A series featuring rides, attractions, entire theme parks and TV shows that no longer exist, or even never existed? Of course there will be some tears.
- Some of the episodes can be hard to watch for people who actually rode and enjoyed the subject matter. To see something you once had great fun on discussed in such a clinical matter, often with melancholy music, and to know that you'll never ride it again must be a horrible feeling.
- The story of Beast and Son of Beast as framed through an anthropomorphic lens. In the final monologue, Kevin describes that the Son's ultimate downfall was its creators trying to make it as big and bad as its father, but leaving it in incredible pain because of its structure never working as it should. The last few lines, set to "Father and Son", depicts the original Beast roaming around its mountain while occasionally noticing the memorial to the Son of Beast Ride in the graveyard at King's Island.
- The video on Nara Dreamland. Good God. A park that proved the amusement industry in Japan was sustainable, closed down and left to rot because of the parks that opened because of its influence. Even more heartbreaking is the video ending on footage of the show put on on the park's final operating day.
- The death of eighteen-year old cast member Deborah Gail Stone in the America Sings Disneyland attraction in 1974, with Kevin going as far to say that you can't talk about America Sings without bringing up her untimely passing. He also mentions having come across discussions online that apparently had some pretty nasty things to say about Deborah and her death, to the extent that he bluntly tells his audience to either not discuss the incident in the comments at all, or if they're going to, to at least keep it tasteful.
- The video for Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies can be tearjerking due to its subject material, a post-mortem tribute to one of history's greatest filmmakers being decommissioned due to becoming culturally outdated, and its somber soundtrack.
- Kevin's lament on the episode of Euro Disney's own Space Mountain ride, which arguably helped save the park due it deviating from the usual Space Mountain style and more for a Jules Verne inspiration with Steampunk aesthetic. How was it repaid? It was revamped from its original beloved design and eventually into a Star Wars ride. From Kevin's tone, you can tell he's pretty wrecked by how Disney treated a coaster that saved its controversial idea, despite it still being in operation.
- The Astroworld video takes a swerve into a tragic, almost wistful, tone once the mounting financial problems Premier Parks' aggressive expansion caused was explained and the reveal that Astroworld was bulldozed and is now a mere parking lot. Kevin also gives a short speech about what it means for an entire park to be completely levelled, instead of merely shutting down like most of the other parks covered — not helped either by the reveal that the Astrodome itself eventually closed down anyway and itself sits abandoned to this day on its now blank state — before being closed out by a melancholy country remake of one of Astroworld's commercial songs.Kevin: Not only were numerous rides and attractions lost, but the world they inhabited was lost as well. It is not ruined. It is not abandoned. It is just... gone. The loss of the park has left a hole in the hearts of many locals, especially as they celebrate what would've been its 50th birthday. While Astroworld may have been physically destroyed, it lives on in the memories of those lucky enough to have visited... and those that yearn to go back to Houston's wonderful world of fun.
- The end of the Zoboomafoo Defunct TV episode. Whereas the previous two episodes had a lighter final shot (Bear in the Big Blue House had a shot of Luna through the window while Legends of the Hidden Temple zoomed out to show the TV inside the temple itself), this one shows an abandoned and derelict Animal Junction before a silhouette of Zoboo leaps by with his signature laugh. The episode also concludes with a tribute to Jovian, the lemur who played Zoboo and sadly passed away in 2014.
- A mild one, but DisneyQuest touches upon Michael Eisner, however unlike the other times Kevin discusses Eisner, he instead shows him as a broken, bitter man who can't catch a break with every decision he makes, as well as the eventual loss of Frank Wells and his fracturing friendship with Jeffrey Katzenberg. Makes you wonder if Kevin decided that he wanted to show Eisner's human side instead of the typical jokes about him.
- The failure of Park Albanoel. It was planned to be the largest theme park in Brazil (it would have been about a third of the size of the entire Walt Disneyworld resort), with multiple themed lands, and many rides. It never opened, because Albano Antônio Reis, the politician who came up with the idea and spearheaded the project, was struck and killed by a car right outside of the park's entrance while construction was underway, causing the project to be abandoned.
- The downfall of Wonderland Sydney, especially when it's made clear that the reason the park closed despite its high popularity and being a cultural icon was because of poor business practices from the new company that acquired them, who simply did not care for it. The final minutes showing heartbroken patrons visiting the park one last time, in particular one woman tearfully saying she met many people and friends at the park and has fond memories of Wonderland itself.
- Also mentioned is that the majority of animals of Wonderland Sydney were left abandoned after the park's closure, to the point where former employees had to break in and rescue them.
- The only remaining memory that park even existed at the location is that the "Wonderland Drive" road that used to serve the entrance and parking area stayed with that name. The area itself is now a distribution hub and business park, a place where fun goes to die.
- The animals at Santa's Land in Putney, Vermont; in that case, a Windham County Sheriff's deputy came to the park to return a lost license plate belonging to the park's animal handler, only to get suspicious of the animals' condition. An investigation by the Sheriff's Department found that eighteen of the animals had died, and the rest were suffering from extreme malnourishment.
- The Failure of Hong Kong Disneyland
, all of it. As stressed above, the episode discusses Eisner's desperation to keep his grip on Disney despite everyone (even Roy Disney, Walt's nephew) wanting him out of the company. In the end, instead of the usual snarky humor Kevin throws at Eisner, he instead discusses how multiple factors (from the death of his friend Frank Wells to the losses of important figures in Disney leaving because of him) caused Eisner to lose his way and still be determined to ensue what he wanted for the company and have the same magic he helped inspire from, only to be misguided in it. - The Jim Henson DefunctTV miniseries turns into this as we get closer to the end of Jim's life.
- The ending of the episode on Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal, setting the tone for the final two episodes.Kevin: The rate he was coming up and executing new ideas seemed unsustainable. As much as Jim believed in the nature and the spirit of the Fraggles, it was clear Jim was no Fraggle. He was a Doozer at heart. He worked every day, worried he wouldn't have enough time for all his plans, as if his time was running out... and although he didn't know it yet, it was.(sound of clock ticking)
To Be Continued... - It gets worse with the Muppet Babies episode, when Kevin mentions how the final episode of the original cartoon reused a clip of "Kermit the Frog, Private Eye" from "Little Muppet Monsters", which had one line of dialogue from Kermit, performed by Jim:Kevin: This was notable, as just over a year before the episode's release, Jim Henson had died.
- It was inevitable, but eventually we reach the topic of Jim's death in earnest with "The Final Jim Henson Hour", with its framing device of Jim's memorial service in New York and The Muppets putting together a tribute show for Jim... with Kevin's narrative being that they were happening at the same timenote . And that's to say nothing when the Muppets learn of Jim's passing, with Fozzie wanting to scrap their tribute, thinking it wouldn't do him justice.Kevin: It is easy to understand Fozzie's frustration. How can you pay tribute to someone as special as Jim Henson? He had taught the children of the world with Sesame Street, entertained the planet with The Muppet Show, and instilled valuable morals in the viewers of Fraggle Rock. He advanced the art of filmmaking with The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, created incredible television shows such as Sam and Friends with no budget, and shows such as The Storyteller with a huge budget. Generations of children had grown up seeing Kermit the Frog on Sesame Street, Muppet Babies, The Muppet Show and the Muppet movies, to the point that the world accepted the character as a celebrity. Jim trained hundreds of creators with a patient attitude, commanded film sets with a soft whisper, and kept the world's most influential people on the edge of their seat with a mere hum. Jim Henson was a brilliant, creative, hard-working and talented person. But he was also one very important thing: lucky. He had the resources, he had the opportunities, and he had the privilege to pursue and obtain a life of creative success. He had more drive and talent than he knew what to do with, his internal ticking clock forcing him to produce as much as possible. But he also had a fair share of circumstance, and most importantly, in his eyes, support. Jim was quick to acknowledge how fortunate he was to have a family of people throughout his life that encouraged him. But in the end, Jim believed that he and everyone else only needed... just one person.
- The ending really gets the waterworks going. As the Muppeteers sing "Just One Person" at Jim's memorial in the background, Kevin explains that, in truth, Jim lived on by passing on the idea that supporting and believing in people can bring out the greatness in them, both in practice and in philosophy. Jim had his grandmother, his wife Jane, and others throughout his career to support him, and he passed on this spirit to the likes of Frank Oz and Dave Goelz by supporting their own creative ventures, just to name a few. He did this, Kevin explains, out of a genuine belief that there is a spark of brilliance in everyone just waiting to be brought out. The performance as this is said demonstrates this idea being brought to its greatest fruition yet, showing, indeed, that Jim lives on in all the people he believed in; people who will, in turn, believe in others themselves for years to come, and so on.
- The ending animation is that of Kermit looking up at Jim, who smiles back as they both don the same green color that Kermit was famous for, all while Kevin mentions that Steve Whitmire would take over the role of Kermit after Jim's passing, proving that Jim's flame will never truly burn out.Kevin: Kermit was alive. And so was Jim Henson.
- The ending of the episode on Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal, setting the tone for the final two episodes.
- The Ron Schneider interview that opens the Journey Into Imagination episode, with him bluntly stating that the ride's spirit is completely gone to him.
- The final section of the Coney Island episode is centered around Commissioner Robert Moses, who was incredibly corrupt, doing his best to shut down Coney Island's parks. Granted, the parks close due to factors outside of his control, but it still remains that a man tried to bring about the end of a 30 year park and very nearly succeeded.
- A Roundabout History of the Ferris Wheel only briefly touches on the murders committed by Serial Killer H. H. Holmes during the 1893 Columbian World's Exposition, but it makes very clear the larger impact those murders had. The deaths themselves are not only horrifying and tragic on their own, but they happened at the worst possible time - the fair was a major attempt by America to establish its own identity on a world stage, and also in a city romanticized for its danger. Holmes' vile actions ended up leaving a major stain on that image; the danger of Chicago was now too real, the success of the fair was tarnished and the country’s innocence was to slowly slip away for years to come.
- The troubled development and ultimate failure of the 1964 New York World's Fair. While the fair itself was greatly influential, being the origin of several beloved Disney attractions and introducing the American public to major technological breakthroughs, all of this would be overshadowed by the storm of controversy surrounding it. And almost all of it could be traced back to its president, Robert Moses, who merely saw the fair as the means to obtaining his true legacy - the greatest city park in New York. But in doing so, he allowed his prejudice, corruption, greed and unprofessional conduct to sour everything about the development and running of the fair. In the end, not only would the fair prove massively unprofitable, all the behind-the-scenes tumult would cement the very legacy Moses was trying to avoid, and it would cost him his career on top of everything else.
- Walt Disney's final years. He became obsessed with his E.P.C.O.T. project, believing it would be his Magnum Opus. He died before it could even leave the planning stages, with Walt's brother Roy refusing to go ahead with it. And while it might seem cruel for Roy to disregard his brother's wishes, E.P.C.O.T. was a horrible idea, and likely would have ended in disaster had it gone forward. Walt ultimately wasted his final years on a project so unrealistic it bordered on delusional, thinking it was the only way to establish a real legacy for himself. Instead, he was remembered for his work as an animator and amusement park pioneer, work Walt himself had grown to disregard as pointless frivolities.
- It's especially sad when you consider the whole history of Walt's life, as well as the gambles he took. After being vindicated when his full-length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made a fortune, the studio's subsequent films, Pinocchio and Fantasia, were box office failures, leading Walt to slowly lose his interest in animation and eschew more ambitious efforts for crowd-pleasing movies, propagandizing Army-funded shorts and features, and musical "package films" especially suitable for matinees; worse, his increasingly relentless and unrewarding management style on Dumbo led to a strike which he managed terribly, alienating him from his animators even more and led him to (self-servingly) feel as if he'd been betrayed by men to whom he'd acted like a father. Disneyland, something that came out of his post-war dissatisfaction and depression, was a huge hit, but it was the bold futurism of Tomorrowland and the 1964 World's Fair attractions that loomed larger in his own mind. Not only had Walt discounted his real successes that had been predicated on risk because they'd failed to live up to his own standards in the short run, but his final grand ambition was so ill-conceived and potentially damaging that the fact it never got built was the best thing that could have ever happened to it. Kevin speculates that an E.P.C.O.T. open to the public would've had Walt Disney branded as insane by history, destroying the true legacy he himself would never appreciate.
- In a bit of Alternative Character Interpretation, Kevin posits that E.P.C.O.T. wasn't so much about Walt leaving a legacy behind as it was about him trying to recreate his childhood community in Marceline, Missouri. If true, it would explain a lot about why he ran his company the way he did. Walt was trying to create a "family" within them, with himself serving as the Cool Uncle of the teams. But with reality never matching up to memory and his own values and business ethic getting in the way, he botched his relationship with the animation team beyond repair, then traded them for the team at WED to get that sense of camaraderie back before becoming dissatisfied with that, too. E.P.C.O.T. might just have been a last, desperate attempt to build the family and community Walt always wanted, regardless of what others said and what risks the project ran. Which, in hindsight, makes him come off as a very lonely man searching for something he'd never get back.
- As if it wasn't painful enough, Walt had plans for himself and his wife in E.P.C.O.T., to the point of noting a certain park bench he and Lillian would have sat in as an old couple. Even with the absurd dictatorship angles of E.P.C.O.T. in mind, it's a painful reminder that Walt was a human being who dearly loved his wife, and really brings to mind that he so badly wanted this to work in a positive way.Walt: "This is where the park bench will be, where Lillian and I are going to sit at night, and watch all the people."
- One must also spare a thought for Walt's brother Roy, who spent the last years of his life securing his brother's legacy by quashing the E.P.C.O.T. project and ensuring that Walt Disney World would be built at the cost of enjoying his golden years (he would retire after WDW opened, only to die three months later) or establishing any sort of legacy for himself, with the result that, other than being remembered by Disney buffs, he's overshadowed by his younger brother (and to a lesser extent his own son Roy E. Disney, Eisner's adversary).
- Live from the Space Stage: A Halyx Story gets a little melancholy near the end — the band was a quirky and ingenious idea, full of musicians with genuinely good chops, that just never achieved the right circumstances to go anywhere — but the real twist of the knife comes when we are told that the only remaining relic of the actual band itself (the rest having fallen apart or been disassembled over the years) is lead singer Lora Mumford's red jacket, which is now owned by her niece. Lora is the only member of Halyx who didn't live to see the band rediscovered by a new generation of theme park fans.
- The entire FastPass video is a history lesson about how a good but flawed idea can be easily morphed into a bad and flawed idea with even the tiniest influence of driving profits without much thought put into actually improving it, and instead made it look like you're improving it while reaping the benefits of a system that doesn't resemble its original form or intent at all. Kevin saying FastPass created class warfare amongst its guests may not have been done entirely for a shocking comparison.
- The montage of vloggers detailing their spreadsheets and gameplans on how to beat the system several months before ever arriving at the park is itself a depressing and damning indictment on how much Disney screwed up the original intent.
- "Disney Channel's Theme: A History Mystery" gets melancholic in its own right as while Kevin manages to find out who the composer of the theme was, Alex Lasarenko, he nor anyone else will ever get the chance to know his personal thoughts on the theme he made; Lasarenko died in November 2020, two years before the video was published.
- Combined with Heartwarming. The last line that the documentary shows is that of one of Alex Lasarenko's interviews (one originally published in October 2010, over a decade before his death) shows him being asked one last question before the interview ended.Interviewer: One final question. Would you do anything differently?
Alex Lasarenko: No. No regrets.
- Combined with Heartwarming. The last line that the documentary shows is that of one of Alex Lasarenko's interviews
