Mystery Fun House was an attraction complex in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, United States. It was founded with the help of David A. Siegel on March 27, 1976, and operated through February 18, 2001. Located near

International Drive International Drive, commonly known as I-Drive, is a major thoroughfare in Orlando, Florida, United States, and is the city's main tourist strip. I-Drive is located several miles southwest of proper Downtown Orlando in the southernmost li ...

on Major Boulevard across from

Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort, often shortened to Universal Orlando, is a theme park and entertainment resort complex located in Orlando, Florida. It is the flagship of the Universal Destinations & Experiences theme park chain. Following the succes ...

, the fun house expanded over time to include a laser-tag facility, an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

, a

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

-themed

mini golf Miniature golf (also known as minigolf, putt-putt, crazy golf, and by several other names) is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of poi ...

course, and other attractions. After closing, the former lobby of the Fun House was used as a

Westgate Resorts Westgate Resorts is an American timeshare resort company founded by David A. Siegel in 1982. The company first expanded from Central Florida to Miami and Daytona Beach. As of July 2021, Westgate Resorts ha22 locationsacross the United States. ...

check-in center. Parts of the building and all of Starbase Omega was destroyed in 2017 due to

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

. As of October 2022, the former Mystery Fun House building and property was razed to make way for a new condo complex.

Attractions

To promote the 1976 opening of Mystery Fun House, Aaron Fechter's Creative Engineering created an

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

character by the name of Willie Wabbit to be installed at the

Orlando International Airport Orlando International Airport is the primary international airport located southeast of downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2024, it had 57,211,628 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and ninth busiest airport in the United St ...

. Although he never appeared outside of the airport, Willie was a success for the MFH, while also serving as an early influence for the technology behind CEI's Rock-afire Explosion for

ShowBiz Pizza Place ShowBiz Pizza Place, or simply ShowBiz Pizza, was an American family entertainment center and pizza chain founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering (CEI). It emerged after a separation between Brock and owners of the Chuck E. ...

The Chambers

The Fun House consisted of 15 areas called "chambers", including a mirror maze, a rolling barrel, crawl-through tunnels, scary jail areas, a moving bridge and a crooked room. In the early days, there was a multiplex movie theater, a

hologram Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interf ...

machine, a

Disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

room with a lighted dance floor, the moon room, and a wall-sized "computer" that could read patrons' handwriting and provide fortunes. There was also a show about three quarters of the way through the Fun House with music, lights, special effects and a video of the Wizard projected on a large screen.

Magic Shop

The Mystery Fun House Magic Shop was run by veteran magician Dan Stapleton. In the early 1970s, entertainment producer Jackson Hamiter trained under Stapleton and his brother, well known for his "Buxxum Bunnies"

card tricks Card manipulation, commonly known as card magic, is the branch of Magic (illusion), magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especia ...

Starbase Omega

Starbase Omega was a

laser tag Laser tag is a recreational shooting sport where participants use infrared-emitting light guns to tag designated targets. Infrared-sensitive signaling devices are commonly worn by each player to register hits and are sometimes integrated wit ...

facility added in the late 1980s. Each player was equipped with a reflective target badge, a battery belt pack, and a "laser" gun. To get to Starbase Omega, patrons sat on a transporter that simulated a ride to the planet. Once on the planet—a large, dark room with extra-bouncy carpets and a hovering spaceship—players shot light beams at other players, trying to hit their reflective badges.

Mystery Mini Golf / Jurassic Putt

Originally called Mystery Mini Golf, ''Jurassic Putt'' was an 18-hole, dinosaur-themed

miniature golf Miniature golf (also known as minigolf, putt-putt, crazy golf, and by #Nomenclature, several other names) is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest ...

course that included a dark building for one of the holes.

Mystery Fun House Arcade & Restaurant

In the mid-1980s, a restaurant and arcade were added to the Mystery Fun House. An

show, The WizBangs, were a set of retrofitted Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre animatronics located above the restaurant's ordering counter. The King, a 9-foot tall lion who impersonated

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, was another Pizza Time Theatre animatronic that had been acquired by MFH and installed to the left of the restaurant's ordering counter (adjacent to the WizBangs). Sally Industries supplied the controller equipment and programming for the WizBangs in conjunction with David "Billy Bob" Irvin, the former senior artist and creative designer of Creative Engineering.

Filming

Two movies were filmed at the Mystery Fun House: the birthday scene of '' Parenthood'' (1989), and most of the horror film ''Night Terror'' (2002).{{Cite AV media , url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323405/trivia/ , title=Night Terror (2002) - Trivia , language=en-US , access-date=2024-08-08 , via=

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

External links

BigFloridaCountry
Information by Scott Jensen

Pictures and Information
MFH on Facebook
Discussion, Images, and much Information
MFH Original Website
Mystery Fun House Webpage from 1999

References

Tourist attractions in Orlando, Florida Defunct amusement parks in Florida Buildings and structures in Orlando, Florida Siegel family 1976 establishments in Florida 2001 disestablishments in Florida