To commemorate Indigenous Peoples' Day in the United States today, I want to take a moment to remember perhaps the best depiction of American Indigenous culture that I have seen in a theme park attraction.
Mystery Lodge opened at Knott's Berry Farm in 1994. Created by Bob Rogers' BRC Imagination Arts, the theater show depicted an aging Indigenous storyteller, sharing memories and tales, accented by visual effects.
Inspired by BRC's "Spirit Lodge" attraction for the General Motors pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver, the show relied on assistance from the Kwakwaka'wakw on the Pacific Northwest coast. That helped make the show's storytelling feel authentic, because it was authentic.
Unfortunately, Mystery Lodge closed in 2019 and has not returned. If you've tried to source replacement parts for early 1990s tech anytime recently, you might know how expensive that can be. Facing a choice between spending a lot of money to fabricate an old part or spending a lot of money to recreate the show using modern tech, Knott's has chosen option three - which is not to spend a lot of money.
That's understandable. Mystery Lodge was not a show that drove a lot of ticket sales in the 2010s, after all. But I, and many other fans, still miss it.
At the moment, the most popular representation of an Indigenous community in a major theme park attraction depicts a made-up Indigenous culture. (That's Avatar: Flight of Passage at Walt Disney World.) If we can't get Mystery Lodge back, I hope that the memory of that show might inspire theme park creatives to look into the myths and stories of more Indigenous communities around the world.
Disney has dipped its toes into that space with some of its recent animated features. But there should be space within the theme park industry for an Indigenous-themed story that is not recycled through a movie studio IP first.
Anyway, I just wanted to say today that Mystery Lodge might be gone, but it is not forgotten.
Also, I wanted to note that today has been designated as Indigenous Peoples' Day in many U.S. states in response to today's federal designation as Columbus Day. As a symbol of European colonization and its resulting destruction of Indigenous communities in the Americas, Columbus is not a person to be celebrated for many. But I think it is worth noting that the U.S. established Columbus Day not so much to honor Columbus as to honor the Italian-American community, which had suffered a great deal of discrimination itself in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Google the 1891 New Orleans lynchings for relevant background.)
Again... stories. Theme parks enjoy unique power to entertain, distract, amuse, and to educate and inform. Mystery Lodge was themed entertainment at its best. I would love to see someone create another experience to celebrate Indigenous communities like this again soon.
They had an Indian Village at Disneyland too where Bayou Country is today. But I'm not sure how good that depiction of Indigenous People was given that it was the 1950's and Walt Disney's political views were well...questionable.
But good thing Disney changed the Indigenous people scene on Peter Pan's Flight in Florida. They still have yet to do that in California, however. And also good thing they took those tribal/ colonial scenes off the Jungle Cruise in both Cali and Florida.
I've been asking Knott's managers types as well as Cedar Fair (now Six Flags) Regional VP Raffi Kaprelyan about what's going on with Mystery Lodge for the past five or six years. After the attraction first shut down for an extended period, it always seemed like there was a different answer why the attraction could not re-open. And the status of the attraction possibly coming back has always been in flux.
At least the park has not knocked down the attraction for the rumored giga roller coaster which is talked about once in a while, and I am grateful the Mystery Lodge building has hosted the Grimoire maze the past few years during Knott's Scary Farm (and a show using the Mystery Lodge technology for one year before that). At least while the building is still standing, there is some hope for its return.
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Mystery Lodge was such an incredible show. I hope it one day returns to Knott’s and receives a thoughtful refurbishment. The effect at the end still amazed me every single time even after I had seen the show for decades.