The Waynesville Mountaineer reports that decision day is Wednesday:
A federal bankruptcy judge will rule Wednesday on whether Ghost Town in the Sky will be reorganized or forced into foreclosure.
Opting for the reorganization plan means keeping the park alive and paying back in full the string of creditors who are owed. It also requires millions of dollars to pull it off.
The alternative is to force the property into foreclosure, liquidating the assets and hoping the sale brings in enough cash to pay everyone back. There is a chance that few unsecured creditors, if any, will be paid if foreclosure happens. That’s because the 225 businesses owed a cumulative near $2.5 million are last in line to be paid.
Unsecured creditors stand in line for payment behind a short list of others, including three priority creditors and BB&T, the only secured creditor. The bank who holds the more than $9.5 million mortgage and is first in line for payment.
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I say let it go. Apparently it was a pretty popular place when it first opened, and even into the early 90s. My parents used to go there when they were younger (not long after it first opened) and I think just about everyone in my extended family has got photos of themselves at Ghost Town. I went one time after it reopened in 2007, and while it was a somewhat interesting place, there really wasn’t that much there. Certainly not enough to do or see to warrant the steep ticket prices.
The roller coaster, which was not running when I went, later ran for something like one day before it got shut down again. The rides were the exact same rides that you see at the Mountain State Fair every year. The food and gift shops, like all amusement parks, were way overpriced. The most interesting things, really, were the staged gun fights and the can-can dancers, and those weren’t even all that interesting. Actually, I would say the best thing about the whole park was the chair-lift that takes you there. It’s all downhill after that (literally and figuratively). Ghost Town had its time, but I think its time has passed.