Osage Beach Wild Mouse

Okay I'm wondering if anyone here recalls a Wild Mouse coaster on the side of the road in Osage Beach Missouri.

http://www.rcdb.com/locationdetail880.htm

I remember the ride open a few times and not much later being closed and sitting for several years before it was torn down. The ride platform is still there. I was wondering if anyone remembers when it was opened? I sent into RCDB correcting some of their info but I was wondering if anyone has any photos or rode it? Any info would be appreciated!

I remember going to Osage Beach as a kid. I remember the coaster running, never actually rode it though. Last time I was down that way, 6 years ago, the coaster was not running. The ride was full of weeds and was lacking major TLC. Always wanted to ride it but never did.

I rode it a couple of times. Must have been over 15 years ago. Don't remember much other than the fact that it was my first and only mouse coaster until just a few years ago. Since I started college and moved out of MO ('94) I haven't been to the Lake that often. But I do know that it closed before that.

There was also a small amusement park in that area years ago. Does anyone know what they had? Any coasters? I remember being able to see the top of the log flume lift over the wall (a wooden fort looking thing). My parents have owned a house at the Lake since 1980 and as a kid we went down at least every other weekend over the summer, but we never once went to that park. Oh well.

The platform is gone now as they are building a new little strip mall there. The "broken arrows" that had the sign for the mouse are still there, but I would imagine that they will be coming down soon.

I was just up there today and the platform is still there. Yes they are building but right next to it at the moment.

If memory serves, the name of the "wooden fort" park was Fort of the Osage. I recall there being a galaxi (just like the Adventureland's former Super Screamer) when I visited Osage Beach in 1989. I was about 11 at the time and was already an enthusiast and disaapointed that we ccouldn't ride the coaster.

I do know it did operate seceral years as only a roadside ride with nothing else there. So I guess there had been a park but why would they remove everything else?

*** Edited 2/5/2004 1:39:17 PM UTC by Wildfire01***

Um, to get money back. And I could have sworn that the platform was gone when I drove by.

-DHo *** Edited 2/6/2004 4:51:24 PM UTC by Swoosh***

Wildfire01,

The park that I mentioned and the mouse coaster are two separate things. The mouse was always by itself, but across the road from the miniture golf, go-carts, bumper cars, etc... The park was located somewhere else along 5, can't remember where though. The park was torn down a long time ago, before the mouse was torn down.

Coming late to the party here (by about 8 years). The Wild Mouse was owned and operated as a roadside attraction by the late Lee mace, famed of his Ozark Opry. After his death in 1985, operation became spotty for a few years, and ceased in 1989 when corrosion of the track was deemed excessive. It sat unattended for most of the next decade, and after a sever storm partially demolished the framework, the remaining structure was removed, leaving only the pad which still sits there today. The open space between the Wild Mouse and the Ozark Opry was parking space for the show.

As was the fate of many roadside amusements in the Lake area, pop cultural tastes changed, and interest waned. Many such attractions sat abandoned until a new developer came in and razed any remnants of these once popular features. Gone are such one time successes as Goofy Golf (nee Hillbilly Town) and its go-karts, Jolly Golf, Ozark Aqua Slide, most of Two Bit Town, the Lake Ozark Sky Ride and Fort of the Osage Amusement Park.

Built on a hill sloping down from Highway 54, it featured a scattering of carnival type rides anchored by a slow flume ride with one up and down hill visible from the highway at the top of the slope, the observation tower with its cylindrical elevator that rode up the outside of the yellow column, and a go-kart like boat pond at the bottom of the hill.

I vaguely remember a tiny roller coaster was listed on the park's map the one time I was there its last year of operation, but had been removed that season due to storm caused structural failure. The operators were hoping for a successful enough season to raise the funds to replace it, but instead closed after that year due to financial loss.

The park sat abandoned for some time, and then arsonists set fire to it for fun, having started the fire near the bottom of the hill, and a pattern of accelerants carried the blaze through all the buildings and empty ride enclosures to engulf the entire hill. Because fire fighters had to approach the fire from the top side, all they could do was contain the blaze from spreading to other businesses along highway 54.

The burnt remains sat untouched for many years, and I went into it once a couple years later to look and see what I could identify, which was surprisingly quite a bit. Eventually, someone cleared out the ashen remains and the hill returned to nature, save for the tall yellow column of the observation ride, no longer sporting its external elevator. Eventually, someone bought the property and developed some sort of retail unit at the top along the highway and removed the rusted yellow column. No marks of the one time park remain.

jt august