People are fascinated by abandoned amusement parks. It must be the juxtaposition of a normally happy place looking sad, abandoned and creepy. One of the most recently abandoned parks in the country was the backdrop of recent episode of NBC’s Revolution. The show is based on an apocalypse caused by the end of electricity and in turn all electronic devices.
Last week, our heroes found themselves in an abandoned amusement park that looked pretty familiar. Anytime I see a theme park or roller coaster on television, I’m quickly trying to figure out what park the show was filmed at. One glimpse of that white B&M coaster track (Time Machine) and it was obvious that they filmed at the former Hard Rock/Freestyle Music Park.
The park was introduced with a creepy shot at dusk. You can see what may be Round About / Maximum RPM in the foreground, but the orange dusk sky and that silhouette of what looks like a hyper coaster must have been added in during post production.
I visited this park during both of its incarnations (in 2008 and 2009). So, it was weird to see a familiar place getting national attention and in such a decayed state. The overgrown vegetation at the park made it a perfect backdrop for a post-apocalyptic TV show.
The characters ran from some attack dogs and found shelter inside a diner that my family and I ate at during our last visit. We even spotted the table that we ate at! From the roof of the diner, the camera panned the skyline and caught a nice view of Soak’d / Slippery When Wet and the park’s signature guitar landmark.
The show ended with another interior shot of a place that could be the maintenance area below the Vekoma mine train Eagles Life in the Fast Lane/Iron Horse.
Thankfully, Did you happen to catch Freestyle Music Park on Revolution last week?
Read my reviews of Freestyle Music Park and Hard Rock Park. Also read about some of the roller coasters: The Time Machine/Led Zeppelin – The Ride, Soak’d / Slippery When Wet, & Round About / Maximum RPM