We all love the amusement parks, don’t we? You get to enjoy incredible rides while satiating the inner child with candies! There are a lot of them, but today we bring you 20 amusement parks that are famous because they were oddly themed. Check out the list below and let us know what you think of it!
Gulliver’s Kingdom (Kawaguchi-machi, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan)
This was based on Gulliver’s Travels and features a huge statue of the famous traveler. It was closed down after a couple of years because it had been built on an old poison gas factory site.
Santa’s Village Azoosment Park (East Dundee, Illinois)
It was also known as the North Pole and sported a reindeer petting zoo, a miniature roller coaster, and a water park that was operational in summer. It was closed after failing to construct a mega-roller coaster ride.
Holy Land Experience (Orlando, Florida)
This particular theme park is a Christian-based non-profit amusement park that reenacted the architectural style of ancient Jerusalem. The guests can attend the weekly church services and bible study groups while visiting the park.
Noah’s Ark Encounter (Grant County, Kentucky)
This theme park opened up in 2016 and is actually located inside a huge replica of Noah’s Ark. The ship has a petting zoo, shops, and a buffet restaurant situated outside the ark.
Paul Bunyan Land (Brainerd, Minnesota)
A huge statue of Paul Bunyan greets the guests by name. To this day, the park is quite popular among the residents of the area.
Land of Oz (Beech Mountain, North Carolina)
This park is based on the classic movie The Wizard of Oz. It also doubled up as a ski resort during the winter. However, the park went bankrupt after a decade of operation. Nowadays, the owners make use of this park for special events.
Dogpatch, USA (Marble Falls, Arkansas)
The park was inspired from a town in the Li’l Abner comic strip that saw ‘hillbillies’ living in an underprivileged village. The park remained operational for about 30 years until the tourists stopped reading and eventually caring about the strip altogether.
Heritage, USA (Fort Mill, South Carolina)
Heritage USA was the first religious ‘Theme Park’ before Holy Land Experience became operational. Televangelist Jim Bakker opened the park under donations from his followers and ran it as a ‘church.’ During the mid-80s the IRS removed the tax exemption, and the scandal became famous. Bakker was disgraced, and his followers ceased funding of the park.
Gatorland (Orlando, Florida)
This park was created for monetizing the traffic flow to and from Disney and Universal theme parks in Orlando. It only featured gators, and the highlight was the gator wrestling show where employees wrestled with actual alligators.
AutoWorld (Flint, Michigan)
The city of Flint tried reinventing itself as a tourist destination for everything pertaining to the history of the auto industry after the recession from Reagan-era ended. The park, however, closed after remaining operational for only six months since the auto history didn’t prove to be as exciting as the officials had thought.
Neverland Ranch (Los Olivos, California)
This theme park was created by Michael Jackson in his backyard to make sure that he remained in touch with his inner child. Upon his demise, his children opened the ranch to the public in memory of their father.
Astroland (Brooklyn, New York)
This amazing theme park was based in Coney Island, New York and featured space-themed rides. It was opened during the height of the Space Race. It was absorbed into Luna Park Amusement Park in 2008.
DisneyQuest (Chicago, Illinois)
In order to expand the Disney marketplace, the executives opened an arcade game and virtual reality simulator park. The park was a disaster and was closed soon enough.
Diggerland (West Berlin, New Jersey)
You can drive the real-size vehicles that guests can ride and even boasts of tractor-shaped carnival rides. The park is also famous for its car smash event where heavy equipment is used for smashing a car.
Opryland (Nashville, Tennessee)
This park has been inspired by The Grand Ole Opry and featured more musical performances than rides. The demand for the ride grew eventually, but the park didn’t have any space for expansion and had to be shut down.
Libertyland (Memphis, Tennessee)
This park, featuring the Elvis Presley’s favorite roller coaster, was opened up in an attempt to boost tourism in the city. However, since it lacked an actual theme; the park closed up.
Old Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
You are looking at an indoor amusement park that was located under an enclosed dome and housed two roller coaster, a Ferris Wheel, and even some boutique stores. The park was forced to close down because of safety reasons following the outbreak of fire numerous times.
River Country (Lake Buena Vista, Florida)
This was Disney’s first water park and opened up in 1976. It was controversial not because of its design but because of the fact that it used water from the not-so-clean Bay Lake. This caused the death of a child from infection, and the park was shut down in 2001.
Silver Dollar City (Branson, Missouri)
The park is advertised as good clean fun and only closes up during January and February on account of the cold. It features a steam train, tours of the Ozark cave system, and a roller coaster.
Splendid China (Four Corners, Florida)
This was a China-themed park that opened up in Florida and had scaled-down replicas of Chinese monuments. It was closed in 2003 once the rumors surfaced that the park might be a target for espionage.