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Categories
Editorials
Theme Park Adventure: It’s Time to Say Goodbye – Final Mixer Announced
This just could be the single most challenging thing I have ever written. There’s no easy way to finesse or be delicate with the wording, and it’s going to come as a shock to many people. I have decided after 24 amazing years, that it is time for me to retire Theme Park Adventure. Effective immediately, our ride together has come to a full and complete stop, and I cannot thank each of you enough for all of the love, support, incredible friendship, love, and laughs we have shared together over the past two decades.
This is a long entry; thank you in advance for reading it through – this will be my last post as Founder/Editor-in-Chief here on Theme Park Adventure.
When I started TPA in 1994, there is no way I could have ever imagined that it would go on to blaze trails, inspire so many others, become the very first themed entertainment fansite on the Internet, find itself in the hub of the haunt community, or eventually open the door for me to step through the looking glass and become a professional in the very industry I have spent so many years writing about. I was just a young guy with a passion and a penchant for writing who wanted to share his love of theme parks and Halloween with like-minded folks who were willing to read.
And you read.
Some of you have read for the past 24 years as our adventures together have taken us on a ride through the past, present, and the future. And what an incredible journey it’s been. Words cannot convey the gratitude I have for the many years of community and group spirit TPA has enjoyed. While every day, every story, every tweet, every video, every event has been special, I’d like to indulge for a moment and reflect on some TPA events/crossroads that come to mind when I think about the legacy of this site and everything that’s gone into it as a living, breathing entity.
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Wes Craven – Bringer of Monsters and Nightmares
November, 1984. My grandfather and I were in the restroom of the Crest Theatre in San Bernardino, California after seeing Madman. When I noticed in the newspaper that the movie (it had become a sleeper/cult classic of sorts in the early ’80s, playing with other horror films around the country long after its initial release) was playing at the Crest, I asked my grandfather to take me – and away we went. As we washed our hands, my grandpa asked if I wanted to stay and see the movie that Madman was playing with as a double-feature; something or other about Elm Street. Neither one of us really knew much about it, but figured we’d give it a shot; if it sucked, we’d leave.
That second-thought film was indeed, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, and for the next hour and a half, we sat silently in that theater, completely transfixed by what we saw on the screen. We left the Crest that evening buzzing about this new monster – with a charred red and green sweater, crumpled fedora, and a blade-tipped glove that slashed his victims in their dreams as they slept. We didn’t realize it at the time, but we’d just witnessed the birth of one of horror’s most iconic characters – Freddy Krueger.
Wes Craven’s career was a good one – and he unleashed an impressive list of terror on moviegoers that includes The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, Swamp Thing, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker, Scream, and Red Eye, to name a few. His films were mostly all received very well by horror fans, and the character of Ghostface from the Scream series arguably has become the most famous mask in cinema since John Carpenter’s Halloween. In my mind however, what towers above all else is the Gloved One – Freddy. And this is where we can easily bridge Craven’s world to that of themed entertainment.
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Star Wars and Disneyland – This Isn’t the Park You’re Looking For
Disney CEO Bob Iger Announces Star Wars Lands at D23 Expo 2015
It’s been a much-talked about rumor among fans and industry folks for quite some time: that The Walt Disney Company has been planning a massive Star Wars expansion for Disneyland. After all, the company dropped $4 billion on the Lucasfilm universe in 2012 – it only seemed to be a matter of time until its theme parks were heavily populated by Stormtroopers, Jedis and odd aliens from galaxies far, far away.
This past weekend during the D23 Expo in Anaheim, Disney’s chairman and CEO, Bob Iger, announced to a crowd of nearly 8,000 hard core fans that yes, the world of Star Wars is coming to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort. In Anaheim, the 14-acre expansion will be in the backstage area of the park, likely behind Mickey’s Toontown and Big Thunder Ranch. It’s very possible that even the Team Disney Anaheim building (you know the one – it’s been looming large next to the 5 Freeway in all of its yellow and green maligned glory since 1995) may be razed to make way for this new expansion in the years to come, since the company has recently purchased sizable new lots adjacent to the Disneyland Resort for its further evolution in Orange County. The exact footprint and what will be cleared remains the point of much speculation at this point online.
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It’s a Small World Fire at Disneyland Sparks Deep-Seated Fears
Small World fire image by sincerelymollie/Instagram
Red-hot flames lashed out, threatening to devour that what was so revered – so beloved by so many. Glowing embers flickered and rose into the darkness like brightly-lit fiber optics. Horrified and curious onlookers were kept at a safe distance as firefighters started to douse water on the fire before it could spread and do irreversible damage.
I’m not talking about the fire at It’s a Small World this past weekend at Disneyland. I am talking about the morning of May 27, 1911 at Coney Island. Just past 1:30 AM on the park’s opening day of the 1911 season, fire broke out in the depths of a brand new attraction ironically named Hell Gate. By dawn, Dreamland at Coney Island had been reduced mostly to smoldering piles of ash and rubble as news quickly spread and the masses came to gawk at its ruins.
Fire has always been a great threat and fear when it comes to attractions or iconic locations. Whether we talk about seaside boardwalks, Las Vegas hotels, or famous theme park attractions – fire is a subject that conjures deep-seated fears for both owners and fans.
“Dude! It’s a Small World is on fire at Disneyland!” is a phrase that nightmares are made of. Yet, that’s what I heard shortly after 9:30 PM on Sunday night, as we were finishing an evening spent at nearby Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s a major fear that’s always lingering in the back of one’s mind, but rarely ever manifests itself. Hearing it said aloud was jarring, regardless of how “prepared” we think we are in our thoughts.
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Letting the Air Out of Luigi’s Flying Tires at DCA
In summer of 1961, a new attraction opened in Tomorrowland at Disneyland – the infamous Flying Saucers. The idea was unique – think of the way an air hockey table works – and you’re sitting on top of the puck. Single riders would sit on their own saucer vehicle, which kind of also resembled a bumper car – and once the air pressure from the large platform base built up below them, the vehicles would begin to kinda-sorta hover. Depending on the direction guests leaned, that’s the direction the saucers would bounce and skid. It was noisy, and by multiple accounts from former Imagineers over the years, the Flying Saucers were one big headache from start to finish. And that finish came quickly in Disneyland years – the ill-fated attraction only lasted roughly five years before it was ripped out for something different; that something different was the first Tomorrowland Stage, which is now Tomorrowland Terrace.
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