Defunct Amusment Parks

[froggie]

Not mentioned yet:  Six Flags New Orleans (formerly Jazzland).  Heavily damaged and flooded by Hurricane Katrina.  Effectively abandoned in 2009 when Six Flags was able to get out of its lease during bankrupcy proceedings.  While a handful of movies used the grounds for filming over the past decade, and despite a slew of redevelopment proposals, it remains dilapidated and abandoned.

[Thing 342]

Hard Rock/Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach, SC only lasted two seasons. Poor location (Myrtle Beach is a tourism destination in relative decline) and poor management hurt it.

It also had the dubious honor of opening in May 2008, right at the start of the Great Recession, in a market that had already forced out another amusement park (the aforementioned Myrtle Beach Pavilion) a couple years earlier. That it utterly tanked was not much of a surprise, barely making it through two seasons and changing owners midway.

[abefroman329]

Myrtle Beach makes Panama City look classy, no wonder Eastbound and Down Season 3 was set there.

I just remembered Dispensa's Kiddie Kingdom.

[Max Rockatansky]

Santa Claus, AZ along US 93:

3383986651040 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Rothman]

Gaslight Village in Lake George, NY
Rocky Point in Warwick, RI
Mountain Park in Holyoke, MA
Savin Rock Amusement Park in West Haven, CT
Frontier Town in Schroon Lake, NY

Loved Mountain Park when I was a kid, despite how small and scruffy it was.

[inkyatari]

A short list and some links:

Old Chicago, Bolingbrook, IL, closed 1980.

I work a stones throw from where Old Chicago used to be.  The only sign of its existence is the street "Old Chicago Rd."

I remember as a kid that you could see the dome for miles at night.  On a clear day, even from Plainfield.

[kphoger]

Buckskin Joe, along the road to the Royal Gorge bridge
Closed in 2010

[inkyatari]

I just remembered Dispensa's Kiddie Kingdom.

LET'S GO!

[triplemultiplex]

I remember going to a small water park in Rapid City, SD when I was a kid that has since been leveled.  It was at the junction of US 16 and that Truck Route/Relief Route that bypasses Rapid City to the southeast.  Looks like there's a Holiday Inn there now and some sort of office building going in (looking at Streetview).  I don't remember the name of the place, but looks like it was still intact (if not necessarily open) circa 2013 based on historic aerials.

I enjoyed the one slide that was a sort of simulated whitewater rafting experience.  You'd ride an inner tube and plunge down from one pool to the next in a sort of reverse fish ladder.

[inkyatari]

Adventureland in Bloomingdale, IL

[US 81]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags_AstroWorld

I have fond memories of my visit here in the 1970's....

Still weird that Astroworld is gone.  There is one in the Dallas area that just announced its closure.  Sandy Lake Amusement Park (http://www.sandylake.com/), in Carrollton, was a small-format park that was a fixture just off I-35E for 48 years.  A big part of their business was school field trips, including band and choir groups.  I happened to be in one of the band groups in the late 1970s that made a trip up to Sandy Lake.  I found out quickly that the tilt-a-whirl would have to go on my never-again amusement rides list.

https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/sandy-lake-amusement-park-announces-it-is-closing-11286229
The owners sold it to a neighboring landscaping business.

I also made a few trips there with band and choir groups in the late '70's. That mini golf course was so bizarre (more fun than I would admit) and that swimming pool was so big, but my middle school self was not impressed with the rides.

It is possible that I still have a band jacket with patches from those contests...somewhere, probably moth-eaten by now....sigh

[kevinb1994]

Original Jacksonville Zoo location was at then-Springfield Park (now Henry J. Klutho Park). www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMXP6X_Jacksonville_Zoo_Jacksonville_FL

www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4KMB_Dixieland_Park_Jacksonville_FL Dixieland Park was located on the Southbank and Treaty Oak Park and a hotel are now there.

www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4PR8_Ocean_View_Pavilion_Amusement_Park_Jacksonville_Beach_FL Before the Jacksonville Beach bandstand, pier, and boardwalk there was an amusement park.

[US 81]

I remembered a couple more....

http://www.aquarenaandralph.com

http://galveston.wixsite.com/rememberingseaarama

[inkyatari]

Not so much an amusement park, but a corporate picnic grounds with amusement park rides, Hillcrest Park, Romeoville, IL  I remember going here several times as a kid.

[abefroman329]

Not so much an amusement park, but a corporate picnic grounds with amusement park rides, Hillcrest Park, Romeoville, IL  I remember going here several times as a kid.

I never went there, but I did go to White Fence Farm several times.  I'm surprised White Fence Farm didn't buy the park, they love to provide forms of entertainment for diners who are waiting for a table.

[inkyatari]

Not so much an amusement park, but a corporate picnic grounds with amusement park rides, Hillcrest Park, Romeoville, IL  I remember going here several times as a kid.

I never went there, but I did go to White Fence Farm several times.  I'm surprised White Fence Farm didn't buy the park, they love to provide forms of entertainment for diners who are waiting for a table.

White Fence Farm has gone waaayyy downhill. I really hate their (obviously instant) mashed potatoes. If you want a similar style chicken dinner, drive the 4-5 hours to the lodge at Giant City State Park in Makanda, IL

BTW, the White Fence Farm in Denver Colorado is closing...

[noelbotevera]

More abandoned parks, some Disney:

-Disney's Discovery Island - closed in 1999 due to competition from Animal Kingdom which was much larger; everything has basically been left the way it was because of isolation and strict security
-Disney's River Country - closed in 2002 due to Blizzard Beach opening which was way better; probably gonna be demolished because Disney wants to build a resort in its place
-Ontario Place - kinda sorta closed? Anyone can really waltz in and they didn't really remove much...most likely closed because of attendance; plans for redevelopment or reopening have been in limbo for about five years
-Opryland USA - closed in 1998 because of competition and tastes changing in Nashville; most landscaping remains (river rapids rides, some flora, a giant rock, etc.), otherwise no structures are left

[lepidopteran]

Many of these smaller parks were known as "trolley parks".  That is, they were built by trolley companies at the end of streetcar lines so they would get riders on weekends.  Where there were once thousands of these, very few trolley parks remain today, though Pittsburgh's Kennywood is one example.  As is Dorney Park in Allentown.

One trolley park that closed relatively recently is Willow Grove Park near Philadelphia, which shut down in 1976.  It's now a mall by the same name, and I think there's a restored carousel from the original park inside the mall.

For other parks, Ocala, FL had a "wild west"-themed park called Six Gun Territory.  It closed in the late '70s, apparently due to the decline in popularity of Westerns.  Today it is the "Six Gun Plaza" shopping center.

Hmm, I wonder how many other former amusement parks became shopping centers/malls?  Such as Nashville's Opryland, which became Opry Mills.  But sometimes they co-existed...

In North Miami Beach, FL, the "Mall at 163rd St." used to have a small amusement park right on the premises, near the Burdine's entrance.  This was when back when it was open-air (then called the 163rd St. Shopping Center), and it was only kiddie rides.  A train ride circled the park area, which meant that the entrance was "protected" by a crossing gate.  This all disappeared in the late '70s, and the mall was enclosed shortly thereafter.

In 1976, in the Omni complex in downtown Atlanta, GA, a hi-rise, indoor amusement park called "The World of Sid and Marty Krofft" opened.  The park was, in part, themed around HR Pufnstuf and other TV shows by the puppeteer duo.  But I understand the only major rides they had were (1) a carousel with crystal horses, and (2) a dark ride that simulated going through a pinball machine.  The park was open for less than 6 months before it folded.  Reasons often cited were that it was too pricey for what it was, and that the downtown area was perceived, at least at the time, to be unsafe.  Today, the floors occupied by the park are now studios for CNN; the 8-story freestanding escalator used to get to the park's entrance -- I wonder how many people that scared off -- remains in use for studio tours.

Someone else mentioned Old Chicago; I think the only indoor amusement parks that really did well are inside malls.  Mall of America near Minneapolis, and West Edmonton are the only ones I'm aware of.  I think that Xanadu/American Dream Meadowlands in Northern NJ is supposed to have an amusement element -- this time it's really supposed to be opening next March.

[roadman65]

I forgot about Cypress Gardens and not the original botanical garden/ famous water ski shows either.  I am talking about the new owner of it who tried to make a go of an amusement park in the early aughts. When hurricanes Charley, Frances, and the other (I cannot recall its name) hounded the state in 04, it got damaged so bad the owners could not reinvest, so it closed and now its Legoland.

Funtown Pier in Seaside Heights, NJ is another one.  Sandy destroyed it and the owner decided not to rebuild.  The other amusement area (Casino Pier) did rebuild though.

[abefroman329]

Not so much an amusement park, but a corporate picnic grounds with amusement park rides, Hillcrest Park, Romeoville, IL  I remember going here several times as a kid.

I never went there, but I did go to White Fence Farm several times.  I'm surprised White Fence Farm didn't buy the park, they love to provide forms of entertainment for diners who are waiting for a table.

White Fence Farm has gone waaayyy downhill. I really hate their (obviously instant) mashed potatoes. If you want a similar style chicken dinner, drive the 4-5 hours to the lodge at Giant City State Park in Makanda, IL

BTW, the White Fence Farm in Denver Colorado is closing...

I think it's as delicious as it's always been (I get French fries, not mashed potatoes and gravy), though I go to the carryout location in North Riverside most frequently.

I went to Dell Rhea Chicken Basket a few years ago, tasted like Shake "˜n' Bake.

[RobbieL2415]

Well let's see:

Astroworld became a parking lot
Rocky Point Amusement Park (Warwick, RI) is now a state park.
Astroland (Coney Island) is now a new, different park
Mountain Park (Holyoke, MA) is now a concert venue
Action Park went back to being a ski resort
Geauga Lake/SFWOA/Wild Water Kingdom is supposed to become a Meijer
Nara Dreamland in Japan is now condos.

[sbeaver44]

Williams Grove Amusement Park next to the well-known dirt track of the same name near Harrisburg, PA.

I went here as a kid and enjoyed it. Admission was $10, this would have been somewhere around 1999.

Nexus 6P

[MikeTheActuary]

Libertyland, Memphis TN...

[Throckmorton]

   
In Kansas City, MO...   
   
Fairyland Park in Kansas City was in operation for more than fifty years. It had that cheap carnival atmosphere if you know what I mean.   
   
I only went there once when I was still in grade school. The bumper cars were my favorite.   
      
Storm damage and the opening of Worlds of Fun pretty much spelled it's demise.   
   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairyland_Park
   
http://www.kcur.org/post/years-ago-summer-meant-almost-everyone-headed-fairyland-park
   
   
Way before my time there was Electric Park. Actually, there were two amusement parks with this name. A young Walt Disney was a frequent visitor to the second park. And a young Walter Cronkite witnessed the fire that mostly destroyed that park in 1925.   
   
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Park,_Kansas_City
   
   

[lepidopteran]

On the right is the front and back of a Cypress Gardens brochure; they had a card-like, single page "brochure"; not sure if it's both sides of the same one. On the left are two brochure covers from the (open) Silver Springs near Ocala.

Florida brochures, late '70s by Mike, on Flickr