Comments on: 15 Off-the-Wall Theme Parks

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:57:58 +0000

Has anyone visited Leggo Land ??

Does Roadside America still exist? If it does, the funniest place on earth.

By: Debra

Debra — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:38:27 +0000

@TR
Hooray Knoebel’s!!! And I agree, Hershey Park is NOT off-the-wall. The rides are awesome!

I personally cannot WAIT for the Harry Potter section of Universal to open (it’s not its own park)!

By: Martina

Martina — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:29:05 +0000

Actually there is a Dollywood in Myrtle Beach SC; its called The Dixie Stampede. Skidworth is right, there are alot of funky hole in the wall spots “south of the border” a few are “themed places” but the whole “south of the border” stigma is access to things that are illegal in NC,ie gambling, and the biggest one is FIREWORKS! They have hundreds of fireworks stores south of the border.

By: Trinie

Trinie — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:21:58 +0000

I’ve actually been to Suoi Tien. My dad used to take me there when I was a little kid. I loved it.

By: fsdoubleflip

fsdoubleflip — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:58:24 +0000

I went to south of the border (pedroland) when I was a kid. I still have a keychain of pedro attached to my car keys and there’s a photo in my house of my younger brother and I wearing sombreros.

By: MadMolecule

MadMolecule — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:24:44 +0000

smallerdemon: Thanks for that link! I grew up in Atlanta in the 70s, and my parents took me to the world of Sid & Marty Krofft during its brief run. I don’t remember much (I was maybe four years old), but I know got my face painted, and there was some kind of giant spider with a woman’s head that scared the heck out of me.

By: Gauldar

Gauldar — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:20:31 +0000

@Ottawa Valley Girl

I live north of Toronto and didn’t even know that place existed.

By: Sman

Sman — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:40:20 +0000

What could be more fun than limestone? Why anything of course!

Some people find limestone very interesting. Some of us even spend our entire careers studying sedimentology… go figure!

By: free games for kids

free games for kids — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:04:31 +0000

The Fake Disneyland scares me lol…

By: free online games for kids

free online games for kids — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:42:42 +0000

It’s amazing the authorities took so long to respond to the “rip-off” of China’s amusement park – I mean, they started in 1986, but only came to light in 2007. Otherwise, I think these places are interesting. Would really like to see them myself, especially Dickens World.

By: Staxeon

Staxeon — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:39:31 +0000

As others have said Hershey Park really isn’t off-the-wall. We spent 4 days there a couple of years ago and never had a boring moment. Comprehensive amusement park, zoo, walking gardens, golf course, spa (sent the wife there), 3D show, fantastic trip.

Plus, Milton Hershey opened the park for his employees, since there wasn’t much else for them to do with their families in the area. What other boss does that?

By: ted

ted — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:12:35 +0000

That Chinese Disney ripoff was bizarre. One of the Seven Dwarves looked like the face-transplant lady.

By: Jill Harness

Jill Harness — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:26:42 +0000

Toga, what’s your deal? I just double checked it and nothing’s spelled wrong?

MadMolecule, I made that change. Good catch.

By: Nicky S-Bomb

Nicky S-Bomb — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:22:38 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin_World

Moomin world is a ridiculous place in finland. check it

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:43:15 +0000

That Dancing Diggers video really cracked me up, thanks!

By: Skipweasel

Skipweasel — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:45:19 +0000

Dickens World looks far too clean to me. Where are the piles of dung and the dead dogs and the Hogarthian gin palaces?

By: Toga

Toga — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:57:02 +0000

Who wrote this? Have you ever heard of spell check?!

By: Dale

Dale — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:53:35 +0000

Diggerland is the worst, most boring ‘theme park’ in the history of theme parks. My son wanted to go as he likes diggers, (tut, 5 year olds!); you queue for 45 mins to sit on a digger for about 3 minutes to do some digging; it’s just terrible.

By: turbo_girl

turbo_girl — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:03:24 +0000

…Sorry, I meant “Tomorrowland” not Future World. Got it mixed up with Epcot.

By: Kiddlemidd

Kiddlemidd — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:37:27 +0000

I live about 10 minutes away from Hersheypark. I had never heard of it until we moved up here though. (I wasn’t even aware there was a town called Hershey until we moved up here) It really is your basic amusement park, but that doesn’t make it not a totally weird thing to base a park off of.

By: Ottawa Valley Girl

Ottawa Valley Girl — Sun, 31 May 2009 05:33:35 +0000

There’s also Logos Land, in Cobden, Ontario. It’s a supposedly Christian themed park, but other than the big ark at the front, I don’t remember anything particularily Christian about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos_Land

By: turbo_girl

turbo_girl — Sun, 31 May 2009 05:32:56 +0000

I think including the Harry Potter “park” on this list is a little misleading. The Harry Potter thing is going to be a section inside of Islands of Adventure, one of the two theme parks at Universal Orlando. The wording makes it sound like a whole new theme park when actually they’re just modifying an existing section of IOA, “The Lost Continent” and making it Harry Potter themed. It’s like calling Future World a “theme park” at Disney’s Magic Kindgom; it’s really just a themed section of it.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the article. I’d like to make it up to Hershey Park one of these days. Saw a segment on Ocean Dome on the travel channel, and it looks as amazing as it sounds.

By: earbox

earbox — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:47:22 +0000

Please tell me that the photo of Dickens World isn’t in black and white and that that’s what it actually looks like.

By: DrMeowMix

DrMeowMix — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:45:53 +0000

I came here to say exactly what TR & Dr Insanity said. Hershey Park is practically the antithesis of “off the wall.”

It’s family friendly, ride enthusiast friendly, and has a distinct, but not by any means esoteric, comprehensive theme.

By: smallerdemon

smallerdemon — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:44:33 +0000

I can’t believe you failed to mention the short-lived “The World Of Sid and Marty Krofft” in Atlanta during the 70s. I saw only the remnants of it as a kid, missing its existence by only a few months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_Sid_and_Marty_Krofft

It was housed in what is now the CNN Center in Atlanta.

By: Dr Insanity

Dr Insanity — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:24:35 +0000

“There is nothing “Off-the-Wall” about Hershey Park. It is one of the finest family amusement parks in Pennsylvania.”

It’s one of the finest in the USA, if not the world. It’s classy, beautiful, and packed with state of the art rides. And the chocolate isn’t so bad, either.

By: HersHers

HersHers — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:36:54 +0000

Can you take the Hersey-highway at the park?

By: Guest

Guest — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:24:34 +0000

tl;dr

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:23:43 +0000

Wasn’t that South of the Border one in the movie Mr. Destiny? It looks familiar.

By: MadMolecule

MadMolecule — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:09:17 +0000

Dollywood is in the Smoky Mountains, not the Rockies.

By: skidworth

skidworth — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:03:38 +0000

i grew up about 20 miles from South of the Border. it is interesting to note that mr. schaefer also owns a beer distributing business, hence his start into business with a bar. NC was dry and it led to some rowdy border towns in SC such as Dillon and McColl (my little home) that were a mere thirty minute drive from Fort Bragg in Fayettville. the bars just south of the NC/SC border came with colorful names such as the Boondocks, the Mystic Eye and the Bloody Bucket.

By: TR

TR — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:51:32 +0000

There is nothing “Off-the-Wall” about Hershey Park. It is one of the finest family amusement parks in Pennsylvania. Knoebels ranks a strong second; where else can you can get a pickle-on-a-stick?