For the 1992 season the area around the Grand Canyon Rapids was recreated as Katanga Canyon with Gloomy Wood being built in a clearing beyond. Take a look at some of the plans and concept images produced ahead of the construction of the two areas.
Shown first is one of the plans for the area and, whilst it is pretty faithful to the what was built, there a few differences. These mainly, involving the rerouting of the paths both at the entry point to Katanga Canyon and at the entrance to what is today the Haunted Hollow. It also seems like there might have originally been more theming planned for the rapids. Shown next is an artist’s impression of the inside of the Katanga Canyon’s restaurant after it became Pizza Hut for the 1998 season.
As we move over to Gloomy Wood, we first take a look at one of the early concepts for the Haunted House. As you can see, the shape is much the same as the building we see today, but the design is rather different, using a much more Edwardian style rather then the Tudor style which was eventually used. Another, much darker style suggestion for the building and another angle, looking from the queue line, is then shown. At least four different styles were considered for the building before they decided on the Gothic Tudor theme.
Looking at the concepts for the rest of the area, we can see that originally Gloomy Wood was due to have a game booth, but by the time of construction this had become the Witches Kitchen food stand. Despite the change of usage, architecturally it remained very similar to the original plan, only with more walls. Also shown is the original design for the area’s shop, before its 2003 extension. In the area’s plans, the wall style is familiar, while the gates gave way to a more solid alternative in the final build.
