Former Fantasy Island - Niagara Amusement Park - Grand Island, NY - Lost Dark Ride

[@mikehughes4969]

You could tell that the Wild West actors were having as much fun as the audience and the wendigos were awesome! Too bad about the Flying Witch, but there's always next time.

[@josephcecil1917]

Interesting seeing them try to bring this back to life. Wish them luck. Bless those performers pulling double and triple duty there.

[@kierbee4666]

I was thinking the same thing 😂 they were everywhere! So talented too :)

[@warmlantern0000]

I AGREE 🎉

[@robbrocki2724]

This park use to be great back in the day but unfortunately the last owners ruined it. It was so vandalized and destroyed before it was bought and slowly coming back to life. One of the former actors from the shoot out is the one that was able to get it back on its feet. Thanks for sharing I haven't seen it since it shut down.

[@robylove9190]

It's always good when an old park is brought back to life. Thanks, Jacob ❤

[@lissachocolate]

Kudos to the performers, loved their enthusiasm, the shows and train robbery were fun. Should be a really neat park when they have the rides up and running

[@gspeakman]

That is one hard working park staff! Pretty much the same people were in all of the shows! Got to admire their dedication to their park.

[@Occupant]

Those performers are really bringing it. Great choreography too!

[@aidan3865]

Omg I went there all the time as a kid saw an abandoned video from Josh not too long ago on this place. Glad to see it’s up and running even if it’s not as fantasy island ❤

[@handyhank1967]

Just watched Joshes video. Seen it before but forgot who created it.. thanks....

[@needamillion4826]

The haunted shoot out show was great! Really enjoyed it! It's nice they are trying to reopen that place.

[@MNorris1985]

It's so great to see this reopened. i grew up here. Went from a family passionate about owning and running it to retiring and selling to a company that ran it into the ground, becoming abandoned and almost completely destroyed to reopened!

[@DinnerBlasterX]

The green coaster in the parking lot is a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop coaster. It uses that large flywheel and a clutch mechanism to launch the train. Once it's built it will actually be the only one of its type operating in NA!

[@GodsMan500]

I grew up right at the edge of the parking lot of Rye Playland and I’m sad that “my” beautiful Flying Witch had been taken away. I hope Niagara reassembles it and it’s not just left to rot out in a field. It really is an amazing two-story dark ride with an awesome building facade and awesome-looking cars. The sound inside was incredible. Here’s hoping that they get it running again. It certainly would be a good draw to the park.

[@SnackHeadCowboy]

Woah have we ever seen a gun fight like that last one? So unique

[@discohiro]

Cripes! I didn't expect that final gun slinging show to be so graphic and violent! Amazing!

[@SusanStypa]

I would go to Fantasy Island as a kid and my favorites were those “houses” that had the buttons. You would push the button as there would be a scene from a classic fairytale and the characters would move around 😊

[@n00dl3gal]

The whale mouth told the story of Pinnochio! I remember they also had one for Sinbad and I believe Aladdin. There was at least one classic princess story too, I forget which one. I would run around and hit the buttons, then get bored and run off to the next one.

[@JennyBastet]

Good to see an old dark ride back at an old park who's opened again . Always lovely to see ❤

[@andrewf3505]

In reality, it’s gonna take them a long time to get that park rebuilt. I have so many amazing family memories at Fantasy Island. It almost hurts to see the park this way. If you valued the park as a kid, please consider buying a ticket even if you don’t intend on going. Show your support:)

[@steveforsythe9264]

I was here in the late 70's when is was called Fantasy Island. An enjoyable time for all. I thought it closed, ty Jacob for showing us it's open.

[@MikeWeiner]

Watching this one twice today cuz I LOVE this park so much! Its clearly struggling, but trying so hard and I agree, the star of this park is its employees and their dedication to the live action shows. I'm so glad its being saved! I can't wait for you to go back and check on that amazing looking dark ride. :)

[@twanagilles1756]

I agree!

[@MegaParkLover]

The Flying Witch was owned and operated by concessionaires who had maintained and enhanced it since 1971 since 1971. Over the years, the owners added many new scenes to the ride to compliment the original 1971 fiberglass figures. Sadly, and to the dismay of many Playland fans and dark ride fans alike, all of the park's private concessions were terminated in 2022, hence the removal of Flying Witch, when a private management firm began its 30-year contract to manage the park. The ride was then sold by its former owners to Niagara Amusement Park.

[@kentbrockman8837]

Fantasy Island GI NY. Was a place I really wanted to go when I was a kid in Toronto. I eventually got to go. It was awesome. "Fun? Wow!" The main street had been the wild west shootout stunt show. I can still remember the king walrus puppet at the puppet theatre.

[@vincentschmitt7597]

Never know where a highlight will come from. For me it's the puppet show. Great moment of establishing the show then to watching the kiddie train roll by as we listen to the puppets. Nicely put together.

[@MentalMagicReading]

I’m sad I missed you in the park! They’ve really been trying hard to bring it back. It’s been a great park for littles this summer!

[@HiddenJackpots]

Thank you for posting this! My parents used to take me there every year as a kid. I did see that it re-opened. I live just across the border and will definitely be taking a trip back next season! Hopefully more rides are open!!

[@matthewfarmer2520]

Good morning Jacob I'm not from the north, never heard of it but looks great and fun. Thanks for sharing. Hope the new owners keep it going for a long time. You take care my friend.🤓📸

[@bacontilldeth]

I love that they brought this back! My Grandpa surprised me with Fantasy Island tickets when I was a kid, and I went here when it was Fantasy Island and still a booming park back in the 90s. My dad actually was selected to join one of the shootouts when they still did that, so that made a very memorable experience! It looks very similar to what it looked like to me then minus a LOT of theming. Still would have liked to talk with you more since the meetup at Brushy Mountain Penitentiary!

[@lesHanalala]

I visited Fantasy Island somewhere around '65 or '66. I don't recall much, as I was only around 10 years old. I believe it was a school field trip! I lived in Lewiston, NY.

[@kjaco4206]

I can’t believe Playland got rid of The Flying Witch! I grew up going to that park and that was always my favorite ride there and one of my favorite dark rides period. It been there since 1971. That makes me really sad. 😢

[@kennygarrett6588]

You're something I look forward to every day dude

[@jmorgan5252]

Loved the haunted shoot out. Cool video Jacob Thank you Hi Jenn!

[@JDuc114]

Hi! I used to go to Fantasy Island alll the time. The Whale used to have a display inside, press the button and it would tell you the story of Pinnochio. Don't really remember Alice but I'm sure she had a similar thing.

[@CUBOSH]

that flying witch really sparked something in me like 80s nostalgia amusement park sights, kinda sleazy, kinda beautiful

[@bayfox1235]

Hope that they get this old school park going and doing well 🙏

[@MissouriPenny]

Love your channel thankyou for sharing ❤️ 😊

[@raindog8802]

What a great little amusement park! Maybe not as shiny (and overdone) as most of the other parks Jacob has visited, but it has a real old fashioned charm that reminds me of the parks I visited as a kid. The people who perform there in the shows seem to be enjoying themselves, and it's an attractive locale to boot. Great video, and I hope you go back to visit it again once it's fully operational.

[@allensherrill850]

I’m happy to keep a wendigo under my pillow !

[@unicorn063]

Thankyou for taking us Jacob way fun 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊❤

[@jimwhitt]

Gotta give them credit, never heard of a haunted gun fight, very creative

[@amyandtony]

The last gun show was great.

[@desirae742]

I appreciate this video a lot, thank you! I haven't been since I worked there as my first job 16 years ago. Been wanting to check it out under the new owners but video and photos of whats going on there have been scarce. You've convinced me to check it out. Id love to get season passes for the family but I can't get over that they cost as much as Six Flags Darien Lake season passes when its so much smaller and so many attractions aren't even open :/

[@DCDragon]

Wow I remember when Exploring with Josh went here when it was abandoned! Josh said that TikTok made this place popular to explore when it was abandoned and the majority of the stuff had been either broken into and/or vandalized by people who came from TikTok.

[@kandihinshaw1870]

Okay Jacob to answer your question about Alice in Wonderland in the mushroom in the potion. Technically in the cartoon valsan in Wonderland. When she fell down the rabbit hole she came across a basket that said eat me she ate the cookie. The cookie made her grow extremely large. After eating the cookie and being extremely large and cramped in a small space she began to cry. The doorknob told her on the tiny door told her to drink the liquid on the table. So she grabbed the bottle she drinks the liquid shrinks her back down to size. She goes the doorknob Migos I'm exactly the right size. The doorknob last tell her she has to get the key on the table. So she's got to grab it. So Alice takes the cookie she looks the cookie would fix her grow just tall enough delete the table to get the key off the table. She unlocks the door go through the doors I'm going on a walk. Now when it comes to the mushroom. The caterpillar told her one side of the mushroom will make her grow larger and the other side of mushroom and make her grow smaller. That is the information on the mushroom the bottle in the cookie.

[@AnnetteDancer915]

I was here so many times as a little kid. Seeing where it came is so surprising to me. Perhaps some rides you saw to day, if originals, Perhaps you've seen rides I've been on as a child. Maybe you stood be where i once stood at one point. This place holds so many memories for me

[@dantemickens9897]

Not only the The Flying Witch was moved so did the Sea Dragon ride was moved too from Rye Playland 😢 I will truly miss those rides. I grew up getting on thise rides

[@Productions427]

The names on the car ride (Madison, Saybrook, Ashtabula) are all towns in Northeast Ohio.

[@johndangel4309]

I was taking my son to Niagara Falls some time ago and we haopened upon this place. It was run down and looked more like a carnival had setup. We bought tickets and for aome reason season passes were right about the same price so we got them. We enjoyes the place for what it was, and rode the big coaster repeatedly even though it slammed us to a stop each time. A few months later we got a letter from the attornwy general office of Ny saying this place was permantly closed and was sending a refund for the season passes ! Then daw the videos online of the place abandoned and just getting destroyed. So nice a suprise to see it coming back. We are on our way to the Falls on a couple weeks we will def stop back in. Glad i found this to know ot was open !

[@nothanks1627]

Indiana Beach on beautiful Lake Shafer, Monticello Indiana. Proving once again, "There's more than corn in Indiana" ❤

[@ThisOldGeek]

That's what I go to amusement parks for! The violence!

[@lazyboy6575]

Bagger, today's Vlog reminds me of a fun fact.....Most old West towns in the 1800's were paved in asphalt. 😊😊🙃

[@TheVictorCruz]

Wow did I just hear the theme to Blazing Saddles AND Eastbound and Down?? Niiiiiiiice!!!

[@lizlocher3612]

Super cool park. Lots of unique rides n really cool they have a lot of rides for the kids!! Wild West Show was awesome fun!!!

[@JamesBond-rv3es]

To answer your question we are not at liberty to tell you anything unfortunately ps my dad works there and you got him on camera in the haunted shootout and he was the one looking up at the roof under the awning of the golden nugget and also the last haunted shoot out of the season the chair was finally broken and my dad said I’m not fixing that and because he is a maintenance worker he can bring someone in the park for free so I get in the park free .

[@Handsolo313]

That one actor guy, he sure gets around. I wonder if he gets paid extra.😅

[@c.rogers____]

Best wishes to this place to provide years of family fun

[@dillonrostensrandomvideos]

eating one side of the mushroom will make her grow larger and eating the other side will make her grow smaller.

[@suemoo22]

I like this place!

[@c.rogers____]

I hope that the park redevelops and includes. Many adult rides. Our beloved "Lesourdsville /Americana "..in Middletown, OH.WAs 😢SADLY SHUT DOWN.

[@johnchambers8528]

Thanks for the video. I was in the area only one time but did not have time to visit the old park. Since it was bought by the same person that saved Indiana Beach and owns Clementon Park in New Jersey I feel it is now in good hands and will become a good regional park. You can see from what you showed it is still a work in progress but at least he got it open again and preserved many of The old rides that were not destroyed or sold off. As you showed they are working on rebuilding the park and adding new rides. Check back next year and see if that dark ride has reopened and give us an update on the progress they made during the shut down time this year.

[@wizzwamf]

what a super amusement park hopefully its coming back to life , i loved the western town action brilliant fun and fabulous actors

[@ericriddle3158]

Go ask Alice, when she's 10 feet tall

[@Griswold32]

Lol

[@ShadowGaming-bk3qt]

31:56 for such an amazing Show, I am getting Hollywood Horror night vibes

[@JaMeS.T2001]

That was an awesome show!!!

[@Paolo_DLR]

They sure do like their gunfights.

[@badwolf3109]

The cake that say eat me makes the eater grow and the potion that says drink me has the opposite effect that shrinks the drinker

[@XenobiaWinterWolfMoon]

Maybe the 3rd house belongs to the Crooked Man

[@slayer81457]

you should go to space farms zoo and museum

[@richardshull6396]

Oaks park in oregon by portland

[@laurag-oe9xo]

If Jacob's reaction to the gunfire is any indication, haunt season will be full fo screams. 😂😂

[@nataliecrow6533]

It is nice to have these little cheaper parks for families who can’t afford the larger more expensive ones. My kids loved Enchanted Forest & it had just enough rides to be fun & not overboard. That puppet show you showed reminded me of Mrs. Doubtfire 😆

[@MichaelAKaras]

Wasn't it called "Martin's Fantasy Island" for a while?

[@oophelia46]

Yes!

[@maddog6620]

You are awesome 😎

[@n00dl3gal]

My grandparents used to take us there when my sibling and I were kids. We'd always pack a picnic lunch and set up camp in the blacksmith's cabin/pavillion by the canoe lake. I would ride the Wipeout-style Black Hole ride soooo much!! And the sugar waffles... It's rough to see it in this shape, a shell of what it used to be with only a handful of attractions left. (Not that it was particularly well-kept when I visited in the aughts and '10s.) But the passion from the employees remains, so maybe it'll be awesome again in a few years.

[@XenobiaWinterWolfMoon]

The Wendigo is gonna get sick of hearing its name😂😂😂

[@Yeet112]

I always loved seeing the flying witch at playland. The artwork is depicts 1980s haunted house airbrush art even though that paint job was done in the late 90s 2000s i believe. The original artwork was just tan bricks with some windows with creatures looking through them.

[@richardphillips6205]

We use to go there when I was a kid and another park called Story Town in Lake George.... thanks for the memories

[@allensherrill850]

I really need you to go to Portland Maine for more lobster 🦞

[@JessHeartsThemeParks]

My parents took me here when I was around 4 years old. I got my first bee sting walking around the little water park😂. I'm going to have to look through our home movies from the 80s/90s and find the video from here. Very cool blast from the past!

[@ShadowGaming-bk3qt]

33:00 I've heard this music before. I can't recall what it's from. I'm thinking of Insidious.

[@prs44]

@34:02....that would be the old laser loop from kennywood....a classic shuttle loop coaster....hope they get that one going....great ride

[@sophiehanssel2017]

Pinocchio used to be in that giant whale but people vandalized the park when it closed that's why he's sadly not there anymore

[@lizoneil4706]

I am from Buffalo, currently I work in Walt Disney world… this park was my childhood but it used to be so amazing. The storybook village came before my time. But inside the whale was Pinocchio and geppetto, and figaro. The Alice in wonderland one was Ali baba… those were the only ones they had when I was growing up. There used to be a super fun cowboy show which was like Calamity Jane and whatever. The silver comet was my very first roller coaster. This place made me literally love theme parks. Now I work at debatably the best one in the whole world :) I wish this was upkept better. I really do. Bc it used to be so amazing to me

[@tom7073]

My local park is Indiana Beach. Mr. Staples has done a great job at our park. You’ll have to get back there and ride the All American Triple Loop! Someone should reach out to him to purchase Ghost Town!

[@loricarter4175]

I'm not sure if i mentioned it on your channel before....however, there is a carousel in New York called Jane's carousel. She restored it from a defunct Idora Park in Youngstown ohio. Rode it many times in youngstown.

[@glennb8397]

Wow ticket price was $ 1.99 right. Very low budget, over head most of the rides not running no operators. Bad to act out on gun fights with to many shooting taking place to give people and kids the ideal. Yes it's make believe, but in today's world 🌎 nothing is really fair tails anymore 🙃🤔🙄

[@noblewick]

Wait a minute hold on Jacob are you saying that they flying witch is no longer at rye Playland and is now found it's home here in Niagara! because that's kind of sad

[@erinturner9074]

You should check out Clark's trading post (amusement park) in New Hampshire sometime

[@toireasa94]

The whale use to be a whole Pinocchio theme when he was eaten by the whale. The gold nugget use to have a can can show too. That's my hometown, spent my whole life going to fantasy island every summer since I was in the womb! Hoping so badly that they pick up the pace restoring it! They keep promising more adult rides, im waiting. It'll always be fantasy island to me 💙

[@twanagilles1756]

This park is a tad depressing. I came to this conclusion when the train went by the dollar general and the taco loco......and yet I'm still fascinated by it all!!!

[@chrispenn7144]

Bagger Gene Staples saved Indiana beach then Clementon park in new jersey you need to visit that one. Then Niagara park.

[@sabregirl247]

I live in buffalo...omg that haunted show....😂 I laughed my butt off and I never heard my dad laugh so hard at that part...I hope they bring it next year ...people trashed the park when it was closed ...there is a video that shows you what was trashed...and i am in shocked what they fixed so far...the houses with the buttons had cool items and moved but they trashed the items..

[@ryanschmauss1931]

I have been there many times many years ago. Across the border Cyrstal Beach Amusement Park was great too, The Laff in the Dark was an awesome dark ride!

[@BufAGI]

They don’t own it or IB they lease them from REIT Store Capital. They do however own Clementon in NJ

[@bufbandit39]

All the rides in the parking lot are coming in. The company that owned it before gutted most of the rides because they went into bankruptcy. It was abondoned for a couple years and vanndels got in a wrecked some things.

[@Emilie1Shortiee]

I can’t wait til they get more rides !!! The flying witch would be cool to have I’ve never ridden it but dark rides seem so cool and nostalgic a little before my time but I love things like that !

[@janetcannon7986]

When I was young the was a place in the Catskill called Carson City Wild West City. When they robbed the train they would pick an adult ,take them off into the woods and pretend to kill them. Not sure that would be ok these days.

[@cjheod686]

Nothing but a glorified carnival. Thank goodness we live close to Cedar Point. These people in this area deserve better!

[@jabrowski_]

Ty for sharing Jacob. Looks like a good place for a nap imo. Wake up during the shootouts

[@katwesley6806]

Please consider going to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly Halloween Haunt... I haven't been able to go and I'd love to see it👻

[@penxor53]

That little park holds the record in gunfights

[@exploreohio1735]

If Laser Loop gets rebuilt i could see a lot of Coaster Fanatics coming here to get that credit, it looks like the Galaxy coaster is built as well so this park have potential.