Hanna Barbera Land Concept Art

I came across some very interesting Hanna Barbera Land concept art today. It's fascinating to see what this could have been. I can assume this was made for Canada's Wonderland, Kings Island, Kings Dominion etc.... BUT... I don't really know if it was made specifically for one park or not. Either way...enjoy!

See......I can see how this was never built. I think they were getting a little ahead of their 1970's technology they had at the time. Neat idea though.

Test Track....on the MOON!

Not really sure what this would have been, but maybe a "Backlot Tour" type tram ride.... or some kind of dark ride.

Close-up of the above mentioned ride Jet Craft Ship Plane Space ride!

Possibly for a Jetson's themed area...

A map of the above mentioned boat ride!

Are you freaking kidding me? How wicked would this ride have been!! Heck....it would still be great today!

Smurf Village..... kind of reminds me of thr Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area at MGM... looks great though!

This was for a car attraction in the Bedrock area....perhaps an early Hot Rock Raceway. If you look in the background the track looks pretty awesome.

More Yogi goodness.

This was for a restaurant called Yogi's Picnic Basket...attached was a gift shop.

Some of the building ideas. I'd say, for Wonderland anyway, they incorporated some of these ideas into the final product.

The entrance to Hanna Barbera Land. In reality....a rainbow.

Cool concepts! I wonder when they were made. Something tells me that the plans were probably sometime in the 60s. A Space Ghost ride (the flying ships) would have been awesome though. Even more, that boat ride which looks like was themed to Sealab 2020 is hysterical, seeing that Sealab was not a success until Adult Swim got a hold of it and turned it into Sealab 2021.

Interesting possible relation.. Might not be same artist.

Artist name might be on main street @ DL.

Source Laughingplace.com

Bruce Bushman

Location: Above the Market House

Inscription: Ship Models - Bushman & Dagradi - Mfgs.

Bruce Bushman worked on attractions for Disneyland from the beginning. He herded the classic, hand carved German horses of the Carousel pieces from the coral under the pier at Coney Island and took many of the non-horse pieces that were a part of the Disneyland Carousel and put them to use on the Casey Jr. Circus Train. He also helped with the design of the Mickey Mouse Club Circus and designed the Phantom Boats. Bruce was a large, husky man and Walt decided that his proportions would be used as a guide for the seating on the attractions.

Alastair Dallas: Bushman was the son of "famous" (back then, I guess) actor Francis X. Bushman.

Only Bushman that comes up on Google with a theme park relationship. Interesting. Wonder which park this was actually for? Universal? Thats seems like way to much detail for a Paramount park, even back then.

If only, if only...

Well I do know at one time Kings Island was going to be called the Happy World of Hanna Barbera.

Taft owned Hanna Barbera, Kings Island and Kings Dominion at one time.

Shame none of the these rides where not made.

Wow! Thanks for sharing those.

Some of those are a little over the top for the early 70s but some of those would have been cool, like Yogi's picnic basket and the Flinstones house.

I don't really remember any types of "real" theming with the exception of smurf Mtn and Yogi's Cave.

Oh yea thanks alot for those pics they were really cool.

JEFF

The Flintstones car ride looks like it would have been absolutely amazing!

Wow, but perhaps a bit too ambitious for a Paramount park. The concept art looks amazing, but it just does not seem particle for the park it would go in, and it looks like something that would be in a Disney or Universal park. In fact, some of the attractions look similar to some rides Disney planned.

Several have said "these designs are too ambitious, etc...". Walt Disney was told similarly about his dream and, though he had several things to fix, built 2 wonderful parks that we still enjoy today. Glad he didn't follow that kind of thinking.

Back during the time the drawings were made, designers were encouraged to think big, just as they are today. We term it "create a great, never before seen, interactive, etc... entertainment experience " and say "think outside the box", but it's the same idea. They were brainstorming and refining.

What wonderful creativity to come about, inspite of the limited technology, resources, etc. Too bad these ideas were shelved, since they seemed to be designed with that certain fun and whimsy that was prominant in 60's and 70's. Parks then may not have had as many technically advanced rides, but they were a lot more fun. Better, warmer, happier vibe. No, it wasn't those funny little cigarettes, or too much perm solution either.

These diagrams are great historical pieces. Thank you for posting them.

The 60's and 70's are the eras I wished I would have lived. Everything was so much more laid back and simple. The times were so much more happier than they are now.

Those Concepts are really nice to see, as my homepark is Canada's Wonderland. Our park seems to have pretty close resemblances to these drawings. Some of the stuff has been torn out like the Bedrock Area and Smurf Village, but the whole "Cools Ville" area is still up and we even have a small version of the space ship ride located there.

Very nice to have these posted! Thank You!

You are all very welcome! When I found them, you were all the first I wanted to share them with..... the only people I figured would appreciate them as much as I did.

This whole thing kind of makes me think..... It seems that if this version of Hanna Barbera Land became the reality, It would look very much out of place in the current Wonderland/King's Island/King's Dominion. So I wonder if originally such elaborate plans were in place for the rest of the areas of the parks as well. Maybe two seperate concepts were created for these parks.... one Disneyesque idea..... one less involved (less expensive) version like we have today. It would be really neat to see some concept work for the whole park.

I think the concept art is awesome, there are a lot of really awesome ideas drawn out, especially because they're from back when these cartoons were really taking off.

However, from what I've seen, Hanna Barbera hasn't really dated well. You don't hear much about it anymore. So it kinda makes me wonder what might have come from parks that had these characters in them.

Last, It seems like there wasn't much to build on regarding these characters. I mean, how much can you do with Yogi Bear and the Jetsons? It just seems like there wasn't much room for growth which is perhaps why these visions never left the paper.

I mean, I am young compared to some on here, but when I flipped on the TV, I had never really been drawn to Hanna Barbera. I preferred Disney and Looney Toons.

Thanks again!

Wow, but perhaps a bit too ambitious for a Paramount park. The concept art looks amazing, but it just does not seem particle for the park it would go in, and it looks like something that would be in a Disney or Universal park. In fact, some of the attractions look similar to some rides Disney planned.

Well it would have been the two Taft parks back in the 1970's this was before Paramount parks. Canada's Wonderland had some of their concept art online a year ago. I look and see if I can find it for you.

Those concepts are amazing! Thanks for sharing them with us!!

-Justin

Last, It seems like there wasn't much to build on regarding these characters. I mean, how much can you do with Yogi Bear and the Jetsons?

Back in the 70's when these parks were built Hanna Barbera was the shiz! Jetsons, Flintstones, Yogi, Wacky Races, Huckleberry Hound, Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry...

Actually come to think of it, these parks could have continued to use Hanna Barbera to this date with things like Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls amd Johnny Bravo.

I think I heard that the Hanna Barbera contract ran out a couple of years ago, but around Wonderland you still get the odd appearance from Fred, Scooby & Barney....and the rainbow still says "Hanna Barbera Land"

Yes. In fact all of the rides in Hanna Barbara Land are still Scooby Doo, Jetsons and The Flintstones. The Merry Go Round Has all of the characters from theses shows. Which is weird because Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster is still named that even through the other parks have renamed theirs Fairly Odd Coaster?

^^

True.....never thought of that. i for one hope they keep it Scooby Doo....for nostalgias sake.

Since Cedar Fair got the parks, I don't think they will add the Nickelodeon retheme until they absolutely have too, or change it to snoopy. I give it two years.

Wow! These are absolutely amazing! I've seen the Flintstone Freeway art before, but I can't recall where. The rest are new to me. I think the one with the mushrooms, though, is of the Gulliver's Adventures birthday area referenced in the first image and not of Smurf Village.

Also looks like they had a potential franchise in mind for the Yogi Bear Picnic Restaurant--not just for theme park use. I wonder who the character cut-outs on the roof would have been. Cindy Bear and Ranger Smith, obviously, but who else?

I remember Hanna-Barbara Land at Kings Dominion (before Smurf Mountain was even there). Of course, I also remember back when "theming" meant actually building something out of fiberglass and not just painting a picture of the "character of the day" (i.e. Fairly Odd Coaster) on the signs.

The standards were there--Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster (my first credit at about age 7), Boulder Bumpers (Flintstones-themed bumper cars) and Yogi's Cave (re-themed to Treasure Cave the last time I was there)--but they also had a number of rides based on "lesser" cartoons. I specifically remember a kiddie helicopter spinner themed to the Space Kid-ettes. In addition to the traditional characters (Yogi, Scooby, Quick Draw McGraw, etc.), they also had a Hong Kong Phooey walk-around character.

From the looks of this concept art, the desire to base attractions on lesser cartoons was in full force with everything from Space Ghost and Sea Lab 2020 (if that’s what it is—I can’t decide whether the background is supposed to be space or ocean) to Winsome Witch, Moby Dick and Precious Pupp (I'll bet most people on this site have never even heard of those last three).

I wonder what the process was to choose which themes to use back then. Was it “Here’s the entire Hanna-Barbara catalog. Have fun” or “This is our new Saturday morning lineup. See what you can do to promote it”? If the latter is true, it seems incredibly short-sighted. But they had to know what the most popular characters and cartoons were. Why waste time on the ones that had only 13 episodes instead of focusing mostly on the Scoobys and Yogis of the H-B universe?

I guess the Hillbilly Bears shooting gallery was never built, but at least they had some small representation at Kings Dominion. A parking area was named in their honor. I remember wondering who they were at the time.

Anyone know what cartoon that moon buggy ride was based on?

Here are the two concept pictures I found of Hanna-Barbera Land at Wonderland.

^^^

Wow.....great pictures. The overhead view is pretty much exactly what ended up being made. I guess that drawing was one of the final drafts. It's too bad they don't use the aquarium anymore....the sea lion show was a great addition to the park.

This has gotta be the same Bruce Bushman. The guy did a lot of beautiful, way-out concepts for Disneyland preopening. If you've seen the pink elephants drawings, that's him.

So glad that I found this site! I will have to dig up my parents photos of Hanna Barbera Land at Kings Island from the 70's. There are some classic photos!! What I remember 'most' was the outdoor boat ride that took you through scenes from popular HB cartoons (although there was no particular cohesiveness or theme) and the indoor dark ride (later the Smurf Ride, etc., etc.) that at the time was shaped like a gigantic TV set and featured late 70's cartoons. I also miss the "Saltwater Circus" show horribly. It was a great addition.

I also remember fondly the telephone stations (some shaped like castle towers) that you could pick up and hear HB characters voices on. Those later were found at Sandusky Mall in the mid 80's to mid 90's for no apparent reason!

I fully realize that today's youth (and most of society) doesn't find HB to be relevant, but damn it...I could use my Hong Kong Phooey, Captain Caveman, Snagglepuss, and Jabberjaw fix!! Nowadays, I only see these characters on TV's "Boomerang". Otherwise, they are completely non existant in all forms of media.

As a longtime former Cedar Point employee, while I enjoy Camp Snoopy and have always been a fan of Peanuts- the actual theming and attraction layout was never fully realized to appropriately represent the comic strip, Broadway musical, and animated TV specials. All rides are honestly uninspired carnival style rip-offs. There was no thought process or creativity put into the design. Such a shame. Shame on you, Cedar Fair and Schulz family!

I will take my memories of HB anyday!

That Moby Dick boat ride is really awesome. I would love to see that in real life. The Flintstones car ride looks really cool, too. Thanks for sharing those images, although, now I'm kinda sad this stuff didn't get built.