Pleasure Island (Massachusetts amusement park)

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Pleasure Island was an amusement park located in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The park, billed as the "Disneyland of the Northeast"^[1]^[2], was in business from 1959 to 1969. During its short existence it went through several owners^[1] and was financially handicapped by New England's relatively short summers.^[1]

Pleasure Island was founded by William Hawkes, publisher of Child Life magazine,^[3] and designed by Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood^[4], the designer of Disneyland and Lake Havasu City.

Covering eighty acres,^[3] the park featured a plethora of rides and other attractions, including the Space Rocket ride, the Pirate Ride, the Moby-Dick ride (which featured a spouting mechanical whale rising from the depths), the Wreck of the Hesperus (dark ride), the Old Chisholm Trail (dark ride), theme restaurants, a shopping area, an arcade, mini-golf (from 1967), a carousel, Monkey Island, and much else.^[5]

Actors would stage mock gunfights in the Western City or threaten to attack riders on the boat rides.^[3] The park's "Old Smokey Line" was a narrow-gauge railroad using equipment leased from the Edaville Railroad.

Another park feature was the Show Bowl, where performers such as Rick Nelson, Michael Landon, The Modernaires, the Three Stooges, Clayton Moore, Don Ameche, and Cesar Romero appeared.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[1]

Product placement and branding played a part in some attractions, such as the Grist Mill which featured Pepperidge Farm products^[3] and the Pepsi-Cola Diamond Lil Theater.

Certain scenes from the film Charly were filmed at Pleasure Island. ^[9]

Its cartoon character mascot for a time was Popeye.^[10]

The #5 locomotive that used to serve at Pleasure Island is still up and running today and can be found at the WW&F Railway Museum, located in Alna, Maine. It has been rechristened the #10.^[11]

Today, the land formally occupied by the park is now Edgewater Office Park.