People typically visit Panama City Beach for its crystal clear waters and natural springs, but there’s more to this seaside town than meets the eye. Dig deeper, and you’ll find it’s also home to an abandoned amusement park from the 1960s: Miracle Strip. Back in the day, folks would come here for kitschy carnival rides and creepy fun houses. Tourism boomed, and visitors flocked to Miracle Strip for its shopping and attractions. Today, there is little evidence of Miracle Strip Amusement Park — except for the eerie remains of the once-thriving attraction.
Florida debuted its first roller coaster at Miracle Strip when it first opened its doors in 1963. “The Starliner” was an instant sensation. After the coaster’s success, the park added over 20 more rides and attractions, eventually becoming a full-fledged amusement park. Miracle Strip remained in business for 41 years before closing in 2004 due to rising costs and dwindling crowds, leaving thrill-seekers nostalgic for the all-American amusement park.
There’s barely anything left of the park today — just a desolate entrance that once welcomed excited visitors and an abandoned chair lift ride hidden under a significant amount of vegetation overgrowth. One of the few remnants of Miracle Strip’s legacy is this rusty relic covered in vines, surrounded by a mini golf course and a water park near the defunct chair lift structure.
Read more: 10 Closed American Amusement Parks Thrill Seekers Still Get Nostalgic For
Miracle Strip was once a wonderland of family fun
Family entering Dante’s Inferno at Miracle Strip in Panama City, FL – catfamilyadventures / YouTube
In its heyday, Miracle Strip Amusement Park was a fun house wonderland. Families would line up to ride the exhilarating “Musik Express,” which carried them forward and then backward. Parkgoers wandered from booth to booth sampling delicious food, taking wacky pictures in instant photo booths, and playing fun carnival games. The park even ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records when a local disc jockey, Jim Barnett, rode “Starliner” for 300 hours (including timed breaks).
Miracle Strip was marvelously kitschy, its attractions adorned with larger-than-life statues and decorations. With a giant yeti statue as the designated entrance for the “Abominable Snowman” ride and creepy laughing sound effects as visitors entered “The Dungeon,” the park was truly a sight to behold. It was like ‘fear and loathing’ at the amusement park, having to enter through a giant devil’s head for Dante’s Inferno. Visitors could spend hours of fun enjoying all the different rides and attractions, minus the Disney crowds.
Efforts were made to revive the park — they even tried to bring back its landmark roller coaster, which had also undergone various changes throughout the decades, including an addition in the 1970s that took riders straight into a giant dragon’s mouth. These attempts were unsuccessful, however, and Miracle Strip Amusement Park remains a memory. A new version of Miracle Strip opened in 2010 at Pier Park, but closed in 2015.
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Read the original article on Islands.