Madi Lopez it's not sad tbh I find it fun cos I make a cart and then I get a electric box so I can power the rides and ride them with my electrify and my cart
mea, me too, many times. So many memories. I remember different schools had their own night and reserved just for them, it wasn't very crowded on those nights.
I have so many memories here from when I was younger. I would like to see this place restored and reopened. Everytime I go back to Witchita, I can see Joyland from the highway.
I got so angry when I saw the state they left those video games. That submarine one was a rare one from the VERY early 80's and could have fetched them a mint if they would have sold it. Same thing for the Joust. They just left those amazing games there to rot when they could have sold them off to collectors or places where people would have enjoyed them.
Jennifer, Do you remember the swimming pool there? Also, when I was about 7/8 yrs old I rode double with an adult on the bumper cars, I turned my head to look behind and the bar on the back of the car gave me a black eye! Remember the smell and the sparks on the ceiling?
Hawaain Kansan feindel I don't remember the pool. but I do remember the bumper cars and that smell. I remember going with my aunt on the cars and had a giant bruise on my knee for months from the ride.
Fun fact there used to be a clown statue that was sitting at the piano in the saloon since the 60s when it opened. It was stolen before the park was even closed, a few years ago a man was arrested for inappropriate video content of minors and the police found the clown in his garage when they raided his house
I’m always watching these old Adam videos I guess they really hit home for me when I was 9 years old every night watching Adam explore these cool places now I’m 18
Growing up going to joy land was almost a way of life. The wacky shack was so popular and the wooden roller coaster was fun. When we were kids a local tv station would help sponsor grade card night. They would give you so many tickets for a's b's c's, schools planned trips there and I seem to recall that (I think guys potato chips) would put blue "tokens" in the bag that joy land honored. There was a famous clown music player just past the entrance. Thanks for visiting joyland!
Just google mapped this place. On street view you can still see the big sign on the main road even though it has since been taken down. It's a pity it closed down, it ran continually for 55 years. These quaint old amusement parks still have a lot of entertainment value. Kids nowadays wouldn't really get to see parks and old rides like this. Sad.
Sushee I think the nelsons stopped caring. Some other guys bought it briefly before selling it back to the Nelsons. The Nelsons never wanted it back so they just let it go
Wow this is insane seeing this my parents took my sister and I here for Easter egg hunts when we were little and my grandma and I drove by there not to long ago and she said how sad it looks like that now. They used to have a skating rink in the parking lot.
You were wondering what happened to Mother Hubbard..... Well presently she's in a private hospital after suffering a heart attack. The heart attack was brought on because she found out that one of her daughters was a prostitute and one of her sons became her daughters pimp. It's a sad story but that's life. If you have any further info on this, please let me know.
+Frank Daniels Also her other son has decided he wants to be a Transsexual and her other daughter now goes by the name Britney Muhammad, she married a man that rapes her kids (it's allowed in their culture).
There is something so terribly, sadly ironic about abandoned amusement parks. Places that once made people so happy and carefree, abandoned and left to decay like this. There are many vids like this on RU-vid, each one of them sad in its own right - especially for those who once enjoyed them.
Cherry, Fun, fun, fun, when ever I went as a little girl in the 60's, started out with the kiddies area, then got old enough for the rollercoaster, arms up in the air on the 1st drop, I thought I was somethin! My brother rode it 65 times in a row and threw up on the way home.....In the car!!!!
Last time I was there was in the late 80's, they used to trim the trees so that the limbs were only about 10 feet from the coaster and there were a couple of spots where it almost looked like you were going to drop into the canopy. And the damn thing was built to have extra flex in the "fast" areas, made you think it was going to just crumble. Also, the Wacky Shack... Wasn't anything "wacky" about it. Lastly, the bumper boats, best thing EVER!
i saw other videos from you that were very respectful and completely on par with other respected urban explorers on youtuve; didn't touch more than a door to open it. and then i found this video from my own town (really?! fuck, that's awesome!). as a wichitan and a visitor of joyland from before i can remember to the summer they closed. and then i had to stop this video halfway through because of my disgust; this is just disrespectful and also condescending. sure, joyland would never even be a "worlds of fun" but joyland was a damn good amusement park for anyone who couldn't afford to travel to six flags in texas or worlds of fun in KC. please show our park, which fought a good fight to stay alive not only in it's dying days, but even to come back after years, in the same light as other abandoned amusement parks. do not make a joke out of our small park. it's a historical landmark that, sadly, is only populated by vandals and come-and-go photographers.
***** No it's not coming back. At last count, the group that was going to renovate the park had raised close to two million dollars to do so. They had a bid completed for a security fence to be built around the park that was up to code and the price tag on that was like 1.5 million dollars. After seeing the price tags on bringing it up to code the project quickly stalled.
This is really sad. My dad took my mom here in the early 1950's and he used to take me here in the late 1960's - 70's. This hurts my heart to know that it's just left to decay.
I've always wondered what happened to the park. I moved to Texas in 1970 but used to go there in the early 60's. When we had a choice of Kiddie Land or Joy Land we always chose Joy Land. It had a bigger coaster and geared more the older kids and grown ups.
I used to go there as child. Have good memories from there. It breaks my heart to see this. They did do a b-rated zombie film there. Just before they demolished the park.
It's 8/4/15 as of this writing. The Coaster was finally demolished about a week ago. The red caboose was trailered away two days ago. Another of America's wonderful traditional amusement parks has bit the dust, albeit years ago. While you still can, visit one or more of these incredible real amusement parks still gracing North America....Lakeside Park, Denver (endangered), Conneaut Lake Park, PA (very endangered), Kennywood Park, Pittsburgh, Knoebels Amusement Resort, Elysburg, PA (the best), Arnolds Park, Iowa, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, CA, Camden Park, Huntington, WV, Idlewild Park, Ligonier, PA, Rye Playland, Rye, NY, Lakemont Park, Altoona, PA (with world's oldest wood coaster built in 1902), Playland, Vancouver, BC, Lake Compounce, Bristol, CT, Coney Island (with the incredible 1927 Cyclone Coaster), Brooklyn, NY, Magic Springs, Hot Springs ARK. I'm missing one or two, but all these parks have wonderful wooden rollercoasters and an atmosphere of fun & yesteryear you won't experience at large, crowded, corporate cattle farms like Six Flags, Kings Island, or Disney.
ProChoiceJesus DUDE. I can't believe you did not mention: Cedar Point Kings Dominion Hersheypark These parks, are awesome. I'm planning to go to Cedar Point in July 2016, then go to Kings Dominion in fall 2016.
I know right? I've been on most of those rides - kind of creepy and strange to see it looking like a horror movie set. Speaking of creepy, wasn't there a clown-sign thing right near the entrance with marching parade music or something? The wooden roller coaster was cool - really it's all in surprisingly good condition. Surprised it's not actually more vandalized and gutted.
5:33 It was a shooting gallery. We had these Tommy guns that fired BBs that were hooked up to air tanks. You had to shoot out a red star at the end on a card. The noises of this are still part of my memories
a long ass time ago a maintenence man died under the roller coaster, he was weed eating under the tracks with headphones on so he couldnt hear anything and he stood up and BOOM the coaster took his head clean off, i belive it was in the 70s or 80s but im not sure, btw i am 100% serious, no joke
JOYLAND WORKER STRUCK, KILLED BY ROLLER COASTER The 35-year-old man had been trimming weeds when he was hit in the head by roller coaster. By Joe Rodriguez The Wichita Eagle A 35-year-old Joyland maintenance worker was killed Thursday when he was struck in the head by the amusement park's roller coaster. The worker, whose name was not released, had been operating a weed trimmer near the first drop of the roller coaster about 6:20 p.m. "As the coaster came over the top of the hill," Wichita police Sgt. Gavin Seiler said, "it came down and struck him." Those who were on the ride told police that it appeared as though the man tried to duck. Seiler said that there were about six people on the ride and that they weren't even sure that the man had been hit. After they told ride operators that there was someone near the coaster, workers went to look. After discovering the man had been struck, the ride was immediately closed. Randy Ledbetter said he was waiting in line to ride the coaster when operators shut down the ride. He went back outside the park to look at what happened. "He was basically kind of curled up under the track, right in the middle of the track where it happened," Ledbetter said. Stan Nelson, Joyland's owner, said the man had worked at the park, on and off, for about eight years. He said it was not park procedure to work near the coaster while it was operating. "I don't want to fault him or anything like that," Nelson said. "He was trying to do something. Why he was there, that I don't know." Nelson said the coaster probably would be reopened today. "There's nothing wrong with the coaster, it's just an unfortunate incident that happened," he said. "It's certainly one of those things that shouldn't happen." There has been one death related to the roller coaster in the history of Joyland. That death also had nothing to do with faulty structure. In May of 1977, a 7-year-old boy died after falling from the roller coaster while standing up during a series of hills on the ride.
Thinking about going out there this summer and taking some pictures and possibly even shooting a short film! I have such an interest in places like these. I live in Kansas City so its nice to know that places like these exist around here. Cant wait to explore. Does anyone have any trouble getting in?
my dad has been here as well like when it was open if it was still open and running I would go but I live in Lawrence its a bit far away I go to worlds of fun tho
I live in Kansas City and I actually just came back from Wichita like 30min ago and my cousins actually live in hillside and I could see the rope thing where you would go flying off of and I asked what it was and they told me and I started to do research on it on the way back.
cool i filmed at a abandoned amusement park today too not as much left as here unfortunantly but still some parts exist nice video greatings from holland.
I seriously remember going there all the time when I was a kid. I got chills seeing this video and what has become of this once awesome amusement park. It's sad because some of my best summers were spent there with my family.
Awwww joy land, I miss joy land. The log jam ride was just the best. Especially in the summer when it was hot and you needed to cool down. Then there was that time when an employee cutting weeds under the coaster stuck his head up through the track and got decapitated by the roller coaster. Yeah, that happened.
I can't believe it's only been abandoned for 9 years. A Google image search shows the place open in 2004. There's a RU-vid video of the coaster in action from 1990. It looked terrifyingly run down.
Disney is cluttered with ho-hummers and people with tons of money from Brazil. I would not support a themepark if they gave me free all day food and fun, ever! Disney is the biggest contributor to the democrat campaigns. Check this out!! Goodness gone awry.
Eventually. Not for a long, long time, but everything is left to ruin eventually. (that or it'll be torn down, but let's hope the former so we can see it abandoned, it'll be amazing)
Im 48 nowni remember my mother scraping uo enough money for us to go ther when her company hosted a day ther im glad i got to b ther in it perfect stateit was a highlight in my youth
My friend said that this is opened to the public even though it's abandoned. So could anyone just go and wander around the abandoned joyland amusement park?
As I was watching this, I had so many memories of being there as a kid, I remember riding into the Wacky shack. I used to be terrified of it, lol.Yeah, I don't think they're ever going to reopen joyland unfortunately, it was a main attraction to Wichita, Kansas, now there isn't anything! Thank you so much for sharing this video. I enjoyed watching it and reliving my childhood for that brief moment :)
I guess when they've gone bankrupt or don't have the money to continue, it would cost a lot to dismantle all the rides, huts, etc. so they just leave them.
From Stephen Kings' novel Joy Land, which is about a college kid working at a haunted amusement park in the 70s, King says several things about how amusement parks were on the decline because of the increased interest in major theme parks like Disney and Universal
Daniel Rúnar this one was abandoned because of safety concerns after a 13 yr old girl fell from the Ferris wheel and got severely injured and a worker was a sex offender who was arrested for touching children (i know this because i live nearby this)
If you ask, they will say no, if you're caught, you say 'I didn't know ' - unless you're stealing stuff or breaking stuff, it's a hassle to arrest you.
i never will understand why nothing of the rides and other things get sold when these parks closing? also i never will understand why the people that explore these places tend to vandalism and not just take some of the things back home? many of these things easily can be sold for good money or just would make a cool item to use your own.
Sean Hayes yeah.. some old lady lived in that shoe, story goes she had so many children she didn't know what to do. I'm guessing family services came and took the kids and she moved into a nice sandal for the breeze and open air.
“It is with a broken heart that we must announce that Joyland Amusement Park will not be reopening after all. The local group of investors that originally agreed to purchase the business have backed out of the sale. Liquidation of the park will follow. - Posted January 13, 2023.
That hanging barrel under the roller coaster is ballast for some contraption... provides "pull" on one of the wires to return it... within the range of its movement of course.... sort of like a spring, but where the tension always stats the same (not increasing as the spring gets pulled all the way out, or decreasing as the spring comes all together). Its basically keeping some wire tight..
