# Defunctland
**Defunctland** is a YouTube documentary series created by the pseudonymous filmmaker Kevin Perjurer that tells the stories of pop culture's past, with a focus on theme parks and themed entertainment experiences that have closed, been demolished, or were never built.[1](https://defunctland.com/about-us/) • [2](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three-design-lessons-from-defunctland-s-deep-dive-on-disney-s-living-characters-) The channel premiered on February 15, 2017, and has since expanded from short retrospective videos into feature-length documentaries on subjects such as Disney's FastPass system, Disney animatronics, and EPCOT Center.[3](https://thetvdb.com/series/346652-show) • [4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/) It was a [Peabody Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/peabody-awards) nominee in the Interactive category in 2023.[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creator | Kevin Perjurer, a pseudonymous filmmaker who keeps a low online profile[1](https://defunctland.com/about-us/) • [2](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three-design-lessons-from-defunctland-s-deep-dive-on-disney-s-living-characters-) |
| First episode | February 15, 2017, on YouTube[3](https://thetvdb.com/series/346652-show) |
| Channel size | About 2.2 million subscribers, 270.9 million total views across 163 videos[6](https://open.subsub.io/channels/defunctland/view) |
| Spin-off | DefunctTV, covering the history of children's television[1](https://defunctland.com/about-us/) |
| Feature documentaries | *Live from the Space Stage: A Halyx Story* (2020, 86 minutes); *Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History* (2021, 103 minutes)[7](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/official/0) |
| Recognition | Peabody Awards nominee, Interactive, 2023[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/) |
| Related projects | Defunctland Podcast (45 episodes, 1.2 million downloads) and a VR project recreating extinct attractions[8](https://defunctland.podbean.com/) • [5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Defunctland is not a fiction series, so its "plot" is the arc of its seasons and the stories its episodes tell, many of which unfold with genuine narrative suspense.
#### Season 1
The first season, beginning with "The History of ExtraTERRORestrial: Alien Encounter" on February 15, 2017, walks through defunct rides and attractions at Disney and Universal parks.[19](https://thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/dvd/1) Alien Encounter itself is a signature story: a Disney attraction built around a spray-of-water alien attack in the dark. Test audiences recoiled, so the company retooled it before opening, then spent years softening it further. Woven through the Disney episodes is a continuing storyline about [Michael Eisner](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-eisner), tracing his rise to power at the company and the decisions that reshaped its parks.[20](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland)
The season's most infamous subject is [Action Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/action-park), the New Jersey water park whose reputation for danger became legend. Six deaths were attributed to its rides, and its crown jewel was a water slide that sent riders through a full vertical loop, an idea physics and human spines both rejected.[10](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088) The episode became one of the channel's most popular, a portrait of a park run on bravado where the safety meeting was apparently a formality.
#### Season 2
Premiering February 5, 2018 and running to March 22, 2019, the second season widens the lens to international and regional parks, including Japan's Nara Dreamland, a near-copy of [Disneyland](https://www.edgepedia.org/disneyland) that rose and rotted, and England's Alton Towers.[20](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland) The Eisner storyline continues and completes, following his stewardship of Disney's parks to his downfall as CEO, so the season functions as a corporate tragedy told through gift shops and canceled attractions.
Among its standouts is "The War for Disney's America," the saga of Disney's planned third North American resort, a history-themed park in Virginia's Piedmont region. Local historians objected to Disney rewriting the story of the Civil War era on their doorstep, fought the project to a standstill, and killed it.[21](https://www.slashfilm.com/574795/the-quarantine-stream-defunctland-is-the-best-damn-theme-park-youtube-channel-on-the-internet/) The season also visits the stranger corners of the defunct world: the Muppets nearly taking over [Walt Disney World](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney-world), Nickelodeon's attempt at a themed hotel, and the short life of [Santa Claus](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-claus)-themed amusement parks.[22](https://me.mashable.com/culture/2291/defunctland-offers-a-fascinating-exploration-of-the-death-of-amusement-park-rides)
#### Season 3 and later seasons
Season 3 turns historical, tracing the parks and attractions of [Walt Disney](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney)'s own youth and the road that led him to up-end the entire amusement business with Disneyland, and with it the rise and fall of an era's optimistic futurism.[20](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland) Later, the channel's most recent 22-episode season explores the revisionism of the past, asking how parks and their histories get rewritten after the fact.[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/)
The channel's single most famous episode may be "Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History," a feature-length, one hour and 43 minute investigation of crowd management and virtual queuing. The topic should have produced a compliance video; instead it became a 21-million-view epic of corporate scheming, broken promises, and the quiet death of the line-waiting experience.[23](https://www.vulture.com/article/defunctland-guide-youtube.html)
**The highlight of the whole series is the Action Park episode's portrait of the loop water slide.** Defunctland builds the story the way a disaster documentary would: the park's founders as thrill-seekers who treated safety as an optional feature, the slide designed with a full vertical loop that no rider's body was built to survive, the carnage and lawsuits that followed, and the six deaths attributed to the park's rides before it finally closed.[10](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088) What makes it work is the tone, deadpan and exacting, letting the absurdity of the design speak while the research does the damage. It is the episode that turned a niche channel into a phenomenon.
### Characters
- **Kevin Perjurer** is the creator, host, narrator, and researcher, a pseudonymous figure who keeps a low online profile and has declined to discuss his day job. His persona is the engine of the show: dry, archival, and quietly passionate about subjects most people never think twice about.[10](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088)
- **Michael Eisner**, the former Disney CEO, is the closest thing the series has to a recurring character, his rise and fall forming the spine of the first two seasons.[20](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland)
- **Walt Disney** anchors the third season, portrayed through the parks and attractions of his youth and the ambition that produced Disneyland.[20](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland)
### Interpretations and controversies
The series' later season on the revisionism of the past is itself an argument about how theme park history gets told, and the channel's willingness to criticize Disney, a company famously protective of its image, has been part of its appeal. Perjurer's anonymity, a host with no public face and no disclosed profession, has been a running curiosity in press coverage.[10](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088)
### Sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations
Defunctland spawned the spin-off series DefunctTV in 2018, covering the history of children's shows from the 1990s and 2000s, along with a supplementary podcast and a VR project.[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/) • [23](https://www.vulture.com/article/defunctland-guide-youtube.html)
## Format and subject matter
The series began as short videos, usually around 10 to 15 minutes, examining rides, attractions, shows, and entire parks from Disney, Universal, Six Flags, Nickelodeon, and other operators that were defunct, abandoned, or canceled.[9](https://www.pluggedin.com/youtube-reviews/defunctland/) • [4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/) Early episodes framed the material as Perjurer collecting retired attractions for a virtual amusement park of his own, a conceit he phased out as the series matured.[9](https://www.pluggedin.com/youtube-reviews/defunctland/)
Perjurer has described the shift in scope himself: the channel originally focused on what no longer existed, and it later expanded into full-fledged documentaries with much longer runtimes and higher production values.[4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/) The most recent season described by the Peabody Awards profile ran 22 episodes and explored the revisionism of the past, the industrial tomorrow, dystopian futures, and the reality of today.[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/)
**Research method.** Perjurer's approach depends on how much prior documentation exists. For well-covered subjects he starts with existing compilations, such as biographies of Walt Disney and [Robert Moses](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-moses) for the channel's episodes on the 1964 World's Fair. For stories nobody has told, such as the Nickelodeon Hotel, Club Disney, and DisneyQuest, he works through newspaper archives and libraries and pieces the narrative together from scattered sources.[4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/) Reviewers have singled out this research depth: Kotaku called him "as thorough as a historian can be," and TheWrap described the channel's research as "truly staggering."[10](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088) • [11](https://www.thewrap.com/disney-fastpass-youtube-documentary/)
## Notable documentaries
**Action Park.** One of the channel's most popular early videos is a history of Action Park, the New Jersey water park known for its dangerous rides, which closed after six visitor deaths were reportedly attributed to its attractions, including a poorly designed water slide with an upside-down loop.[10](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088)
**Live from the Space Stage: A Halyx Story (2020).** This 86-minute feature documented Halyx, a science-fiction-styled rock band that performed on Disneyland's Space Mountain Stage for one summer in 1981 and was otherwise almost entirely undocumented.[7](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/official/0) • [4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/) Perjurer produced the film remotely while Matthew Serrano directed; the crew filmed for over a year, and archival footage of the band, whose existence the filmmakers only learned of during production, ended up supplying about 60 percent of the film's B-roll.[4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/)
**Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History (2021).** Released on November 21, 2021, this 103-minute documentary traces Disney's attempts at crowd control from switchbacks through the late-1990s FastPass system, engineered by park operations executive Bruce Laval, to the paid overhaul around 2010.[7](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/official/0) • [11](https://www.thewrap.com/disney-fastpass-youtube-documentary/) To show how the systems affected wait times, Perjurer built a computer simulation of a theme park, called "Shapeland," within the film.[12](https://touringplans.com/blog/tpei_november_2021/) SFGate called the video one of the greatest Disneyland investigations, noting its coverage of everything from early queue design to modern indoor lines that prevent guests from gauging wait length.[13](https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/This-nearly-2-hour-video-is-one-of-the-greatest-16652372.php)
**Later features.** Subsequent long-form documentaries include *Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History* (November 2023), *Kid Cities* (June 2024), *Disney's Animatronics: A Living History* (December 2024), and *Disney's Living Characters: A Broken Promise* (November 2025), the last examining Disney's long-running initiative to create interactive characters that could engage guests organically rather than as costumed performers.[7](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/official/0) • [2](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three-design-lessons-from-defunctland-s-deep-dive-on-disney-s-living-characters-) Game Developer, a trade publication for the video game industry, drew three design lessons for game developers from the Living Characters video, covering character choice, user psychology, and the value of human connection in interactive experiences.[2](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three-design-lessons-from-defunctland-s-deep-dive-on-disney-s-living-characters-)
## Spin-offs and related projects
**DefunctTV** is the channel's spin-off series on the history of children's television entertainment.[1](https://defunctland.com/about-us/) The Defunctland Podcast, hosted on Podbean, ran 45 episodes of discussions on theme park attractions of the past, present, and future, and accumulated 1.2 million downloads; its guests have included former Toys "R" Us [Times Square](https://www.edgepedia.org/times-square) manager Johnny Tammaro.[8](https://defunctland.podbean.com/) Perjurer also co-hosts *Where We Parked*, a separate comedy podcast about left-field theme park topics with Jack from the channel Park Ride History, which he describes as comedy first and theme park history second.[14](https://tinkmedia.co/interviews/kevin-perjurer)
The brand has also extended into virtual reality. The Peabody profile describes a supplementary VR project alongside the channel and podcast, and the series has released Defunctland VR videos recreating extinct attractions such as the Sorcerer's Hat and the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride.[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/) • [7](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/official/0) A 2018 profile also mentioned a planned book.[15](https://toytales.ca/defunctland/)
## Reception
The channel grew from a niche interest into a recognized name in Disney and theme park communities on the strength of its heavily researched segments.[4](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/) Its FastPass documentary drew press coverage from TheWrap and SFGate, and the TouringPlans blog judged it more substantial and informative than anything then released on Disney+.[11](https://www.thewrap.com/disney-fastpass-youtube-documentary/) • [13](https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/This-nearly-2-hour-video-is-one-of-the-greatest-16652372.php) • [12](https://touringplans.com/blog/tpei_november_2021/) In 2023 the Peabody Awards, administered by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the [University of Georgia](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-georgia), named Defunctland an Interactive nominee.[5](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/) Academic writers have also cited the channel: a University of Maryland dissertation on the [Disney Renaissance](https://www.edgepedia.org/disney-renaissance) pointed to YouTube histories like Defunctland as part of a new wave of interest in theme park history, and an unpublished thesis recommended its Videopolis episode as the best review of Disneyland's 1980s struggles with teen crowds.[16](https://api.drum.lib.umd.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/334758a1-cf16-45d9-9e53-66444ec15e73/content) • [17](https://scholarwolf.unr.edu/bitstreams/290571ca-b8bd-4fdf-b512-fba2e27bc7ca/download)
Perjurer has explained the motivation behind the project in preservation terms: unlike film or music, a theme park attraction that closes is difficult to experience again, and he describes Defunctland as both a love letter to forgotten creativity and an attempt to preserve it.[18](https://www.patreon.com/cw/Defunctland)
## References
1. [About Us, Defunctland](https://defunctland.com/about-us/)
2. [Three design lessons from Defunctland's deep dive into Disney's 'Living Characters', Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/three-design-lessons-from-defunctland-s-deep-dive-on-disney-s-living-characters-)
3. [Defunctland, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/346652-show)
4. [The Most Bizarre Disney Story Never Told: An Interview with Defunctland's Kevin Perjurer, Coaster101](https://www.coaster101.com/2020/08/19/the-most-bizarre-disney-story-never-told-an-interview-with-defunctlands-kevin-perjurer-about-live-from-the-space-stage-a-halyx-story/)
5. [Defunctland, The Peabody Awards](https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/defunctland/)
6. [Defunctland YouTube Channel Statistics, SubSub](https://open.subsub.io/channels/defunctland/view)
7. [Defunctland Specials, TheTVDB.com](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/official/0)
8. [Defunctland Podcast, Podbean](https://defunctland.podbean.com/)
9. [Defunctland, Plugged In](https://www.pluggedin.com/youtube-reviews/defunctland/)
10. ['DefunctLand' Investigates How And Why Theme Parks Die, Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/defunctland-investigates-how-and-why-theme-parks-die-1828974088)
11. [Disney's FastPass: Waiting in Line Gets Its Own Documentary, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/disney-fastpass-youtube-documentary/)
12. [Theme Park Enjoyment Index for November 2021, TouringPlans Blog](https://touringplans.com/blog/tpei_november_2021/)
13. [This nearly 2-hour video is one of the greatest Disneyland investigations ever, SFGate](https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/This-nearly-2-hour-video-is-one-of-the-greatest-16652372.php)
14. [Kevin Perjurer interview, Tink Media](https://tinkmedia.co/interviews/kevin-perjurer)
15. [Defunctland, Toy Tales](https://toytales.ca/defunctland/)
16. [University of Maryland dissertation on the Disney Renaissance](https://api.drum.lib.umd.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/334758a1-cf16-45d9-9e53-66444ec15e73/content)
17. [Thesis filing form, University of Nevada, Reno](https://scholarwolf.unr.edu/bitstreams/290571ca-b8bd-4fdf-b512-fba2e27bc7ca/download)
18. [Defunctland on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/cw/Defunctland)
19. [https://thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/dvd/1](https://thetvdb.com/series/346652-show/seasons/dvd/1)
20. [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebVideo/Defunctland)
21. [https://www.slashfilm.com/574795/the-quarantine-stream-defunctland-is-the-best-damn-theme-park-youtube-channel-on-the-internet/](https://www.slashfilm.com/574795/the-quarantine-stream-defunctland-is-the-best-damn-theme-park-youtube-channel-on-the-internet/)
22. [https://me.mashable.com/culture/2291/defunctland-offers-a-fascinating-exploration-of-the-death-of-amusement-park-rides](https://me.mashable.com/culture/2291/defunctland-offers-a-fascinating-exploration-of-the-death-of-amusement-park-rides)
23. [https://www.vulture.com/article/defunctland-guide-youtube.html](https://www.vulture.com/article/defunctland-guide-youtube.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Factual entertainment and specialist-interest formats › Premiered 2001 to 2019*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license