The Failed Fantasy of Atlanta’s Sid and Marty Krofft Theme Park

Uptown

Deeper into The World of Sid and Marty Krofft was its flashiest environment: Uptown. For the highlight of Uptown, visitors were shrunk down to the size of a pinball.

Pinball Machine

Pinball Machine was one of the park’s two dark rides, simulating the sensory experience of a pinball machine. Visitors huddled in pinball ride vehicles, gliding and clanking through 700 feet of track, which was concealed under the slotted floor.

The Pinball Machine experience started with a 10-foot-tall robot pulling the plunger and springing the silvery ride vehicle into the life-sized arcade cabinet. The 6-foot pinball rattled through the colorful chrome playfield with bumpers, flippers, flashing lights, and authentic sound effects. After bouncing around the colorful playfield, the ball rolled into a Bonus Play compartment decked out with disorienting mirrors.

The ride continued into the recesses of the pinball machine along its gears, circuits, and coins. Riders passed by a flashing neon sign that read “GAME OVER” and through a colorful tunnel of lights to end the four-minute ride.

Uptown Arcade

Once out of the human pinball machine, guests could visit the Uptown Arcade and play pinball, Skee-Ball, and other arcade games.

Uptown Concessions

Uptown also had a small food court, International Food Fair, with six kiosks selling dishes such as pizza, crepes, tacos, and hamburgers.

Lidsville

The World of Sid and Marty Krofft continued onto the next environment: Lidsville. In this area, visitors were transported to the world from the Krofft TV show, Lidsville, about a boy who fell into a magical top hat where he was trapped in a town of talking headgear.

Lidsville served as the park’s primary retail area with a small eatery and midway games. The main draw of Lidsville was a specialty of the Krofft brothers: a puppet show.

Celebration

The Lidsville Theater was a 1,000-seat venue that was “a combination of every night club, world’s fair, and arena [Sid and Marty have] ever seen, plus all the things those shows missed,” according to the park’s manager, Dick Weston.

Audiences gathered for 10 showings per day of a puppet musical called Celebration. The show was a spectacle of music, lights, and sets with animated puppetry like a real-life cartoon. Its all-star cast featured puppet caricatures of music legends like The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John.

The show took odd turns, including a skit with Frankenstein’s Monster, a puppet ice skating act, and a spoof of Jaws. In true 1976 fashion, Celebration ended with a patriotic finale known as the Bielectricentennial. Lights twinkled throughout the extravagant finale, featuring a tap-dancing eagle in an Uncle Sam getup and an energetic version of God Bless America.

Once the curtains closed, the audience went backstage for a behind-the-scenes tour of the production.

Living Island

From Lidsville, visitors stepped into a rickety mine shaft elevator, lowering 50 feet down. It reached the bottom floor and to the final attraction at The World of Sid and Marty Krofft: Living Island Adventure.

Living Island Adventure

Based on the H.R. Pufnstuf TV show, Living Island Adventure was a $2 million omnimover dark ride with a number of mechanical figures.

Employees, wearing miner overalls, ushered visitors into one of 40 clamshell-style ride vehicles, similar to The Haunted Mansion at Disney Parks. The nearly 10-minute experience told a story of H.R. Pufnstuf and his tussles against Witchiepoo; she was after Pufnstuf and his keystone coppers, Cling and Clang.

Living Island Adventure journeyed through sets both dazzling and dark, sparkly and spooky. The ride wandered through Living Island’s meadows and anthropomorphic woods, where the show’s talking trees could be found.

Riders stumbled upon the Heavenly Slumber Cemetery; the creepy scene showed the darker side of Living Island with The Evil Trees and The Mushrooms, who talked like old-timey crooks. The ride had even more frightening moments through the halls and chambers of Witchiepoo’s castle with minions like Seymour Spider, Stupid Bat, and Orson Vulture lurking about. Apparently, Witchie’s castle had a Krofft Easter egg as two gargoyles that resembled Sid and Marty perched along its walls.

In a scene outside Pufnstuf’s cave, Witchie flew overhead on her jet-propelled broomstick, the “Vroom Broom,” while Cling and Clang dashed toward riders on the Rescue Racer.

The adventure continued into Dr. Blinky’s sneezing house; all the living items on the wise owl’s shelves watched as he used a hand pump of “Witch Be-Gone” (patent-pending). Witchiepoo and her “Vroom Broom” crashed into a puddle, soaking in defeat while Puf proudly waved to riders.