One of the chapters in the upcoming park history book focuses on entrepreneurs who took Walt’s concept and found a way to make it happen in their own part of the country. These individuals had the drive, determination, resources, and sheer guts to jump head-first into waters they knew little about. Storms loomed ahead, threatening to capsize many
The regional theme park history book keeps pushing right along toward completion (hint…it’s close). To hold you over in the meantime, I’ll be sharing bits and pieces from the book and my research while tossing in other interesting items along the way. Three of them, in fact. I’m extremely pleased to have some wonderful folks who were eager to pitch in on this project.
First up is Rob
Although not that many people know the name, C.V. Wood was the—shall we say—enterprising individual who helped get Disneyland built, then got fired, then opened his own park development firm. He opened three parks with Marco Engineering, the first two being Magic Mountain in Colorado and Pleasure Island in Massachusetts. The third one opened for business
Libertyland was a small, charming theme park in Memphis, TN. Designed by Duell & Associates, the same firm responsible for most of the regional theme parks around the country, it was intended to fit a smaller niche than the likes of Six Flags, Opryland, and so on. With a much smaller footprint (and budget), it was well-designed, but could never really
From Imagineering an American Dreamscape
With the turmoil of the 1960s nearly inescapable in the daily news, Americans sought refuge in a steady stream of rural, down-home television shows. Feel-good fodder such as Hee Haw, Mayberry RFD, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and The Real McCoys were set in simpler times and places, reminding
Two of the four Busch Gardens properties live on to this day. The first, in Tampa, started out in 1959 as a free, fun thing to do while touring the brewery; it was intended to promote the brand. But it became so popular the company decided it was worth more as a gated park, and so the park expanded, the brewery went away. The opposite happened in Los Angeles and Houston, which didn’t survive as gated, ticketed parks. As in Florida, the LA property started out as merely a promotional
Everybody knows pretty much everything about Disneyland—how it got started, how the Imagineers do their thing, and so on. But nobody ever talks about the parks that most of us across the country enjoy far more often. The regional theme parks, different from amusement parks, owe their existence to the magical land Walt built in Anaheim. There were a few false starts, but in 1961 Angus Wynne opened Six Flags Over Texas, triggering a tidal wave of Disneyland-lites over the next twenty years.
Imagineering an American Dreamscape tells the story of the regionals and the strong-willed
After getting fired from Disney less than six months from opening Disneyland, CV Wood created his own company, filched a few Disney artists, and set out to build a series of Disneyland copies around the country. It didn’t go so well as only one of the four have survived (and he was fired from that one before it was even completed). The shortest-lived of the other three
I grew up with Carowinds, starting from the 1973 opening season. My parents heard about this new thing from neighbors and ads in the paper, so off we went for the two hour drive down to Charlotte. What a magical moment when the Intamin Sky Tower rose majestically over the horizon! And “racing” the sleek monorail as you drove up to the toll booths. What a first day
After getting fired from Disney less than six months from opening Disneyland, CV Wood created his own company, filched a few Disney artists, and set out to build a series of Disneyland copies around the country. It didn’t go so well as only one of the four have survived (and he was fired from that one before it was even completed). The longest-running
