Head to Ghost Town in the Sky To Experience a Wild West Theme Park
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Ghost Town in the Sky isn’t your everyday amusement park.
“We are the only theme park in the world carved out of the top of a mountain,” says Julie Dion, vice president of marketing for Ghost Town in the Sky.
Located at the peak of Buck Mountain, 35 miles west of Asheville in Maggie Valley, Ghost Town in the Sky is a Wild West theme park that features thrilling rides, staged gunfights and bank robberies, can-can girls and dramatic mountain scenery.
“Our gunfights and cowboys are a big attraction, and our chair lift is a big draw,” Dion says. “You have to ride the chair lift to get to the park. It’s one of North Carolina’s longest chair lifts and boasts beautiful views of the valley below.”
Thrill-seekers flock to the park’s newest ride, the Geronimo Drop.
“It takes you 4,800 feet above sea level,” Dion says. “Another not-to-miss attraction is our Gunslinger swing ride, which is on the edge of a cliff and swings you out over the side of the mountain. Tourists love experiencing that.”
Ghost Town in the Sky has been a favorite family destination in Western North Carolina since it opened in 1961. A change of ownership caused the park to close in 2002, but it reopened in 2007.
“Our comeback has been really successful because Ghost Town in the Sky was a landmark for 41 years before it closed,” Dion says. “We hear parents and grandparents say all the time how excited they are to bring their kids here because they remember Ghost Town in a fond way.”
Instead of buying new rides, park administrators restored all of Ghost Town in the Sky’s antique rides for the reopening.
“It would have been cheaper for us to buy all new rides,” Dion says, “but the nostalgia associated with the park is so strong.”
Story by Jessica Mozo
