Marco Polo Park Tribute Page ~AKA~ Passport to Funworld

Marco Polo Park Tribute Page ~AKA~ Passport to Funworld

A fearless crusader once said,,,,"Dont you all find it amazing, after thinking a bit...that a THEME PARK can be constructed, exist for over 5 years, be dismantled, deconstructed and developed,,,,,,,,," This crusader was making the point that very little on-line information exists on this park, and that a tribute page was due. Well here it is.

When I was a young teenager I lived in Daytona Beach, Florida. I belonged to the Daytona Beach police explorers and we were invited one weekend to be the guests at a themepark called Marco Polo Park. It was explained to us that this park had recently closed down and was re-opening and we were being invited to ride the rides, have a good time and the only catch was that they would be filming us for commercials. This would have been around 1975. I remember it being hot, boring, and after the first hour we just didn't see the point. This was of course because we were at a park in the shadows of a much bigger park that had only opened a few years before, Walt Disney World.

It is said that Marco Polo Park opened in 1971, it encompassed close to 5000 acres, the developers had great ambitions as to what the park would entail but much never came to fruition. I am researching this and hope to add much specific history.

As of this point there are discrepencies regarding the opening dates. I believe this is because it started as more of a japanese garden themed park of sorts with boat rides, and actual rides were added as the months and years passed. In those days the park admission was very cheap, just a few dollars.

Ultimately the park closed in 1975 due not only to poor attendance(surprise), but it seemed that Marco Polo Park was a reputed death park. People actually died there, and on numerous occasions. Add to that, two damaging fires within 10 days of each other, and I hope to pinpoint the exact circumstances surrounding these events. Apparently Marco Polo Park did not have the clever PR machine that the huge WD World was reputed to have according to urban legend regarding their ability to "hide death and injury".

Marco Polo Park closed early 1975 and re-opened later that year as Passport to Funworld, with much of the same rides and decor. This was when I visited and we did not hear of the death and destruction till months later. Perhaps we were guinea pigs to see if the rides would kill again before re-opening.

The park was defunct by 1976 and the rides and equipment found their way around the country and today a golf resort community rests on the piney woods that were Marco Polo Park.

It was rumored that the screams of the crowds could be heard in the deserted woods for years, some say music could be heard as well. Phantoms of a bygone day, a last gasp of old Florida that breathed no more after the park's closing.