Backstage tour of historic Land of Oz theme park in North Carolina
Walk the yellow-brick road with us as Dorothy Gale herself reveals how artists revive Land of Oz, the former “Wizard of Oz” theme park in North Carolina, each autumn.
Welcome to Land of Oz, North Carolina’s former ‘Wizard of Oz’ theme park
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in North Carolina anymore.” Wait, what?
With the Blue Ridge Parkway as its backdrop, Land of Oz — a former “Wizard of Oz” theme park in Beech Mountain, N.C. — reopens each year for just three weekends to host the Autumn at Oz festival. For 2024, Autumn at Oz returns Sept. 6-8, 13-15, & 20-22.
Among theme park aficionados, visiting Land of Oz is a rare achievement. Rarer still is the chance to walk the yellow-brick road with Dorothy, along with Sean Barrett, the artistic director and producer of Autumn at Oz.
On a gorgeous Saturday morning, with less than a week to go until the season’s opening day, Dorothy (in character) and Barrett toured us from Kansas all the way to the Emerald City. Along the way, they shared anecdotes about the park’s eclectic history, pointed out hidden details, and introduced us to some of the artists working passionately to correct the park’s misunderstood reputation from “abandoned” to thriving.
(Dorothy told us a Munchkin asked her to pardon the park’s work-in-progress appearance during our tour, so we’ll ask you to do the same.)
So, what is the Land of Oz theme park, anyway?
Land of Oz is unique for many reasons (to say the least), but its current seasonal festival operations differ from traditional theme parks in that guests follow a linear journey during their visit.
Rather than passing through a main entrance and traversing the park on their own, guests embark upon Dorothy’s story, just as she experienced it in “The Wizard of Oz”: encountering Professor Marvel in the field, pondering life on Aunt Em’s farm, traveling through a tornado, the whole shebang in sequential order. Ultimately, guests walk the yellow-brick road and arrive in Emerald City.
While there are no rides at Land of Oz, the Autumn at Oz experience is peppered with live entertainment moments, character greetings, special effects, and tributes to the past.
The costumes of Oz
Observant visitors to Autumn at Oz may notice a nod to the film’s infamous black-and-white-to-color cinematography. When guests first see Dorothy in Kansas, she’s wearing a light blue dress and black shoes. Once everyone travels through the twister and enters Oz, Dorothy greets guests again, but now her dress is of a more saturated blue color and her shoes are the famous ruby slippers from the film.
The performers’ current costumes at Land of Oz were designed by Austin Scarlett from “Project Runway.”
Defying gravity at Land of Oz
There’s only one way to get from Kansas to Oz: passing through the twister, of course. The Land of Oz artists pull off the transition with some old-fashioned theme park tricks and an astonishing natural phenomenon.
For starters, visitors pass through a disheveled replica of the same farmhouse in which they began their journey moments ago, with furniture strewn about and ruined thanks to the twister.
Next comes a doozy: a hallway positioned on a natural mountain slope of two 15-degree axises. When visitors walk down this hall, a bizarre, nature-made force distorts their direction. (It’s another Mystery Hill situation for those familiar with the Blue Ridge area, but this time with a theme!)
As Barrett put it, “When you feel like you’re gaining your composure one way, it throws you back in the other direction.”
For the final phase of the twister, guests pass through a pitch-black room illuminated by blacklight, evoking a palate similar to the Fantasyland dark rides at Disneyland.
Wicked Witch rock
Shortly after leaving the Gale residence and wandering into Oz, pay attention to the natural rock formation to your right. Can you see the side profile of the Wicked Witch of the West?
Jack Pentes, the park’s designer, “always said it was the witch overlooking the house that fell on her sister,” according to Barrett.
Rapid fire round of weird Land of Oz theme park history
We’re already covered the more standard history of Land of Oz in a separate story, so now it’s time for some weird and wonderful fun facts about the theme park’s early years that Barrett and Dorothy shared with us as we strolled the yellow-brick road:
A knock-off Kermit the Frog puppet show performed at Land of Oz in the ’70s. It’s one of the many non sequiturs in the park’s history.
The Wicked Witch used to scare children so badly that the Land of Oz gift shop always kept underwear in stock … along with a t-shirt that read, “I made a splash at Land of Oz.“
Instead of green, the park’s Wicked Witch character was purple at one point, inexplicably modeled after Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo — the villain from the television series “H.R. Pufnstuf” — rather than the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.”
One area of the yellow-brick road’s trail is populated by colorful mushroom statuettes. “They have nothing to do with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and everything to do with the late ’60s when the park was designed,” Barrett told us.
Halloween in Oz?
No other event is quite like Autumn at Oz, but as we strolled the yellow-brick road in the middle of the mountains, the infrastructure seemed ready-made for a familiar style of attraction.
“Has this ever been used as a haunted trail during the Halloween season?” I asked. The whole thing seemed perfect for a scary, after-dark take on the “Oz” story in the form of a walkthrough experience.
As it turns out, artists developed an idea for a steampunk-style haunt experience at Land of Oz several years ago, Barrett told us, but the concept never materialized.
From Land of Oz in North Carolina to Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia
Since Land of Oz was never operated by MGM (the studio that made “The Wizard of Oz”) or Warner Bros. (the studio that now possesses the right to the film), I was curious: What’s the relationship like between the Autumn at Oz event hosts and those studios?
Theme parks utilize intellectual property in their attractions through many means of licensing agreements, whether through outright acquisitions (like Disney purchasing “Star Wars”), complicated contracts that use the Mississippi River as their landmark of jurisdiction (like the permissions of the Marvel universe between Disney and Universal), or the final product requiring approval by the franchise owner (such as the agreement between Universal and J.K. Rowling for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas).
Unique among its siblings in the attractions industry, Autumn at Oz can operate as a seasonal festival on the property of the former theme park with few parameters. Warner Bros. allows the event’s intentional stewardship of the movie to celebrate the former theme park’s legacy.
Furthermore, the park’s existence doesn’t hinder Warner Bros. from developing “Wizard of Oz” theme park attractions of its own. In fact, a “Wizard of Oz”-themed area is currently under construction at Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia.
Case of the stolen dress
In the park’s early years, a Dorothy dress worn by Judy Garland during the production of the film was on display at Land of Oz. In 1975, the dress and other authentic props were stolen and never found.
A documentary crew is currently creating a film attempting to track down the dress, Barrett told us. (The missing dress is seemingly a different version than the one found in 2021 in the Catholic University of America’s drama department and the one on display at Planet Hollywood at Disney Springs.)
Lunch-Pail Tree from ‘Return to Oz’
Autumn at Oz mostly sticks to the 1939 film version of “The Wizard of Oz,” though there are a few references to other adaptations of the classic story. About halfway through the yellow-brick road, a tree is ornamented with small, red buckets. This is a nod to the lunch-pail tree from Disney’s 1985 film “Return to Oz.”
Hidden theme park details at Land of Oz
The Gales’ home at Land of Oz is filled with authentic 1930s-era household items, as well as purposeful props. For instance, visitors might notice an abundance of bluebird figurines throughout the homestead (after all, “somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly”).
“For the intense ‘Oz’ fan, our family portraits [on a shelf in the living room] are Frank Baum and Matilda Gage,” Barrett pointed out. “L. Frank Baum is who wrote the story. Matilda Gage was his mother-in-law who encouraged him to write down the stories he was telling the neighborhood children, and that ultimately became ‘The Wizard of Oz.'”
Tips to plan your visit to Autumn at Oz
Travel advisory
Land of Oz’s location in Beech Mountain means visitors must traverse winding, narrow roads with minimal cell phone service and the occasional blind turns. Drivers averse to these conditions may want to consider them in planning a trip to Autumn at Oz. Especially on a rainy day, drivers unfamiliar with mountain roads (or driving older or smaller vehicles not accustomed to the terrain) may be overwhelmed. Be safe!
Parking for Autumn at Oz
There is no onsite parking at Land of Oz. Instead, visitors must park at Beech Mountain Ski Resort and either utilize a free shuttle to Land of Oz or purchase a $20 ticket to ride a ski lift up to the park’s gates. Again, many quirks make the “Wizard of Oz” theme park unique from others in the themed entertainment sector.
Tickets for Autumn at Oz festival at the former Land of Oz theme park
Autumn at Oz tickets are $60 for guests ages 3 and up and free for guests ages 2 and under. For an additional $6.50, guests can visit the Over the Rainbow Observation Deck.
When purchasing tickets, guests select an arrival time. Festival staff recommended we tell Attractions Magazine readers to choose a late-afternoon arrival time for less crowds (and a lower chance of being shooed out of each area by the group behind you).
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