"Can you see out that bunny head?" "Yeah, kinda..." "Good. Here's the the keys to the truck full of kids who aren't wearing seat belts. You're driving."
Man I just love hearing about all these offbeat, bizarre theme parks that Florida was home to before Disney and Universal existed. Its like the Wild West with rollercoasters and bad mascot costumes!
You wouldn't even need to make any horrific additions to it. Just have the plain original costume, and you'd have anyone (especially RiffTrax fans) crapping their pants at the sight of it. I mean really, was that thing supposed to be the Mickey Mouse-type ascot for the park? The freaking Minions are better mascots, and I hate those obnoxious LGM rip-offs!
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is still one of the worst things I’ve ever watched. Even with the Rifftrax version I still contemplated turning it off. It was that awful
My sisters were teens when I was born. They used to tell me stories about going to Pirates World when they were teens. In fact, my sister Debbie won't go on roller coasters because her first time ever going on one was the Wild Mouse at Pirates World. They sat her in the first car & didn't tell her that the first seats go slightly over the edge when getting ready to go over the hills. She panicked and passed out. She will never go on one again. I love roller coasters. I am so glad that I could see this video and at least see what the place looked like. So, I can know what their stories were about.
I remember the steeple chase at pirates world. Nothing to hang on to but the reins and the neck ( my arms were to short to wrap around it! I was 9 years old… lol
The RiffTrax treatment of Santa & the Ice Cream Bunny is pure gold. And they found a SECOND version that has Jack & the Beanstalk instead of Thumbelina they did for RiffTrax Live.
This story had as many twists and turns as a Defunctland episode and I absolutely love it. Especially as a Florida resident myself who was born well after its time.
“Here comes the Ice Cream Bunny (Hurr, hurr, hurr!) Christmastime will be so sunny (Hurr, hurr, hurr!) Oh, he’ll get Santa on his way Help him move his stupid sleigh And the only thing he’ll ever say Is Hurr, hurr! hurr!”
I like to imagine that the "pirate demonstrations" was just the tourists getting mugged. EDIT: I love the negotiation strategy of: "If you don't like all the rock concerts and smelly hippies, you're gonna * love * all these wrestlers and roller-skaters."
It clearly was the provocative ANTI-Disney (> who built a religion of cleanliness, no alcohol, no drugs, dressing codes for everybody and more body-treatment codes for their staff, etc etc...)
4:11 - “…who had said multiples times he hoped to become the Walt Disney of Florida.” *camera cuts to Walt Disney puffing on a cigarette* “Well, I just took that personally.”
My mom grew up in Miami and went to Pirate’s World many times as a child. It was where she saw her first concert. Her favorite ride was the steeplechase. Looked scary but, fun.
@@Roadent1241 In the video, you can see it in action. It’s the ride with horses that ran along a metal track. It was like a roller coaster. I believe it came from Coney Island. Not sure what happened to it after Pirates World closed.
18:00 - WOW, they had a full-a$$ bunny mascot with ZERO VIS driving an 1890s convertible with a dog & 12 kids piled inside! Makes our rides in back of our gramp's pickup look like a cake walk! 😳
I am so glad you covered this. I was watching Rifftrax (MST3k Crew) watch Santa And The Ice Cream Bunny and I was always wondering about its true origins! "Kevin: Hey boss, should we clean up some of this bacteria filled pools of water before we film this movie thing? Mike: As an employee of Pirates World you should know of course not."
as a carousel enthusiast, the fate of their carousel was a sad one. according to one of the members of the NCA who visited the park when it was closing, some carousel horses were removed from the carousel and burned in a bonfire :(
it is really sad that I knew exactly what this was from the thumbnail alone. thanks to MST3K/Rifftrax, I knew.......I knew of the ice cream bunny. it will forever haunt me.
I like to imagine Brian Wilson running into the Ice Cream Bunny at Pirates World and saying to himself, "that's it, I'm staying in bed until that guy goes away"
Love the clips of Six Flags Over Texas and the Runaway Mine Train. It was a beautiful park back in the 1960s with some of the park designed by Sid & Marty Krofft. They had a puppet theater there where they would perform in person. Looking back, that was pretty fantastic.
More like they didn't have the resources to make a good bunny costume back then. Especially for a niche part of a park company. Just look at early Disney walkabout Mascots at their parks, and those had a higher budget and more public viewing.
This was great! Absolutely bonkers story. I really want to know how badly sunburned the actor playing the reincarnated pirate got. The glare off his chest was blinding.
I lived in South Florida for 40 and I never heard of this place. I know it was before my time but I still think it's crazy that I didn't know about it. Thank you for another great video.
So it seems that the Dead's two gigs at Pirates World are significant in their history because of one song. They played 3/22 and 3/23 and so had a free afternoon at the motel on the second day. According to Bob Weir, the group was able to gather at the motel pool and finished writing the song Truckin'. As is likely with the Dead, there is a recording of the second show that exists and I think is the concert that was released a few years ago on vinyl as Pirates Of The Deep South - Florida Broadcast 1970. I'd heard of this park only in as much as a mention in some random Florida parts of the past article and because of the fate of the Steeple Ride. Thankfully a man named Norman Kaufman did give one of the horses to the Coney Island, USA museum. As to the Ice Cream bunny? Well there is such a thing. A certain Blue Bunny who hawks ice cream
@@zexsuskai the sad thing is that my childhood/teen years was AMAZING. I was born in July of 1989 so i got to experience Oregon in the 90's early 2000's. I just never could have guessed things would have changed SO MUCH since then and not in a good way... All the good things left and new things are bland, soulless lame and i don't understand how or why we got here... Even from a capitalistic aspect (why not keep around places, things, stuff that brings in tons of people?) What's the point of upping the price so only a few can afford it? Compared to setting a decent price that tons of people can pay for and utilize? It makes no sense how our society/economy acts nowadays... Our qualities of life should be so much better. It's ridiculous.
@@SNARC15 Rifftrax only. Except for one ill-fated Christmas where my sister and I thought we could recite all the jokes from memory and barely made it to the Thumbalina segment before we gave up.
oh my gosh, i remember hearing about the ice cream bunny and santa clause movie a while ago. i didn't realize there was a theme park attached! i can't imagine how scared the kids were of that bunny. makes me appreciate how far the walk-around costumes have come
Of course, Disney had Snow White's Adventures in their early days in Florida. That is just as terrifying as Pirates World. BUT IT HAD CARTOON STARBURSTS
I grew up in Florida and do remember visiting pirates world. They had a weird house attraction where everything was off kilter. You would walk in and the ceiling became progressively smaller til you were bent over. Like an Alice in wonderland feel. I was little and terrified of the mechanical race horses. Felt like I could see myself flipping off that ride. There were also these tube slide chutes you would get into that creeped me out. You could just be walking and these purses would show up and start fighting. Like some kind of skit. Loved that place.
We spent many a day there, No way those horses were meant to lean as far over as they did, and hitting the bottom of the log flume and whip lashing your neck!
When you got off the inside of your legs were either scraped-up or bruised. A few people fell because of the quick flipping back and forth, a person got bit by a snake on the Steeple Chase. The log flume would come down the hill and stop so quick at the bottom that your neck would ache. We spent many a day getting the crap beat out of us on those rides.
I loved Santa and the Three Bears as a little one! I think it’s still one of my favorite Christmas movies. I can’t believe that gem came out of the same studio responsible for the Ice (S)Cream Bunny!😆
It technically......wasn't.......it was supposed to be a TV special first, then WB was gonna distribute it but then dropped it. The studio ONLY distributed the movie, and Tony Benedict never saw a cent for the movie. Such a shame.
I highly recommend both Rifftrax versions of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny! They have a live and not live and each version has a different film in the middle, Thumbelina and Jack and the Beanstalk.
My mom has a bunch of pictures of her and my grandparents at Pirates world from like 1968ish. I actually live about 10ish miles from where it was. She saw a handful of concerts there too like The Doors, Three Dog Night, Deep Purple, and a few others.
I went to Pirate's World as a kid and loved the Flying Mouse and Steeplechase rides. Allegedly, they were exact copies of the same rides at Coney Island. On the steeplechase it felt like you were tipping over sideways and going to fall off--then you'd think of the rumors about water moccasins in the swamp just below your feet and you'd hang on for dear life.
I loved the Steeple Chase but it wore the inside of my legs out trying to hang on. When the news about the kid getting snake bit, they shut it down for about a week, great times on Sheridan Street.
What is an ice cream bunny? Probably inspired by there being a major ice cream brand with a bunny logo, and I think a number of minor brands have bunny logos or mascots too. I honestly don't think the costume looks particularly cursed, but it's something more fit for an Easter bunny meet-and-greet at a small mall or school than it is for even a budget film.
Great video Sam. That place seemed kinda weird. I’m sure it was great back when it opened. The ice cream bunny, horrifying! Could be the cousin to the bunny in Monty Python! Lol
When I saw the thumbnail for this video, I literally did a double-take and was like "....is that....the Ice Cream Bunny?" Like others in the comments, I was introduced to the Ice Cream Bunny through Rifftrax. I had no idea of the history behind it though. Fascinating stuff as always.
My family moved to Hollywood Fl in 1970 I was only 6 years old. We went to Pirates World often we’d take visiting family and friends there it was located near my grandparents house. I remember sitting on the dock in the backyard on the canals on Johnson St. you could hear all the concert music from PE in the evenings on the weekends. Unfortunately, I was too young to see any of the great bands that played there. Across the street from PW off Sheridan Street was a deep rock pit full of crystal, clear water. We’d ride our dirt bikes and go swimming after PW close we’d ride a dirt bikes around the old PW theme park, then in high school when we got our cars and drivers license, we go there to party. Some of the old rides and attractions were still there. The place was overgrown and left abandoned. We had some great times growing up in Broward county/Hollywood/Dania, Florida.😎👍🏼🍻
Wonderful video brother, there's something very sickening about a soft core creator Making children's films and tv, especially what we know now about Hollywood executives
"What we know now" what do we know? If you know anything about Old Hollywood theres always been good folks and bad folks. Soft core has nothing to do with it. Just say you hate gay people dude and be honest.
@@theangryholmesian4556 yeah im aware i studied film production there is always good and bad but im referring to the bad. influences is always part of it regardless of the content
3:18 I had this playing on the side while doing other things and when I tell you the way my head whipped around at Jean LaFitte, especially pronounced like that-
PIrates World has kinda become part of my Christmas season, thanks to the new tradition of watching Rifftrax's Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny once Thanksgiving is done. I can't think of a better way to ring in the season! Also, gotta say, as a classic rock fan, those concerts sounded amazing. EDIT: Maaan, it's a shame they didn't get to do the wrestling, because then we could have had the Ice Cream Bunny in the squared circle.
the fact that i saw "florida's weird controversial theme park" and i thought this was gonna be about either holy land or dinosaur adventure land, and yet it was about yet ANOTHER controversial florida theme park.... if you can say one thing about florida, it's never boring.
hahah I think you'r right about the kids not being believed "Santa got stuck in the sand and sung, mommy, then, um, well then it was Thumbelina starring someone who I'm sure wasn't one of the director's porn stars, she talked to bugs that looked like birds, then the ice cream bunny came in his fire truck and saved santa!" .... "yes, darling. kids these days, they've gost such wild imaginations, they probably just watched Bebknobs & Broomsticks, Brenda"
I never left Pirates World without scraped-up legs from the steeplechase and a whiplashed neck from the sudden stop on the log flume. We saw so many huge bands in that big tent it was amazing. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and spent lots of days at Pirates World. Everybody would drag race up Sheridan Street after the concerts.
Some say you can still hear the Ice Cream Bunny (as demonstrated by Bill Corbett) on the land Pirate's World used to stand on, and when the wind of the ocean is right, you may even hear his siren calling forlornly over the beach
I think the only reason you may have slightly, somewhat, even possibly contemplated liking the Ice Cream Bunny, was because there was a dog next to it.
Bruh, that park sounds like the place to be for it's time. Those music acts in their prime, pirate themes, and awesomely bad films, that sounds like my personal happy place. It's just a shame that back then some overly conservative a-holes were over vocal about certain groups of people to ruin something good. I mean, that sort of thing never happens today especially in Florida. (Bring on the hate, I REALLY don't care)
Wow, I've seen SANTA AND THE ICE CREAM BUNNY, but I didn't know about the Pirate's World connection. That movie manages to be both bizarre and boring--it was so weird to see a Santa character slogging through gritty sand under the blazing sun. It makes the movie even better to know the backstory. Thanks!
I loved Pirates World I grew up not far from there and would go often. The log flume was my favorite. They had some amazing concerts. I went there years later after it was all closed down and deserted and walked around it was pretty cool looking everything was falling apart. Also kind of sad good times were had there.
Just caught this great vid last night! So I had to go and look at Google sat images and compare the location now to historical images of when the park was there. I think it is cool that they at least kept the old lake or cove in it's original design, right down to putting the pool on one of the islands 🙂
That rabbit is the ultimate nightmare fuel. Weirder than I imagine, I dunno. Rifftrax introduced me to this place and my speculations are pretty weird.
Another South florida Park i was born to late to ever go love the florida historical content. Keep it going love to learn of my states' theampark history
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Ice Cream Bunny..... cute or nightmares?
Nightmares
Should be in a horror movie
The real question is this: would the bunny having a face that actually moved make it less creepy or even creepier?🤔
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Total nightmare fuel.
That bunny had me dying laughing, like a Monty Python skit that just keeps going way longer than expected, and then it’s still going🤣
Watch the last 15 minutes of the rifftrax, you'll die laughing so much more
@@ischorr you can only die once
"Can you see out that bunny head?"
"Yeah, kinda..."
"Good. Here's the the keys to the truck full of kids who aren't wearing seat belts. You're driving."
This was the best comment lol
Ah the 60s
And you know damn well he was on drugs😂
Man I just love hearing about all these offbeat, bizarre theme parks that Florida was home to before Disney and Universal existed. Its like the Wild West with rollercoasters and bad mascot costumes!
The best story
To be fair, Disney's mascot costumes were also pure nightmare fuel when they opened lol
it gores back even further to the late 19th century as people traveled down the coast to miami
Six Gun Territory!
I can actually see Universal using the Ice Cream Bunny in one of their houses in the next few years. That costume looks absolutely horrific.
Ahahaha yeah
The only thing scarier would be the original Disney Land costumes.
A local haunted house in my area has a rabbit character that looks like the Ice Cream Bunny but with teeth 😆
You wouldn't even need to make any horrific additions to it. Just have the plain original costume, and you'd have anyone (especially RiffTrax fans) crapping their pants at the sight of it. I mean really, was that thing supposed to be the Mickey Mouse-type ascot for the park? The freaking Minions are better mascots, and I hate those obnoxious LGM rip-offs!
I'm pretty sure they used him in H.R. Bloodngutz's Holidays of Horror.
The only way to get through Ice Cream Bunny, IMO, is RiffTrax. But it's still a nightmare even with the riffs!
Ahah yeah
Exactly. All of the movies they made are arguably the worst films Rifftrax ever riffed.
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is still one of the worst things I’ve ever watched. Even with the Rifftrax version I still contemplated turning it off. It was that awful
Hur…hur…hur…hur…hur…
"My predicament lacks its usual cheer" 😅
My sisters were teens when I was born. They used to tell me stories about going to Pirates World when they were teens. In fact, my sister Debbie won't go on roller coasters because her first time ever going on one was the Wild Mouse at Pirates World. They sat her in the first car & didn't tell her that the first seats go slightly over the edge when getting ready to go over the hills. She panicked and passed out. She will never go on one again. I love roller coasters. I am so glad that I could see this video and at least see what the place looked like. So, I can know what their stories were about.
I remember the steeple chase at pirates world. Nothing to hang on to but the reins and the neck ( my arms were to short to wrap around it! I was 9 years old… lol
The RiffTrax treatment of Santa & the Ice Cream Bunny is pure gold. And they found a SECOND version that has Jack & the Beanstalk instead of Thumbelina they did for RiffTrax Live.
I’ve seen both please pray for me
IMAX Torgo!
This story had as many twists and turns as a Defunctland episode and I absolutely love it. Especially as a Florida resident myself who was born well after its time.
OH MY GOD THE ICE CREAM BUNNY! BANE OF THE AGONY BOOTH AND RIFFTRAX!
Hurr hurr hurr
_The Ice Cream Bunny_
_The Ice Cream Bunny_
_He's made of ice cream_
_And he's a bunny!_
Love the Ronald Reagan waddle…which makes sense when you think about it.
“Here comes the Ice Cream Bunny
(Hurr, hurr, hurr!)
Christmastime will be so sunny
(Hurr, hurr, hurr!)
Oh, he’ll get Santa on his way
Help him move his stupid sleigh
And the only thing he’ll ever say
Is Hurr, hurr! hurr!”
As an avid fan of pirates, rock n roll, wrestling, rollercoasters, and rollder derby.... i could not possibly think of a more fun place.
I like to imagine that the "pirate demonstrations" was just the tourists getting mugged.
EDIT: I love the negotiation strategy of: "If you don't like all the rock concerts and smelly hippies, you're gonna * love * all these wrestlers and roller-skaters."
It clearly was the provocative ANTI-Disney (> who built a religion of cleanliness, no alcohol, no drugs, dressing codes for everybody and more body-treatment codes for their staff, etc etc...)
4:11 - “…who had said multiples times he hoped to become the Walt Disney of Florida.”
*camera cuts to Walt Disney puffing on a cigarette*
“Well, I just took that personally.”
My mom grew up in Miami and went to Pirate’s World many times as a child.
It was where she saw her first concert.
Her favorite ride was the steeplechase. Looked scary but, fun.
My grandma and a friend of my grandma also went to this park they rode the steeplechase too
What was the steeplechase? Is that like a rollercoaster?
@@Roadent1241 In the video, you can see it in action. It’s the ride with horses that ran along a metal track. It was like a roller coaster.
I believe it came from Coney Island. Not sure what happened to it after Pirates World closed.
@@mackpines Ah, thank you!
@@Roadent1241 it was a roller coaster you would basically sit on the horse and then would be like any other coaster.
‘’They spent hours researching pirate law ….” - damn, they were serious! Great vid!
Pirate LORE
18:00 - WOW, they had a full-a$$ bunny mascot with ZERO VIS driving an 1890s convertible with a dog & 12 kids piled inside! Makes our rides in back of our gramp's pickup look like a cake walk! 😳
It's so cool that you're exploring this insane story
Aha yeah it’s Abit crazy
I am so glad you covered this. I was watching Rifftrax (MST3k Crew) watch Santa And The Ice Cream Bunny and I was always wondering about its true origins! "Kevin: Hey boss, should we clean up some of this bacteria filled pools of water before we film this movie thing? Mike: As an employee of Pirates World you should know of course not."
The Hurr Hurr Hurr part always cracks me up.
Mike: ♫I walk like John Travolta, my smile is really forced♫
*YES! MY PRAYERS FOR A PIRATES WORLD VIDEO HAVE FINALLY BEEN ANSWERED!*
Yesss
as a carousel enthusiast, the fate of their carousel was a sad one. according to one of the members of the NCA who visited the park when it was closing, some carousel horses were removed from the carousel and burned in a bonfire :(
I literally gasped when I read your comment. So sad!
noooooooo! Any idea who made the carousel in the first place?
@@gemfyre855 PTC or Philadelphia Toboggan Company
it is really sad that I knew exactly what this was from the thumbnail alone. thanks to MST3K/Rifftrax, I knew.......I knew of the ice cream bunny. it will forever haunt me.
same
Same here, though I first read about it on TV tropes, years before I saw the Rifftrax riff.
Same! "For the first time, Rifftrax has nothing to say" "A therapist heard all about this years later"
I like to imagine Brian Wilson running into the Ice Cream Bunny at Pirates World and saying to himself, "that's it, I'm staying in bed until that guy goes away"
The thing about that Ice Cream Bunny is his lidless eyes... black eyes... like a doll's eye..
As a Broward native, I’ve never heard of this park before! That’s exactly why I’m grateful for channels like yours.
Wow,the bunny almost lost control of the fire truck with a bunch of kids in it at 17:40
Love the clips of Six Flags Over Texas and the Runaway Mine Train. It was a beautiful park back in the 1960s with some of the park designed by Sid & Marty Krofft. They had a puppet theater there where they would perform in person. Looking back, that was pretty fantastic.
The best
My years of RiffTrax watching have fully prepared me for this insane story!
Was hoping someone would mention Rifftrax. Well done friend haha
For sure. So many references to the ice cream bunny in RiffTrax (not to mention their riff on the full Santa Claus & The Ice Cream Bunny film).
HURRRR!! HURRRR!
This explains so much and so little at the same time.
If Led Zeppelin is performing near your house and you're complaining about the noise you're on the wrong side.
Oh God everything about this is nightmare fuel. Especially that bunny. Whoever came up with that design must've been on something STRONG
More like they didn't have the resources to make a good bunny costume back then. Especially for a niche part of a park company. Just look at early Disney walkabout Mascots at their parks, and those had a higher budget and more public viewing.
This was great! Absolutely bonkers story. I really want to know how badly sunburned the actor playing the reincarnated pirate got. The glare off his chest was blinding.
I lived in South Florida for 40 and I never heard of this place. I know it was before my time but I still think it's crazy that I didn't know about it. Thank you for another great video.
Thank you.
We spent lots of days right there at the end of Sheridan Street.
So it seems that the Dead's two gigs at Pirates World are significant in their history because of one song. They played 3/22 and 3/23 and so had a free afternoon at the motel on the second day. According to Bob Weir, the group was able to gather at the motel pool and finished writing the song Truckin'. As is likely with the Dead, there is a recording of the second show that exists and I think is the concert that was released a few years ago on vinyl as Pirates Of The Deep South - Florida Broadcast 1970. I'd heard of this park only in as much as a mention in some random Florida parts of the past article and because of the fate of the Steeple Ride. Thankfully a man named Norman Kaufman did give one of the horses to the Coney Island, USA museum. As to the Ice Cream bunny? Well there is such a thing. A certain Blue Bunny who hawks ice cream
Wow, that was a wild ride. Amazing that Led Zep even played there in their early days.
We went dozens of concerts there. Grateful Dead, Jeff Beck, Beach Boys, Faces with Rod Stewart, Mountain, it was fun growing up in Ft Lauderdale.
I really wish we could have weird nightmare fuel places like this around still. There is such a charm to all it's wackiness and it's eerieness.
we were born in the wrong time my friend
@@zexsuskai the sad thing is that my childhood/teen years was AMAZING. I was born in July of 1989 so i got to experience Oregon in the 90's early 2000's. I just never could have guessed things would have changed SO MUCH since then and not in a good way... All the good things left and new things are bland, soulless lame and i don't understand how or why we got here... Even from a capitalistic aspect (why not keep around places, things, stuff that brings in tons of people?) What's the point of upping the price so only a few can afford it? Compared to setting a decent price that tons of people can pay for and utilize? It makes no sense how our society/economy acts nowadays... Our qualities of life should be so much better. It's ridiculous.
13:35 Look at those banked steeplechase tracks!
Roller Coaster Tycoon doesn’t have those.
The best
“I’ve been conned! There’s no luxury time share here!”
Let’s shave his beard and make him eat it
Luxury time share is an oxymoron.
Santa and the Icecream Bunny is a twice a year watch for my family. Once on Christmas, once on Easter.
A classic
With or without Rifftrax?
@@SNARC15 Rifftrax only. Except for one ill-fated Christmas where my sister and I thought we could recite all the jokes from memory and barely made it to the Thumbalina segment before we gave up.
oh my gosh, i remember hearing about the ice cream bunny and santa clause movie a while ago. i didn't realize there was a theme park attached! i can't imagine how scared the kids were of that bunny. makes me appreciate how far the walk-around costumes have come
I'm so happy that I found this channel, what a wild ride
That horse ride looked absolutely insane
At least the Ice Cream Bunny was lurking around to save Santa!
I wonder if Kemper lived long enough to see Walt Disney become the Walt Disney of Florida.
Aha yeah
Of course, Disney had Snow White's Adventures in their early days in Florida. That is just as terrifying as Pirates World. BUT IT HAD CARTOON STARBURSTS
The Steeplechase ride has an amazing history and story all its own..
I will do that one day
That ice cream bunny scene has me rolling and saying "WTF is happening??" i love it.
"More of an A plus park than a high C" I audibly cackled. Well done. 😂
I grew up in Florida and do remember visiting pirates world. They had a weird house attraction where everything was off kilter. You would walk in and the ceiling became progressively smaller til you were bent over. Like an Alice in wonderland feel. I was little and terrified of the mechanical race horses. Felt like I could see myself flipping off that ride. There were also these tube slide chutes you would get into that creeped me out. You could just be walking and these purses would show up and start fighting. Like some kind of skit. Loved that place.
We spent many a day there, No way those horses were meant to lean as far over as they did, and hitting the bottom of the log flume and whip lashing your neck!
That horse ride looks like it's "Action Park" levels of dangerous - I don't see safety restraints of any kind.
When you got off the inside of your legs were either scraped-up or bruised. A few people fell because of the quick flipping back and forth, a person got bit by a snake on the Steeple Chase. The log flume would come down the hill and stop so quick at the bottom that your neck would ache. We spent many a day getting the crap beat out of us on those rides.
I loved Santa and the Three Bears as a little one! I think it’s still one of my favorite Christmas movies. I can’t believe that gem came out of the same studio responsible for the Ice (S)Cream Bunny!😆
It technically......wasn't.......it was supposed to be a TV special first, then WB was gonna distribute it but then dropped it. The studio ONLY distributed the movie, and Tony Benedict never saw a cent for the movie. Such a shame.
John Kemper: I want to be the Walt Disney of Florida.
Walt Disney: Hold my beer.
I highly recommend both Rifftrax versions of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny! They have a live and not live and each version has a different film in the middle, Thumbelina and Jack and the Beanstalk.
My mom has a bunch of pictures of her and my grandparents at Pirates world from like 1968ish. I actually live about 10ish miles from where it was. She saw a handful of concerts there too like The Doors, Three Dog Night, Deep Purple, and a few others.
I went to Pirate's World as a kid and loved the Flying Mouse and Steeplechase rides. Allegedly, they were exact copies of the same rides at Coney Island. On the steeplechase it felt like you were tipping over sideways and going to fall off--then you'd think of the rumors about water moccasins in the swamp just below your feet and you'd hang on for dear life.
I loved the Steeple Chase but it wore the inside of my legs out trying to hang on. When the news about the kid getting snake bit, they shut it down for about a week, great times on Sheridan Street.
Another great video Sam! You and Jackie have inspired two cross-country trips this year: Orlando and Gatlinburg. Keep up the great work!
Oh man, it's good to finally know the origin of the Ice Cream Bunny. I'm surprised that I've never heard of Pirate's World until now.
What is an ice cream bunny? Probably inspired by there being a major ice cream brand with a bunny logo, and I think a number of minor brands have bunny logos or mascots too. I honestly don't think the costume looks particularly cursed, but it's something more fit for an Easter bunny meet-and-greet at a small mall or school than it is for even a budget film.
Excellent documentary! I grew up in the area and had no idea this ever existed. The history behind this was well done. Thank you.
To quote Bill Corbett: HURR HURR HURR!!!
Bill rules! 😂
We love Bill Corbett in this household🙌🏻💖
Remember: Expedition Theme Park is telling this story to the viewers.
Great video Sam. That place seemed kinda weird. I’m sure it was great back when it opened. The ice cream bunny, horrifying! Could be the cousin to the bunny in Monty Python! Lol
When I saw the thumbnail for this video, I literally did a double-take and was like "....is that....the Ice Cream Bunny?" Like others in the comments, I was introduced to the Ice Cream Bunny through Rifftrax. I had no idea of the history behind it though. Fascinating stuff as always.
“The Ice Cream Bunny, of course… of course!” 😂
My family moved to Hollywood Fl in 1970 I was only 6 years old. We went to Pirates World often we’d take visiting family and friends there it was located near my grandparents house. I remember sitting on the dock in the backyard on the canals on Johnson St. you could hear all the concert music from PE in the evenings on the weekends. Unfortunately, I was too young to see any of the great bands that played there. Across the street from PW off
Sheridan Street was a deep rock pit full of crystal, clear water. We’d ride our dirt bikes and go swimming after PW close we’d ride a dirt bikes around the old PW theme park, then in high school when we got our cars and drivers license, we go there to party. Some of the old rides and attractions were still there. The place was overgrown and left abandoned. We had some great times growing up in Broward county/Hollywood/Dania, Florida.😎👍🏼🍻
Wonderful video brother, there's something very sickening about a soft core creator Making children's films and tv, especially what we know now about Hollywood executives
I'm sure it was "whatever makes money" so whatever
"What we know now" what do we know? If you know anything about Old Hollywood theres always been good folks and bad folks. Soft core has nothing to do with it. Just say you hate gay people dude and be honest.
@@theangryholmesian4556 yeah im aware i studied film production there is always good and bad but im referring to the bad. influences is always part of it regardless of the content
"Horrors of the ice cream bunny." That's the second hardest laugh I've had this year. Thank you very much!
That was fascinating. Ice Cream Bunny was cute IMO 🐰😄
Ahahah hmmm
You promised weird and you did not disappoint.
3:18 I had this playing on the side while doing other things and when I tell you the way my head whipped around at Jean LaFitte, especially pronounced like that-
PIrates World has kinda become part of my Christmas season, thanks to the new tradition of watching Rifftrax's Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny once Thanksgiving is done. I can't think of a better way to ring in the season!
Also, gotta say, as a classic rock fan, those concerts sounded amazing.
EDIT: Maaan, it's a shame they didn't get to do the wrestling, because then we could have had the Ice Cream Bunny in the squared circle.
Bizarre! I grew up in Hollywood, Florida which was just a block away from Pirate's World. The only ride I remember was the Log Flume ride.
the fact that i saw "florida's weird controversial theme park" and i thought this was gonna be about either holy land or dinosaur adventure land, and yet it was about yet ANOTHER controversial florida theme park.... if you can say one thing about florida, it's never boring.
Thank you for this little ditty about pirates world… brought back some memories.. haha
Nice job!! My family moved to Lauderdale in 71, I moved to Mexico 2 years ago. I lived near this, and never heard of it b4. Great story
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
hahah I think you'r right about the kids not being believed "Santa got stuck in the sand and sung, mommy, then, um, well then it was Thumbelina starring someone who I'm sure wasn't one of the director's porn stars, she talked to bugs that looked like birds, then the ice cream bunny came in his fire truck and saved santa!" .... "yes, darling. kids these days, they've gost such wild imaginations, they probably just watched Bebknobs & Broomsticks, Brenda"
Ahahah right?!
This is aaaarrguably one of your most interesting videos.
I never left Pirates World without scraped-up legs from the steeplechase and a whiplashed neck from the sudden stop on the log flume. We saw so many huge bands in that big tent it was amazing. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and spent lots of days at Pirates World. Everybody would drag race up Sheridan Street after the concerts.
Some say you can still hear the Ice Cream Bunny (as demonstrated by Bill Corbett) on the land Pirate's World used to stand on, and when the wind of the ocean is right, you may even hear his siren calling forlornly over the beach
Really interesting. Im new to this channel but I'm absolutely loving it
I heard the words “Jean” and “Lafitte” in that order, what did I miss?!
I definitely have the Ice Cream Bunny on a RIFFTRAX DVD somewhere on my shelf-o-schlock.
You just said two words I have not heard for 50 years......Busch Gardens!!
I think the only reason you may have slightly, somewhat, even possibly contemplated liking the Ice Cream Bunny, was because there was a dog next to it.
My step dad is always talking about how he saw Jimi Hendrix right before he died at Pirates World .
Bruh, that park sounds like the place to be for it's time. Those music acts in their prime, pirate themes, and awesomely bad films, that sounds like my personal happy place.
It's just a shame that back then some overly conservative a-holes were over vocal about certain groups of people to ruin something good.
I mean, that sort of thing never happens today especially in Florida.
(Bring on the hate, I REALLY don't care)
overly conservative assholes are VERY much a thing in modern florida idk what to tell you buddy
Found an old promotional pen from Pirates World when cleaning out some old desks at work and wondered what the hell it was. Cool video
Thank you for covering this!! Was always curious about the park after seeing the stellar movies!!❤
When this park opened I was in Junior High School , and took one of dates to this park. Oh he memories!
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is a cinematic masterpiece. How dare you say otherwise!
Great job and keep up the great work!
Thank you
Wow, I've seen SANTA AND THE ICE CREAM BUNNY, but I didn't know about the Pirate's World connection. That movie manages to be both bizarre and boring--it was so weird to see a Santa character slogging through gritty sand under the blazing sun. It makes the movie even better to know the backstory. Thanks!
I loved Pirates World I grew up not far from there and would go often. The log flume was my favorite. They had some amazing concerts. I went there years later after it was all closed down and deserted and walked around it was pretty cool looking everything was falling apart. Also kind of sad good times were had there.
I want an Ice Cream Bunny t-shirt now! That is soooo friggin' bizarre!
The Ice Cream Bunny looks like he should drive a white van
Just caught this great vid last night! So I had to go and look at Google sat images and compare the location now to historical images of when the park was there. I think it is cool that they at least kept the old lake or cove in it's original design, right down to putting the pool on one of the islands 🙂
You can see two different versions of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (with commentary) from RiffTrax.
Finally a proper doc about Pirates World. Thank you!!
Thank you!
Loved this ! Never knew Pirate’s World was a thing !
That rabbit is the ultimate nightmare fuel. Weirder than I imagine, I dunno. Rifftrax introduced me to this place and my speculations are pretty weird.
This was an enjoyable watch thanks man
Another South florida Park i was born to late to ever go love the florida historical content. Keep it going love to learn of my states' theampark history
So many
I don't know the "Ice Cream Bunny".
But I do know what Death Bunny is from my time at Embry-Riddle.....
😂 The tense music with the Ice Cream Bunny was gold!