From The Vault: Enchanted Forest Brochure 1995

This brochure, from Enchanted Forest in Salem, Oregon, is undated but was sent to me in 1995.  The park was a labor of love for the man who created it, Roger Tofte, and when it finally opened in 1971 after many years of hard work, the twenty wooded acres soon became a haven for families in the area.

Oregon isn't exactly the land of massive theme parks, and Enchanted Forest is about as unique and opposite the big themers as it gets.  The tagline for the park on the cover here, "Oregon's Most Unique Land of Fun and Scenic Beauty" is not only a mouthful, but also a different way of spelling things out.  The park features many fairy tale themed attractions, all created specifically for the park over a long period of time.

There are only a handful of actual rides at the park, but plenty of interactive activities and displays to check out.  Here you can see the giant Witches Head that you can enter, and you can also see Humpty Dumpty perilously on the edge of that wall...  The Fantasy Fountains were originally a big draw for the park when they opened, but do not go expecting a World of Color sized production! The Haunted house is a walk through style that's three levels, though I doubt that there are any real intense scares in there since it is aimed at kids.

The center of the brochure features a map of the park, which is very simple but gets the job done.

In the upper right corner is a drawing of the Ice Mountain Bobsleds, one of the weirdest coasters I've seen.  The oddness of it makes it quite interesting, though, at least to me.  Check out this point of view video and you'll see what I mean.

If you study the rest of the park you'll see that there aren't many rides around, mostly static displays and buildings to explore.  There's the Three Bears House, Alice in Wonderland, a Castle and the Seven Dwarf's Cottage, for example.

Since the time when this brochure was printed the park has kept expanding.  Shortly after the Big Timber Log Flume opened, which is also quite unique and has a large coaster like drop out of the water.  More recently a handful of more traditional kiddie rides were added, and a large shooting style dark ride, named the Challenge of Mondor. The ride uses neat trackless vehicles that send riders around the show building.

For more on this interesting little park, check out their official webpage.  The history section on there is very detailed and worth a read.