracy’s stunts will be placed. This and many other articles can be found in our new periodicals section.
This Jungle Land attraction was located at Panama City Beach in Panama City, FL. This attraction opened in the mid 1960’s and is no longer in operation. As far as we can tell, the displays for this Jungle Land were created by Bill Tracy. If anyone has any further information about this attraction please let us know!
This article about the new Jungleland ride at Paragon Park appeared in the August 11, 1962 issue of Amusement Business. Tracy re-themed this ride again a few years later using his standard Lost River facade but called it Congo Cruise. The photo used in this article shows the original Jungleland facade.
Check out a vintage photo of a Pretzel Amusement Ride Co. traditional dark ride at Lakeview Amusement Park in Royersford, PA. Note the classic Tracy skull that was used on the facade. Most likely Pretzel obtained this skull from Bill Tracy and used it to create a facade similar to those that Tracy built for his Ghost Ship attractions.
As a special holiday treat, we are releasing a new and improved photo page featuring the largest known collection of Bill Tracy photos in existence! A special thanks goes out to all that have made The Bill Tracy Project a success this year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Bill Tracy’s full name given to him at birth according to his birth certificate is Thomas Tracy.
According to a document about his father, Newton A. Tracy, Bill Tracy’s full name was originally Thomas H. Tracy, III. This is further reinforced in another document about his grandfather, Thomas H. Tracy, that lists the names of his six children, one of them being Thomas H. Tracy, Jr. Bill Tracy was the third Thomas H. Tracy. The 1920 U.S. Census lists his name as Thomas H. Tracy, III. But then, the 1930 U.S. Census lists his name as William T. Tracy. Therefore, his name was changed sometime between 1920 and 1930. Finally, on his birth certificate, William is handwritten in front of the typed Thomas Tracy verifying his official name change to William Thomas Tracy. The reason for the change is currently unknown.
If he would have not changed his name, you would be currently visiting The Tom Tracy Project! Interesting, huh?
Check out this vintage Amusement Displays ad that appeared in the November 15, 1969 issue of Amusement Business. You’ll notice that the webbed design in the center resembles a perspective image of Tracy’s famous revolving barrel that often included rock patterns painted in fluorescent colors. Classic TRACY!
Check out an article that appeared in the August 25, 1962 issue of Amusement Business about a new dark ride designed and built by Kenneth G. Boyle of KD Enterprises in Sunnyvale, CA. According to this article, this was the first dark ride built using these new one-piece fiberglass cars. KD Enterprises is the company that supplied Tracy with the ride car that he called the Hush-Puppy.
Enjoy an article including rare photos of the Jungle Land walk-thru attraction at Storytown U.S.A. in Lake George, NY that appeared in the June 16, 1962 issue of Amusement Business.
Pretzel Amusement Ride Co. placed this advertisement in the November 15, 1969 issue of Amusement Business and featured the Haunted House at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, NJ. Tracy was responsible for the facade of this double-decker dark ride and Pretzel executed the gravity-powered ride system. Tracy’s incredible facades helped Pretzel sell dark ride packages and secure many successful contracts during this time period.
The Bill Tracy Project 