Wednesday 4th July 1984
Autoworld entertainment park opened in Flint, Michigan, US with great fanfare, including a parade. For $8.95 a ticket, visitors could enter what many civic boosters named “the largest enclosed theme park in the world.”
During the first month of operation, AutoWorld hit its turnstile target: From July 4 to August 4, 1984, 139,970 people visited the park. Most experts predicted that AutoWorld would draw one million visitors per year; however, it soon became clear that these figures were overestimated. By the fall of 1984, attendance had already begun to decrease. Although business increased on holidays and weekends, during the week, the attraction was mostly empty. When it became clear that AutoWorld would not reach its attendance target, financiers moved to close the park down.
Inside AutoWorld’s dome, there were a variety of attractions, including a replica of historic downtown Flint, designed to depict Saginaw Street as it appeared in 1900. This simulation included a flowing river, comfortable benches, and “$500,000 worth of tropical plants and trees.” The first display that visitors encountered was a small cabin, inside of which was a mannequin designed to look like Jacob Smith, the founder of Flint. Pushing a red button on the outside of the cabin started a film that was projected onto the mannequin’s face. The mannequin/film would welcome the visitor to AutoWorld and talk about the beginning of Flint. Other attractions included a ferris wheel and a carousel, a carnival ride through “The Humorous History of Automobility,” and several shops and restaurants.
Inside section housed in the Industrial Mutual Association (IMA) Auditorium, there was a giant automobile engine, a wall with a rotating display of old brand shields, and an attraction depicting the past, present, and future of automobile assembly, including a mock assembly line operated by robots. AutoWorld also had an IMAX theater and a two-story ramp that exhibited a history of the effect of automobiles in popular culture.
One attraction, a film entitled The Car of Your Dreams, produced by award winning experience designer Bob Rogers (designer) and the design team BRC Imagination Arts, celebrated three decades of automobile mobile industry advertisements, from the early days of television advertising and into the 1980s. The short film, which continues to be in distribution[9] for educational purposes, exemplifies how the automotive industry has long been the master at creating and manipulating images of desirable lifestyles, in order to sell a product.
In December 1984, it was announced that AutoWorld would only be open on weekends throughout the rest of the winter. In January 1985, investors closed AutoWorld completely. Initially, there were efforts to keep AutoWorld in operation. There were efforts, planned for May 1987, to open AutoWorld with “weekend only operation with seasonal operation as a theme park and festival center.”
Although AutoWorld would open for several brief periods throughout the following years, Michigan’s depressed economy continued to scare away tourists and investors. AutoWorld closed permanently in 1994. After the closure, there were several proposals for redevelopment, including a casino, but that plan was rejected in 1994.The Flint Downtown Development Authority (DDA) gave the land to the University of Michigan-Flint, and the building was demolished in 1997.
The land is currently home to the University of Michigan-Flint’s William S. White Building, which houses the nursing program and School of Management.
