Bell's Phantasmagoria Dark Ride P.7

By 2004, the dark ride was constantly getting abused by rowdy patrons. Daily vandalism led to major and expensive repairs, almost to the point of the park stopping the repairs. Bob Jr. quipped that he should never had made the ride part of the Pay-One-Price promotion as it was hard on the ride.

Things were so bad that vandals would sneak pliers and wire cutters into the ride in order to pull the chicken wire away from the props. This was also the reason the outside and exposed dip was removed, to shorten the ride's time.

The “Scarieeeeee House” artwork would now replace the dip and fake Spiderweb on the center of the facade. Enter our “Shining Knight”, so to speak: Kyle Wood. Kyle was part of the park’s maintenance staff and had an artistic background so he was drawn instantly to the worn out and badly-looking dark ride.

In his spare time and with limited funds, Mr. Wood would begin to replace broken black lights, reinforce the stunts' wire cages with steel rods and also add hidden sections of the ride where attendants could keep watch over the riders. (Mr. Wood shown below amid destruction caused by a microburst.)

There were secret rooms and ladders up and down to get to each part of the ride. There was also a hidden maintenance shop located in the back of the ride for onsite repairs. The Skull Room walls would get covered with tin foil for a new effect. While Kyle did not have a huge budget, as he was doing the repairs on his own, he alone helped prolong the ride's life for the next few years.