Mystery Fun House
Attraction complex in Orlando, Florida, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Attraction complex in Orlando, Florida, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mystery Fun House was an attraction complex in Orlando, Florida, United States. It was founded with the help of David A. Siegel on March 27, 1976, and operated through February 18, 2001. Located near International Drive on Major Boulevard across from Universal Orlando Resort, the fun house expanded over time to include a laser-tag facility, an arcade, a dinosaur-themed mini golf course, and other attractions.
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Mystery Fun House prior to closure | |
| Location | Orlando, Florida |
|---|---|
| Status | Defunct |
| Opened | March 27, 1976 |
| Closed | February 18, 2001 |
| Owner | David A. Siegel (1976-2022) |
| Theme | Funhouse |
After closing, the former lobby of the Fun House was used as a Westgate Resorts check-in center. Parts of the building and all of Starbase Omega was destroyed in 2017 due to Hurricane Irma. As of October 2022, the former Mystery Fun House building and property was razed to make way for a new condo complex.
To promote the 1976 opening of Mystery Fun House, Aaron Fechter's Creative Engineering created an animatronic character by the name of Willie Wabbit to be installed at the Orlando International Airport. Although he never appeared outside of the airport, Willie was a success for the MFH, while also serving as an early influence for the technology behind CEI's Rock-afire Explosion for ShowBiz Pizza Place.[1]
The Fun House consisted of 15 areas called "chambers", including a mirror maze, a rolling barrel, crawl-through tunnels, scary jail areas, a moving bridge and a crooked room. In the early days, there was a multiplex movie theater, a hologram machine, a Disco room with a lighted dance floor, the moon room, and a wall-sized "computer" that could read patrons' handwriting and provide fortunes. There was also a show about three quarters of the way through the Fun House with music, lights, special effects and a video of the Wizard projected on a large screen.
The Mystery Fun House Magic Shop was run by veteran magician Dan Stapleton.[2] In the early 1970s, entertainment producer Jackson Hamiter trained under Stapleton and his brother, well known for his "Buxxum Bunnies" card tricks.[3]
Starbase Omega was a laser tag facility added in the late 1980s. Each player was equipped with a reflective target badge, a battery belt pack, and a "laser" gun. To get to Starbase Omega, patrons sat on a transporter that simulated a ride to the planet. Once on the planet—a large, dark room with extra-bouncy carpets and a hovering spaceship—players shot light beams at other players, trying to hit their reflective badges.
Originally called Mystery Mini Golf, Jurassic Putt was an 18-hole, dinosaur-themed miniature golf course that included a dark building for one of the holes.
In the mid-1980s, a restaurant and arcade were added to the Mystery Fun House. An animatronic show, The WizBangs, were a set of retrofitted Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre animatronics located above the restaurant's ordering counter. The King, a 9-foot tall lion who impersonated Elvis Presley, was another Pizza Time Theatre animatronic that had been acquired by MFH and installed to the left of the restaurant's ordering counter (adjacent to the WizBangs). Sally Industries supplied the controller equipment and programming for the WizBangs in conjunction with David "Billy Bob" Irvin, the former senior artist and creative designer of Creative Engineering.
Two movies were filmed at the Mystery Fun House: the birthday scene of Parenthood (1989), and most of the horror film Night Terror (2002).[4]
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