The Old Dark Ride That Made Six Flags Over Georgia Special: Tales of the Okefenokee

A Complete Overhaul

Six Flags in its early days partnered with rising puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft. The visionary duo, in addition to their popular work on TV, already had puppet theaters in both the Texas and Georgia Six Flags parks.

The two knew how to connect with kids, and Six Flags needed their help once again. The park reached out to the Kroffts asking for their help with revamping the unsuccessful Tales of the Okefenokee ride. Sid and Marty Krofft put their whimsy to work and began to transform Six Flags Over Georgia’s lone dark ride into the version that would soon be remembered fondly by many parkgoers.

The Kroffs overhauled the ride by designing larger characters with friendly, exaggerated facial features that almost seemed like costumed characters. Their cartoony and adoring style took the place of the ride’s original slender and simple animatronics. The old characters were replaced with towering, smiling animals that made the entire ride larger than life.

As for the sound design, the Kroffts recorded new voiceovers, sound effects, and musical numbers to give the ride a new heartbeat.

Bringing the Swamp to Life

Art Lozzi, who worked as a background artist on Hanna-Barbera productions, helped realize the redesign with illustrations of characters and scenes for the ride.

Though the presentation of Tales of the Okefenokee was being rebuilt, the attraction’s show building, ride system, and track were left untouched. Much of the existing sets remained as new air-powered animatronics were installed. Even though some of the attraction’s features carried over to the new version, the large-scale changes noticeably elevated the overall experience.

This version of the ride has been documented in greater detail than the original thanks to the enthusiastic preservation efforts of pop culture historian Tim Hollis in addition to the media collections of a few others.