I thought of a fun idea for a topic. What is your funniest or most memorable theme park stories?

One of my best memories was oddly receiving a gift from my uncle at Knott’s Berry Farm at the end of the day back years ago and he gave me a Force FX Anakin Skywalker lightsaber. I had one of those cheap ones from the park but then I got this huge lightsaber! I loved that moment.

So an actual funny memory is back in 2001 or so, and my family and I were all riding Space Mountain at Disneyland, CA. I remember crying the entire time being scared out of my mind not knowing what was going on as a small kid, and one of my sisters thought our other sister’s head came off on the ride and she was freaking out the whole time while the other was laughing! I have no memory of that besides being scared of the ride itself, but it’s quite funny to me.

Please feel free to share some funny or other awesome memories! Cheers!

• Xecronius

In 1975, my brothers and I were eating lunch in the Blue Bayou restaurant in Disneyland (Monte Cristos!). As we were sitting at our table looking at all the bayou theming I looked up at the ceiling, which was textured plaster/cement, painted black, and saw a bird fly overhead next to the ceiling. It was traveling in a straight line, heading toward the bayou, in a rhythmical swooping/dipping motion, flapping its wings occasionally to regain altitude. A couple minutes later I saw the same bird in the same spot flying overhead again. Then again... and again. I finally concluded that this must be an animatronic bird; part of the theming! To this day I don't know for sure if it was real or animatronic. I'm hoping it was the latter because that would be an excellent example of Imagineering! Has anybody else seen that bird?

man....I have to think about this one

OK - this is may be hard to write.

Walking through EPCOT. I know this was not fake as it was many years ago before stuff like this was maybe more available. Sweltering heat. There was a large man leaning back on a fence clearly beat down by the heat.

I had to do a double take to make sure, but the heat had made his circular man parts hang way way down beyond his short shorts (that were all the rave back in the 80's).

...and how do I say this....they were size appropriate size to his larger overweight torso. Let's say do you like to play billiards? I (easily) pointed them out to the group I was with, and we could not stop laughing the entire day about it. I have to still believe he had no idea what was happening down there.

12 hours ago, Wowman said:

OK - this is may be hard to write.

Walking through EPCOT. I know this was not fake as it was many years ago before stuff like this was maybe more available. Sweltering heat. There was a large man leaning back on a fence clearly beat down by the heat.

I had to do a double take to make sure, but the heat had made his circular man parts hang way way down beyond his short shorts (that were all the rave back in the 80's).

...and how do I say this....they were size appropriate size to his larger overweight torso. Let's say do you like to play billiards? I (easily) pointed them out to the group I was with, and we could not stop laughing the entire day about it. I have to still believe he had no idea what was happening down there.

Holy crap! Hahaha! Well, that sure beats getting arrested by Buggs Bunny at Six Flags!

My mom having a hissy fit over not being able to ride in the caged cars on Casey Jr. Train at Disneyland because someone got there first. Parents can be so embarrassing. 🫢

No contest...

My father's family all grew up in SoCal, so every summer growing up we would take a trip down there to see them. This also, naturally, included a trip to DLA. As a result, I've been there a LOT of times. (especially for someone that lives over 500 miles away) This story is the absolute, no contest, most hilarious thing that ever happened to me there.

It was January of 2001 and we were in SoCal to introduce my older sister's 2nd son to the wonders of DLA. (who am I kidding... he was one... we were there because it was an excuse to go to DLA) As a result, we had a lot of family show up, including some of my sister's in-laws. All total there were 22 of us. (admittedly, 4 of them got free admission for being under age 3)

Anyway, we all decided that Small World was the next ride to "show off to the kids." (yeah... that joke never gets old) So we spend 20 minutes in line and get up to next in line. CM asks how many in our group and we tell him. He looks us up and down, obviously doing some mental math on total mass, and gets a look on his face that screams, "I need to tell them that they're just a bit too heavy to go in one boat, but I don't want to offend them." Yes, some of my family (mostly my sister's in-laws) are a bit on the heavy side... to put it mildly. He is about to say something when my sister asks, "Can we all ride together?"

Now the poor CM is cornered, he sighs heavily and slaps a smile on his face. "Sure! This way!" He did the best he could, trying to distribute the weight evenly. I'm up front with 2 of the kids, my sister, and 1 other and the rest manage to squeeze in behind us. Off we go! Things are fine... were floating into the show building... everything seems totally normal...

About the time we reach the 2nd room, we start hearing a slight grinding sound... and can feel it in the seats. We're scraping the bottom and slowing to a stop. About 10 seconds later we get a jolt forward as the boat behind us slams into us at full speed. (about 2 mph) This makes us rise up in the water and we're moving again! About 30 seconds later, we slow down and start scraping again... until BAM! Another boat hits the boat behind us, bumping us back going again like a big newton's cradle. This goes on for about 30 minutes. (remembering that the ride normally only lasts about 15 minutes)

All of us are all but dying with laughter at the hilarity of the situation by the time we start to approach the exit of the show building, but we still haven't gotten to the funniest part. Just as we start to round the corner and see daylight, I see this CM leaning into the tunnel, and I can see the expression on her face is screaming, "WHERE DID ALL THE BOATS GO?" See, by now we had ALL THE BOATS IN SMALL WORLD PILED UP BEHIND US LIKE A BIG TRAIN, with us as the engine/anchor.

It was at this time that I totally lost it. I laughed so hard, my sides ached for an hour. It STILL makes me laugh. The look on that CM's face was just so priceless! We're fairly certain that shortly after that, the SW entrance queue was redone to include a hidden scale that CMs can look at on their hidden monitors to verify that the guest group does not go above the boat's GVNE. (Gross Vehicle Never Exceed)

Here's another one I remember.

Again, on a trip to Disneyland, we talked my aunt into riding Big Thunder Mountain. Now she's not a fan of thrill rides or coasters, but BTM is pretty tame where most coasters are concerned. Heck, I have no problem with it and I'm a complete wuss when it comes to coasters.

Well, from the second we headed down the first drop, my aunt began to scream bloody murder. If you've seen any youtube videos of people on slingshot rides...well that was my aunt. And I was sitting right next to her as she screamed "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!" I seriously thought she was going to die of a heart attack right there in the car. Believe me, it wasn't funny at the time, but it is now, thinking back on it.

sooo i never ever got actually sick or dizzy on any rides, except for maybe funfair rides that spin nonstop.

some months ago we went to europa park like me and 6 friends, so super cool group, we go there for 3 days and have a nice hotel like 5 minutes drive from the parking lot. all amazing. we arrive there on the first day and first ride we go on is voltron of course. i expected it to be intense, but holly damn, not THIS intense. the ride literally kicked me out of life. i felt dizzy troughout the whole day and just couldnt realy enjoy anything anymore. later that day i thought to myself cmon you gotta atleast try to do one more ride. we see the phantom of opera VR entrance at the back of eurosat... and so it happened. not only did i went trough one of the most horrible moments ever on any ride, i also had my glasses on me which staff told me to keep on during the ride, it wouldnt be a problem. i came out of that ride with blue eyes because that vr headset was pressing so hard against my glasses and face. even worse, i had to go to the first aid because i was feeling soooooo unwell xD long story short, theres me sitting in the medical building with blue eyes feeling horrible and fighting social anxiety having to interact with strangers lol. 1 hour and a superpepp chewing gum later i walk out of that building to meet back up with my group. we decide to go on arthur which realy isnt intense at all and i thought it wouldnt bother my body that much. well yeah we were stuck in the city show scene (where you hear the dr dre song) for about 45 minutes.

all in all maybe not such a cool day but somehow funny. you hope and plan for everything to go great and have an amazing time but sometimes life has other plans i guess xD

im going back there again next month and i hope i wont feel this bad riding rides this time. otherwise, i guess they now already know me atleast hahaha

7 minutes ago, Danny420 said:

sooo i never ever got actually sick or dizzy on any rides, except for maybe funfair rides that spin nonstop.

some months ago we went to europa park like me and 6 friends, so super cool group, we go there for 3 days and have a nice hotel like 5 minutes drive from the parking lot. all amazing. we arrive there on the first day and first ride we go on is voltron of course. i expected it to be intense, but holly damn, not THIS intense. the ride literally kicked me out of life. i felt dizzy troughout the whole day and just couldnt realy enjoy anything anymore. later that day i thought to myself cmon you gotta atleast try to do one more ride. we see the phantom of opera VR entrance at the back of eurosat... and so it happened. not only did i went trough one of the most horrible moments ever on any ride, i also had my glasses on me which staff told me to keep on during the ride, it wouldnt be a problem. i came out of that ride with blue eyes because that vr headset was pressing so hard against my glasses and face. even worse, i had to go to the first aid because i was feeling soooooo unwell xD long story short, theres me sitting in the medical building with blue eyes feeling horrible and fighting social anxiety having to interact with strangers lol. 1 hour and a superpepp chewing gum later i walk out of that building to meet back up with my group. we decide to go on arthur which realy isnt intense at all and i thought it wouldnt bother my body that much. well yeah we were stuck in the city show scene (where you hear the dr dre song) for about 45 minutes.

all in all maybe not such a cool day but somehow funny. you hope and plan for everything to go great and have an amazing time but sometimes life has other plans i guess xD

im going back there again next month and i hope i wont feel this bad riding rides this time. otherwise, i guess they now already know me atleast hahaha

These are supposed to be about funny experiences, not horrible ones. 🤢 😁 Out of curiosity, what do you mean by "blue eyes"?

6 minutes ago, shyguy said:

These are supposed to be about funny experiences, not horrible ones. 🤢 😁 Out of curiosity, what do you mean by "blue eyes"?

Like i had literally eye rings that were blue because the glasses pressed so much against my face😂 and yeah i know this one might sound horrible but thinking back to this trip i kinda do think its funny because nothing went as expected😂

14 hours ago, Danny420 said:

Like i had literally eye rings that were blue because the glasses pressed so much against my face😂 and yeah i know this one might sound horrible but thinking back to this trip i kinda do think its funny because nothing went as expected😂

Wait, so your eyesockets became bruised? Ouch. I can see the amusement had left the park that day for you!

Hmmm this is tough. I have a lot of funny memories. One that I can think of is waiting in the Pirates Of The Caribbean attraction at the Magic Kingdom, a little girl kept saying "smells like doodie" in the queue. Her dad without hesitating said "that's called crop dusting sweetie." Forever quoted every time we visit that attraction.

I had to google "crop dusting" to find it's other slang meaning. 🫤

When I was pretty young, I was with my brother at Adventureland in Iowa I think it was the year they opened The Tornado which at the time was the biggest wooden coaster in Iowa, may still be. We were in line to ride it and behind us weas a group of older guys, I think there were three or four in their group. One of they guys named Leon was scared to ride The Tornado we could hear his friends saying "come on Leon you got to ride this thing!" and more conversation like that the entire time in line. Leon on the other hand kept saying wasn't going to ride, I think he was hoping there was a chicken exit at the top of the ramp, he kept saying "No way man I ain't getting on that thing!"

Once we got to the top of the ramp and were next to get on a train these guys were right behind us, My brother and I were in one of the first two seats, the group of friends behind us and Leon, did not make his exit. All the way up the lift hill he was scared out of his mind. After the firs drop though he started to have the time of his life. "Everybody put your hands up!" he yelled at the top of the second hill, "Put em up again" at the top of the third hill. This wend on until the ride was over.

As we ere exiting we could hear Leon saying, "Come on guys we gotta ride this again!"

Something we have never forgotten to this day, we are both much older now but if we are at Adventureland together and getting on the Tornado one of us will quote Leon.

Not as funny as my other entry, but still should get an honorable mention. :^þ

Almost a year after The Small World Affair, we're in DLA again, this time it's just me, my father, mother, SO, and our 6-month-old son. It's Christmas time, so the decorations are all out, the park is packed, but we're still having a lot of fun.

That's when the rain started.

Ten minutes later, everyone in the park is desperately seeking shelter from the MONSOON RAINS that are drenching everyone not under cover. It's so bad, they have to stop all the rides. We were headed towards Pirates of the Caribbean by way of the Adventureland hub entrance, and stopped under a tiny bit of overhang on the north side of the entrance gate. Dad runs over to Coke Corner to see if there's room for us in the Main Street buildings, but they're full to overflowing already. So we have to make do with the 3 square feet of cover we have. (of course, our son's stroller takes up most of that, and I'm shielding him from spatter with my body)

After what seemed like an hour of torrential downpour pounding on my back, water pooling on the ground so much that I'm standing in a 4" river, all of us absolutely soaked, (except for sleepy boy who missed the whole thing) the rain finally lets up. (in reality, it was probably only 15 minutes or so) That's when we hear...

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER, ALL ATTRACTIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. WE HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED YOUR STAY AT THE HAPPIEST KINGDOM OF THEM ALL, DISNEYLAND.."

At this point I'm so upset I'm beyond tears... I'm fuming mad! We have to head home the next morning, so there's no coming back tomorrow. In fact, due to finances, we won't be doing this again for a year at least. (which has its own funny story attached to it, but I digress...)

Didn't I say this was a funny story? Wait for it...

So we're trudging our way back to our nearby hotel, Dad's disappointed that he won't be getting any more pictures of his newest grandson's first DLA trip, Mom's disappointed but taking it in stride like she always does, my SO is laser-focused on getting back to the hotel to change into dry clothes, our son is still sound asleep, and I'm still pretty POed. We just exit the park into the Esplanade between DL and DCA when we all see this little girl, about maybe 6, jumping in a giant puddle, splashing around, giggling like mad, and then yells to her exasperated mother...

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"

I stopped short, watching her a moment, then started giggling along with her.

She reminded me what it was like to be a little girl at Disneyland again. It was physically impossible for me to not enjoy everything there. Being there was my first memory and will probably be my last. It's my laughin' place.

After a moment of standing there holding my son's stroller and giggling like a school girl for about a full minute, my mom comes up to me, puts her arm around my shoulder and says, "Come on, baby. Let's go get dried off, changed, then come back and see what's what."

So we did, and we came back to a nearly empty Disneyland with all the rides back up and running. Everything was a walk-on... even big draws like Space Mountain and Star Tours. On top of that, the park was pristine and smelled wonderful!

We got to go on so many rides, we eventually got tired of them and sat down to watch the Christmas Fantasy Parade. Everything was perfect... until...

There was a Goofy's Kitchen float near the end of the parade. We were parked in front of The Emporium watching when the kitchen made an awful sound and came to a grinding halt. The cast members didn't even miss a beat... they just kept right on dancing with a smile. The soundtrack started over, and so did the CMs... and over... and over... and over...

After about 20 minutes of hearing the Goofy's Kitchen portion of the soundtrack on repeat, most of the other guests had left, going further up Main Street to see the rest of the parade and go on to other things, and my family all suggested doing likewise. See, by this time the sun was down and the water on the street and buildings were all evaporating, making the temperature drop to about 6° Kelvin... :^þ but the dancers kept right on dancing. (I'm sure it was basic survival at that point... if they stopped they'd likely freeze to the street and die of hypothermia)

I refused to go. "If THEY can take it, WE can take it! We aren't wimpy city-folk! We're Northern Nevadans! I won't leave until THEY can!" My SO looked at me like I'd suggested I give birth to a rabbit, shrugged, and sat back down to watch the parade.

After 40 minutes (and about 10 more rounds of the same part of the song) a little electric tow truck came out and towed the float the rest of the way along the parade route, finally going back stage and reliving me of my duty to stick it out with those CMs. We then went and got some hit chocolate, laughing like hatters, and enjoyed the rest of the best day at DLA ever!

Did I wake this topic up? you can say yes my ego i already way out control and thus, not your fault..