Wild West World: When the West Went South

Thomas Etheredge had a brilliant idea for a new theme park that would bring fun back to Wichita, Kansas after Joyland closed. It lasted two months.
In Amusement Anthology Episode 8, hear the whole story of how one man tried and failed to open a new theme park in Wichita; one that is now considered among the shortest-lived theme parks to ever exist. While it is now abandoned, most don't realize there was ever a theme park there. A rushed construction, lackluster rides, and one man's criminal past are only some of the factors that contributed to its failure. This is Wild West World.
Researched, written, narrated, and edited by Jonathan Baker.
[Chapters]
0:00 Intro/Joyland's Closure
1:21 Thomas Etheredge
4:27 Grand Opening Day
7:20 Lackluster Reception
8:58 Abandoned
10:53 Outro
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#WildWestWorld #AmusementAnthology #Documentary

[@livelaughlovethelife]

Great video! Thanks so much for this! I was an employee! I was able to get my last paycheck but some weren’t so lucky. I worked in the shops! We never had customers and it’s crazy to think it was only open for 2 months. It felt like it was open so much longer cause the days were so long and boring with nothing to do. I remember to clock in, they had a hand print scanner. It was really cool. The day we closed I went in for work and people in the offices were carrying out potted plants.. it was so weird and then everyone just said “we are closed!” Nobody knew beforehand.

[@sammiiweaver4164]

I attended once as a very young girl and for som reason, I remember that there was a bogo-style deal happening to get into the park.

[@Eric_1991]

Man, I wasn’t aware some workers didn’t get their pay! That’s messed up!

[@voraciouslatias]

I was a family member, hard to remember since I was 7 at the time

[@edricwallace8625]

Thx for letting me be apart of this documentary

[@urbex_coasters]

I went yesterday. Update: the Johnny Western theatre is still there, as are the bridge and the pond. It's very accessible. The logo remains up inside. It is wide open to the elements and would be in no condition for the owner to relocate. Other than that the park is gone. All of the midways have been jackhammered up, there was no sign of the log flume or the train station. The hotel is now Winds Hotel, part of the Winds Casino and its Wild West decor has been stripped with it becoming the hotel for the casino. The hotel's location might seem a little far from the casino for anyone unfamiliar with the history though.

[@HistoryHappens]

Hey I recognize those abandoned photos of the park with snow in them! They're ones I had taken and have in a video! Great job on the explanation of the craziness of the park. Thomas tried to sell the park months before it opened. I think he could see the troubles coming. I haven't heard anything on him in awhile but at the time of parole he had cancer. The land for the park came from his wife's family. We had a friend who recently passed who was from there. He was a cousin of the wife and told about the troubles of how the family was scammed as well.

[@XscreamThrills]

It's sad that many of these "newer" parks opening have been flops. The verdict is still out with Owa, but makes you wonder if we'll see another successful ground up theme park outside of Disney/Universal anytime soon.

[@acceleratedcreative]

Nick Universe was sucessful. Let’s hope LEGO Land NY is, etc

[@RampagingRex]

Hard Rock Park has entered the chat

[@SeanFlaharty]

Another great video! Thanks for the credit. I had no idea where the Reverchon Crazy Mouse moved to after it closed. Now I know. Thanks!

[@ninagorniak9054]

Yay! Awh I love your documentary style uploads theyre so beautifully told and created with so much respect and history!

[@GlenFair]

Great video. We went there and the ride lineup wasn't bad, let's be honest Joyland was mostly carnival rides too, except for the wood coaster. The biggest problem was lack of atmosphere, there were hardly any trees, not much grass, lots of dirt, it was very barren and empty. A few trees would have made a world of difference. Also think the wild west theme was probably a bad idea, back in the 1950s and 1960s western stuff was all the rage with lots of movies and TV shows but nowadays most people have no interest in it.

[@mydogvlad]

I remember being so hyped about them opening up a theme park in Wichita, only to be disappointed with his plan and execution of it. We really need a park closer than KC or OKC.

[@urbex_coasters]

Bring back Joyland I say! While heavily damaged by tornados, Nightmare is still standing and could be rebuilt, reusing much of the same equipment and on the same foundation. Log Jam is still standing, the troff could stand another 100 years easily. That's enough to get something going if someone wanted to.

[@abrahamlincoln7754]

I've heard about Wild West World before, but nobody has given as much info about this park as this video has. Great video!

[@HeatherHugs]

It only lasted two months? Jeez! Great video

[@E4_MAFIA]

Thank you for covering this! I live in the area and remember the hype when it was about to open. The Motel 6 is seen on my way to Wichita when I drive into the city. Great video.

[@JBThrills]

Please do more of these history videos I love them!

[@modeljetjuggernaut4864]

We got to go there on opening day with free park passes funded by our kids' middle school. Even though the rides were standard carniv fare, I saw a lot of potential as a lot of parts were still under construction. That was the last time I was there. But I do have some trading cards from the park. Theyre sitting in my homr office to this day 😅

[@TheCoasterMeme]

I have never heard of this park and great video!

[@mecha.electroma]

The What's the Matter With Kansas documentary has some footage of the park and church filmed the summer it was open for those looking to go further down the rabbit hole.

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

I came to this video via an image search and while listening to the intro...I WAS NOT EXPECTING TO BE HIT WITH SONIC MANIA MUSIC.

[@SaberFox]

UPDATE: A BIG ONE! The Motel 6 shown in this video is now permanently closed, since Late 2021- Early 2022, and the land near it is being sold. Now the whole area of the former WWW park is not being used.

[@michaelbruzina6835]

Excellent video as always. Fun fact the swinging ship you pictured went to Cincinnati’s Coney Island before the park closed and sold all the rides. So it’s for sale again

[@acceleratedcreative]

Great video Jonathan! Interesting history!

[@bayleeowen910]

My grandparents took me to Wild West World once. I had a blast there! So sad it never worked out.

[@jaymzstrader1945]

Dude, I live in wichita and seen all this as it happened. I always had the idea of someone using that land as a new joyland. Oh well. Great video.

[@sammiiweaver4164]

I actually went to www when it first opened, I was about 6. I remember the bronco buster when would first walk in, and it was the first place I ever rode the crazy mouse. They use that at the Kansas state fair now every year. All we have left from Wild West World is a photo with my family dressed up in old clothes. I still have very vivid memories of it

[@Eric_1991]

I was 15 about to turn 16. I remember it came out the same weekend as Spider-Man 3, so I remember a bunch of kids with symbiote Spider-Man prizes lol

[@gobbzgaming8812]

Some of the shop fronts were relocated from the park to Kellogg & Tyler in west Wichita and they now form a strip mall with various shops and a Subway. I visited the park twice while it was open. It was my very first time riding a crazy mouse coaster and it was a blast (more fun than it looks). It needed a lot of landscaping work, but overall I had a decent time there. El Diablo was my favorite ride there. I'm saddened that it didn't work out. Wichita really does need an amusement park. Something better than All Star east.

[@georgemcfly1205]

Yep. 11:30 is now the current Subway I go to for lunch on occasion

[@bradythomas234]

I went to frontier city this summer. It was really fun but a lot of rides were broken sadly

[@NicholasBeckAlexander]

Will you do an episode on ‘Myrtle Beach Pavilion’ ?

[@kekameme]

I love how you use Sonic music in your videos :P Have you ever considered making a video on Sega World Sydney?

[@supramanx1997]

I can tell you from personal experience, Crazy Mouse had no sharp turns and was not anything near "disorienting". The thing went like 15 miles an hour and dropped like 15 feet maybe. There wasn't an actual roller coaster there.

[@RampagingRex]

That's really weird. Since I obviously never got to ride it myself, I was comparing it to other Reverchon Wild Mice I've ridden. I wonder if they purposely slowed it down?

[@supramanx1997]

@@RampagingRex It seriously felt like a kids ride. I don't remember it lasting very long either, maybe a minute after the start of it. I was 14 and very much unimpressed, so the numbers are probably a slight exaggeration, but the drops were laughable and it wasn't fast -at all-. I'm fairly certain that at at least one point I had experienced more G-force from my grandmother's Honda Accord. The first coaster I ever rode was when I was maybe 7-8 years old at six flags over Texas, a bobsled type coaster who's name I can't remember right now. That made me nervous and was exciting. The wild mouse did neither. The spinning dragons at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City is small steel coaster with spinning cars and is much much more fun and exciting. The "tornado" thing with the rotating swings was much more fun, like you said was just a carnival ride, and so even that was pretty mild. Rode that like 8 times in a row and then got my girlfriend a penguin plushie from a "guess the weight" game. Walked around bored until the teachers called us to get back in the buses. The whole place felt like a budget carnival for sure.

[@SeanFlaharty]

@@RampagingRex I did ride it when it was at Myrtle Beach and it ran great there. Easily one of the more intense Reverchon mice I have ridden. Then again, the operator "pulled the pin" before we dispatched so we were able to spin the entire ride. I wonder if they slowed it down after it moved.

[@bfdifan16]

Another documentary but this time about Indiana beach because it's closed out and I'm still really sad about it and it would be nice to know the history behind it so can you do one please

[@nerdygal1234]

Do you have any idea what kind of ride El Diablo was? My partner said it was also named to El Toro later on. We can't seem to find any info on what kind of ride it actually was.

[@Orange_Laowai]

Do a video on Celebration City in Branson, Missouri.

[@superluigi8362]

It's actually Moser's Rides. Back Then it was called Sorani And Moser, prior to 1985.

[@jacksonscott9857]

Wow👏 a great video he really stole money from a church only hope is that it will eventually reopen as a better park

[@RampagingRex]

There's no way Wild West World is coming back in the same location, but Wichita still deserves a suitable replacement for Joyland.

[@Brainulator9]

4:27 I was literally playing Sonic Mania as I watched this video. This video is more fun than the park, I am going to guess.

[@RampagingRex]

Honestly, playing Sonic Labyrinth would have been more fun than visiting this park.

[@Brainulator9]

Sonic '06 was a better put together product than Wild West World #ChangeMyMind

[@Ohiopianoguy]

8:22 "Seized operations." Ceased. The word is ceased.

[@michaeldykstra4265]

Ironic that it`s now a motel 6, i expected it to still be a sleep inn like in 2007 #sleepinn

[@No-nu8zx]

so basically, the American Adventure. Just the “American” version

[@NEMOsleeps24]

Ol Dirty Tom. I'm glad you're gone

[@niccage6375]

Even though kansas doesnt not have a park but at least Worlds Of Fun and silver dollar city isnt too far off the border

[@edvaira6891]

Honestly, how is this much different from Knotts Berry Farm? This sounded SO MUCH of a worse idea! Not surprising that it got SO BADLY STOMPED ON...It looks almost exactly like a State Fair Midway

[@211inprogress]

Yee haaarrrr

[@bluquail]

Kansas just isn't the state for amusement parks.

[@voraciouslatias]

Believe it or not, but I'm related to the person who owned this park.

[@DeactivatedCharcoal]

Cargill in Wichita bought season tickets for all of it's employees. The ones that went complained you couldn't buy alcohol at the park. So religious folks will take your money by slight of hand, but not not by sale of demon liquor?

[@dnic2374]

Yep this should have stayed open

[@brickle6542]

I think the city of texas would die for this.