A theme park built around a movie that never lets go of its grip on American nostalgia is open again on top of a North Carolina mountain. Land of Oz, perched on Beech Mountain, has reopened this month for its Autumn at Oz Festival after sitting dark to the public for all of 2025, giving visitors a chance to walk the same 44,000-brick Yellow Brick Road that has drawn Wizard of Oz devotees to the region since 1970.
As Queen City News reports, the attraction sits in Beech Mountain, North Carolina, where guests can still follow the yellow brick road that has anchored the site since the theme park first opened in 1970. That three-quarter-mile path, built with 44,000 custom yellow-glazed bricks, remains the park's signature feature and the reason so many visitors make the climb up the mountain each fall.
The site's setting isn't just a quirky detail — Beech Mountain is described as the highest town in the eastern United States. The park was intended to complement Beech Mountain's ski slopes as part of a year-round tourism plan.
A Star-Studded Opening, Then a Fire That Nearly Ended It All
Land of Oz officially opened on June 15, 1970, with actress Debbie Reynolds and her teenage daughter Carrie Fisher cutting the grand opening ribbon. The park drew roughly 400,000 guests in its first year alone, a wave of popularity that led national newspapers, including the Washington Post, to name it a top regional tourist destination.
That momentum didn't last. On December 28, 1975, a fire tore through the park's Emerald City amphitheater, offices, and shops. The blaze was followed by Land of Oz's closure as a full-time theme park in 1980.
From Ski-Lift Balloon Rides to a Preserved Walkthrough
The original 1970 park was more mechanically ambitious than what exists today. Per Wikipedia, it operated a colorful balloon ride. The park was developed by brothers Harry and Grover Robbins and designed by Charlotte artist Jack Pentes, with custom songs composed for the Yellow Brick Road path by North Carolina native Loonis McGlohon and Alec Wilder.
Land of Oz no longer operates as a traditional, year-round amusement park with rides. It now functions as a preserved walking theatrical experience, opened only on select weekends. The grounds were left abandoned until the early 1990s.
A Reunion That Grew Into the World's Largest Oz Festival
The park's modern revival traces back to a small reunion of former employees. That gathering has since expanded into the annual Autumn at Oz Festival, now recognized as the world's largest Wizard of Oz festival, according to the Beech Mountain Visitor Center.
This year's festival, running under the Homecoming at Oz theme, follows a complete pause in public festival operations throughout 2025, according to Blue Ridge Mountain Life. Land of Oz offers Tea with Dorothy as a summer experience.
The 2026 Autumn at Oz Festival is scheduled across three weekends this month: this past weekend of September 11 through 13, this coming weekend of September 18 through 20, and the following weekend of September 25 through 27. General admission tickets are priced at $70, with timed-entry shuttle or chairlift access required to reach the mountaintop site.
