Years before mega parks ever opened their doors to the public in the Orlando area there was a theme park that for 20 years placed guests right in the heart of the Wild West… We’re talking about the 200-acre Silver Springs gem of Six Gun Territory.
Westworld might be a popular show today, but westerns were commonplace in the 60s and 70s, the public couldn’t get enough of them!
When you entered Six Gun Territory on the “iron horse” sky ride you were leaving the modern world behind. There were 40 buildings (none of that fake crap you see today) that created the lifelike experience and enabled you to be immersed and roam freely throughout the town. You had the town church, jail, bank, and courthouse to name a few.
Step inside the Palace Saloon to watch a performance including can-can dancers, livery stable and fair with amusement rides, a train ride that was subject to numerous hold-ups.
Watching bank robbers and bad guys battle with the Marshall and his deputies keep the peace was a highlight of the experience. Fights would break out and with the sounds of gunfire crowds would watch was the bad guys were taken down.
There were several factors that were the demise of Six Gun Territory, the distance from Orlando and the parks of Disney and Sea World that were drawing guests in, as well as the decline in Westerns on television. Visitors quickly vanished and on January 1st, 1984 Six Gun Territory was closed. The land is now home to a shopping plaza (as is much of Orlando, or a storage facility!)
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Six Gun Territory was in Ocala Fl…..not Orlando! Lol