Johnson World (Johnsonverse)

Johnson World is a theme park located in Gilroy, California. It is located inside the Johnson World Resort and is operated by the Johnson Parks division of Johnson Industries. Construction started in April 1960 after Johnson purchased 110 acres of land, and Johnson World officially opened on February 1, 1962, coinciding with Johnson's 100th anniversary.
Johnson World incorporates many themed lands based on Johnson's established franchises and original properties, as well as licenses from other companies.
== History ==
=== 1955-1962: Conception and construction ===
Noticing the success of Disneyland, Johnson Industries CEO Sheldon Johnson decided to build a theme park based on Johnson properties.
=== 1962-1970: Early years ===
Johnson World opened on February 1, 1962, exactly 100 years after Johnson Industries' founding, in a ceremony broadcast live on WBC.
=== 1970-1981: Boom years and expansion ===
=== 1981-1991: Stacker era and decline ===
On June 1, 1981, Johnson Industries was acquired by Phil Stacker and his company Stacker & Associates in a hostile takeover. While Johnson’s other two parks by then (Harveyland and McDonaldland) weren’t very affected, Johnson World, in contrast, saw standards throughout the park decrease as Stacker made various cost-cutting measures while increasing prices on everything. The focus shifted from building attractions to aggressively pushing merchandise, turning the park into a glorified outdoor shopping mall. Maintenance was severely cut, and the park slowly became run down. This eventually began causing injuries and even two fatalities. After the second death in March 1987, Stacker completely shut down Johnson World to completely inspect the park, issued a public apology for allowing profit to take priority over guest safety, and promised the park would reopen in 1988 better than ever.
=== 1991-2005: Resurgence and further expansion ===
After Stacker's resignation in October 1991, the Johnson family made a series of moves to "restore" and expand Johnson World.
=== 2005-present: Modern era, COVID-19 pandemic and future ===
== Park layout ==
One of the park's signature attractions is the Gilroy Central Railroad, which travels a nine-mile route around the park and into the surrounding hills. The railroad runs on a gauge of 30 inches, and utilizes four steam locomotives (a pair of 2-6-2s, a 2-8-2, and a 4-6-0), as well as a pair of end-cab switchers. There are five sets of passenger cars, each consisting of five cars with four open cars and a covered car, plus a set of passenger cars with a combine and three coaches used during Railroad Days. There are also a pair of cabooses, several freight cars used for a fake freight train that performs switching operations along the route, and a work train.
=== Market Street ===
The entrance land of the park, it depicts San Jose's Market Street in the 1900s, with four genuine Peninsular Railway streetcars operating with overhead wires. The land includes a theater showing classic Johnsontoons shorts, a walkthrough exhibit depicting the Johnson brothers' office, a working barbershop, a general store, a blacksmith, and a train station served by the Gilroy Central Railroad, including a freight depot that a freight train switches freight cars into.
=== Alvin's Acres ===
Alvin's Acres is based on the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise. It includes Alvin's Stars, and TBA.
=== Cartoon Network's Toon City ===
Based on Cartoon Network's properties (as well as Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears series), Toon City features several rides and attractions, including The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, Jetsons' Flying Bumper Cars, and TBA.
=== Chocodile Town ===
Chocodile Town is based on the Johnsontoons franchise, featuring characters such as Chocodile, Cherridile, Larry J. Crock, Darrell Dog, Dorothy Dog, Solomon, June Stanford, Bud Charles, Bobby Bear, and Officer Mondo, among others.
=== Felix's Forest ===
=== Harvey Street ===
Harvey Street opened in June 1978, and is themed after Harvey Comics properties.
=== Hasbro Heights ===
Themed after Hasbro's properties, Hasbro Heights opened in 1999. It includes Carousel Boutique and TBA.
=== Hills Beach ===
Hills Beach is themed after the Detective Jenny franchise and its associated spinoffs, and is named after the location of Team Jenny's base. Attractions in the area include an interactive shooter dark ride, a simulator, a stunt show, a suspended roller coaster called Battle for the Amazon (which sees guests recruited by Team Jenny to take out an illegal logging operation being used as a front for a Red Scorpion plot to overthrow the Brazilian government), and a walkthrough of Team Jenny's headquarters where guests can meet the team (from 1994 to 2016, they were portrayed by live actors, who were replaced by AnimeTronics in 2017). There is also a restaurant, a store, and an exhibit featuring genuine props from the show (many of them are still in the state they were in after filming, meaning many of the vehicles and buildings in the exhibit are in pieces and still have scorch marks).
=== Johnson Autos ===
This section features a building in which cars from many Johnson productions are displayed, along with replicas of cars from Johnson's animated series and vehicles used in USAC and NASCAR.
=== Johnson Jungle ===
=== Marvel Campus ===
Marvel Campus is themed around Marvel's properties.
=== Muppet Studios ===
Muppet Studios features Muppet*Vision 3D, The Great Muppet Movie Ride (a parody of Disney's The Great Movie Ride showing the filming process of various movies with a Muppet twist), The Great Gonzo's Pandemonium Pizza Parlor (a restaurant run by Gonzo and Rizzo in which animatronic rats deliver pizza through a train track system), the Swedish Chef's Video Cooking School (themed as a cooking school where guests can try the Swedish Chef's dishes with video monitors showing the Chef bumbling along as he cooks them), Hard Luck Cafe (a parody of Hard Rock Cafe themed after Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem), and other attractions themed around Fraggle Rock, Bear in the Big Blue House and other Henson properties.
=== Sci-Fi Planet ===
Sci-Fi Planet includes attractions based on Johnson's science fiction franchises including Star Pirates and Transformers, as well as original properties. This area's main attractions are a Star Pirates simulator, and a Transformers dark ride based on the Great War series. There are also two stores, one selling Star Pirates merchandise, and the other selling Transformers toys, including the entire Great War toyline.
=== Sega Zone ===
Sega Zone is based on Sega's properties, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, and Yakuza. Rides include TBA.
=== Super Nintendo World ===
Super Nintendo World is based on Nintendo's characters and franchises under a long-term agreement. It is located next to Sega Zone.
===World of Fox===
Themed after Fox Holdings' films and TV shows, World of Fox opened on March 1, 2022, featuring attractions based on Alien, Pandora (represented by The World of Pandora, which was originally planned for Disney's Animal Kingdom but scrapped after Johnson's purchase of Disney), Anastasia, Planet of the Apes, The Simpsons (with plans to move The Simpsons Ride from Universal Studios Hollywood once the Simpsons license to Universal expires in 2028; to this end, a show building has already been constructed for the attraction, with the interior already set up to move everything over to reduce downtime as much as possible; said building is currently used as a theater and restaurant, with some sections used for storage and other purposes), Family Guy (represented by a 4D film called Family Guy: A Freakin' Sweet 4D Adventure, in which Stewie and Brian Griffin must stop the former's robots from destroying Quahog and taking over the world), Futurama (with a dark ride called Futurama: Planet Express Adventures, in which Fry, Leela and Bender go on a delivery trip through space as they're attacked by the Omicronians), Bob's Burgers (represented by a real-life Bob's Burgers restaurant), Blue Sky Studios films such as Ice Age (represented by Ice Age: The Ride, a 3D water-ride/dark-ride hybrid in which Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie, Shira, and Buck go on a journey to rescue Peaches, who has been stuck in the Lost World, along with appearances from other characters), Rio (represented by Rio: Third Flight, a ride in which guests are new birds being trained by Blu and Jewel, and fly around Rio), Robots (represented by a dark ride), Fox Sports (represented by Fox Sports: The Great Football Caper), and other Fox-owned properties; there is also a replica of the famous 20th Century Fox logo (complete with real searchlights that move using a mechanism and are lit at night) at the center of the section, and a rollercoaster themed on Fox films called the Searchlight Coaster.
=== Miscellaneous ===
A Day in the Park with Barney was moved from Universal Studios Florida to Johnson World and Johnson World Florida in September 2021, continuing to use the 1995 soundtrack.
== List of attractions by land (and attraction sponsors) ==
=== Market Street ===
Attraction 	Opened 	Changes (if applicable) 	Sponsor	Johnson Express?	Description
Grand Carousel 	February 1, 1962	Received at least one paint job; organ wasn’t in use during the Stacker era	None 	No 	50-foot Allan Herschell carousel featuring numerous replicas of various carvers’ carousel figures from Bradley & Kaye; features a live 73-key J. Verbeeck fairground organ next to it
The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History	October 2, 2016 	none 	none 	No 	Street show performed in windows above Liberty Square with live Muppets. Featuring the voices of Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog, Frank Oz as Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Sam the Eagle, and Dave Goelz as Gonzo
 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	
=== Cartoon Network's Toon City ===
Attraction 	Opened 	Changes (if applicable)	Sponsor	Johnson Express?	Description
 	 	 	 	 	
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera	June 7, 1990	
* Over the years, more modern Hanna-Barbera characters were added.	None 	No 	
 	 	 	 	 	
=== Hills Beach ===
Attraction 	Opened 	Changes (if applicable)	Sponsor	Johnson Express?	Description
Battle for the Amazon	October 1, 2015	N/A 	none 	Yes 	Detective Jenny-themed steel roller coaster
=== Muppet Studios ===
Attraction 	Opened 	Changes (if applicable)	Sponsor	Johnson Express?	Description
Muppet*Vision 3D 	May 16, 1991 	None 	Kodak 	No 	4D film
The Great Muppet Movie Ride	October 1, 1991	None 	none 	Yes 	Muppet parody of The Great Movie Ride
=== World of Fox ===
Attraction 	Opened 	Changes (if applicable)	Sponsor 	Johnson Express?	Description
Family Guy: A Freakin' Sweet 4D Adventure	March 1, 2022	NEW 	Fox 	Yes 	4D film
Futurama: Planet Express Adventures 	March 1, 2022	NEW 	Fox 	Yes 	Interactive Omnimover dark ride
Pandora Flight of Passage 	March 1, 2022	NEW 	 	Yes 	Flight system attraction
Na'vi River Journey 	March 1, 2022	NEW 	 	Yes 	Dark ride
Searchlight Coaster 	March 1, 2022	NEW 	Coca-Cola	Yes 	Rollercoaster
Fox Theatre and Restaurant 	March 1, 2022	NEW 	 	No 	Theater and restaurant complex screening short films
=== Miscellaneous ===
Attraction 	Opened 	Changes (if applicable)	Sponsor	Johnson Express?	Description
A Day in the Park with Barney	September 4, 2021	NEW 	none 	Yes 	Stage show hosted by Barney the Dinosaur. Featuring the voices of Bob West as Barney, Julie Johnson as Baby Bop, and Patty Wirtz as BJ.
== Other Johnson World parks ==
== List of costumed characters ==
* Chocodile
Category:Johnsonverse