Zamperla Rides introduced an electrically driven children's train ride called the Great Western Railway which has become a staple of carnivals, theme parks and amusement parks around the world. The small trains feature two styles of bodies with either a classically styled Rio Grande engine and cars or a cartoon version reminiscent of the Casey Jr. train ride at Disneyland. The track is modular like a giant toy train set and can be configured many ways to fit the available space. Last update to this page:  March 15, 2011 (Updated Text)       For the 1988 season, the park worked to enhance its family image with the addition of Bugs Bunny Land, replacing the faded Looney Tunes Land that had originally been Shirt Tales Land and Kiddie Kingdom before that. Bugs Bunny Land was a state of the art children's area featuring rides, play elements and entertainment geared to the park's youngest guests. One of the new attractions added as part of the new area was the Bugs Bunny Great Western Rail Road. The new ride was located on what had been the site of the Pet-A-Pet petting zoo.                         Click the placard below to watch video of the Bugs Bunny Great Western Rail Road:         The ride's original meandering layout wound around landscape plantings and past cartoonish scenery featuring old western style facades, rocks and bison right out of a cartoon. Most of the scenic elements were removed over time, increasing ride safety by removing anything that obstructed the operator's view of the train as it cycled. For the 1999 season the layout was modified and turned into a simple oval to make room for the addition of the children's swinging ship ride, Daffy's Duckaneer, which was added as part of the park's "War on Lines".  The station for the ride was a fairly elaborate structure, with a traditional train station look. The station offered a shady resting place for parents waiting for their children to return from their journey.                                           Since the Great Train Ride had been removed in 1980, the park had gone without a train ride until the addition of the Bugs Bunny Rail Road. Unlike the Great Train Ride, the Bugs Bunny Rail Road was restricted to children riders under 54" tall. The train configuration chosen for the Bugs Bunny Rail Road was an engine, 3 covered coaches and a caboose all of which featured logos on the sides with "Six Flags" in a banner over the image of a locomotive silhouette.                       Click the placard below to view the original Bugs Bunny Land Commercial:                     The Bugs Bunny Rail Road was one of the main focal points of the Bugs Bunny Land area, providing great picture taking opportunities to parents as the train slowly made its way around the track passing the pathway in several locations. Quite often the park featured the Bugs Bunny Railroad in publicity materials and commercials. The original commercial for Bugs Bunny Land feature the train prominently with Bugs Bunny and Sylvester the Cat riding along with the children. The small ride vehicles were designed to hold children and the covered cars meant that adults could not ride. The adult sized Bugs Bunny and Sylvester squeezed into the train for commercials and publicity pictures, folding their bodies to get inside the tiny cars. The Bugs Bunny Rail Road was a favorite for many children for more than 17 years, making thousands of laps around the course and logging hundreds of miles carrying thousands of children. At the end of the 2004 season Bugs Bunny Land was demolished to make way for the new Golden Kingdom area of the park for the 2005 season. The Bugs Bunny Rail Road was removed as part of the renovation, and would return with a new name, new configuration and new colors as part of the new section.                                        A major part of the new Golden Kingdom area of the park was devoted to a brand new children's area which would be called Balin's Jungleland. The new area featured 5 rides and 3 new interactive play areas. Four of the five rides in Balin's Jungleland were re-themed rides that had previously been part of Bugs Bunny Land, and the Bugs Bunny Rail Road was one of those chosen to anchor the new section. A new track layout was created to circle part of the giant new play structure in a large oval. The track was laid under a bridge connecting the two towers of the Tiger Land Tree House play structure, through a densely planted area of lush "jungle" foliage. The ride's new name was the Jungleland Express, and the train was repainted in jungle colors to match the new theme. Along with the other rides into he section, the Jungleland Express was fitted with an Indian style operators booth and was originally designed to have a covered station platform added as well, re-using the old roof structure from the old Bugs Bunny Rail Road station.                           For the 2005 season the Jungleland Express never opened to the public as multiple modifications were made to the track in an attempt to create a safe crossing for the emergency exit required for the Tigerland Tree House play structure. Originally to get the Tree House open, the tracks were simply terminated on either side of the walkway with fences put in place along the sides of the path. As the season went on, multiple configurations of gates and bridges were tried in attempts to make the train operational as well as providing the required emergency access. The Jungleland Express train remained sitting on the back side of the track loop, out if sight behind the towers of the play structure.  Despite all attempts, the ride would not open until the 2006 season. Despite the holes left in the station platform for the addition of columns to support a roof structure, the temporary covers were removed and they were filled with concrete.                                    Click the placard below to watch video of the Jungleland Express:               With the start of the 2006 season, a solution was found that allowed the operation of the train and the necessary emergency exit for the play structure and the ride finally opened to the public. The 2006 season also saw the addition of another new children's area, Bugs Bunny National Park, and with it a second train ride, the Foghorn Leghorn Stagecoach Express. This new train featured the same track, but unique stage coach and horse styled ride vehicles. For the 2009 and 2010 seasons the Jungleland Express was left "standing but not operating".  The train ride and the balance of Balin's Jungleland would cease operation and be removed before the start of the 2011 season.