The Lowdown on the Plus-up - A Theme Park Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Theme parks feel like cutting-edge engineering, but a lot of the best ride magic is centuries old and sometimes way stranger than you’d guess. We follow the historical lipstick traces behind modern attraction design, learning how people first learned to build believable “other worlds” using water pressure, puppetry, miniatures, mirrors, and projection. If you love dark rides, prac...

Send us Fan Mail King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World, has lived so many lives across movies and theme parks. We follow Kong from the 1933 classic to the attractions that helped Universal Studios evolve from a tour into a destination, to the surprising story of how King Kong vs. Godzilla finally did the monster's creator in. Most importantly, even those who think they know everything pos...

Send us Fan Mail A three-pound glow-in-the-dark skull from Disneyland sounds like a joke until you realize it was real, widely sold, and now weirdly hard to find. We’re talking about Randotti skulls: handmade chalkware souvenirs that once hung from hot rod mirrors, lit up under Haunted Mansion blacklights, and gave Adventureland and Pirates of the Caribbean shops a darker edge than you’d ever expe...

Send us Fan Mail A giant boulder looms, your jeep “panics,” and somehow you leave feeling like you just lived a 1920s Republic serial on steroids! We trace how Indiana Jones is born from the language of movie serials and classic adventure cinema, then follow that thread straight into Disney Imagineering. We saw Imagineer Tony Baxter give a lecture on this attraction last week and his fingerprints...

Send us Fan Mail Something is quietly disappearing inside Disneyland, and it isn’t a single ride. It’s the feeling of Walt Disney himself: the founder's fingerprints, the hand-crafted oddities, and the design choices that made Anaheim’s original park feel like a living, ebullient, organism. We take a thoughtful walk through Disneyland history and ask a focused question: what is actually left...

Send us Fan Mail Big Thunder Mountain Railroad feels like pure fun: a runaway mine train, a mountain of red rock, and a few perfect sight gags that hit at 35 miles an hour. But the ride’s real story starts way earlier, in the myths America told itself about the frontier and the Western movies that turned those myths into pop culture. We follow that thread from Frederick Jackson Turner’s famous fro...

Send us Fan Mail Start with a finish-line smile and a hand-built castle. We open by honoring Jeff Galloway—the Olympian and Run-Walk-Run mentor whose you can do it turned marathons into memories for everyday runners—then spend most of this short episode saluting another architect of joy: Roger Tofte, the craftsman behind Oregon’s Enchanted Forest. Roger was a draftsman, sign maker, and watch repai...

Send us Fan Mail The fog rolls in, the surf pounds the seawall, and a laugh echoes across the Sunset—Playland at the Beach is gone, but its spirit refuses to fade. We head back to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach to unpack a park that was equal parts wonder and chaos: the glassy grandeur of Sutro Baths, the Cliff House’s many lives, and a bohemian streetcar village that set the stage for a century of s...

Send us Fan Mail EPISODE SUMMARY The most powerful special effect at Disneyland isn’t a projection or a firework. It’s water—dyed, pumped, and choreographed to keep illusions seamless, landscapes lush, and guests grounded.  In this episode, Kelly and Pete unravel the surprising, ingenious, and deeply odd engineering behind one of Disneyland’s most overlooked systems: the park-wide dark water netwo...

Send us Fan Mail Universal Studios' evolution from modest Tram Tour to the top challenger for the theme park throne was due to the fierce drive of one man: Jay Stein. Intense, ambitious and sometimes frightening, Stein let his competitiveness and, later, his seething rage against the Walt Disney Company forge an entirely new path for theme parks. By the time he left the company in 1993, it wa...

Send us Fan Mail Midnight seances, glow-in-the-dark ghosts, and a gorilla that always breaks loose—our journey into haunted-house history starts where theater met sideshow and never looked back. We trace the first British walkthroughs of the 1930s, the packed spook shows that turned movie palaces into after-hours carnivals, and the scrappy showmen who transformed empty storefronts into seasonal sc...

Send us Fan Mail Halloween didn’t just arrive at theme parks; it was engineered, rehearsed, and unleashed from a fog-soaked street in Buena Park. We dive into the wild origin story of Knott’s Scary Farm, tracing the DNA from mid-century horror hosts to the first freestanding mazes, the invention of roaming monsters, and the culture of sliders sparking their way through Calico. It’s a saga packed w...

Send us Fan Mail Ray Bradbury had a fascination with themed entertainment since he first attended the 1939 New York World's Fair, but was it merely as a casual observer or did he actually get his hands dirty? We invited noted Ray Bradbury scholar, Dr. Phil Nichols, to talk about it all: Ray's relationship with Walt Disney, his fascination with urban design, his work on EPCOT Center, and...

Send us Fan Mail Whether he was disappointed with how his work for EPCOT Center turned out or he was simply inspired to do it again, Ray Bradbury created his own vision of a theme park: The Great Electric Time Maze. Impractical, economically unviable and centered around completely untethered Blue Sky concepts, this midwestern phantasia of a park is right up our alley!  Join us as we zoom through t...

Send us Fan Mail EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of The Lowdown on the Plus-Up, Kelly and Pete return to their nerd roots to explore the theme park legacy of Star Trek. From the original 1966 series to Deep Space Nine, the two dive into Gene Roddenberry’s ideals, the franchise’s optimism, and the surprising role Lucille Ball played in making the show possible. We discuss the rise and fall of Star...

Send us Fan Mail Pete takes mercy on Kelly, who's been under the weather, and does the heavy lifting on our follow-up to last season's "Rude Mechanicals - Jungle Cruise: The Early Years." Bill Evans is back to see the fruition of the project he began over 35 years prior. His dream becomes a reality in the best way! Disney doubles down on immersion with unintended consequences!...

Send us Fan Mail It's a brief, Mid-summer (Don't get in the bear!) minisode. Ever wondered what's really happening with Disneyland Forward? Dive into this revealing mini-episode where we crack open the truth behind Disney's highly publicized expansion plans in Anaheim.  https://boardwalktimes.net/disneylandforward-what-exactly-is-it-3f4c79bf93c4 A new full episode in a few week...

Send us Fan Mail Jaws was a lynchpin to Universal's theme park success, both in California and Florida. It was also one of the biggest headaches the parks ever dealt with. Join us for the return of the J-Bang(!!!) as we pick apart what happened, follow the recriminations and discuss some amazing behind-the-scenes theme park designers who worked on this ambitious, and occasionally reckless, at...

Send us Fan Mail We contend that there is nothing more patriotic than being conned into believing that water runs uphill. Step into a world where the laws of physics seemingly take a vacation as we explore America's beloved gravity-defying roadside attractions. From the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot to Confusion Hill nestled in California's redwoods, these quirky destinations have been bafflin...

Send us Fan Mail We're wrapping up our first season of theme park adventures with a look back at what we've accomplished and a peek at what's coming in Season 2. From humble beginnings as a "way for our partners to get rid of us for a few hours every week," we're so thrilled at what this has become. Today is a wrap-up featuring some of what we've covered, current...

Send us Fan Mail Step with us into Tomorrowland, that curious realm where yesterday's futures linger in an increasingly static present. Why do Disney fans profess deep love for a land they rarely prioritize visiting? The answer lies in Tomorrowland's remarkable journey from hasty afterthought to kinetic wonderland to its current static identity crisis. Our live audience at the Howard Joh...

Send us Fan Mail Step back into the age of sword and sorcery as we unravel the untold story of Universal Studios' most dangerous and innovative attraction: the Conan the Barbarian Sword and Sorcery Spectacular. This legendary stunt show wasn't just entertainment—it was a revolution that forever changed how theme parks approach live experiences. From Robert E. Howard's complex litera...

Send us Fan Mail Join us for part two of the strangest story we've told thus far. The 1990s launch with a particularly charming story about jet packs, The Rocketeer. But then Kinnie Gibson, Brad Barker, Larry Stanley and Bill Suitor return to pick up a story that involves assault, murder, kidnapping and a giant flying beer can. Strap in! And remember, when the helmet vibrates, you only have 1...

Send us Fan Mail What if I told you that the man who flew above Disneyland's Tomorrowland in the 1960s wasn't on wires, but strapped to actual jet engines? The remarkable true story of the rocket belt at Disney parks is more fascinating—and bizarre—than you might imagine. Kelly and Pete explore the surprising origins of personal flight technology, beginning with Wendell Moore of Bell Aer...

Send us Fan Mail A quick note between talking about the Prince of Darkness and the Darkness of the Future! Full episode coming very soon. Thanks for listening! We'd love it if you would give us a review on your podcast platform of choice: iTunes, Spotify, etc... They're really helpful. And get in touch and let us know about YOUR Plus-Ups for the attractions we've talked about!  We&a...