There are few purer and more intense feelings than the concentrated cocktail of fear of ecstasy that is riding a theme park ride. Whether it’s water slides, rollercoasters, or drop towers, the main attractions at theme parks offer visceral, terrifying experiences in the safety of seatbelts, straps, rails, and tracks, all professionally and consistently maintained to the highest of safety standards. 

Except that’s only true at some parks and not others, and it’s almost impossible to find out which is which. 

Regulation of a given park’s safety might come from local governments, state governments, or the Consumer Product Safety Commission, on a case-by-case basis. The CPSC themselves have called it “a fragmented system.” This has lead in part to around 30,000-45,000 accidents at theme parks each year. 

With so many unfortunate accidents to choose from, here are ten of the wildest and worst theme park accidents of all time.

10 Superman Took her Feet

Sometimes non-fatal accidents leave you chilled in a way that a simple death could not. That’s certainly true of the incident involving 13-year-old Kaitlyn Lassiter, who survived an accident on Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom’s Superman: Tower of Power ride. Yes, she survived, but her feet did not.

On June 21, 2007, Kaitlyn got on the Tower of Power, a drop tower ride that simulates a 154-foot fall. Just after the ride began, one of its many cables snapped. The ride dropped, and the other passengers were struck by the cable, suffering only minor wounds. Unfortunately for Kaitlyn, the cable happened to wrap around her ankles. It shattered her left femur and held tight as she dropped, severing both of her feet. Luckily, doctors were able to reattach her right foot, but the much more injured left leg had to be amputated below the knee.

9 The Ghost Train Catches Fire

On June 9, 1979, Sydney, Australia’s indoor ghost train ride at Luna Park caught fire. The incident killed seven people—six of them children. As the park had never installed a sprinkler system, the fire burned the entire ride to the ground. We still don’t know what caused the mysterious fire in the first place.

Approximately 35 people were riding the train through its spooky interior track when the fire started. Whether due to an electrical accident or, as was later claimed, an arson attack by a mob boss, a fire broke out. The staff noticed the smoke and began to pull guests out of the ride, but couldn’t get to all of them before the fire was too large. The park was understaffed and the nearest fire hose couldn’t reach the entirety of the ride, and so seven lives were lost, along with the train itself.

8 Big Thunder Mountain Hits the Roof

Not to cry conspiracy, but this accident has a tiny fraction of the coverage online of what the others have, despite leading to a gruesome death. Perhaps that’s because it took place at the Happiest Place on Earth—and one of its richest and most powerful: Disneyland.

September 5, 2003, was the day that Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster malfunctioned. The lead car on the faux locomotive lost its rear wheels and shot up into the roof (during the indoor portion). The following cars then continued on under the now-embedded lead car, slamming Marcelo Torres into it, killing him. 

About the accident, the California Division of Occupational Safety said that “machinists did not understand or follow the park’s maintenance procedures and operators were not given the right guidelines.” The following year, Torres’s family settled with Disney for an undisclosed sum.

7 When Mindbender Derailed

In 1986, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, was the largest mall in the world. The rollercoaster contained within it, The Mindbender, was the tallest indoor roller coaster in the world. Not sure that a rollercoaster inside a mall is a good idea anyway. Regardless, it became a major attraction twice over, and its attendance numbers reflected that, some hundreds per hour for decades. 

But only four passengers were unlucky enough to be flung from the ride, three of them to their deaths.

Due to a combination of faulty design and improper maintenance, on June 14, 1986, a car detached from the coaster track, its restraints opened, and four passengers were launched to the concrete floor of the mall. Three died, and the fourth surviving passenger, Rod Chayko, has unsuccessfully lobbied for decades to have a memorial to his unlucky fellow riders placed in the mall.

6 The Haunted Castle Fire

In an eerily similar incident to the Luna Park ghost train fire, another dark indoor ride, New Jersey’s Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure, caught fire. Again, it had failed to install sprinkler systems. Again it killed multiple people (eight this time vs. Luna Park’s seven). And again, with the incident came unsubstantiated claims of arson.

Due to some unknown cause, the fire broke out on May 11, 1984, with 29 guests inside the ride. The attraction, built mostly from flammable materials, went up quickly. Some guests thought the fire was all part of the staged horror and reacted too slowly. Similarly, though more grim, the badly-charred bodies of the eight teenagers who died in the flames were initially thought to be just part of the scene.

5 Trapped Under Thunder River Rapids

One of only two deadly water rides on this list, the river rafting ride Thunder River Rapids in Queensland, Australia, earned the honor on October 25, 2016. That day, four of its passengers died by being crushed in its conveyor mechanism.

Due to a failing pump, the ride’s water level lowered dramatically, stranding one of its rafts. When the next raft reached it, the two collided and the second raft was flipped. Of the raft’s six passengers, two of them—smaller, nimbler children—were able to escape the raft, while the rest went under. They remained strapped to their seats while upside-down and were forced into contact with the conveyor mechanism, crushing them to death.

4 The King’s Crown Scalping

Elizabeth Gilreath was only 11 when she was the unfortunate victim of one of the most gruesome ride accidents in history. On May 5, 2016, Elizabeth was riding the spinning King’s Crown ride at a festival in Omaha, Nebraska, when her hair was caught in the ride, ripping her scalp from her head completely.

For over five minutes, Elizabeth screamed for the ride to stop, but it didn’t. Not until a good samaritan, Jolene Cisneros, took the initiative to physically stop the ride herself with her bare hands. Elizabeth lost the entirety of her scalp and hair and suffered severe damage to her eyes. Thanks to dozens of surgeries, she pulled through and even recovered much of what she’d lost.

3 The Verrückt Beheading

The other water ride to make it to the list is the former tallest waterslide in the world, Verrückt. On August 7, 2016, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab (son of a Kansas state representative) died while braving the tall slide.

Caleb descended the slide at the front of a raft containing two adult women at its rear. This seemingly innocent grouping would ultimately be the cause of his death. Because of the uneven weight distribution, when the raft reached one of its mini hills on the way down, the whole vehicle went airborne. Caleb hit part of the (seemingly) protective metal netting and was completely decapitated. The ride was closed and later deconstructed entirely.

2 The Big Dipper Accident

The deadliest rollercoaster accident in American history happened at Krug Park in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 24, 1930. A bolt came loose in the park’s sole rollercoaster, the Big Dipper, causing four of its cars to fly off the track and plummet to the ground.

The cars fell 35 feet, and three of the four cars landed face down. Four people died; another 17 were injured. This made it the deadliest crash in the country. The incident caused the City of Omaha to ban all rollercoasters, sealing the fate of Krug Park, which closed within the decade.

1 The Other Big Dipper Accident

Somehow, both the deadliest rollercoaster accident in American history was on a coaster named the Big Dipper, and also the deadliest rollercoaster accident in the world was on a coaster named the Big Dipper. And they are two totally different Big Dippers, their accidents separated by 42 years and one ocean.

The world’s largest coaster accident took place on May 30, 1972, and this Big Dipper was located at a fair in Battersea Park in London. As the coaster’s cars were being pulled up the track towards its first peak, both the hauling rope and the cars’ emergency brake failed. The cars rolled backward, fell off the track, and smashed through a barrier. 

Five people were killed, all of them children, and another 13 were injured. The coaster was dismantled, and without its star attraction, the fair suffered a similar fate to Krug Park, closing within a couple of years.

When it comes to theme parks, they don’t come any bigger or more prestigious than the ones owned by Disney and Universal. Both companies have properties around the world. In 2019 alone, over 200 million people visited either a Disney or Universal resort!

But here’s a question: How do you get permanently banned from one of their theme parks? Let’s look at 10 examples. That way, you can learn from other people’s mistakes . . . we hope.

10 Bizarre Theme Parks From Around the World

10 Filming Backstage

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, covers approximately 27,000 acres of land. In 2013, vlogger Adam the Woo was banned from the entire property.

The reason?

Disney is incredibly protective of its brand. They pride themselves on their appearance. People are welcome to take photographs and videos of anything that’s “onstage” (which are things intended to be seen by the public).

However, they take exception if people capture images of things that are designated to be “backstage.” Disney felt that several of Adam the Woo’s videos showed places deemed to be “backstage,” so they banned him for life.

Speaking in a vlog just after being banned, Adam said: “I’ve done some kind of unusual things that Disney did not agree with . . . but nothing in my opinion that would be labeled as wrong.”

Luckily, the story does have a happy ending. After fans petitioned for the ban to be lifted and lawyers challenged the initial banning decision, Adam was allowed to return in 2015.^[1]

9 Misadventure

In addition to its amazing theme parks, Walt Disney World is home to two water parks: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. But did you know that there was once a third?

River Country water park was located close to Discovery Island, a large patch of land that sat in the middle of a lake not far from The Magic Kingdom. River Country closed in 2001. The nearby Discovery Island was abandoned in 1999.

But this didn’t stop photographer Shane Perez from swimming the short distance across the alligator-infested water to the overgrown island in 2009. He even documented the whole escapade on his personal blog!^[2]

When Disney became aware of his activities, Perez received a lifetime ban from Walt Disney World. Oops!

8 Using Flags, Signs, Or Banners

Theme parks around the world take safety very seriously, none more so than Disney. In 2018, a man named Dion Cini was permanently banned from all Walt Disney World properties for repeatedly waving large signs while riding various attractions. He flashed a sign saying “Trump 2020” on Splash Mountain and another saying “Keep America Great” on Expedition Everest.^[3]

These types of items could injure other guests. Despite repeated warnings, however, Cini refused to stop waving his signs. Disney commented that the banning was not a political issue. Rather, it had to do with Cini’s unwillingness to follow the rules.

7 Being Drunk And Disorderly

Many people love a good drink every now and then, but some individuals overdo it. Take Disney enthusiast Ellen McMillion, for example. At 53 years old, she was given a lifelong ban from all Disney World properties for being drunk and disorderly at one of the theme parks.

When confronted by police at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for slapping a taxi driver in the parking lot, McMillion began swearing loudly, demanding a cigarette, and kicking the officers.^[4] In addition to a hangover, she ended up with a lifetime ban from Disney. Speaking to Fox News about the incident, a Disney spokesperson said, “We don’t tolerate unsafe behavior.”

6 Fighting

We’re going to hop over to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, for this mishap. Two families were banned from the Disneyland theme park for engaging in a fistfight at Toontown in front of many families and their kids.

The altercation erupted when one man spat in another man’s face outside Goofy’s Playhouse. Before long, fists were thrown. According to some reports, one woman may have been left unconscious for a short time.

Smartphone footage of the ugly brawl made its way onto the Internet. The two families involved were quickly ejected from the park and ordered never to return.^[5]

10 Strange Facts About Disney Parks

5 Assaulting The Employees

No one likes waiting in long lines while the burning sun is beating down on you. But it’s all part of a trip to Disney. You know that there are going to be queues! Luckily, a FastPass allows you to make a reservation and return at a set time.

However, in 2019, one unnamed woman tried to get into the Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios via the FastPass entrance. When she was told that there was no reservation for her, she began shouting and swearing at the cast member before punching her in the face.^[6]

Security was called. Although the poor cast member decided against pressing charges, the unnamed woman did receive a lifetime ban from Disney as a result of the assault.

4 Making Inappropriate Comments

As mentioned earlier, no one likes to wait, especially at Disney. But when it happens, it’s best that you don’t start making inappropriate jokes. Disney fan David Swindler found that out the hard way in 2015.

As he grew increasingly impatient with the “slow” employees working at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Swindler remarked that he could have built a meth lab in his room in the time it took for him to be served. This inappropriate comment resulted in his hotel room being raided by the police in the middle of the night and his family being ejected from the property.

Commenting on the subject to local news channel WFTV, Swindler said, “Quite frankly, I’m a little miffed at the people who overreacted to this that work for Disney. Hopefully, somebody in the higher-up system will go, ‘This is not what Disney is about.’ ”^[7]

Luckily, only David Swindler received a permanent ban. His family is free to return.

3 Underage Drinking

Universal Orlando is considered to be more of an adult-oriented or grown-up theme park destination. Every year, the resorts host Halloween Horror Nights, an interactive and terrifying night of scares. This draws in big crowds that like to have a good time and maybe even a few drinks.

However, just like Disney, Universal is strict when enforcing the rules about consuming alcohol. Over the years, Universal security has ejected hundreds of people from the park for consuming alcohol when they are underage. But this is more than just a stern warning and a slap on the wrists for those who are caught. They will likely receive a permanent ban from all Universal properties, too.^[8]

2 Being Racist

A group of four tourists attending Universal Orlando’s Passholder Appreciation Day were permanently kicked out of the park in 2019 for making racist gestures while riding the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster. The group was photographed on the thrill ride while giving Nazi salutes and holding up white supremacy signs.

The image made its way onto the Internet before eventually coming to the attention of Universal executives. The culprits were quickly tracked down and issued lifelong bans from the Universal Orlando resort.

In a statement after the incident, Universal said, “Hate has no place here—and we have no tolerance for any display of hatred within our destination. [ . . . ] Any guest using hate speech or displaying hate symbols will be immediately removed from our destination and not allowed to return.”^[9]

1 Trespassing

Not only did vlogger Adam the Woo find himself banned from Walt Disney World in 2013, but in 2017, he also received an indefinite ban from Universal Orlando. Adam filmed several videos in 2012 in which he ventured into abandoned and closed-off buildings (including the Nickelodeon Studios) located on the Universal property.^[10]

He was collared during the opening celebrations of the Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon ride and escorted from the property by security. While the ban still stands in Florida, Adam the Woo is free to visit Universal Studios Hollywood in his home state of California.

10 Ways Disney Parks Hide Things Right In Front Of You

About The Author: Josh is a freelance writer from Barnsley in the UK!

By the 1960s, America’s television industry had matured as its technology rapidly advanced in visual quality. Dingy black and white shows produced in the 1950s as kinescopes (by filming the screen of a television monitor) transitioned to vivid “in living color” shows by the mid-1960s. The sheer number of shows exploded. Inventive concepts and storylines in situation comedies flourished. Westerns and fantasy series became far less formulaic. Writers of police procedurals and medical dramas addressed serious societal themes convincingly.

Millions of Americans watched and enjoyed these shows. As a result, ad revenues skyrocketed. Television production companies and national broadcast networks were flush. They were able to spend real money to attract the best directors, writers, and actors. And they didn’t neglect music. Companies developed teams of powerfully creative songwriters and arrangers. The result was an astonishing burst of musical creativity in the writing and performing of TV theme songs. Some songs became so popular that they hit the top of the pop charts. When people of a certain age hear the first few notes of one of these songs today, they immediately recognize the song and fondly remember their favorite childhood TV show.

So sit back and enjoy as we wander back in time to reveal the top 10 TV theme songs from the 1960s.

10 Mister Ed, 1961–1966

Mister Ed depicts the misadventures of a wisecracking, prank-pulling, talking palomino, voiced by Allan Lane. Wilbur Post, played by Alan Young, is his good-natured, klutzy owner. Only Willlllburrrr could hear Mister Ed talk. Wilbur’s wife felt put upon as her husband seemed to spend more time with the horse than her. This light-hearted contemporary fantasy was based on stories written by children’s author Walter R. Brooks and published in magazines in the 1930s and 1940s.

Just before the song begins, the horse opens his stall and introduces himself in a majestic bass tone, “Hello. I’m Mister Ed.” The opening line begins: “A horse is a horse, of course, of course.” This song is built upon the beat of a trotting horse. Famed songwriting team Ray Evans and Jay Livingstone wrote the song. Livingstone made a demo of the song, singing it in a mellow pop song style. He assumed a professional singer would be hired to give it more polish. However, the producer liked Livingstone’s version so much that the song was never re-recorded for the show.

Shockingly in 1986, for such a sweet-tempered show, a preacher claimed he could hear Satanic messages when he played the song backward. Teenage followers burned copies of recordings of it. Other people examined the recording. Thank goodness no one ever found evidence of any kind of embedded message within the song.^[1]

9 I Dream of Jeannie, 1965–1970

In another contemporary fantasy, Barbara Eden played a beautiful genie, and Larry Hagman played Captain Tony Nelson, an astonished and bewildered astronaut. The show title gives a nod to Stephen Foster’s famous song, “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.” Richard Wess wrote an instrumental, a simple waltz, used at the beginning of the first few episodes of the first season. This song accompanied Friz Freleng’s animation of the bottle releasing the actors’ names into the air and Jeannie dancing. At the beginning of episodes 2-8 that season, Paul Frees intoned, in a humorous allusion to fairy tales, a description of Tony Nelson as living “in a mythical town called Cocoa Beach in a mythical state called Florida.”

Producer Sidney Sheldon decided the show needed a new theme song. Hugo Montenegro and Buddy Kaye wrote the iconic samba for seasons two through five. The animation for the credits was reworked. We see Tony’s space capsule splash down near a beach where Jeannie’s bottle lay unopened for 2,000 years. When he opens the bottle, smoke pours out and turns into the dancing Jeannie.^[2]

8 Get Smart, 1965–1970

It was the mid-sixties, and James Bond and Inspector Clouseau were all the rage. Producer Dan Melnick decided it was high time he created a spoof of spy movies for television. Mel Brooks agreed to head up the project. He would later use his earnings to finance his first movie, The Producers. Buck Henry was hired to write Mel’s ideas down on paper, including the shoe phone and the Cone of Silence. After the pilot episode, Buck became the head writer, rewriting every script to get the characterizations and the tone just right. Don Adams signed on when he heard who wrote the scripts. He had been a combat Marine who fought in the South Pacific during World War II and later became a drill instructor. But he handled the humor superbly with his stiff intonations and the silly bits, including the famous running gag, “Would you believe…?”

The theme song, an instrumental constructed as a military march, features trumpets blaring the first four notes of each musical line with authority. Fans never forgot those notes. A drum would sound as each set of giant security doors slammed shut behind Maxwell Smart as he moved deeper into the bowels of Control headquarters. The opening credits rolled during this bit of spy silliness. The song was composed and directed by Irving Szathmary, the brother of the famous comic Bill Dana. The theme song fit the premise of a spy spoof perfectly. When Smart dropped out of sight in the phone booth at the end of the song, this action was supposed to indicate the presence of a secret elevator in operation. But Don Adams merely dropped to his knees quickly behind a darkened panel.^[3]

7 Bewitched, 1964–1972

A witch, Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, marries a mortal, Darrin, played by Dick York and later by Dick Sargent. Poor Darrin suffers from unusual in-law problems with Endora, Samantha’s mother, played by Agnes Moorehead. Endora hates the fact that Samantha married a mortal and is determined to break up the marriage. Samantha’s father, Maurice, also puts in the occasional appearance. He holds forth on his love of the theater and how he had known Shakespeare personally. Bewitched was slightly controversial in its time. It was the first TV show in which a couple shared a bed!

The show was originally set to use Frank Sinatra’s “Witchcraft” as its theme song, but the producers didn’t want to pay royalties. So they decided to use the song “Bewitched.” The songwriting team of Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller had written it with lyrics, but these were omitted from the theme song version. Warren Barker arranged the light orchestral version of the song featuring “lots of bells.” We see an animated Samantha flying a broomstick which writes the word “Bewitched” in the starry sky above the city. The bubbly song includes a xylophone to accompany Samantha’s famous nose twitch with which she casts spells. The same sound was used during the show itself.^[4]

6 Gilligan’s Island, 1964–1967

Klutzy Gilligan and his exasperated Skipper take five passengers from a tropic port on a three-hour tour, which is rudely interrupted by a storm. This is how a great premise song, “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island,” explains how these seven people came to live on a desert island. Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle wrote this wonderful theme song in the spirit of an old sea shanty. Here’s one neat bit of trivia about the lyrics. Bob Denver, who starred as Gilligan, was dissatisfied with how the characters were listed near the song’s end. The first five characters are named or described: “Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star…” Denver asked the songwriters to switch “and the rest” to “the professor and Mary Ann” in the second season of the show so everyone would receive equal billing. ^[5]

5 The Jetsons 1962-–1963

The first four notes of the vocals in Hoyt Curtin’s classic, “Meet George Jetson,” were so iconic they became a doorbell chime. It’s a bright, happy song. Except for the very beginning, when strings play a “Gosh! Wow!” futuristic theme while the animation shows the galaxy and then Earth, the melody could’ve been used for any ’60s situation comedy. During the song, we see and hear the members of the family being introduced, with George piloting his flying car, dropping off his children and wife—literally—to their schools and a shopping center. A bit of musical humor is introduced near the end of the song with a few piano measures of “Chopsticks.” George arrives at the office, folds up his car into a briefcase, rides a conveyor belt, hops into his chair, and puts his legs up on the desk at Spacely Sprockets, where his boss, no doubt, was waiting impatiently for him. Mr. Spacely was voiced by Mel Blanc, the greatest comedic voice in animation history.

We of the 21st century are now moving rapidly into the Jetsons’ future. According to die-hard fans, George Jetson was born on July 31, 2022! The show was set 100 years after the early 1960s, so this birthday would make George the middle-aged dad as depicted on the show. Even though it was a cartoon, historian Matt Novak considers the show the single most important depiction of the future in 20th-century entertainment media. It takes space colonization to be an established fact, one never questioned during the show.^[6]

4 The Beverly Hillbillies, 1962–1971

“The Ballad of Jed Clampett” is another great “explain the premise” TV theme song. How did a hillbilly move his family to a mansion in Beverly Hills? Welllllll, ol’ Uncle Jed was “a shootin’ at some food when up from the ground came a bubbling crude.” Yes, he struck it rich in oil. Kinfolk said, “Californy is the place ya oughtta be.” And so, he and his family moved. And then a cultural clash ensued.

As a result of this song, no one ever forgot the meaning of the phrases “black gold” and “Texas tea.” The song was written in a country-western style by Paul Henning and was performed by the superb bluegrass band Flatt & Scruggs. It became a hit on the country charts in 1962.^[7]

3 The Addams Family, 1964–1966

A humorously spooky family was the strangest show to air on TV at the time. No one had ever seen anything like it. Children loved the antics of the extended family, including Frankenstein’s monster, a witch, Uncle Fester, Morticia, two odd children, a hairball (Cousin It), a pet lion (Kitty Cat), and a disembodied hand (Thing). John Astin played the almost normal patriarch, Gomez Addams. The humor grew out of the conceit of the family, who saw themselves as perfectly normal with respect to the world. Cultural clashes happened each week when “people came to see ’em.” The show was based on a series of cartoons published in The New Yorker by Charles Addams, who, unfortunately, had problems getting his cartoons published after the show aired.

The theme song famously begins with a harpsichord repeatedly playing four notes followed by two finger snaps. So recognizable is this musical signature that organists at major league baseball games still play it to this day. The vocals feature three rhyming words per line, “They’re creepy, and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky, the Addams Family.” The producers had planned on making the butler character, Lurch, always silent, but Ted Cassidy insisted that his character would have to speak. And so, he did in his famous growl: “You raaaang” In full-Lurch form, Cassidy was able to contribute to the theme song, voicing amusingly terse and misleading descriptions of three fellow characters, “Sweet. Neat. Petite.” Vic Mizzy, the veteran TV composer, wrote and arranged it, ultimately achieving musical immortality.^[8]

2 Hawaii Five-0, 1968–1980

This show was considered the ultimate police-procedural by TV critics. Its unusual setting in Hawaii made it a visual treat. Jack Lord starred as the stern Captain Steve McGarrett, who led the Five-0 team. The name of the task force was taken from Hawaii’s historical status as the nation’s 50th state. The theme song, an instrumental, was composed by Morton Stevens and performed by The Ventures, perhaps the best instrumentalist rock band ever. The song became a huge radio hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard charts in 1968. It’s a fast-paced song reminiscent of surfing songs of the era, perfect for setting the mood for an adventure in Hawaii.

We see the big wave curling in as the song begins. Then we see the places and people of Hawaii, and the members of the team, including Chin Ho and Kono. Sammy Davis, Jr., Don Ho, and Bill Murray all performed vocal versions of the song at some time. “Book ’em, Danno” was the order McGarrett gave Detective Sergeant Danny Williams, played by James MacArthur, when the case was wrapped up at the end of the hour. It became so iconic comedians spoofed it, and other TV police procedurals borrowed it.^[9]

1 Mission: Impossible, 1966–1973

This superbly crafted show was the ultimate Cold War-era drama. The Impossible Missions Force would devise and carry out intricate plots to foil the bad guys, both foreign and domestic. Often minutes would go by with no dialogue as Force members would execute their roles in tense situations. Unusual camera angles, borrowed from movie directors, would intensify the drama. Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill, served as the head of the IM Force during the first season. Peter Graves, brother of the even more famous actor James Arness, took over the leadership role of Jim Phelps for the rest of the run of the show.

Mission: Impossible may have been blessed with the best TV theme song ever. The melody is impossible to forget. It was composed by Lalo Schifrin as an instrumental in unusual 5/4 time and was performed by a full orchestra, enlivened by bongos. It begins with the rapid tootling of a flute. An animated fuse is lit. Violins begin playing the iconic melody as the fuse burns. The song and animation promise a great adventure to the viewer. When word came out that Tom Cruise would star in the first Mission: Impossible movie, rumors spread that the producers were uninterested in using the TV theme song. Fan outrage quickly caused them to change their minds. It didn’t hurt that Cruise loved the song.^[10]

The advent of commercial television in the late 1940s astonished Americans by giving them the ability to watch and listen to events occurring across the continent and around the world. Even though few people could afford the pricey TV sets at that time, they were able to experience the thrill of watching programs by gathering in front of show windows in appliance stores or in taverns with working sets.

Producers originally considered television merely an experimental technology— a “radio with pictures.” But as broadcasting gaps in rural areas were filled, prices dropped, and millions of Americans purchased sets and watched shows, producers changed their minds. People by the millions reserved time in the evening to watch their favorite comedy and variety shows. Television became America’s first nationally shared experience. Young Baby Boomers claimed television as their own, watching icons such as Howdy Doody and Captain Kangaroo. By the end of the 1950s, American television had acquired the kind of cultural power not even the greatest emperors in history could’ve dreamed of.

Producers realized early on, as they did in radio, they needed to use distinctive music as a cue to viewers that a TV show was about to begin. It would never do for viewers to be confused as to when their favorite westerns, comedies, variety shows, sporting events, anthology series, police procedurals, quiz shows, or children’s shows were being aired. Producers borrowed heavily from programming techniques used in radio. Some radio shows transitioned directly to television, complete with their original theme songs. Producers sought to save money by using old classical music found in the public domain or paying composers flat fees for full rights to their music. The result? Some of these tunes became more famous than the shows they were associated with.

10 The Lone Ranger (1949–1957)

“Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear….” This is how each radio episode of The Lone Ranger began. Producers didn’t change a word for the TV version of the show. This western featured actor Clayton Moore playing the part of an American version of the classic wandering, gallant knight.

The Lone Ranger traveled the Old West each week, out to right all wrongs, accompanied by his brave and faithful Native American scout, Tonto. Tonto was played by Jay Silverheels, a member of the Mohawk tribe from Ontario’s Six Nations Reservation. So this show can be thought of as the first interracial TV show in history.

Each episode would begin with a rousing rendition of the “William Tell Overture,” an outtake from Gioachino Rossini’s 1829 opera. The Lone Ranger would shout, “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!” His beautiful white horse, Silver, would rear. In radio, this signaled the beginning of a chase scene on horseback. On TV, the viewer knew an adventure was about to begin.

A joke reveals the power of American television to transform the meaning of even the most famous of European cultural imports: “An intellectual is one who can listen to the ‘William Tell Overture’ without thinking of The Lone Ranger.”^[1]

9 Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1958)

Walt Disney produced this children’s show the year Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. It became a huge hit as children watched segments featuring singing and dancing by talented child stars known as the Mouseketeers and outtakes from Disney adventure stories. Annette Funicello, better known for her beach movies in the 1960s, got her start on this show.

The show began with the cartoon antics of Goofy, Donald Duck and his nephews, and Mickey himself during the theme song. The song asked this question: “Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?” And is answered by spelling out “MICKEY MOUSE.” The show was revived numerous times after its 1950s incarnation.^[2]

8 Bonanza (1959–1973)

This NBC western featured the adventures of the Cartwright clan, starring Lorne Greene as father Ben and his grown sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe, on the enormous Ponderosa ranch stretching out from Virginia City to Lake Tahoe. The ponderosa pines and the Sierra Nevadas could be seen in living color if your family was wealthy enough to own one of the few color TV sets available at the time.

As an old-time Western map stretches out across the screen, the theme song, a country-western-style instrumental, begins to play. The map burns, opening up a gorgeous vista. The four Cartwrights ride toward the camera. We see each face as their credits are run. “Bonanza,” the theme song, was written by David Rose and performed by Jay Livingston & Ray Evans. Johnny Cash and Johnny Western wrote lyrics for the song. Lorne Green recorded a version of the song with those lyrics.^[3]

7 American Bandstand 1952–1989

American Bandstand is by far the longest-lasting show on this list. It was shown on ABC for a total of 37 years and featured thousands of rock tunes enjoyed by generations of teenage viewers. Many became hits due to exposure on Bandstand. Local teenagers were recruited to dance to the music. Each show would feature an interview with one of the rock stars, who would then perform their new hit song. Dick Clark, self-styled as the world’s oldest teenager, produced and hosted the show in Philadelphia.

“High Society,” written by Artie Shaw, was the original theme song when “Bandstand” was a local show. When the show went national, it was replaced by Charles Albertine’s now famous “Bandstand Boogie,” a Big Band era-style instrumental. It was performed by Larry Elgart’s band. Bruce Sussman and Barry Manilow wrote lyrics for the song in the early 1970s, featuring a boy who loves Bandstand and “may even show off his handstand” on the show. From 1977 to 1987, Manilow’s version of the song was used as Bandstand’s new theme song.^[4]

6 Peter Gunn (1958–1961)

Peter Gunn was an American detective show produced by Blake Edwards. It starred Craig Stevens as the title character, who operated out of a jazz nightclub. Lola Albright played his girlfriend, who sang at the club. Its theme song is a superb, lush jazz arrangement composed and conducted by Henry Mancini, who would later go on to achieve superstardom with his “Pink Panther” theme song in 1963.

This instrumental has a strong driving beat and a hot tenor sax solo. Peter Gunn was nominated for an Emmy, and the theme song was nominated for two Grammys. The song was covered by many noted jazz and rock performers, including Emerson, Lake & Palmer.^[5]

5 Dragnet (1951–1959)

Dragnet was an old police slang term borrowed from fishermen meaning a systematic and coordinated attempt to find a criminal suspect. It was also the name of a radio police procedural that aired from 1949 to 1957. The original TV version of the series aired as the radio show was still running. The TV show was later reprised as Dragnet 1967. It featured the retelling of real police stories from the Los Angeles Police Department’s files with, famously, one exception: “only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”

Jack Webb, who played Sergeant Joe Friday, narrated the show. His sharp, pointed diction became so recognizable that comedians eagerly mimicked it. Johnny Carson famously created a drop-dead spoof of the show with the help of Webb on The Tonight Show years later. The show featured the drudgery as well as the glamour of police work—paperwork, patrolling, investigations, lab work, and interrogations. Police forces across the nation loved the show for its honest depiction of the life of a cop. LINK 18:

Perhaps there are no more iconic first four notes for any tune—outside of Beethoven—anywhere in music history. Dragnet’s DUM dee DUM DUM alerted anyone within earshot of a radio or TV set that Dragnet was ready to begin. The song continues, then pauses as the announcer intones: “Ladies and gentlemen: The story you are about to hear is true.”

The theme song, called “Danger Ahead,” begins again as the “Dragnet March.” It was composed by Walter Schumann, who derived the song from Miklos Rozsa’s score for The Killers, a hit movie of 1946. The song was recorded by studio musicians.^[6]

4 Rawhide (1959–1966)

Rawhide was a classic western featuring a cattle drive. Eric Fleming played the savvy but fair trail boss, Gil Favor. Producer Charles Warren studied the 1866 diary of a real-life trail boss, George C. Duffield, to get the details of Favor’s work just right. Every time the cowboys complained about the chow, Wishbone the cook would get crabby. He was played by Paul Brinegar. The most famous actor who first made a name for himself on the show was Clint Eastwood. He played Rowdy Yates, second in command to Favor, until he took over as trail boss in the final season.

This country-western theme song described life on the trail, simulating the sounds of cowboys yelling out instructions and cracking their whips. Frankie Laine sang, “Cut ’em out, ride ’em in. Ride ’em in, cut ’em out, Rawhide.” Americans learned what “hell bent for leather” meant by watching the show. Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington wrote it. They were chosen because they had written superb music for High Noon. Rawhide became famous again when the Blues Brothers performed it in their movie in 1980.^[7]

3 The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)

The Twilight Zone was TV’s iconic anthology series, produced and hosted by Rod Serling, who also wrote 92 episodes for it. It ran on CBS for four seasons. Picture, if you will, a series of morality plays depicting the hard-won lessons of humanity through horror, drama, comedy, and science fiction tales with surprising and shocking endings. Some famous movie stars put in appearances, including Robert Redford, Burgess Meredith, Burt Reynolds, and Roddy McDowell.

The show’s eerie theme is instantly recognizable. It led off with four strangely dissonate notes played repeatedly on an electric guitar. These were followed by guitar notes, bongos, brass, and flutes. This song stood for the unknown. Bernard Herrmann, best known for the hair-raising squeaky violins in Psycho, wrote a song that was never used for The Twilight Zone.

Instead, an employee spliced together two short pieces written and performed by Marius Constant for CBS’s sound library. The composer didn’t know for years that his work was used in this way. He received no royalties, only the original fee. No one was listed in the credits as the composer.^[8]

2 I Love Lucy (1951–1957)

Everyone who ponders life in the 1950s remembers I Love Lucy, a classic screwball comedy that aired on CBS for six seasons. It depicted Lucille Ball playing a young stay-at-home wife. Her real-life husband, Latin big band leader Desi Arnez, played himself on the show thinly disguised as “Ricky Ricardo.” Lucy and her next-door neighbor, Ethel Mertz, were always plotting on how to appear in her husband’s nightclub shows.

I Love Lucy featured hilarious scenes of physical comedy, including Lucy and Ethel’s failure to handle an onslaught of chocolates on a conveyor belt or when they stomped on grapes in a vat. “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” became the highest-rated TV episode show at that time, with over 44 million viewers. This meant over 70% of America’s households had tuned in. Everyone eagerly awaited the birth of “Little Ricky.”

The famous I Love Lucy theme song was written by composer Eliot Daniel. He wasn’t listed in the credits because he was under contract to Twentieth Century Fox. The Desilu Studio Orchestra performed the theme song in the Latin Big Band style. Lyrics by Harold Adamson were sung during “Lucy’s Last Birthday” and were never sung again during the run of the show. Members of the real-life Desi Arnaz Orchestra supplied music performed during the nightclub scenes.^[9]

1 Perry Mason (1957–1966)

This classic courtroom drama featured Perry Mason, a brilliant Los Angeles defense attorney who is depicted as an even more brilliant detective. The show was adapted from author Erle Stanley Gardner’s murder mysteries. Each story was written to fit neatly into TV’s hour-long format. The first half-hour was devoted to police procedure and Perry’s sleuthing. The second half-hour showcased Perry’s skills in the courtroom. Raymond Burr played Perry as both stern and compassionate. Burr had far too many lines to memorize, so he read them off a Teleprompter. You’d never know it by watching the show. He was able to convincingly portray Perry as the attorney you’d want on your side if you ever got into trouble.

The iconic theme song for Perry Mason was composed by Fred Steiner as a slow, moody, sultry jazz tune and was performed by studio musicians. It was called “Park Avenue Beat.” The theme song is played at the beginning of the show as Perry Mason receives a briefing file from the judge. He carries the file to Paul Drake and Della Street and then to Hamilton Burger and Lieutenant Tragg. We see their credits as the music plays. The song was and is instantly recognizable worldwide. The Blues Brothers spoofed it with humorous lyrics on their Made in America album. Astonishingly, Bernard Herrmann had been asked to “refresh” the theme song. He said no. “What do you want me to write a theme for? Steiner’s is perfectly good.”^[10]

With roller coasters coming in at prices well into the octuple digits and the need to purchase large swaths of land that are both located in tourist destinations but not too close to people’s homes to warrant a complaint, building an amusement park can be a costly and complicated endeavor. And these two factors are only a couple among the hundreds of roadblocks that prevent theme parks from popping up just about anywhere.

Despite that fact, however, plans for theme parks are regularly written down and announced. At the Disney parks, the “Imagineers,” or people designing the park, have what is referred to as a “Blue Sky” period where they plan without any budget or restraint in mind. More often than not, other parks across the world sometimes find themselves eternally trapped in this Blue Sky stage. This is a list covering ten incredible-sounding theme parks that never saw the light of day.

10 Space City USA

Much like many of the entries on this list, many an entrepreneur had machinations to dethrone Disneyland as the theme park king. Near Huntsville, toward the northern end of Alabama, Space City USA was planned to be one such usurper. Much like Disneyland, the property would involve multiple themed lands, all tied to the general theme of time travel, and would start construction in 1965.

Guests would wander between the Old South, a Mesozoic Lost World, a futuristic Moon Colony, and the Land of Oz, which stretches the time travel motif a bit. However, the five-million-dollar price tag, coupled with a general sense of mismanagement, would prove to be too high a hurdle for Space City USA. By 1967, the project would be scrapped as the land got sold off in an auction. ^[1]

9 Six Flags Indiana

Despite being one of the most successful amusement park companies, regarding the number of parks currently operating within the chain, the Six Flags corporation nevertheless gets a reputation for being the company that budgets a bit more tightly than Disney World. Nevertheless, the story of Six Flags Indiana is poignant for coming far enough along in the development phase to ship six entire roller coasters to the destination before they gave up.

In 1996, the Six Flags corporation purchased the Old Indiana Fun N Water Park after an accident earlier in the decade pressured the park to close. Six Flags would even bring in four roller coasters that they purchased from the defunct Opryland USA theme park. The roller coasters would never be rebuilt, however. This is speculated to be most likely because Six Flags had a habit of overspending throughout the nineties, and the Indiana site was eventually deemed too poor an investment.^[2]

8 Wonderland Amusement Park

The capital of China itself, Beijing, is where this next failed venture met with its foibles, or more specifically, the Chenzhuang village of Beijing’s suburbs. Wonderland Amusement Park started a small amount of construction in 1998 and wanted to rival Disneyland before the corporation tried to build its own park in China. Wonderland even attempted to build its own castle motif as its centerpiece, and eerie photographs show that the structure was even half-built.

The project was halted due to a lack of funding, though even if more money were to come in, Disney would end up sweeping in and planning a park in Hong Kong in 1999, completely eradicating any hope that Wonderland would meet with success. As a result, the 120-acre piece of land would be left to naught but the urban explorers, filled with incomplete structures and imposing, empty faux castle battlements.^[3]

7 KISS World

In 1973, the NYC hair metal superstar band named KISS was conceived, and by 1977, the group had already put out six different highly successful albums. Naturally, the group’s lead singer, Gene Simmons, wanted to pounce on their success and try out a different business pursuit: the theme park industry. Unlike other entries on this list, the band wanted to operate a touring amusement park, much like a traveling fair, instead of using a static location, and the brainstorming began around 1978.

Named KISS World, the project would never come off the drawing board. This is mostly due to the fact that the band’s popularity began to severely diminish in 1979, as showcased by the decline of their concert tour attendance. The management also came to the conclusion that an amusement park would be too steep a price for a single rock band to tackle alone.^[4]

6 Charlie Daniels Western World and Theme Park

Famous country singer Dolly Parton was able to successfully build a thriving theme park in her hometown of Pigeon Forge, TN, in 1961, where it operates to this day. Enter Charlie Daniels, another prolific country star who vied to build his own amusement park down in Florida. He teamed up with stockbroker Michael Vandiver in hopes of building something that was big enough to rival Disney World itself. Much like KISS World, Charlie Daniels Western World and Theme Park would never break ground.

Just north of Tampa, the community of Saddlebrook was where this amusement park would find itself located. Themed off of the “Wild, Wild West,” Daniels’s original plans threw out a traditional theme park ride selection in favor of attractions such as a rodeo, a 36-hole golf course, and dinner theaters, though a wooden roller coaster was in the works. Though the park was planned to open in 1997, the price, coupled with pressure from Saddlebrook residents, caused this theme park to lose its proverbial quick draw against Disney.^[5]

5 Six Flags Florida

With Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and Busch Garden finding great success in the Sunshine State, the Six Flags company also wanted to try its hand in the secure-looking market. Rumors that the underdog theme park chain would open a park in Orlando have circulated since the ’80s. Although outside of a south Florida water park and a wax museum basically in SeaWorld’s backyard, the Six Flags chain never purchased any large-scale property.

Though official statements were never made regarding plans to build a park, the company had hinted at such a project ever since the company built similar parks in Georgia. The company’s modus operandi of purchasing independent parks even made it seem as though they’d purchase the defunct Orlando Boardwalk and Baseball theme park in 2018, though many suspect that the company’s repeated bankruptcies, coupled with a tricky global economic theater, rendered such plans as totally theoretical.^[6]

4 Disney WestCOT

In 2001, Disneyland in Anaheim, California, opened up its second theme park on the property; Disney’s California Adventure. Before planning on theming a location based off of the Golden State, however, the Disney corporation originally drafted plans to co-opt Disney World’s EPCOT over to the west coast. Named WestCOT, the park was going to shy away from the original Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow’s utopian future concept and lean into the celebration of nations found in EPCOT’s World Showcase.

The geodesic dome would be replaced with a larger, golden dome encased in metal, and far more countries would be added to the park’s lineup than its Floridan sibling. High prices were an enormous obstacle, especially after Disney’s other lackluster projects in the ’90s drained the budget, and the enormous park would be a massive thorn in the side of Anaheim city planners. As a compromise, the smaller California Adventure would be built, though it was initially critically panned for appearing very cheap.^[7]

3 Multiple Parks in Dubai

Six Flags attempted to make it big in Dubai. Universal parks tried their luck. Even the Disney corporation itself bandied about the idea. But sadly, these three parks, among others, would never be completed in the UAE’s biggest city. The project that saw the most progress ended up being Universal Studios Dubailand, which ended up purchasing and breaking ground in 2008. Sadly, though, the theme park would endure construction purgatory until it was finally given the sweet release of death in 2016.

The park would feature many of the same attractions as its predecessor in Florida. Also, it would allegedly add enough rides to double the size of the entire Walt Disney World resort, in addition to adding the world’s largest mall. This project, along with the others, was snuffed out by the global recession that started in 2008. Six Flags Dubai didn’t even make it to 2010, though there are talks of the Six Flags chain trying its luck on the Arabian Peninsula once more in Qiddiya.

2 The Battersea

Fans of the British prog rock band Pink Floyd would probably first recognize the massive decommissioned Battersea Power Plant factory complex in West London as the building on the cover of their 1997 album Animals. But music was far from the only form of entertainment planned for the building. In 1987, John Broome, the owner of the Alton Towers amusement park, purchased the building in the hopes of constructing the most ambitious indoor amusement park project of all time.

Plans were in motion for a massive mine train roller coaster, the world’s largest aquarium, and a plethora of flat rides to be built. Despite its many doubters, the Battersea theme park project would actually find itself completely funded. The indoor park would meet with a far different problem, however. The poor structural integrity, asbestos, and other construction problems quelled the more ambitious aspects of the problem. Unlike other entries on this list, however, Battersea would eventually be turned into a more low-key entertainment complex that operates to this day.^[9]

1 Disney America

Disney America is easily the largest blight on Disney’s theme park resume. Those familiar with Disney’s late 20th-century history are already familiar with Michael Eisner, Disney’s CEO at the time, who saw projects such as EuroDisney and the aforementioned California Adventure, go quite catastrophically. First announced in 1993 and located in Haymarket, Virginia, Disney’s America would be the USA’s third Disney destination and perhaps Michael Eisner’s biggest overall failure.

The park’s focus was on American history, as opposed to being themed after the original Disneyland, and would feature lands based on historical periods from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and even a 1940’s state fair. The park’s failure was derived from severe backlash from Virginian residents, especially from Civil War historians who feared that local battlefields would become damaged. Intense anti-Disney lobbying, coupled with the death of important Disney higher-up Frank Wells sealed Disney America’s fate by 1994.^[10]