Six Flags Over Texas will make over one of its classic dark rides for 2022. The park announced today that it will transform its Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure ride into Pirates of Speelunker Cave for early next year.
The new version will be a callback to the ride's original installation as The Cave, which operated from 1964 to 1991. The Cave featured original characters created for the park called Speelunkers.
"As the world’s first regional theme park, Six Flags Over Texas has built a solid reputation of providing innovative thrills and lifelong memories for generations of families," Park President Ron McKenzie said. "What better way to celebrate our park’s 60th anniversary than by announcing a brand-new attraction that pays homage to our past and launches us into the future."
The park will create a new entry plaza for the ride, from which guests can watch the boat's descent Speelunker Cave. Inside the cave, the six-passenger boats will 17 new scenes featuring "state-of-the-art cinematic projection with immersive sets and animatronics," according to the park's press release. Here's an early first look from the park.
Pirates of Speelunker Cave is scheduled to open in early 2022 and will join the previously announced (and pandemic delayed) Aquaman: Power Wave water coaster as new attractions for 2022. Six Flags parks are announcing their new attractions individually this year, instead of in one big chain-wide reveal at the end of August. Last week, Six Flags Fiesta Texas announced a new Bolliger & Mabillard dive coaster, Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger.
You can see our round-up of major new attraction announcements from around the world of theme parks on our New Rides Under Construction page.
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Not sure I would have released that video if I were SF. A local high school could have produced something more professional. That looks like they are putting a county fair overlay in the space. Of course they need something there, and a dark boat ride is great, but come on.
JC VanHouten, i thought the same about the video and the artwork but i'm just happy a childhood favorite is coming back...although it's probably going to be more pirates than spee-lunker's (i need to get the spelling right) but even if it has a few spee-lunker's, i'll be happy! oh, and the barrel roll and thunderstorm scene would be great to have back as well
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I am so happy about this!! I can still remember the first time I rode Spelunker's Cave when I was really little. It was a highlight of every trip to SFOT in the 60's and 70's. I love the Looney Tunes characters but not at the expense of the Spelunker's so 30+ years later, the Spelunker's are back! This is fantastic news. Thank you Six Flags for bringing back this old classic!