The Movieland Wax Museum will
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One place I always wanted to visit as a kid (but never got the opportunity) was the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park. There are actually two wax figure museums in the Los Angeles area with the other one located in Hollywood. Both are great places to visit and are reasonable price-wise too.
The Wizard of Oz cast looks very life-like in this wax display.
The famous "Who's on First" comedy team of Abbott and Costello.
My wife and I have been to both of these L.A. wax museums and while both have extensive displays, it seemed to us that the Buena park location was larger. Both museums are among the better California tourist attractions. The museum in Buena Park is divided into sections. One area might feature comedy stars, another one television actors and shows, etc.
"The Little Rascals" were featured in many movies during the 1930's.
This scene depicts going to the dentist's office.
Close-up of Alfalfa in the dentist's chair.
Mae West was another big star of 1930's cinema. This is one of the older wax figures on display and it has held up remarkably well.
We visited these both of these museums before owning a digital camera. I had one roll of film on me and ran out of exposures quickly. On top of that, I was using 100 speed slide film which is great for outdoor scenic landscapes, but not so much for dimly lit interiors. So getting a good exposure was not always easy. Digital cameras (especially SLR's) have a wide and flexible ISO range you can choose from and also allow for high capacity storage cards to be used. That is perfect for places like a wax museum.
The all-time best comedy team (in my opinion) was Laurel and Hardy. As my Dad says, "They even look funny". My favorite movie of their's is called "The Music Box". It is one of the funniest pictures I have ever seen.
The TV series "Star Trek" has been one of my favorites for
years, so I was glad to see this Star Trek exhibit.
Dr. McCoy and Scotty on the bridge of the USS Enterprise.
The entire bridge of the USS Enterprise is shown in the display.
With so many theme parks in California available for tourists to choose from, it is difficult for a
wax museum
to obtain top billing. However, both of these Los Angeles tourist attractions offer excellent value for the money. Some of the wax figures are extremely well done and very life-like. Most of the photographs on this page show stars of the past, but rest assured that there are many figures of current actors and artists on display. I ran out of film before seeing all of them. I will be better prepared the next time.
Wax figure of actor Gene Kelly recreating a scene from the movie "Singing in the Rain". This display actually has a mist of water falling down all around it to make the scene more life-like. And of course, the song is playing in the background.
"The Donny and Marie Show" ran for quite a while on television in the 1970's.
Many of the wax exhibits feature special sound effects or have songs playing in the background which are part of the depicted scene. You walk through at your own pace and can linger and enjoy each display for as long as you like. I hope to visit the Movieland Museum again someday and add a number of photos to this site.
I'm not sure who this figure represents but it is another one which has been on display for many years, yet has held up in good condition. In fact, some of the oldest wax figures actually appear more life-like than a few of the newer ones. However, there are good examples on display from many different decades.
This is actually not one of the better quality wax displays but I include it on this site because "Bonanza" was my favorite TV western as a kid.
Special Note:
I have recently learned that the Buena Park Wax Museum was permanently closed on October 31, 2005 due to a lack of visitors and revenue. This is a shame as it was the better of the two museums in the Los Angeles area for many years. However, Madame Tussauds has opened a new wax museum in Hollywood (in the summer of 2009) which has filled the void and provides many new high quality wax figures to enjoy.
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