Fantasy Land, Forgotten Gem of the Irish Hills: 1959-1980
Here’s a place in the Irish Hills that only decades-older people may recall. I visited the Irish Hills many, many times over the past decades and I never came across this attraction: Fantasy Land.
Fantasy Land sat about one mile east of the old Stagecoach Stop; it figures I never visited, because I never went any further east than Stagecoach Stop. I enjoyed Mystery Hill, Prehistoric Forest, the Go-Karts, mini-golf, and Frontier City, but Fantasy Land escaped me.
At Fantasy Land, you could ride the train throughout the whole place, ride the Swan Boats, see the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Cinderella’s Coach & Castle, the Pumpkin House, amusement rides, Mother Goose, Jack Jumped Over the Candlestick, and more. Described on the back of postcards as “For the young and young at heart.”
As far as I could find, Fantasy Land opened in 1959 and was open throughout the 1970s. After an accident happened on the train in the mid-70s, it finally officially closed around 1980.
I’m not sure, but it looks like the original business building out front is the only thing left standing, now used as a different establishment. You’ll find it located on US-12 across from Evans Lake, about a mile east of the old Stagecoach Stop.