Kiss World: The Lost Amusement Park Theme

Andrew Wilson

Not all amusement parks are the same, as each may have a unique amusement park theme. Probably one of the more unique themes was the never-realized KISS World concept of the late 1970s. This theme was an ambitious effort by the rock band KISS that never made it past the drawing stage, sadly. Amusement parks have been popular for many, many decades and one of the more popular forms of amusement park attractions was the traveling amusement park. Much like the circuses and carnivals of old, traveling amusement parks would ride into town and set up shop in a city and attract masses of children looking for something new and exciting during an era when home entertainment was limited.

The KISS World Amusement park theme was conceived circa 1978/79 when the rock band KISS was at their zenith in popularity. Part of the reason for the band’s legendary popularity was their attraction to kids. (Ironically, this attraction to a younger audience would lead to the band’s decline as older fans became to feel resentment at the family image the band was chasing) KISS had licensed their image to a number of products and merchandise that were promoted to children including dolls, lunch boxes and comic books. The band’s legendary leader, Gene Simmons, came up with a brilliant idea for an amusement park theme where a “KISS World” would come into town on the day of a concert and basically provide amusement park theme ticket sales generating event for those young children and families who may have felt uncomfortable attending the concert. Since KISS was doing so well in all their business ventures, a KISS world amusement park theme attraction seemed like a winner.

Unfortunately, KISS saw their concert attendance drop dramatically in 1979 due to the combined efforts of overexposure and the alienation of their original fan base. With ticket sales for the DYNASTY tour slumping, the concert of a KISS World amusement park them was quietly scrapped as too ambitious. Sadly, this great amusement park theme concept was never to be.