An emotional and final goodbye to another amusement park: Santas Village auction with pics.

We knew Santa's Village in Dundee Il was done but after attending the auction at the park today and watching everything in the park get sold off to the highest bidder, it really hit hard.

Very emotional for alot in attendance that just came to walk the park and say goodbye to a childhood park now just a memory. The highest paid item was the parks rollercoaster Typhoon which fetched $250,000.

I took 50 photos of the park which I hope you enjoy. After a couple weeks, everything in the park will be gone. Quite sad.

Click here for pics.

Wow, what a sad day indeed. This was my first amusement park as a child. The dragon coaster was the first ride that made me fall in love with rollercoasters. Santa's Village, you will be missed. :(

I planned to go but I couldnt get the day off of work. :( But my mom went. She was kind of disappointed in how they did the auction, as were a lot of other people she told me. She said that everything went in large lots (IE: all of the items in the souvenier shop went as a lot, all of the picnic tables went as one lot, etc.) She did say a lot of people were in tears walking around the park.

R.I.P. Santa's Village....you will be missed.

It was sad, especially after seeing how solemn the owner (Mr. Wilson) and current property managers were.

However, I am NOT going to say that park is dead yet. Usually alot of building fixtures or decor are sold off during these auctions and today they weren't. Hmmmm. There was a LOT of buzz today, gang! We'll see what happens.

I am still a bit perplexed by some of the bidding. Ony $5000 for a BIG Himalaya, while the kiddie ride in front of it earned $20k+. Weird! The coaster biddings were the best though! *** Edited 10/26/2006 1:38:50 AM UTC by CastleKing***

Ty-ty-ty-phoon is fan-fan-fan-tastic!

This was one of the first parks I visited as a kid. Haven't been back in over a decade, but it's always sad to see a park go.

That Himalaya ride was a in terrible shape, and it will probably need a ton of rehab work with its next owner.

But your right the bidding was somewhat perplexing.

For example the Gallion Pirate ship ride, They started the auction at $100 grand, and only fetched 20,000 for it. Yet, of all the rides that one really only needed a fresh coat of paint.

Yet the fire truck bus stop ride started at I want to say $10,000 and went for $55,000.

Also, Im really surprised to see that Holiday World didnt show up at this auction, especially for the Snowmen/Santa Claus ornaments.

^Agreed. Was also surprised Holiday World didn't make it.

The snowball teacup ride along with the 12ft Santa out front, santas huge sleigh, and 3 10ft snowmen would have been great additions to the Christmas section of the park at HW.

The snowball teacup ride was bought by a man in Utica Illinois who said he plans on opening a Santas Village type park in downstate Illinois.

The Frog Hopper and Dragon coaster were purchased by a husband and wife who own an indoor amusement park up in Minnesota.

I just wanted to add that I also attended the auction and if anyone was interested took a ton of photos I picked out my favorites and posted them so take a look if you'd like.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/stevesteve8383/album/576460762332162047#page1

Has anyone ever been on those blue waterslides there? Possibly it's a weird angle that I'm seeing in the pic but it looks like you could get a ton of speed on those with the long drops in the middle of the ride.

Anyone know who bought Typhoon, or perhaps where it's headed??

It was bought by someone in Arizona who was bidding against someone from Florida. I overheard people talking about the guy who bought it, they said he owned a carnival company and planned on moving it around to state fair caliber events. I don't know if their is any truth to that but that is what I heard.

Typhoon went to, I believe, Ray Cammack Shows.

stevesteve8383:

Check that link you provided for your pics. Cannot access it. Make sure your Yahoo photo album is set up for public view.