I used to live in a summer cottage right next to the park with my family for many years, and my brother, myself and our friends from other cottages would spend hours at the park. We went every day. We were crazy teenagers who would be exploring the grounds (even the dump looking for metal items to cash in to put towards gas money for our friend Scott's truck), jumping off the dock, finding new ways to sneak in, and checking out the soaking wet girls who were leaving the "Flume" (log ride) that were trying desperately to cover themselves up because had white t-shirts on ;), I wouldn't trade those years for anything. I've got a story for every one of those rides.
Wow! I spent many hours performing on that stage in the early '90's! I was part of an extremly tacky night club act consisting of 5 guy singers and an evil band leader. who accompanied us on the accordian. We wore mauve tuxedos and beige yarmulkes (sp?) and none of us were Jewish. Oh, what we had to do to get by in "show biz". The lead singer, believe it or not, is now a relatively well-known opera singer though I must confess none of the other guys liked him. He tried to kill me once when I said "F*** you" under my breath during a show. Then he threw a beer bottle at my head off stage. Oh, Cangelosi, you dolt!
I remember every night of the week had a theme for dinner. Wednesday was always "New Year's Eve" complete with a balloon drop. I also remember that when you ordered the chicken the servers would always inquire "top or bottom" (white or dark meat). Always got a little chuckle out of that.
I performed at The Pines on many occasssions in the early '90's as part of a singing act called "Winged Victory Singers" led by the imfamous Joe Baris. The Pines, like so many of the old resorts in the area, was like a huge, decaying dinosaur in the mountains. There was always a musty smell throughout the resort. A sure sign the end would soon be near. Strangely sorry to see it has finally fallen.