ThemeParkRider

Ah, nostalgia.

I liked the idea of having the ride lockers accessible through the line like in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The biggest problem being (and this is not exclusive to just this ride) the cramped conditions, especially on a very hot or rainy day.

I would be a little happier about this if TDK got a re-theme in the coming years.

Yeah definitely worth it, I didn't see the rest of the museum but there were a lot of little things that you don't really run into just by looking around the internet. Its small though, just a room and a hallway. But the New York model is really cool. I recommend touring the park for artifacts and making a day out of it like I did. And yeah I believe the elevators are gone, although it did look like there was a frame or some kind of elevator structure sitting at the bottom. But not the original, and this too hadn't operated in some time.

Well now I guess I'm joining the team, unfortunately. Do you think that it will eventually be brought back to Total Mayhem, or that another Batman related addition will occur in the park? Its not that a Joker theme ruins the whole idea or experience, but its getting kind of redundant.

Yeah I believe you're right. They also had promotional art for Expo 71 and even some antique renderings of the World's Fairs over in Europe. That's awesome, I would have loved to see that. It shocked me as to which structures they left intact and which ones they decided to demo. Do you know if the place has been remodeled since the fair, or is it relatively the same?

After years of being so close to it, my family decided we finally wanted to take the time to visit the grounds for the New York World’s Fair. We spent a lot of time looking up the old maps and attractions and literally penciling it in on the areas of the modern park map. We arrived around noon and were surprised at how massive the place really is. We started off by circling the perimeter of the park and catching the major features. This concrete footing that I'm standing by was just a few meters away from where the Swiss Sky Ride was back in the 1964/65 fair. Originally we thought this the footing to the sky ride, but a second glance of the map seemed to prove otherwise. Perhaps it was left over from the 1939 fair. If you go to 4:38 of this video, he rides and discusses the Swiss Sky Ride. It’s funny, even back then the one-way trip policy was an issue for people. That whole series is very informative, I recommend watching the videos before going. These fountains were in front of the General Electric pavilion. In fact you can find photos online where both the fountains (and some much younger trees) can be seen in front of the Carousel of Progress. By the way the car in the back is ours. We were delighted to find how easy it was to drive around the park. There were no signs that prohibited driving, parking or stopping. To our surprise a park ranger found us later and told us to move. What was weird was how perplexed he seemed at how we had gotten to where we were. We didn’t understand why he was so confused, there were no signs or barriers anywhere. Parking is free, but walking around from the parking lot wasn’t so fun in the cold. This was the main entrance. The time capsule. I always had a hunch that it would be opened earlier than 5,000 years from now. The New York State Pavilion had just received a fresh coat of paint. Further work is budget-pending, I believe. For comparison, here's four original photos my family has had of the fair back in 1964. Queens Museum of Art, which served as the NYC pavilion for both Worlds Fairs. The outside is similar but the interior has clearly received some renovation over the years. The panorama model of New York City was built for the 1964/65 fair, and the last time it was updated was in 2009. I was once again amazed at how huge this things was. You could really spend a lot of time in there. I recommend looking up the history on the museum’s site, it’s really amazing. Worth the trip alone. Upstairs there were all kinds of artifacts, souvenirs, signs, and models from both fairs as well as signage and posters for some other related events. They had maps of both fairs too. Next time we won’t need to write up our own maps, this will come in handy. In the gift shop they were giving away original guidebooks and postcards from the fair’s second year. At first I thought it was too good to be true but a quick Google search proved it right. You can get them online for about 7 dollars. The fair was very expensive and was ultimately somewhat of a failure. They must have made so many of these that they’re practically worthless. Didn’t stop me. After the museum, we went back to the car and drove across the highway to catch a few more things. This pavilion served as the landing pad for The Beatles when they played at Shea Stadium. This trip was fantastic. Just loads of fun and just interesting. We saw too much to even share every element, and we didn’t even see all of it. I look forward to returning when it’s a bit warmer (and the fountain is working) so I can really spend my time catching all the details and beautiful things this park has to offer. My dad and I said that if time travel was possible, we would use it for things like this to see the Fair in its prime. If you’re into theme parks or history, this is a nice trip you can take that will probably be a little more unique.