Wumbology

So I'm not a huge poster over here (mostly a lurker) but the one trip report I ever posted on here was from Santa's Land last October. You guys should know, this park is literally run by only a husband and wife and three or four of their closest friends. You enter and exit through the gift shop, and the woman in there is one of the most friendly people you'll ever meet. The wife runs the bakery and the husband drives the train- then they have friends running the snack bar and the book shop, and their mechanic friend running all four kiddie rides. Being that the park's only employees are elderly Vermonters, it's surprised they even knew what Facebook is. At least they kind of tried. They definitely could do a lot for themselves if they were to get someone to help them with that. The current owners did just buy the park eight years ago, but the park was apparently in disgustingly bad shape before that. There's a trip report from Roadside America from this time. When we rode the train, the owner told us about how the previous owner (I believe the fourth in it's time) was terrible and let the park go to ruin, and abused the animals. The park improved a lot under the new owners. Oh wait, I just remembered: I don't know about the "recession" and "theme parks not being popular anymore" but Vermont is in a really bad place right now. I'm there every weekend (including a few hours ago,) about forty minutes south of Putney. A lot of the southern part of the state was ravaged by Hurricane Irene, and now they haven't had any real snow yet to get the ski season started. All that on top of an already bad market can't be good for this park. I wonder how much damage they got from the storm in August. All in all, the owners are getting old and don't really know what they're doing running a theme park, (if you even want to call it that.) Being that the park has been open since 1957 and there have been four owners before them, I'd like to think there's still a future for this park. Hopefully the State of Vermont might give them some help, and someone will come in and take over. It would be nice.

Okay, I gotta say, I love seeing pictures of Tokyo Disney, but it seems like they're always the same pictures of the same things. But this update is FANTASTIC. So many things I haven't seen before. Different views of the park. Thanks a lot.

I was down in Key West for a week last April and I thought it was great. We saw a lot of the same stuff on the island as you did, so I liked reliving some memories! For signage, there's some nice stuff if you look around. For example, the end of US Route 1 has a few big signs. We went to the beach one day (nowhere near the Old Town area,) and it was pretty bad. Maybe it was just the weather that day. The Customs House that has the Art/History museum in it has/had a ton of lifelike statues around it... All in everyday scenes. In our first few days I found myself thinking they were real people. The Key West Toy Factory IS AWESOME! Beautiful store! And I noticed that one of the pictures, with the blue dog, is outside A Key Encounter. Tell me you went in there? It's crazy... A little tourist attraction about "God's creation" and "the beauty of Key West." But they have this big theater and a crazy "jungle walk." It only takes like 10 minutes, but I thought it was interesting. It's on the other side of the second floor of the mall from the Toy store. Key West Aquarium was cool, I thought, but small. I love the classic style of the building, though. The Key West Shell Warehouse smelled TERRIBLE when we went in... Ugh. Nothing special. The Turtle Museum is really small and not too exciting... But the man who worked it was really interesting when we were there. He even broke out his banjo for us. Worth doing if you buy the ticket combo with the Mel Fisher's Treasure museum. Key West made me wonder exactly how many copies of the same trashy t-shirt store there could be on one two mile by four mile island.

Love the report! This is my home park. I actually visited the Halloween event and it was fantastic. Just one house, no rides, but it was great and definitely worth 12 bucks. The skeleton fountain thing was the only real decoration but it all looked cool on the foggy night we went there. Those aren't car ports or vendor spots, that's the midway!

Great pictures! I love TS Island and Splash Mountain at WDW. I especially love the loading area of Splash Mountain. That unknown construction you pictured is a refurb for a stroller area in near the Jungle Cruise.

Nice pictures. Looks like a perfect location for a fun holiday event. My family went during the summer back in '03 or '04 and it was cute. I can't believe I missed that Wonder House, though!

^Unfortunately, no. Sounds funny, though. There were a few more animal pens that I didn't include pictures of, mostly birds and livestock. Though it is kind of funny that there's this park here and then there's a Santa's Village about three hours away in New Hampshire. And then there's NC and one in Illinois? A popular theme.

Happy to share it. The place deserves some attention, they're putting a lot of love into it.

Well, OBVIOUSLY, we have some AWESOME PICTURES from LINCOLN PARK. (Antoine Dodson, anyone?)

Well, this was just oodles of fun, but I'd be okay without another, personally.

Does it? ALL the time? YES.

You click on the banner and it takes you to the ClubTPR page?

THEN IT'S THE CLUB TPR BANNER? In the signatures? It looks different? Edited logo? New wording?

Does it have anything to do with Club TPR?

I just want to know where you think you see me in that pic! Up in the front seats of the coaster, no?

Doesn't it?

The answer to that is actually both yes AND no! Are you KIDDING me? Someone better find this.

Oh, hey... On a recent episode of Mad Men the parents of two children are having a discussion while their children are eating dinner. One mentions "a house in Rye" and the son says, "Rye? Isn't that where Playland is?" Playland Park represent.

Has "it" actually been "hidden" yet?

Will we know it when we see it? Is it a post?

I'm excited for this coaster. Haven't been to Quassy in eight years. And will this be the first new coaster in Connecticut for over 10 years?

I hope so too. Based on RoadsideAmerica.com's report on the attraction back a few years ago, even people in Putney didn't know about it. However, this was before the refurbishment and I think this place is on its way up now. The people we met really were very nice. The woman in the gift shop that sold admission told us all about what they were doing. Pictures were on the wall of their off-season refurbishment projects, (such as repainting the former 1957 train engine "Chuggy Choo.") Plus, it's still open. It could have gone the way of "Holy Land U.S.A." here in Connecticut. Here's a scan of the map they handed us at the entrance.

Hey everyone, On Columbus Day Weekend my family and I were up at our house in Vermont. It's lovely in the fall. A few months prior I had seen on one of those amusement park maps that a park called "Santa's Land" was in Putney, Vermont. After looking it up, it looked like a fun little attraction and it was only 45 minutes away, north, from our house. We found some time on Columbus Day to go check it out. It opened in 1957 and has seen a number of owners. The previous owner to the current ones apparently didn't help the park very much- you can see pictures of its state just before its refurbishment in 2005. Today the park is a nice little family attraction and I think it is one of the most unique parks in the country. It features a train, a number of kiddy rides, a North Pole village, some playground-type equipment, and animal exhibits. The park is run by a husband and wife and a few of their friends. I'll be including some pictures, as I noticed that this park was not in the park index. I have some more pictures stashed away, but can pull them out if anyone wants to see more. I figured I'd leave some surprises for anyone who visits. Note: We did visit Santa, and he was very funny and friendly. His cottage is beautiful. I didn't get any pictures of it with my camera, though. All in all, this was a cute park, very Vermont-y, and I recommend that anybody check it out if they are nearby. The park entrance, through the store. The view when you enter the park. You cross over this stereotypical Vermont covered bridge to enter the park. Looking out into the park from up the hill in the "North Pole Village." The "Ding Dong Schoolhouse." (Tee-hee.) Here kids can write to Santa and Christmas movies play, including "Blue Screen." The only restrooms in the whole park. Some Christmas-y art on the side of the Santa's Arcade building. The Candy Cane Cupboard, which had some good food for lunch. And not just the typical theme park food. If you are tall and male and you get anywhere near this llama, he sets his laser-spit to kill. This is the one of the owners, who works in the Sweet Shoppe. She was feeding the llamas as she explained to us how the old owners used to abuse them and after seven years they're now just able to feed them by hand. This giant speaker was playing classic Christmas music over the whole park. It very well might have been the same music that played in 1957. Groovy Snowman - one of the crazy characters in the park. Santa's Deer Park - a neat attraction where you walk around with a herd of Fallow Deer. Pretty cool! The Giant Slide. Amazingly enough, a headliner for the park. It's right in the heart of the park. The Train... This is what people come to see. The Train is a Jeff Johnson credit: at the end, the driver (park owner) let's the brakes go and the train runs downhill and glides to a stop in the station. Bill the Camel, in the "Flapjack Junction" area of the park, from the train. The Train gets a little weird after this... You have to see for yourself. This Boat Ride isn't very much without water... Hmm... The Car Ride. "Mushroom." All these kiddy rides were operated by one guy, who lead the kids from ride to ride and ran them. The Merry-Go-Round. HEY KIDS. I'M THE PURPLE PLUM MAN. GIVE ME SOME CANDY. Looking towards the park exit. Thanks for reading!

My list is depressing: Six Flags New England Rye Playland (x2) Santa's Land USA (Vermont)

Sounds like "the rent is too damn high!"