There are lots of attractions on the roadside that people enjoy such as theme parks. They are lots of fun and often times have games and many exciting things to do. Often times what happens is in the end, the excitement wears off. People start to move on and find other things to do. The thrills don’t seem as much anymore after going there so many times. The attractions start to lose money and business. When that happens they are forced to abandoned the once fun thrilling attraction on the roadside. A few of the attractions on the roadside were cool but some of them are just weird.
Check out these 10 Weird Abandoned Attractions On The Roadside
10. Abandoned Prehistoric Forest Amusement Park In Irish Hills, MI.
In Central Michigan right in the Irish Hills region you will find cabins and summer homes all spread throughout the area. You’ll even find some lakes that are small and beautiful. However, another thing that you will find in this mix is a Pre-Historic Forest Amusement Park that was built back in 1963 and now abandoned. The park had a lot of fiberglass statues of dinosaurs in it and other things. Due to pranksters trying to damage the statues there are now security camera’s in the abandoned area.
9. Enchanted Forest Theme Park In Ellicott City, MD
On August 15th, 1955 the Enchanted Forest Theme Park opened. It appealed to mainly children and families. The park itself had a theme to it all centered around a nursery rhyme. There was no rides on it at first but just had strange characters and fairy tale buildings scattered throughout the park. Children often times would also have birthday parties there. This wasn’t extremely creepy but some of the rides and attractions would scare a few of the kids.
8. Johnson’s Park In Milwaukee, WI
Johnson’s Park was a mixture of things at its time. When it was opened the park had Gokarts, a mini golf course and with it there was an amusement park attached with it along with water slides. What made this park creepy was the fact that there were a lot of ceramic creatures on the grounds. Most of the creatures were big. Everything has now been abandoned and no one is currently looking after it.
7. Dogpatch USA In Marble Falls, AR
This roadside attraction was based on a hillbilly theme and was actually very successful. You could pack up fish, clean and catch them. It opened back in 1968 and they had games plus rides in the park. In time, people just got tired with it like most of the abandoned attractions on the road side. While it was popular at its time, chances are it would not survive today if it was reopened. Now it has a lot of redneck tastic-creepy ruins scattered throughout the place.
6. Splendid China In Kissimmee, FL
This park was available to 1993 until 2003. It was almost like a replica of Splendid China. This type of park’s theme was very different compared to many other theme parks. The Chinese government helped with actually funding it. There was a lot of controversy sparked over the park and some felt it was an act of possible communist propaganda. The park still opens and closes and many owners have tried to open it back up again but have not been successful. A couple of the exhibits included The Great Wall, The Midair Temple and the Miao Village.
5. Rocky Point Amusement Park In Warwick, RI
The Rocky Point Amusement Park was popular between 1840’s all the way up to around 1995. Maybe it was successful due the carousel rides and roller coaster rides that it had. However, after the park closed it turned into a very creepy place because of all the vandalism that took place. The reason why it closed was because they ended up having to file for bankruptcy. People stopped going to it and in time just started to become not as popular as it once was.
4. Land of Oz In Beech Mountain, NC
The Land of Oz was opened back in 1970 and stayed open until 1980. The theme of the park was the Wizard of Oz and they even had a popular hot air balloon ride. The park was popular for the first year but then the owner of the park died and the sales started to decline. A lot of the props ended up either being stolen or vandalized. Only just a few of the park’s attractions were saved such as the yellow brick road and some of the munchkin homes.
3. Disney’s River Country In Orlando, FL
The Disney’s River Country In Orlando, FL was one of the first water parks available at Walt Disney World. On June 20th, 1976 it opened and stayed open until 2001. The park was abandoned. The park also has creepy tales behind it. There was an 11 year old boy killed just swimming at the fresh waters in the park. Nasty microbes were developed in the water system despite having a filtered water system. Now some say the place is haunted and it’s creepy.
2. Santa’s Village In Lake Arrowhead, CA
The Santa’s Village In Lake Arrowhead, CA was a winter theme park. It had a lot of kid’s rides and even a petting zoo. Children could even see live reindeer at the park. After it was closed the park was vandalized but now rumor has it that it’ll open again in 2015 during the summer time. Will it be creepy or a fun place again? I guess we’ll just have to see what happens when it opens if it ends up happening.
1. Joyland Amusement Park In Witchita, KS
The Joyland Amusement Park in Witchita, KS was opened for 55 years. The theme park was large and it had 24 rides including a wooden roller coaster ride. There were rumors that in 2014 the place would be restored again but it is taking a very long time for the restoration to begin. Right now it still looks creepy from it being abandoned, so it will be interesting to see how it looks after they have finished restoring it.
Conclusion
You never know when something that is popular might become abandoned in time. If you’re enjoying a roadside attraction now be sure to take pictures so you can have those memories with you forever.