Theme Parks come and Theme Parks go. Here's your chance to bring back memories of parks that no longer exist.


I've been to a bunch of parks that are no more, but I guess I will start the ball rolling with Six Gun Territory in Ocala, Florida. I used to go there with my family. It was a neat frontier type of place. They had a saloon and shoot outs in the street. They also had a lost dutchman's mine. Toward the end of it's life, the park added some off the shelf carny rides as a desparate attempt to draw people in. It had a hard time competing with WDW and it finally went belly up.

(I have a glass of Cherry Coke in my hand.) Here's a toast to Six Gun Territory in Florida.

there were 2 in the Detroit Area worth mentioning...
the one that died first: Edgewater Park.....i think it was one of the first with a Pay One Price policy...
the last time i was there was when i was about 12 years old (more than 30 years ago)....
i don't know when it closed...and i don't know where it was in detroit (though i assume it was in an area you'd never get out of alive today)....
i remember once riding the big wooden coaster 12 times in a row and then losing the prior weeks breakfast, lunch and dinners in the bathroom.....memories...

the other detroit area park that was closed relatively recently was Boblo Park.....it was on an island in the middle of the Detroit River.....you had to take a boat there....either from detroit or from the canadian side (hmmm....what was that dock called....i don't recall but we usually drove to canada and took the boat from there....the boat from detroit was just a tad dangerous.....even with armed guards wearing brass knuckles ......)
anyway...it was a fun park for what it was....they had lots of kiddie rides my kids enjoyed when they were toddlers...

In general for most of the US but mainly I am talking about the one here in CA... Santa's Village. It was a cute little park, they were arround for a long time which surpises me since it is such a limited theme. They had some rides but the things I remember most are the frozen north pole and the ferris wheel that squeeked like crazy.:D

Geez, Beth, I was gonna mention Bob-Lo, but I got too tired. I believe going on the dark ride - a spook house, natch - is just about my earliest memory. Remember the motorboats, too, and the skating rink building. We always took the boat from Detroit. My mom told me that the American ship was the only way to get there, even though the park was in Canada. And, of course, moms are always right! ;)

I had forgotton Edgewater until your post. I'd only been there once, with my uncle, and I don't remember a thing about it. If it was in the latter days, that could be a good thing.

i can't remember the spook house.....
not one that you ride through...
i think i remember one that you walked through...a fun house....
i think....it's really really really hard for me to remember anything at boblo...
when i was little we took the boat from detroit.....but those were kinder gentler days...
when my kids were little we took the boat from canada...i think the dock was in amherstberg, but i'm not sure...

Anyone from Phoenix remember the old Legend City? Closed in the earlier 80's.. Only went once.. On closing day..

Originally posted by disneyholic family
i can't remember the spook house.....
not one that you ride through...this was defininately a dark ride - I remember looking at things, but the only thing I remember SEEING, was a skeleton. Even THEN, I knew it was pretty hokey. I remember riding with my sister, who was about three years younger than me. Actually, she still is. :p
i think i remember one that you walked through...a fun house....
i think....it's really really really hard for me to remember anything at boblo...Yeah, me too. The one thing I remember BEST about it is...
when i was little we took the boat from detroit.....but those were kinder gentler days...One of the highlights usta be going down into the bowels of the ship to see it "work". Really hot n smelly, come to think of it....
when my kids were little we took the boat from canada...i think the dock was in amherstberg, but i'm not sure... I think I remember the anticipation of going as much as I remember the actual trips.

Florida has had many parks come and go. One that I used to go to as a kid was Materpiece Gardens in Lake Wales, FL. It had a skyway that was actually pretty scary, but still kinda cool. The park received its name because at the center of the park was a large replica of Devincci's painting "The Last Supper." Every hour they had a ceremony in which they opened the curtain so everyone could see it.

The grounds were beautiful. They had cypress trees that were over 2000 years old and there were very friendly little monkeys all over the place.

A toast (Grape juice of course.) to Masterpiece Gardens.

OK, Southern Californians. Who doesn't remember Marineland? Out on the beautiful PV peninsula with that great sky tower and lots of sea creatures. It was so close but seemed so remote that it was like taking a mini-vacation.

Also, Busch Gardens, somewhere off the 210, I think. I don't remember it very well. They closed it down and opened one in Florida. What was up with that?

I remember Santa's Village also. I visit the old train pretty regularly at the Santa Ana Zoo (they have a Geoffrey Cat that looks like Scoundral).

I'm sure there were more. My parents were into ammusement parks and roadside attractions. That Florida Materpiece Gardens sounds familiar.

Well of course I remember! Heck, you and I are in the same "age group" now!

Has anyone here been to Heritage USA? I believe it was Jim and Tammy Baker's theme park. It's defunct now and just sitting there. I just saw "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" and they talked about the park. It looked really scary... now and before... :D

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Not Afraid
OK, Southern Californians. Who doesn't remember Marineland?

Me

Also, Busch Gardens, somewhere off the 210, I think. I don't remember it very well. They closed it down and opened one in Florida. What was up with that?

Damn government, I wager.


I remember Santa's Village also.
I remember that one, was it in Lake Arrowhead?


Lion Country Safari. I remember going there when I was very young. I swear, I thought we were going to die. That is the only theme park I've ever gone to where I felt there was a better than average chance I would lose my life (not counting Magic Mountain during what I like to call "Roving Gang Years.") Right, lets drive our car through a bunch of lions, seems like a great idea. Hey, let's go swim with the sharks next.

I saw many old CA themeparks, on PBS's "Things that aren't there anymore." ;)

We used to have a Lion Country Safari in Florida, too. I never went to it, but I have heard stories about it. Dad wouldn't take us because monkeys and other critters were known to do damage to vehicles.

The old LA Busch Gardens was off the 405 on Roscoe in the Valley - it was in back of the Budweiser brewery there and although the number of rides was small (some kind of boat ride, a log ride and some other small stuff), the main attraction was free beer stands (at least in its early days) for adults.

Eventually, I believe they did away with the free beer and the rides and the only attraction at the site became a monorail ride through the brewery itself .........

There was also Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica which opened within a year or two of Disney - it was a park built on a pier with a number of rides created by the same guys that did the Matterhorn later for Disney ....... in fact, CBS invested heavily in POP instead of Disney and need anybody say any more about how bad that choice was given that POP closed in short order and Disney, well ...............

Info on many of the California Parks can be found on the E-ticket Magazine CD available from MousePlanet's shop .........

Originally posted by Dlandmom
Well of course I remember! Heck, you and I are in the same "age group" now!

Whew! I was feeling so alone up here! ;)

Wow, I remember Lion Country Safari.

The most exciting part of the drive through was the ostriches, they'd charge the car and peck the heck out of your window. We used to have a bobbing head lion in the back of our car from the Park, A Fraser to be sure.

And who can forget Bubbles, the hippo that escaped and lived in the wild Irvine countryside for awhile before she was recaptured. Oh and they had Hippo boats! Dang that was a good park.

Originally posted by EandCDad
I remember Santa's Village also. [I]
I remember that one, was it in Lake Arrowhead?

Running Springs comes to mind, it was somewhere in the San Bernadino Mts.


Lion Country Safari. I remember going there when I was very young. I swear, I thought we were going to die. That is the only theme park I've ever gone to where I felt there was a better than average chance I would lose my life (not counting Magic Mountain during what I like to call "Roving Gang Years.") Right, lets drive our car through a bunch of lions, seems like a great idea. Hey, let's go swim with the sharks next. [/B]

How could I have forgotton that park? I found a small poster the other day tucked away in an old book with a picture of "Frazier the Sensuous Lion". I remember when he died and they buried him on a hill over the park with a big cross that you could see from the freeway. I wonder if its still there?

That also brought to mind the Japanese Deer Park near Knott's in Buena Park. Or the Crocodile Farm and the Koi Farm. These were the "other attractions" that profited from their nearness to Knotts. This was looooong before Medieval Times and friends. The Deer Park used to give out these little plastic deer that I was crazy for (this was around the time I saw Bambi) I must still have one of these somewhere.

I see a trip to the storage in my future.

I know this doesn't count as a forgotten park, since it never opened, but here goes. Doug Henning was planning on openning a Magic park in Central Florida. I remember reading the article about it in the Orlando Sentinel. The center piece was to be a caslte that looked like if was floating on top of a column of water. The only attraction I can remember was a Transindental Maditation ride. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. Just thought I'd share.

Good call on Lion Country, Santa's Village & MarineLand.

What about Calico, that ghost town thing out in the desert?
I assume it's gone....wasn't it affilated w/ Knotts?

Oracle Corp's (the Database people, in case you didn't know) world HQ is now on the grounds of the former Marine Land, and they still have the lakes and waterways that were there for the park!

Just a little trivia.

Originally posted by mrcoffee
Oracle Corp's (the Database people, in case you didn't know) world HQ is now on the grounds of the former Marine Land, and they still have the lakes and waterways that were there for the park!

Just a little trivia.

Is this the same Marineland that was in Palos Verdes? I don't they're developing that land and have built a fabulous golf course, but it's pretty remote for a Corporate Headquarters.

Hmmmm, if that's the case, I should get a job there.......

Originally posted by HTHBellcaptain
I know this doesn't count as a forgotten park, since it never opened, but here goes. Doug Henning was planning on openning a Magic park in Central Florida.

Wow. I hadn't heard of that, so I got on Google. Apparently Henning had most recently considered building his park in Canada (he died in 2000):

http://www.vedaland.com/
http://www.theatrics.com/doughenning/vedalandpromo.html


Here's a link to the Florida version:

http://www.lostparks.com/never.html


Some other interesting stuff on that last site too...

Nto sure is this is a theme park but does anyone remeber Circus Wolr, located near Sea World. UH OH, I am dating myself. I wish they still had it, that was had great theming for children of all ages.

I loved Circus World. I remember when it first opened. There wasn't much there, but it was still cool. It was later turned into Boardwalk and Baseball. Now the land just sits there.:(