by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 11:00 AM ET, Sun April 29, 2018
For those of a certain age, Dorothy and Toto are a well-known duo, not to mention the yellow brick road that they skipped along while gleefully singing "We're off to see the wizard…"
In the early 1970s, there was even a theme park dedicated to celebrating The Wizard of Oz, the beloved movie that made Dorothy and company famous.
Located in North Carolina, the Land of Oz was the first Wizard of Oz-based theme park to ever be built in the world and it remained open for about a decade before financial troubles and several changes in management forced it to be shuttered.
As the Land of Oz website notes "For a brief moment in history, Oz was a real truly live place where performers portrayed Dorothy and her friends and danced along a yellow brick road that curved around a mountaintop a mile high in Western North Carolina."
The good news for Wizard of Oz fans is that the park, (whose original ads included the slogan "You Just Don't See It; You Live it!") is now reopening.
Apparently, the small theme park was not soon forgotten after it closed. Decades later, public interest in it continues.
In recent years, the park has been opening on occasion to host special events, which invariably sell out immediately, according to the park's website.
All of which has inspired the family-owned property to announce that it will now regularly open to the public for annual events including a yearly Autumn at Oz Festival and also Journey with Dorothy Tours, which will be held every Friday in June, as well as in September and October.
When originally built at a cost of about $5 million, the park included 44,000 glazed yellow bricks in a winding road that covers nine acres. There was also character homes for the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, a castle of the Wicked Witch of the West and even an Emerald City finale amphitheater stage.
Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in MGM's famous film, was even on hand to participate in the groundbreaking in 1968 when construction began. And later, on opening day, Debbie Reynolds was brought in to cut the ribbon as daughter Carrie Fisher stood by her side.
The North Carolina park became an overnight success and was named the "Outstanding Tourist Attraction of 1970" by the Washington DC Daily News.
Now, 50 years later, Journey with Dorothy tours and the Autumn at Oz Festival will put the park to use once again. During the Dorothy tours, guests will skip along the Yellow Brick Road guided by Dorothy, in search of the wizard. "Autumn at Oz," meanwhile involves a full cast of characters, live shows, crafts and food vendors.
"The Land of Oz has some of the most beautiful mountain views, as it is on one of the highest points on the east coast. The original design incorporated Oz into Beech Mountain's natural landscape, so that combined with the views makes it seem otherworldly and completely magical-even after all of this time.
Each event offers different programming experiences for guests," Land of Oz's Sean Barrett told Lonely Planet.
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