The Ozziest Place on Earth

[vovat]

Back at my first Oz Convention in 1993, there was a presentation about a proposed Oz theme park. As someone who's obsessed with both Oz and theme parks, the idea obviously had some appeal to me. I remember coming up with ideas for such a park when I was a kid, including drawing a Nome Kingdom section. Anyway, despite its appeal, there were some bad ideas in the proposal, the main one being that they wanted it to be in Kansas. I mean, the connection is obvious, but it's not like either the book or the movie portrayed the state in a very positive light. It was a testament to Dorothy's devotion to her home and family that she wanted to go back there despite its dullness. The book they gave out at the convention included this page:



It kind of looks like that map was drawn by someone who'd never actually been to this country, and noticed on the map that Kansas is a location closer to a lot more states, without bothering to find out what the area was like and whether anyone would actually want to go there. I mean, I've never been to Kansas, but doesn't it have tornadoes in the summer AND harsh winters? It's not exactly conducive to year-'round tourism, you know? Based on what I've read, the idea was shelved because of issues with local government, but I'm not entirely sure why they thought putting it in Kansas would be a good idea in the first place.

The descriptions of the park made it sound like it was primarily based on the movie, with a few nods to the books. Since the film is a zillion times more famous than the books, I guess this makes commercial sense, but that basically means it's a theme park based on only one movie. While a park based primarily on the books wouldn't have the same mass appeal, there's a lot of material to work with in them. There are some episodes in them that are basically amusement park rides in and of themselves, like the roller coaster ride through the Silver Mountain in Handy Mandy in Oz. Of course, that ride ended in a prison pit instead of a gift shop, but otherwise it sounds made to order.

I think the craziest thing about the proposal, though, is that they gave the impression of wanting to immediately compete with Disney. This is obvious from that map, but the representative was also talking about they planned to have convention centers there, and how their costumed characters would actually talk (which isn't a bad idea, really, but I'm sure it would be rather difficult to find an intern who can do a decent Bert Lahr impression). I suppose that's the trend these days, though. Great Adventure, the Six Flags park in New Jersey, was apparently considering putting in a hotel, because I'm sure Ocean County is almost as popular an area for tourists as Kansas. No one is content just to have a local attraction that does decent business.

One final note about the Oz park is that, not long after this convention, I had a dream about going there dressed up as the Wizard of Oz, even though I didn't exactly have the right figure for the part.

Comments

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

At least now I know there was some actual propaganda published about a possible Oz theme park. I've heard so many rumors about it online/in Oz-related books that it's nice to see some proof that someone besides fans was thinking about it.

About the plan itself, the only thing Kansas has going for it is that the land is relatively flat and dry, so not too much environmental damage would be caused because the loss of a mountain or wetland and the gain of irreversible climate changes. If it were my decision, I would put the park in either a) the Ozarks, because Baum considered them a magical place, as in the Twinkle and Chubbins tales, or b) Chicago, because the WWOZ was written in Chicago and there are already a few Ozian landmarks/festivals in the Chicago/NW Indiana area. Okay, okay, so if it was in Chicago I wouldn't have to travel more than an hour. :)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

They gave out books that had plans for the design of the park, and some of the rides and attractions. I guess it figures that I was bothered that they didn't follow the four-country set-up from the books. Well, they kind of did, but Munchkinland was more to the south than the east, and Glinda was in an arctic area in the north. There was also an "Old Kansas" area in the south, which didn't strike me as necessary. I guess that would have been their version of Disney's California Adventure. {g}

would put the park in either a) the Ozarks, because Baum considered them a magical place, as in the Twinkle and Chubbins tales

He apparently also found California to be such, as seen in "Nelebel's Fairyland."

or b) Chicago, because the WWOZ was written in Chicago and there are already a few Ozian landmarks/festivals in the Chicago/NW Indiana area. Okay, okay, so if it was in Chicago I wouldn't have to travel more than an hour.

Well, maybe I could argue that it should be in the Philadelphia area, because of the connection to Thompson and Neill. Not to mention that Button-Bright is from there. I don't know of any good area where they could build it, though. I'm sure Kansas has a lot of empty space.

[punterschlagen.livejournal.com]

I've been to Kansas. It is my least favorite State in the Union. It is flat, brown, and boring. Nothing, not even a theme park, could compel me to go there again.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I might go there if I were guaranteed a trip to Oz. The real one, not the theme park. {g}

[yosef.livejournal.com]

at first I thought that bar graph was saying how many people who were staying in those three cities were likely to make a day-trip to the Oz theme park. When I was younger I had a small fascination with Kansas because of Oz, but now that I'm wiser, I don't know if I'd really want to visit, unless like you said, I'd get to go to the real Oz! Wasn't there another Oz theme park that was actually built on the East Coast? I remember seeing pictures of it somewhere.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I believe there was such a park in North Carolina. Personally, I think it would have been neat if Baum had designed his own theme park. It sounds like the kind of thing that would have been up his alley. Knowing how his projects generally fared, I'm sure a Baum-designed park would have lost a lot of money, but I'll bet it would have been very interesting.