Monday, July 25, 2016

Faith Based Amusement Parks

Few things go as well together as religion and theme park right? Weekend and week-long get away spots are part of the fabric of America. So it makes since that faith-based groups (or groups looking to exploit people's faith) would open their version of a park.

Here are a few of my favorite. I chose to only look at stationary parks. There are faith-based traveling carnivals that do things like setup at Christian rock music festivals. I did not include faith-based park attractions. Having a chapel on campus was once standard in small amusement parks partly because it made hosting weddings easier. I also didn't include faith-based tourist attractions like the Creation Museum with the new Ark Encounter in Petersburg, Kentucky.

Okay here we go, in no particular order:

Holy Land USA
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/51714

A park in Waterbury, Connecticut that replicates the Holy Land. What is interesting to me about this park is there have been several attempts to reopen it since it closed in 1984.

Holy Land Experience
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Land_Experience

Have you been watching the Trinity Broadcasting Network and thought that this wonderful programming would be the perfect bases for an amusement park? If so the HLE is for you. Owned and Operated by Trinity Broadcasting Network in Orlando, Florida and intended to be a faith based alternative to those roller coaster heavy parks.

If HLE is your kind of thing that's cool. I just can't imagine being a kid and having my parents tell me “We are going to Orlando on vacation! We are going to an amusement park!” and instead of riding a roller coaster I end up watching a simulation of an execution in an artificial desert.  

Golgotha Fun Park
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3342

Located in tourism rich Cave City, Kentucky, this was a faith-based mini-golf course. The park is closed and gone but I really have to wonder if anyone thought through the fact they were naming the park after an execution site.

Wild West World 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_West_World

A short-lived theme park without a faith-based theme. The park was open for about 2 months but was home of a church for a bit longer than that. It is included on the list because nearly $800,000 of the original investment was provided mainly by a local church.

Heritage USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_USA

The only park on this trip I've been to. I have actually been there both before and after it closed.

The park was founded by Jim and Tammy Bakker outside of Charlotte, NC in Fort Mill. At its height it claimed to be the country's most popular tourist attraction next to Disney places. The park featured a large water part, state of the art for its time. The park was about 3 miles for Carowinds. Interesting Carowinds did not expand into the water park biz until after Heritage USA closed for good.

The park started its declide when Jim Bakker had his legal trouble and ended up sitting in a jail cell. Jerry Falwell took over Jim Bakker's empire for a while (yes the one that started Liberty University) which led to this happening at the park's big slide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHVBYR9RPyM

Jerry Falwell was not able to manage Jim Bakker's massive empire and the park when through several ownership structures. There are still groups today trying to bring it back. Mostly the park has sit and decayed. It is now a common spot for urban explorers.