Abandoned Six Flags by Erik Zeterberg (CC BY-SA)
When you think of a theme park, images of crowds, roller coasters, and fun times probably fill your mind. But a theme park is a business and like other businesses, can be forced to close due to financial troubles, dwindling attendance, or worse.
Read on to learn about theme parks across America that have been abandoned and are now just sad eyesores instead of meccas of fun.
Guerneville, California
Open from 1969 to 2003, the park had such fun items as a roller coaster, a mini race track, and a wild mouse roller coaster. That wasn't enough to deal with rising costs, however.
New Orleans
While this park started as Jazzland in 2000, it faced bankruptcy just two years later. Six Flags came in, added $20 million of upgrades, mainly in the form of roller coasters, and reopened as Six Flags New Orleans in 2003. That was, until Hurricane Katrina stopped by in 2005. Faced with a $32 million repair bill, Six Flags abandoned the park. Now Bayou Phoenix has plans to redevelop the property, dividing it into a sports complex, an E-sports arena, and an indoor waterpark resort. While the plans have been approved, for a while you can still see the ruins of Six Flags New Orleans.
Williams Grove, Pennsylvania
Dating to 1850, Williams Grove Amusement Park in Pennsylvania was open until 2005. Previous visitors still post details of past visits on Facebook, where photos are from the park's good times as well more recent vandalism and decay. It's also recently been the site of a Dinosaur Drive-Thru display of animatronic, life-size prehistoric creatures.
Ontario, California
While this Scandanavian-themed theme park was just one of the properties owned by Scandia, it was the only location to include operate as a full amusement park, with two roller coasters and 12 other amusement rides. While it opened in 1996, it was bought in 2019 with no plans to reopen as a theme park.
Princeton, West Virginia
Once the property of the Shawnee Tribe, the amusement park that was built here has been the apex of unlucky. Opening in 1926 and closing in 1988, the park had a ferris wheel, race track, swimming pool, and cabins for overnight stays. But it also racked up three deaths by the time the park first closed in 1967. A new owner reopened it in 1987, but closed it again due to rising insurance rate. Since then, the park has been available for daytime tours, overnight stays, and a Dark Carnival Halloween-themed exhibit on Fridays and Saturdays in October.
Wichita, Kansas
Once the largest theme park in Central Kansas, Joyland opened in 1949 and closed in 2006. Since then, vandalism, theft, and fire rhave ripped through what was left behind. This year an approved new plan for the site focusing on retail, residential, and other commercial use is finally moving forward.
West Milford, New Jersey
From 1972 until 1976, Jungle Habitat let visitors get up close and personal with animals — including rhinos, lions, tigers, and monkeys — in its walk-through zoo and drive-through park. Sometimes things got too close and personal, and visitors were injured by the animals. Warner Bros. owned the 800-acre facility, and eventually it was sold to the state and became part of an area park. Mountain biking is big there, and visitors can still see remnants of the animal park as well as actual animals: American black bears are fairly common in the area near the Appalachian Trail.
Buena Park, California
This is a dark story, full stop, and if you don't want to be informed about animal cruelty, skip ahead. This park, which was open from 1967 to 1975 modeled on a park in Nara, Japan in which deer wandered free. When attendance slowed and red ink mounted, the owners started euthanizing the deer, claiming they were sick with tuberculosis. The county stepped in, stopping them after 200 deer were already killed, because it was clearly a cost-saving measure and not a reaction to real disease.
Beaver, Arkansas
Opened in the late '60s and shuttered in 2005, this 65-acre park had 100 life-size sculptures of dinosaurs, cavemen, and a giant King Kong. Wondering what's left? Statues, mostly, which have drawn hikers and some drone operators.
Anaheim, California
While Boomers! amusement parks are all over Southern California, this one was closed in 2004. Located next to Camelot Golfland, it was sadly replaced with warehouses.
Waterbury, Connecticut
The 18-acre attraction opened in 1955 and closed in 1984, although there have been recent attempts to resurrect it. The park re-opened in September 2014, following a lighted cross being placed in the park. In 2019 there was a Mass honoring the Rev. Michael McGivney, a local priest named for sainthood.
Phillipsville, California
Hobbiton USA was built in the 1970s but closed in 2009. While there isn't much left, make the trip worthwhile by visiting the nearby Avenue of the Giants, a 31-mile stretch of highway that takes you past ancient redwoods.
Panama City Beach, Florida
This park harkens back to the boom of seaside attractions in the 1960s. It opened in 1963 and, like many of its contemporaries, limped into the new century — and then closed in 2003. Despite attempts at reviving the attraction, the rides were eventually auctioned off. Swampy Jack's Wongo Adventure opened in the old Miracle Strip location, although it is expected to take several more years to get fully built, so nostalgia hounds may still see glimpses of the old site during construction.
Van Nuys, California
Busch Gardens has survived in Tampa, Florida, and Williamsburg, Virginia, so it's easy to forget that from 1966 to 1977 there was a Busch Gardens in Van Nuys, California. The theme park included boat rides, exotic birds, a monorail, and, even free beer samples (for adults, of course). Today all is mostly gone except for a pedestrian bridge and the monorail, which is used to move product at the Anheuser-Busch brewery.
Bay Lake, Florida
Originally called Treasure Island, Discovery Island in Bay Lake was a zoological park from 1974 to 1999. It had one of the largest walk-through aviaries in the world and giant tortoises, but was shuttered due to poor attendance and high maintenance costs. While it's off-limits to visitors, they can still see it from Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary Resort and Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
Aurora, Ohio
Geauga Lake Park operated from 1887 to 2007 with everything from an Olympic-size swimming pool to a race track and bowling alley. The park also added more modern attractions such as roller-coasters, but that didn't keep doors open. In 2016, grocery store chain Meijer was set to purchase the property, but walked away from plans to build a store there. More recently a residential development was proposed for part of the site, although plans hit a zoning impasse. Many of the park's rides were moved elsewhere, such as Kings Dominion and Missouri's Worlds of Fun.
Newton County, Arkansas
Open from 1968 to 1993, this theme park inspired by the cartoonist Al Capp's country bumpkin creation Lil' Abner. Characters from the comic strip including Abner, Daisy Mae, and Mammy and Pappy Yokum wandered the grounds, and the park drew in almost 1 million visitors a year. The Capp creations were dropped in 1991 to end payments to the cartoonist's estate, but it did nothing to make country life seem on-trend. After the park closed, the park went through multiple owners before being snapped up by Johnny Morris, the co-founder of Bass Pro Shops. Since then, there have been plans to create a bucolic Marble Falls Nature Park on the grounds, but they appear to be put on hold. The entry sign, though gutted, still stands, covered by new forest growth.
Warwick, Rhode Island
Rocky Point Park opened in 1847 and closed in 1995. After surviving neglect and vandalism, the area has been made part of the Rocky Point State Park.
Huntsville, Alabama
Space City USA initially had plans t0 become a $5 million theme park with attractions like Dead Man's Island, Moon City, and Time Circle. But it closed in 1967 when bad weather, cost overruns, and swamp-related problems made it necessary to close before it ever opened. You can see more of the failed park on a Facebook fan page.
Angola, Indiana
The family-owned Fun Spot lasted from 1956 to 2008, and until that year its Afterburner roller-coaster was the state's only coaster with an inversion. Today you can still see parts of the park, though there's a rugby field on the grounds.