I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore

The Wizard of Oz land coming to a park in Australia

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Follow the Yellow Brick Road over the rainbow and all the way to Warner Bros. Movie World on Australia’s Gold Coast where a new The Wizard of Oz land is slated to open in 2024. The classic movie, which is one of the world’s most popular stories, is perfect fodder for theme park interpretation. But plans for the land appear to focus on a couple of relatively modest Oz-themed coasters and not on any grand-scale E-Ticket attractions, something which the beloved property so richly deserves.

Will there be a pot of theme park gold at the end of this rainbow? (Village Roadshow Theme Parks)

Don’t get me wrong. I love roller coasters. (But, you know that.) However, I’ve been pining for a theme park ode to “The Wizard of Oz” since I first watched the film on my folks’ black & white TV as a child. (It wasn’t until years later that I saw the Land of Oz in all its Technicolor glory. Yes, folks, I’m old.) While I applaud Warner Bros. Movie World for undertaking the project, I wish it was allocating the budget and resources to develop a truly immersive experience with copious themed attraction bells and whistles.

Both of the land’s rides are being described as family friendly. Flight of the Wicked Witch will be a suspended family coaster from Vekoma and will be similar to rides such as Dragonflier at Dollywood and Phoenix at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. It will rise 62 feet, hit a top speed of 42 mph, and traverse 1,490 feet of track. Kansas Twister will be a Vekoma family boomerang coaster like Good Gravy! coming to Holiday World and Snoopy's Soap Box Racers coming to Kings Island, except it will feature two tracks for increased capacity. The dueling trains will also have the ability to race one another. Kansas Twister will rise 72 feet and hit a top speed of 36 mph. The ride will likely last about one minute.

Kansas Twister coaster (Village Roadshow Theme Parks)

The coasters should be fine, but the ride systems themselves won’t be especially unique. Looking at the concept art (see above), it appears that the park is lavishing some attention on themeing. The Warner Bros. Movie World folks promise that the land will include “projection mapping, stunning sculptures, and captivating facades.” Which is great.

But how cool would it be to board a ride that simulates a tornado and transports guests from monochrome Kansas to a brightly colored and whimsical Oz? Maybe the attraction could toss in some flying monkeys and a burning scarecrow to inject some drama into the proceedings and choreograph the whole shebang to the movie’s iconic songs. It’s disappointing to me that the land will seemingly not capitalize on the untapped potential of the iconic story.

Of course, the actual land could exceed the expectations implied by the limited details the park has revealed. The concept art below, which shows an indoor scene from the Flight of the Wicked Witch coaster, looks promising.

The Flight of the Wicked Witch coaster (Village Roadshow Theme Parks)

It is intriguing that The Wizard of Oz is being built in, of all places, Oz, isn’t it? The Down-Under folks at Warner Bros. Movie World are calling their latest project “a world-first Wizard of Oz precinct.” I know it’s a colloquialism, but to my American ears “precinct” sounds like the criminal justice system will somehow be involved with the land. (Which, considering the country’s history as a penal colony, seems strangely apt.)

As for the “world-first” bragging rights, Warner Bros. Movie World will not be the first theme park to host Dorothy, Toto, and the gang. Fans of The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (and you know who you are), which closed to make way for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, fondly recall the attraction’s homage to “The Wizard of Oz.” I’ll bet many of you don’t know that there once was a Land of Oz park in North Carolina. Or that each fall, there is an Autumn at Oz Festival staged at the site of the defunct park. In the early 2000s, developers were proposing a major Oz-themed park and pitched a number of sites in the U.S. including Niagara Falls.

Entrance to the Flight of the Wicked Witch coaster (Village Roadshow Theme Parks)

In the mid-2000’s, a source revealed to me that Universal Orlando would be developing a land based on the Harry Potter books and films weeks before the official announcement. It was an incredible get for a theme park journalist. The source said that I could break the news, but asked that I keep the name of the intellectual property a secret until the announcement. I had fun teasing about the project, saying that “a certain wizard” was on the way to the Florida theme park resort. That led to all kinds of speculation. For sure, some folks guessed that it might be Potter. Others thought it might be “The Lord of the Rings” or some other theme. But, far and away, most people predicted that “The Wizard of Oz” would be the focus of the new land. That shows the film’s enduring popularity and the pent-up desire to experience the story in theme park form.

Just imagine what Universal Creative, with its considerable talent and its wads of Comcast cash, could do with a land devoted to “The Wizard of Oz.” Hey NBCUniversal! There appears to be plenty of room to expand at Epic Universe. Just sayin’. Maybe we should all click our heels together at Universal Orlando and say, “There’s no place like Oz.”

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Do you agree that the “The Wizard of Oz” deserves a lavishly themed, big-bucks attraction (or two or three)? Is the classic movie still relevant today?