Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park, long a number one tourist draw in Western North Carolina, faces a pivotal time at the close of its second season since it reopened.

The 1960s-era Wild West-themed park has been plagued with difficulties since it re-opened in 2007. Rides don’t work, costs have piled up, ticket sales fell short of expectations and there have been disagreements over the best way to promote Ghost Town as a tourist destination.

“We are working with significant challenges, and we’re doing our best to stay afloat,” said Steve Shiver, the park’s president and CEO as well as an initial investor.

Since taking charge of Ghost Town a little over a year ago, Shiver has been at the helm of the struggle to reclaim the park’s status as a top tourist draw in WNC. Before Shiver and his partners bought the park, it sat idle for four years following a period of steady decline — both in visitation and upkeep.

Millions in repairs and replacements have been poured into Ghost Town’s deteriorating infrastructure since a small group of investors purchased the park in 2006. Ghost Town investors bought the park for $5.18 million. Shiver wouldn’t say how much they’ve spent on repairs — only that it was $5 to $7 million more than they thought it would be.

The investors got a $6.75 million low-interest federal loan for rural development when they bought the park, but have sunk a lot of their own money into it.

“While we remain committed to the project, as evidenced by our investment, we are facing the same financial challenges as other businesses,” said Shiver. “It’s hard to get a loan. Our capital is basically us putting our money together.”

Shiver adds that the park is “struggling to stay alive, like many businesses,” and that at the moment, it would be difficult to finance expansions or additions.

Though investors have already poured millions into Ghost Town, a continued cash infusion is critical to its success.

The state of the park’s cash flow isn’t clear. Several contractors have filed civil complaints and liens against Ghost Town, alleging the park failed to pay them for their work. The park owes more than $300,000 to one general contractor, Industrial Service Group Contracting, that worked on the incline railway.

Shiver didn’t want to comment on the claims, other than to say, “there are two sides to every story.”

“With an influx of investors and some capital, and when the economy begins to turn, it will do much, much better than what it has done,” said David Huskins, director of Smoky Mountain Host, a regional tourism development entity.

Huskins says the right infusion of capital and getting the property in shape and stabilized could once again put the park in a position to draw upwards of 200,000 visitors.

“It’s a quality product,” he said. “It’s struggling, but it will get better. I think you’ll see some great things come out of it, and I think it holds promise for days gone by.”

Visitor increase stalls in second season

Ghost Town has wrapped up its first two seasons without its largest rides, and it’s unclear what impact that will have on future tourism. If guests weren’t impressed with their first experience, they may not return — and could spread the word to others to stay away.

The amusement park already faced declining attendance when it shut its doors in 2002. Visitation had dropped to 192,000 annually from its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s when 400,000 flocked to the park.

Shiver wouldn’t release Ghost Town’s current visitation numbers. He did say visitation dropped off this year compared to its first year of being reopened.

“When Ghost Town opened up last year, there was a lot of high expectations,” said Andy Taylor, owner of the Valley Inn and vice president of the Maggie Valley Lodging Association. “The first year, business was phenomenal. The second year, I did not see as many families as we did the first year.”

When the park reopened, there was an initial surge in tourism for Maggie. The visitor center saw an increase of 40 percent. But that has since leveled off, said Lynn Collins, director of the Maggie Valley Chamber. A study conducted by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority shows no significant increase in the number of children visiting the county.

Some visitors felt the park opened prematurely, based on feedback Taylor heard from guests at his motel last year. They made comments about the roller coaster and incline railway not working, and problems with the chair lift.

Shiver agreed that the closed roller coaster might have dissuaded visitors.

“I think the roller coaster not being open has hurt,” he said. “I think maybe some didn’t come at all because they saw it wasn’t open.”

Steve Becker, a New Jersey resident with in-laws in Waynesville, is one guest who stayed away specifically for that reason. He visited the park’s ticket office but opted not to take his two sons to Ghost Town when he heard the roller coaster wasn’t working.

“One of their biggest attractions was down,” said Becker.

The park offered Becker comp tickets good for another day if he went ahead and purchased tickets. But he turned them down since he didn’t know when he would be back.

Businesses: guests dissatisfied

Several business owners in Maggie say visitors have been disappointed in Ghost Town. During a random survey of merchants in Maggie, many were reluctant to share the comments they’d heard about Ghost Town, for fear of talking negatively about the town’s largest attraction. But those who spoke with The Smoky Mountain News said the feedback has been more bad than good.

“Some are satisfied, more are not because the rides are not open,” said one.

Another said his business hadn’t felt any impact from Ghost Town, partly because it’s too expensive for what’s offered.

“The ticket prices are too much money for what they have available,” he said. “They got to put more up there than they have.”

Some business owners aren’t clear on what works and what doesn’t of Ghost Town’s rides. They want to promote the park, but they end up not knowing what to tell potential visitors.

Of course, there are plenty who report having a good experience at Ghost Town.

“A lot of them will be happier once the roller coaster starts, but even that hasn’t been much of an issue,” reports Natalie Nelson, who owns Abby Inn with her husband. “It’s just a good time, period.”

Nelson said a good part of her weekend business comes from Ghost Town visitors, including both families and couples.

Shiver reports that a wide array of people are visiting — in fact, “as many adults as we do children.” Business, he said, is comprised equally of families, couples and retirees.

Park refocuses vision

There’s a common theme among those in the tourism industry — everyone wants to see Ghost Town succeed. The importance of the amusement park to the livelihood of the region, and particularly Maggie Valley, is recognized by all.

Currently Ghost Town is struggling with its identity in its attempts to re-establish itself as a key driver of tourism in WNC.

Already, said Shiver, there have been some mis-steps in doing that.

“There has been some mismanagement and poor decisions made here,” he said.

Shiver said the former management bit off more than it could chew in re-opening the park. They tried to make too many changes at once rather than making sure the basics were in order. For example, Shiver said he would have focused on getting the roller coaster up and running before venturing into other projects, like the total renovation of the park’s 500-seat music hall.

“The priority of our projects I believe was ill-timed,” he said.

“And we had too aggressive of a budget.”

In establishing its modern identity, Shiver intends to go “back to the basics,” and capitalize on what’s unique about the park — namely, its setting. Shiver says the beautiful scenery, stunning views and Appalachian culture are what have always drawn visitors.

“That’s what Ghost Town needed from the beginning – to come back to the basics,” said Shiver. “That’s a general theme we could apply. We missed that from the beginning.”

To give visitors a taste of their mountain surroundings, Shiver foresees an emphasis on outdoor activities like zip lines and rock climbing. He envisions an outdoor amphitheater that will showcase traditional mountain music. He wants to add more down-home food options, including an open pit barbecue, and install a petting zoo.

Those plans and others are included in a five-year capital improvement plan created with the help of Cary Summers, the former CEO of Dollywood, Silver Dollar City and Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Once, plans for Ghost Town included a water park, retail outlets, condos and potential home sites. The park sits on 97 of 288 acres, so it has room to expand. Those plans, though, are on hold for now.

Whatever future plans may include, business owners say they’re counting on the long-time tourism attraction to stay viable.

“They’ve got a lot of things to work out,” said Taylor. “I hope that everything gets up and running, because Maggie Valley needs it tremendously. I’m hoping for great things.”

To comment on this story email julia@smokymountainnews.com.