Stanley and Margaret Nelson Era

In 1968 The Ottawa family sold Joyland Park to Stanley and Margaret Nelson. The heyday of Joyland was before television and air conditioning was commonplace. The park offered fried chicken dinners, a swimming pool and steam powered engine shows. Stanley and Margaret met in 1950 while both were working at Joyland (Margaret worked the Skeeball booth, Stanley sold Dodgem tickets.) In 1972, Stanley was the first park owner to become president of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. He was also instrumental in helping develop safety standards. Stan passed away in 2010 at the age of 87.

Rides in the Nelson era

The train

Ferris Wheel

Roller Coaster

Whacky Shack

Tilt-a-Whirl

The Log Jam

Dodgem Classic Bumper Cars

Roundup

Zumor

Paratrooper

Scrambler

Dune buggies

Gunny Sack Giant Slide

Horse drawn carriages

Bulgy the Whale

Circular stock car ride

Coupe car ride

Herschel helicopter

Skycoaster

Go Karts

The park's 12 peppy go-karts buzz around a large, extremely windy track with a couple of hairpin turns thrown in. For $3, you get 5 minutes or 5 laps around the track. (pricing 2001)

More attractive features of Joyland Park were...

Large picnic area

Large swimming pool and changing building

Roller Rink

Old West Town Square

Arcade

Joyland had many elements that made the park attractive for company and school picnics and outings such as a large picnic grove and show stage. A local radio station sponsored tickets for grades. I remember going and getting ride tickets with my report card. This inspired a lot of kids to get good grades; A's meant more tickets. I loved going roller skating and I always went to the school outings and my dad's work sponsored picnics. When I was little, I thought the Whacky shack was creepy, but to this day, I still remember the cars were painted the most brilliant colors with a sparkling fleck finish.

The Train

The Ottawa's miniature train was retired and the Nelson's brought in the first-ever C. P. Huntington miniature train. It carried the serial number 1 from the factory.

The Whacky Shack



One of the most notable and memorable rides was Joyland's dark ride, the Whacky Shack (opened in 1974). Stan wanted to revamp the dark ride. He commissioned Bill Tracey to design and build the new Whacky Shack. Stan insisted it be exactly like the drawing Bill had made for him. To build the two story ride, they raised the first floor to become the upper level and built a new floor below. Some portions of the old safari ride were left but new scary tricks were what the new Whacky Shack was about. With its crazy whacky exterior it soon became a Joyland favorite and main attraction, aside from the Coaster. Over the years design changes were implemented when maintenance glitches arose. For example people could get out of the cars and the cars would bump into each other. This was remedied by installing a system to shut down the cars if someone got out and to only allow the next car to enter when one came out. The Joyland Whacky Shack was the last one made and Tracy passed away soon after in August of 1974.

The Log Jam

The Log Jam (by O. D. Hopkins) was a classic water flume ride next to the picnic grove. It was refurbished for the 2006 season. The Log Jam was a pretty typical water flume ride, but it did have a unique course that cut through a nicely wooded area and had several splash points. The last splash down was about 50 foot and guaranteed to get the riders wet. In 1997, the park was flooded with six to eight inches of rain water, which was enough wash several of the log jam cars away. One was found a few days later, but the other one remained undiscovered until 2000. The second car was found seven miles away in the Arkansas River.

Over the years new rides were introduced and old attractions were removed to make room for new ones. The Olympic sized swimming pool was added in the 1950s, featuring high dives and a slide. If you forgot your trunks, Joyland sold their . These come up on eBay occasionally. It was closed in 1973 due to city pool competition, other posts I have read suggested a lawsuit shut down the pool. It was used for a period in the 1980s for bumper boats.The pool was filled in and the sky coaster was installed in its place. The pool changing building remained (and it is still there). In 1993 a fire destroyed the skate center. The roller rink was closed and what was salvageable was later used for storage. Across the creek, a go kart track was a hot new attraction.

Porky the Paper Eater was a well know fixture to Joyland. Porky was a trash can with a pig face in a mushroom. The mouth was a vacuum which would suck the trash out of your hand. Children were amazed and would pick up trash all over just to feed t to Porky.

In 1961 Kansas celebrated its centennial and Joyland built its own main street and western store fronts. The old west town was named Frontier Town.

It featured a general store, general outfitters, a saloon, and costumed cowboys performed entertaining old west shoot outs. This attraction was eventually closed and nature took over. The old western town had an old Aitchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway caboose. It was built in 1927 and rolled it's way into Joyland in the mid 1960s. It weighed 30,000 pounds and the steel undercarriage was another 16,500 pounds. In July of 2015, The Historic Preservation Alliance of Wichita and Sedgwick County moved the caboose for storage and preservation. The Alliance President was disappointed that the car was so vandalized and tagged up. Below is a video of the move.

By 2004 the Park closed permanently due to economic troubles and safety issues.

After the closing, a Seattle based company , the T-Rex Group leased the property and re-opened the park in 2006. The coaster was renamed "The Nightmare," the log jam was overhauled and everything was painted in a pink and baby blue color scheme. The park remained open for only one partial season before closing for good.

Preservation

In May 2014, The Historic Preservation Alliance of Wichita and Sedgwick County moved several historic Joyland artifacts including the caboose and the original animated sign that greeted visitors. The sign featured neon light animation of two clowns. They also purchased the Park entrance sign on Hillside, a red bumper car, the stagecoach, the Mother Goose Shoe and the original roller coaster ticket booth that still included the .35 cent ticket price. The artifacts were purchased from the Nelson family in 2010 for $22,000.

The Alliance also purchased the horse and buggy ride and the whacky shack facade. Unfortunately most of the displays inside the Whacky Shack had been destroyed or stolen. The preservation group was working to keep as many of the remaining local Joyland historical pieces in Kansas. Some of the other memorable park rides had already been sold and dispersed. In 2009 the Nelsons sold the paratrooper, the round-up and the big truck ride. Also in 2009 the "Last Warning Do Not Stand up sign" above the roller coaster was stolen. The marquee Joyland Street sign was removed and in put into storage in June of 2013.

Zombies!

In March of 2015, Margaret Nelson-Spears confirmed that film crews from Georgia were filming a trailer for an upcoming zombie project. She said the group was looking for an amusement park "in bad shape, for a horror film." They wanted an amusement park that had folded.

There has been no news of anymore footage shot there.

Demolition

On April13, 2015, KSN news reported Joyland Park was being demolished.

– A Wichita icon is being demolished. Wrecking crews are at the old Joyland Park this week continuing to bring down the buildings and hauling them off. The City deemed what was left of the park to be a nuisance, so the owners, the Nelson family, had until the end of May to make significant progress at cleaning it up. The buildings were ripped down and hauled off to the dump.–

July 23, 2015, the remaining parts of the coaster were brought down and removed.

Over the years the park saw tragedies, natural disasters, vandalism, theft and arson. In 1989 a seventeen year old employee was murdered in the parking lot. Then in 1998, the death of the maintenance worker and the 2004 ferris wheel accident. The flood of 1997 caused damage to the entire park and closed it down for weeks. In 2015 a wind storm caused unrepairable damage to the coaster. After the park's closing in 2006 vandals consistently broke into the park destroying and vandalizing the buildings. As late as April of 2016 a fire destroyed one of the storage buildings containing what appeared to be lumber. In 2012 three teenagers were seen fleeing the park after setting fire to one of the storage buildings. In March 2011, a bathroom building was also destroyed by arson. In 2009 the Joyland opera house, famous for its puppet shows, classic movies and entertainment, was destroyed by fire. Police suspected arson. In April of 2009 vandals destroyed the park office building. Doors were kicked in, windows broken, graffiti sprayed, furniture destroyed. The Nelson family was sickened over all the destruction of their little beloved park.

Ultimately, Joyland, a beloved fixture of Wichita, came to a SAD end.

Economic woes, deteriorating rides and buildings, and a neighborhood giving way to crime and gangs, all contributed to a slow ultimate end to Joyland. Many of the ride parts were stored and salvaged such as the bumper cars and carousel horses. That is why the park is not strewn with tagged bumper cars and ferris wheel buckets. As of current writing the 47 acre property is for sale and listed for $750,000. July of 2017 I visited Joyland and there are still a few things left to see. The Wacky Shack, the big slide, pool house, picnic shelters, the log jam, and the roller coaster loading area and a small portion of tracks are still there. The gates are wide open with no security or signs to keep people away. However it is so overgrown with trees, bushes, and weeds it is mostly unrecognizable; like a true jungle. Even the view from the top of the log jam provides only a view of tree tops. There are heaps of debris everywhere and evidence of fires and graffiti at every turn. It is eerie and sad to remember having fun there and now it's just an abandoned ruin.