We take our kids on a magical Wizard of Oz Vacation. Autumn at Oz Land of Oz Theme park is located on top of Beech Mountain in North Carolina. This is the perfect vacation for any Wizard of Oz fan ( Ozmaniacs) The original park was modeled after the work L Frank Baum and the books the Wizard of Oz. Honestly you don't even need to be a super fan to love Autumn at Oz. Land of Oz is an abandoned theme park that was open in 1970 and soon fell out of popularity. The owner of Land of Oz died and Emerald City caught fire. The park eventually closed in 1980. The park sat in disrepair for several years until a couple annual festivals saved it. This is the perfect thing to do in Beech Mountain for people of all ages.

Autumn at Oz is incredible. The most popular way to get up to the top of the mountain and to the festival is via chairlift. The Chairlift offers beautiful view of the mountains. In fact, back in the day of the theme park Land of Oz, the chairlift was the only ride and the lift was build to look like hot air balloons. Today it is back to just being a chairlift, but we chose a far less magical way to get to the mountain top...bus. Our son dressed as the tornado and couldn't safely fit on a chairlift. Once at the top you are greeted by some of the movies most famous characters. My all time favorite character in any movie is Mrs. Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West played by Margaret Hamilton. The storybook characters are there for photo opps and to help bring the story to life. We start our journey in Kansas on a farm. We even get to hear Dorothy sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Dorothys farmhouse is there (Though the outside looks more like the "American Gothic" house in Iowa) Gusts get to walk through the house that looks just like the movie set house. Inside Auntie Em is there to help us find our way to the cellar to protect ourselves from the twister that's on its way. Down the cellar steps, we are met with the sound of gushing wind and tornado images. When we make it out, we find ourselves back in the house that has been ripped apart by the tornado. And when we step outside, it feels like we truly went from black and white to color as we enter Munchkin Land. Glinda the good witch of the North is their to great us. She sends us on our path down the Yellow Brick Road. We meet the Mayor of Munchkin City and the Coroner. A little ways down the Yellow Brick road we find the Scarecrow! He's just adorable and poses for family pictures and then meets up with Dorothy to act out their scene and then sing, "If I Only Had a Brain". Dorothy continues down the road with us, and we find a tin man rusted. After he is given some oil, he too acts out a scene and sing "If I only had a heart" . She continues on to find a cowardly lion who sings, "If I only had the Nerve". Next, we head down towards the Wicked Witch of the West's castle. We are greeted by one of her guards and eventually get to meet with her and one of her flying monkeys before getting to test out her crystal ball. Next, we find ourselves at the gates of Oz and then inside the Emerald City were Dorothy and her friends meet the Great and Powerful Oz. Spoiler alert: Dorothy does make it home. She had the power all along, She just needed to learn it for herself.

We do a bit of souvenir shopping and have some lunch before heading back down the mountain. I'd love to end with, "There's no Place Like Home" but screw that! I love it here and I'm sad to leave and head back over the rainbow.

#Wizardofozvacation #Autumnatoz #landofoz