A Tour Around Atlanta’s Defunct Theme Park
“Now, all the fun is indoors.” That was the tagline for the all-new World of Sid and Marty Krofft. The first-of-its-kind theme park officially opened Wednesday, May 26, 1976, at 10 a.m. inside Atlanta’s Omni International megacomplex. The indoor setting allowed for year-round operations.
The Omni’s 14-story atrium had retail and dining options as well as an ice skating rink under a 1.5-acre skylight. Glimpses of the Krofft park could be seen across its balcony-style decks stacked over the atrium, with the park’s name expressively displayed along a middle level. The Omni International Hotel, which overlooked the atrium, featured a World of Sid and Marty Krofft suite.
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Flight to Fantasy
The most prominent feature in the Omni’s atrium was its record-breaking free-span escalator. This lift was not just world’s longest free-span escalator at 205 feet, but it was also the grand entrance to The World of Sid and Marty Krofft. The escalator, manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, soared 90 feet above the Omni floor to “a land that we had never been to,” as Sid Krofft told Creative Loafing in 2003.
The two-minute climb to the top floor was just the beginning of the Krofft experience. The World of Sid and Marty Krofft was a sequential theme park spread across eight floors with five unique lands, known as “environments.” These themed environments were “each a world within a world of fantasy,” as Marty Krofft explained it to The Atlanta Constitution. The multi-level park was designed to be experienced in descending order starting on the top floor and going down—via stairs or lifts—until reaching the ground level.
Fantasy Fair
Once visitors stepped off the escalator, they were greeted by two 18-foot jester statues standing at the entrance of the park’s first environment: Fantasy Fair. The small upper terrace had some welcoming performers as well as conveniences like guest relations, but the fun began down a set of stairs to Fantasy Fair’s main midway.
Fantasy Fair was inspired by Sid Krofft’s love for renaissance fairs and live entertainment. Performers welcomed visitors to an escape from reality decorated with balloons, drapes, tents, circus wagons, and sideshow acts.
Fantasy Fair made a first impression with its one-on-one entertainment such as musicians, puppeteers, mimes, jugglers, and costumed Krofft characters like H.R. Pufnstuf. Some highlights included costumed characters like Alex, a sword swallower; Betty Broadbent, a tattooed dancer; Tina Tarantula, a spider lady with a human head; Baby Irene, a big pig; and Tiny Tom, the world’s littlest little person. Guests could also meet a witty fortune teller cat puppet accompanied by a ventriloquist’s talking head.
The soundtrack for Fantasy Fair was provided by the Magical Music Machine: a quarter-million-dollar instrument that made music with doodads from bottles to xylophone mallets.
Fantasy Fair’s emphasis on live entertainment was just a preview of the 100 performers around the park at any given time and its nearly 600 employees.
Tranquility Terrace
After Fantasy Fair, visitors entered the next environment: Tranquility Terrace. This woodsy area had a small amphitheater where visitors could enjoy or participate in a variety of 20 different shows, acts, live music, and impromptu performances from Kroffts’ household characters.
The World of Sid and Marty Krofft experience up to this point had been all live entertainment; however, in Tranquility Terrace, visitors would find the park’s first of three rides: The Crystal Carousel.
The Crystal Carousel
This merry-go-round wasn’t your typical carnival ride. The Crystal Carousel was a fully customized attraction with more than 50 crystalline figures of mythological creatures such as pegasi, centaurs, and griffins. The carousel’s graceful figures—made from polyester resin—looked like sculptures, so the Kroffts were justified to advertise the ride as a “marvel of art, prismatic effects, and space age technology.”
The Crystal Carousel—like the park’s other rides—was designed by former aerospace engineers. The attraction weighed 60 tons in total, with the figures weighing about 800 pounds each. Despite its hefty weight, a ride on The Crystal Carousel gave the sensation of floating on a cushion of air—thanks to a hidden system of 12 airbags, inflated to 26 pounds per square inch.
Tranquility Concessions
Tranquility Terrace also had gift shops, a forested dining area called Rooftop Rest, and a venue for private parties.
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