Land of Oz: Review of the “Abandoned” Theme Park

For years I had heard about an abandoned theme park in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. The Wizard of Oz themed park is named Land of Oz and is a MUST for any fans of the book or movie. However, despite being open for only 10 years, it is not quite abandoned like I had heard. It opens for special events during the year, such as Journey with Dorothy and Autumn at Oz. I had tried getting tickets to the latter, but the tickets sell out quickly and I never secured them. Luckily, I obtained them for the last Autumn at Oz event. I’m so glad I had the privilege of checking out this beautiful park that was created for fans of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Since we had arrived early, we decided to visit the Oz Museum before our scheduled time of departure for the bus to the Land of Oz. Here, we met Walter Krueger who has one of the largest collections of Wizard of Oz items. The museum is full of costumes and props from the movie.

After checking out the museum, we wondered around the waiting area for the buses. There were tables set up for fresh lemonade, donuts and other foods, and, of course, Oz memorabilia. When it was our time to board the bus, we entered the line and hopped on the bus up Beech Mountain to our destination of the Land of Oz!

Imagine being one of the people who went to park in its original days. Instead of riding a bus, park goers would ride a gondola up the mountain that was in the shape of a hot air balloon! How fun would that be?!

Upon entering the Land of Oz, we were greeted with welcomes and the Fountain of Youth to bring out our inner child. After a quick photo op, we checked out our path we would be taking as we toured the theme park.

We followed along the path until we came to the Judy Garland overlook that provided a beautiful view of the Appalachian Mountains.

The next stop was Kansas. We are brought to where Dorothy lives. Here, you will see her home, a barn, and Professor Marvel set up with his covered wagon.

While waiting for the skits to start, we took the time to explore the scenery and take some photo ops with characters in the story.

We didn’t wait long before we heard some commotion going on near the barn. We headed over for the remake of the part of the movie where Dorothy is upset and tells the farm hands about Miss Gulch hurting Toto, her dog.

Shortly after, Dorothy sings her famous song Over the Rainbow (that was almost cut from the movie) and runs away from home to keep Toto safe. She then comes across Professor Marvel who looks in his crystal ball and tells her that someone she loves is hurting. This convinces her to return home.

Dorothy runs back to her home where she finds herself in the middle of a tornado. This is where we waited in line outside the house to go in. Entry was based on a number system that was displayed on the front of the house.

As we entered Dorothy’s house, we viewed a pre-tornado home, including Dorothy’s bedroom. We made our way down into the storm shelter below as the tornado part of the experience began. The sound effects made it seem as though we were in a wind tunnel as people and items passed by us displayed by screen projectors.

When we exited back into the house after the tornado experience was over, we enter a house that was an exact replica of the house we had just walked through, except this one had been wrecked by the tornado. Furniture and household items were not in their proper places. We made our way through the house that was now at a 45 degree tilt.

Finally, we made our way out of Dorothy’s house where we found the shoes from the Wicked Witch of the East. This is where we first encountered the Wicked Witch of the West with her cackling laugh as she tried to convince us to hand her the ruby red slippers.

As we continued along our path, we noticed a yellow brick road!

We were greeted ever so kindly by the munchkins in Munchkin Land.

This is where we also met Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Glinda was decked out in her beautiful, pink dress as she asked me if I was a good witch or a bad witch. 🙂

We made our way down the yellow brick road towards what would be the Emerald City. Along the way, we stopped to meet the Scarecrow and Tinman before seeing the warning sign to “Beware! Lions, Tigers, and Bears!” Of course, we had to sing this popular song as we made our way to see the Cowardly Lion.

We stopped for photo ops on our journey along the yellow brick road as we passed a waterfall, the birdhouse tree, and frog pond.

As we made our way towards the witch’s castle, we ran into green faced guards. Also, flying monkeys came out to give a scare.

When arriving at the witch’s castle we could see the damage caused by a fire a few years after the theme park opened. This is where we found the Wicked Witch of the West.

I have to say, I totally understand why Jack Pentes chose the idea for the Wizard of Oz styled theme park when he visited. When we strolled through the haunted forest, the trees were perfect for the role!

There were no scary, talking apple trees in the haunted forest as we continued on the yellow brick road.

Next, we entered the Poppy Field. This is where we found Glinda waking the dressed up Dorothys from a deep sleep with her magic wand.

It wasn’t long before we made it to the end of the yellow brick road where we found a large green door with the word OZ written on it. After ringing the bell, the wizard opened it saying, “Who rang that bell?!” Just like in the movie, the wizard of Oz went back and forth about us knocking on the door before letting us in. Make sure to watch this at then end of our video. The man playing this character had great acting skills!

As we entered the Emerald City, we could see many craft booths and photo ops available. With all the people there, it really felt like the busy Emerald City from the movie.

Before leaving, we stopped for a family picture with the characters from the Wizard of Oz.