1958-1990
Location: South Midway
HISTORY & INFO
This Fun House was built to replace the original which had burned in the 1953 fire. It was announced in 1955 and completed three years later. It was probably much like the original after the 1951 renovation. It went through many changes over the years. The last time I was there in 1988, all I can remember being there were the moving walkways & various obstacles at the entrance, the spinning tunnel, a ball pit, trampoline and the carpet bag slides. It closed after the 1990 season and Midway Munchies now occupies the front portion of the building. People that have been back there since it closed say that some features, such as the slides, are still intact. In August 2005 two new food outlets opened in the building: Tiny Tim's Tiki Treats and Big John's Shake Shack.
I've heard a few different reasons of why it was shut down. Some say it was closed for the same reason many of the old features inside were replaced - insurance. Apparently, there were some injuries or it was just very dangerous. An old rumor suggests ghosts lived there and were scaring kids on the slides by turning the lights on & off and possibly appearing to them. I'll let you decide whether or not that is true. As a kid I seem to remember the lights going off, and that kind of thing can creep kids sometimes. But I still don't think that would be reason enough to close it.
Here's what the Deseret News said about the closure of the Fun House in an article from 1991:
"...it's boarded up, and Lagoon management isn't sure yet what will occupy that 'prime piece of amusement park land' - but it won't be another fun house.
The reason, according to Dick Andrew, Lagoon spokesman, is the simple problem of public liability. 'We never had really serious accidents in the Fun House, but it attracted a patter of nuisance kinds of things.' The insurance people kept advising that a fun house was expendable, and they finally won out. In recent years, it had already become essentially an attraction for little kids. The big scary barrel was taken out. Anything considered big or dangerous or fun gradually lost its place. It was nothing dramatic or startling that caused its demise, says Andrew - 'It's time had just come and gone.'"
MEMORIES
Almost everyone who ever went inside the Fun House has vivid memories of what it was like and how fun it was. I hear more people sharing memories about Lagoon's Fun House than any of the other attractions. Memories vary depending on what era they were young enough to enjoy it. Here's what Nile, a member of the group remembers:
"It had a big spinning wheel (flat disk) in it that everyone would get on (pile up in the center). Then it would start turning. It would go faster and faster. As the speed picked up people would start sliding off. It would spin until there was only one or two people were left. When it stopped everyone would go pile on again."
Another member, known only as littleriver, had this to say about it:
"...when I was working there ,there were air squirt holes, tunnels that went in two different directions, large slides, a spinning wheel that was meant to throw you off, mirrors, roped bridges, etc., an entry way that took a while to work your way through, one was able to stay in there for hours if they wanted to. Do not know why they changed it, except maybe for the fact that people where not out on the midway spending money..."
Steve from Moreno Valley, CA also remembers the Fun House well:
"I remember entering the building and having to walk through a series of obstacles such as rolling logs, teetering discs on which to step, and avoiding air holes that were controlled by staff members sitting above everyone else, in hopes of blowing women's skirts up in the air. I still remember that loud and piercing sound of the blasts of air every few seconds. Then there was a neat tilted room that seemed to defy gravity and a window you would look into that featured ping pong balls being blown around so that it gave the impression they were also defying gravity. I remember the turning barrels. The first half-way through they turned clockwise and then the second half they reversed and turned counter clockwise. Following the tunnels was a wooden pole maze that either dumped you into the Fun House or on into the tilted room. I remember the smell of perspiration was always quite strong and a few times I remembered seeing blood inside the turning barrels where some poor guest took a dive. In addition to the turn table there was also a large tube that perhaps thirty people could sit in and it would spin like a centrifuge allowing the more brave guests to stand on the sides and lean inward, nearly horizontal to the floor. There were two carpet bag slides, one much higher than the other one. I remember that by standing on my tip toes I could look out of a window at the very top and see that it was nearly the same height as the highest hill on the Giant Coaster [a.k.a. Roller Coaster]. While the Fun House was quite...well...fun, it also always seemed a little bit scary to me and I was always nervous while in their with my friends."
Robert Johnson from L.A. remembers the following about the Fun House before it's most recent remodel:
"When you went into the Fun House you had two options. Either go into the main part or go through the series of obstacles that others have written about. The best part about the obstacles was at the end they had a decline of rollers that you slide down into a room with doors. In the 1980's and before, this room had about five doors. Some of the doors opened into nothing. One door opened out to the main room where the big barrel roll was. One of the doors took you up a hall that went to the 'tilt room'. The tilt room had railings that you had to hold onto to pull yourself up and brace yourself going down through about three switchbacks.
The bag slides actually consisted of six slides. Four lower slides and two taller slides. There was also the 'spiral slide' that was a big spiral slide that you would ride in the bag. The spiral slide was closed before the rest of the Fun House (I don't know why) as was the 'tilt room'. There were also these things called 'waves' along the north wall which is the wall you passed as you entered the park. They would move up and down as you walked over them.
The Fun House was a lot of fun prior to the 'All Day Pass' when they only had tickets because you could stay in the Fun House as long as you wanted. I think the All Day Passes came around in about 1977/78 (I was 11 or 12), but prior to that when I was 10 or 11, I remember going in the Fun House last because that way you could prolong your day.
PHOTOS
This is the portion which housed the slides.
