Hollywood/Movieland Wax Museum
Attraction Type: Wax Museum
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario
Years Operational: 1966 (as Hollywood Wax Museum), 1967-Present (as Movieland Wax Museum)
Designer(s): Don Post Studios, Waxattract, Costello Productions
In 1965, Welland Securities (Present-day Harry Oakes Company) would tear down the last remaining gatehouse of the Zimmerman estate which had formerly occupied their land. It had been the only remaining Zimmerman estate building on the land save for the stables, which had been gutted, re-enforced and turned into the Welland Securities offices in the Park Motor Inn. This remained Welland Securities' (now HOCO's) offices until Comfort Inn was torn down in 2015 (and the nearly 150 year old stable building with it). The gatehouse was located right on Clifton Hill, and had most recently been home to the short-lived Niagara Gun Museum for the 1965 season only, and a snack bar/gift shop prior to that.
The short lived Niagara Gun Museum in the old Zimmerman gatehouse behind the Park Motor Hotel sign, 1965.
The brand new attraction in 1966.
The over 100 year old building would be demolished in November 1965. After this, Malcolm Howe and Arthur White, who already co-owned the Burning Springs Wax Museum together, leased the land the gatehouse formerly sat on from Welland Securities and would build a pivotal attraction: Movieland Wax Museum. Opened in 1966 in the building now occupied by Wizard's Golf and the Upper Canada Trading Co., the museum originally opened with the name "Hollywood Wax Museum" and cost $500,000 (a whopping amount in 1966) to build. The ribbon was cut by a wax figure of Vincent Price (assisted by the current Mayor Phillip Downie of course) in a ceremony on the 29th of June. The museum was located on the main floor with a unique gift shop called Niagara Souvenirs in the basement, which contained a variety of independent vendors selling various goods. The attraction even went the extra mile and had official license to use Universal Pictures properties, something they probably could have gotten away without in a time before smartphones and YouTube copyright strikes if they really wanted to. It nonetheless helped the attraction's detail and authenticity.
Mayor Phillip Downie assists a wax Vincent Price with the ribbon cutting, 1966.
All of the original figures in the museum were sculpted by legendary monster mask creator Don Post Studios in Florida. Chances are, if you know anything about Halloween and monster culture from 1950 to the early 90's, you're familiar with a latex mask created by Don Post. However, Post's artistic abilities went far beyond mail-order monsters. The team at the Florida factory, headed by sculptor Pat Newman, created 60 wax figures for the museum. In a tribute to the actress who had boosted Niagara's fame as a honeymoon capital, beside the ticket booth in the lobby was Marilyn Monroe standing over her iconic subway grate, a fan blowing air up her skirt every few seconds. Inside the museum were 45 scenes featuring many stars including Elizabeth Taylor, Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball and Laurel and Hardy. The most impressive figure however was a 12 and half foot tall King Kong figure, the largest wax figure ever made at the time. The news article about his creation can be read here. Tom Burman worked at Don Post at the time, especially on the King Kong figure. His special effects work would go on to change films themselves, lending his work to Planet of the Apes, The Goonies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and more.
Laurel and Hardy, late 60's.
Marilyn in the lobby, where she remained until shortly after this image was taken in 1993.
Final cosmetic stages of the creation of Kong at Don Post Studios in Florida, 1966.
The connection to familiar Halloween masks and the museum went far beyond the design team however. The horror section of famous movie monsters, most of which were characters from Universal Pictures, was entirely comprised of wax casts of the same face and hand molds used to create the original (and now highly collectible) versions of Don Post Universal Monster Halloween masks. The section also featured some basic store-window style continuous animation in the form of Dracula opening and closing his coffin lid, the Hunchback chained to rotating platform, and Frankenstein's Monster on a raising/lowering flip-up operating table. While rudimentary, at the time it certainly would have added to the section's creep factor.
Bela Lugosi as Dracula, 1970's.
Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1970's.
The Mummy, late 60's.
John Wayne and Ward Bond in the Hondo scene, late 60's.
To coincide with the museum's opening, Howe and White also leased the land from Welland Securities just down The Hill from the driveway into the Quality Inn Fallsway. On this land they constructed the 184 ft. tall Space Spiral Tower, built by Universal Design of Wildwood, New Jersey. The tower was half ride-half observation deck, with a large, circular, slowly spinning observation deck that held 30 riders and rose up the tower. This is exactly where the Fudge Factory now sits, as the store is circular because that was originally the loading area for the tower before it was demolished in 2006.
The two attractions prospered instantly, greatly furthering the amusement industry sprouting up in The Falls and the Clifton Hill area specifically. The large and detailed wax museum took the foundations created in the area by the few pre-existing attractions at the time like Tussaud's, the Antique Auto Museum, the Spacearium, and Ripley's, further pushing the boundaries of design and theming. The attraction would be renamed "Movieland Wax Museum" for it's second season in 1967, the name it still holds today. In June of 1968, a storage facility on Stanley Ave. that housed extra figures for the attraction as well as a workshop suffered a fire, destroying several figures. It's not clear which ones were lost in the fire, or if they were new figures which were yet to be installed or original ones that had since been removed.
The Wizard of Oz scene, late 60's.
On the Waterfront scene featuring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint, late 60's.
The first updates would come around the very late 60's to early 70's, when Robert Dunham of Waxattract did some work for the attraction, however it isn't clear what he supplied. On June 14th, 1974, a scene in the attraction proper would catch fire. The museum manager Dalton Howe attempted to put it out with an extinguisher to no success, and then proceeded to lay his life on the line by personally running through the attraction searching for guests who may still be inside, opening fire exits and using a flashlight to see through the thick smoke while staff called the fire department. Nobody was injured in the blaze except the brave manager who was treated for smoke inhalation, and the staff's quick response allowed the fire department to arrive on time and limit the damage to the one scene, however which scene was destroyed or what replaced it isn't clear. Damage for even the one scene was initially estimated to potentially be as high as $25,000 showing just how expensive the figures were.
While initially changing very little for the first several years, the attraction would be one of if not the most constantly added to and updated in The Falls from the mid 70's to early 90's, as the world's reignited interest in cinema following the rise of the blockbuster (thanks to films like Jaws and Star Wars) resulted in a golden age of constant new hit movies. Following the popular 1976 remake of King Kong, the large figure became part of the lobby. What's strange is that Marilyn Monroe could still be found as the lobby scene up until 1993. While it's possible Kong only replaced Monroe temporarily, a more likely explanation is that the walls between the final Kong room and the lobby were knocked out, and then put back up in later years, and that neither scene actually moved.
Original Kong scene with Fay Wray, late 60's,
Derek Costello's company Costello Productions provided certain figures for the attraction at some time during this period, however when or what exactly is unclear. In case you haven't picked up on it by making it to this point in the article (or site as a whole), wax artists often have the curse of anonymity. One figure he's suspected of supplying is the museum's original Darth Vader, as Costello claims to have built several recreations of the dark lord of the Sith over the years, and Niagara only has so many museums that ever would have contained one. The attraction also received minor exterior updates at this point, namely Niagara Souvenirs being renamed "Falls Gift Shops", posters for recent arrivals being added to the faux windows, a new vertical sign above the entrance, and the large Movieland sign being removed from the changing billboard on the roof and relocated to the face of the building. A Belgian Waffle stand was also added to the side of the building facing the driveway into the Park Motor Hotel (later Venture Inn.)
Left: The attraction 1976. Right: The updated exterior in 1992.
The attraction in 1992 before the remodel (top), and the attraction in 2004 with the Egyptian theme (bottom).
The talking Pharoah on the corner.
In 1992 Welland Securities became HOCO, who purchased most of the attractions leasing their land including Movieland, the Space Spiral Tower, and the Cliffside Motel, leaving only Ripley's and Circus World as tenants. Movieland was heavily remodeled to keep up with more high-tech and thrilling attractions like the House of Frankenstein and Castle Dracula, and the exterior was given an Egyptian theme. The museum received updated signage, although the by this point famous "Movieland" sign would remain. Large lion statues with glowing eyes were added to the top of the overhang on the exterior, which was now meant to look like an Egyptian temple occupying part of the building. This is when the beloved animatronic fiberglass pharaoh was added on the corner of the building along the sidewalk, just under the overhang. His wise-cracks and hints on what lies inside are a favorite among Clifton Hill visitors to this day. His original voice from 1992 to the mid-2000s sounds a lot like the same voice actor behind the announcer voice that booms out of the House of Frankenstein, although it hasn't been confirmed if it is indeed the same talent. The lobby was remodeled as well. Rather than cameramen filming Marilyn Monroe, they would now be filming an Indiana Jones figure, who lowered up and down on a rope. In the background was a large Anubis statue who's glowing eye opened and closed. A few short years after the lobby remodel, the cameramen were reunited with Marilyn in the museum, and a fogging pit was added underneath Indiana Jones on the rope.
Left: The original Indiana Jones scene featuring the cameramen recycled from the Marilyn Monroe scene, mid 90's. Above: Updated scene with the fogging pit.
Many of the early movie stars in the hall immediately after the entrance were moved to two large display cases in the middle of the attraction with multiple figures, instead of each one having their own scene. In their original spot just inside the entrance an intentionally scary scene was created to match the popular Indiana Jones series. Many of the figures added since HOCO took ownership were slightly frightening, like an animatronic Jurassic Park Dilophosaurus or a startling Joker scene with a machine gun sound effect. The horror section was also slightly remodeled at this time, to include haunted house props and more modern horror characters like Freddy Kruger. Unlike when it would move to it's current location in 2005, the old location's chicken exit was placed before the horror section, rather than before a true haunted house portion. In fact, there was no true haunted house section, since many of the figures that would end up in the haunted house section of the new location were simply scattered throughout the regular portion of the museum. Many of the figures in the horror section of the original museum after the chicken exit were actually less scary and less animated than the Jurassic Park scene or the lunging alligator encountered earlier in the museum.
The snake scene from two different angles.
Cocooned mummy and jumping spiders.
Corpse on the bed of spikes which fell towards guests.
Likely to prevent unsuspecting parents who had no clue what kind of attraction this was dragging their children in and expecting static figures of washed-up movie stars, getting the living daylights scared out of them, then possibly ending up filing complaints with HOCO's customer service department, an intentionally scary scene was put at the beginning. This let people know what they were walking in to: an experience rather than an ordinary museum. There were figures behind plexiglass such as a man upside down in a cocoon thrashing around, a corpse that popped up from the floorboards in a scene full of snakes, a skull which flipped up out of the ground in a scene of rats, a skeleton on a bed of spikes that fell towards you, and a scene with spiders on fishing line "jumping" all over a rotting corpse. As stated earlier, its not known when exactly Costello Productions began designing updates to Movieland, but if Costello hadn't already been for years by the time of the HOCO acquisition, he most likely had a large hand in this remodel. Movieland was his most recent amusement industry project on the Canadian side of The Falls, however his latest project to date is the Haunted House of Wax in Niagara Falls, NY (owned by Peter Stranges who owned the Antique Auto Museum) in 2002, which is allegedly so scary certain props have never even been turned on by the owner due to fear of scaring away customers.
The actual horror section was also updated at this time, with characters like Freddy Krueger, Pumpkinhead, Alien, Terminator, and the Crypt Keeper being added to or downright replacing some of the more obscure horror film scenes such as the "Mole People." Perhaps the biggest change to the museum however would be a wax hand casting counter now located in the middle of the attraction between the music stars and the Simpson's scene, where guests could pay extra to have wax copies of their hands made.
Above: an alien from the film Mars Attacks added to the Metaluna Mutant scene. Right: a Distortions Unlimited vampire prop which was added to the wall next to the balcony formerly home to the Phantom, now home to various other Distortions ghouls.
The Predator.
A small souvenir store called the Fun Factory was also added to the side of the Movieland building, facing the driveway into Comfort Inn. It retained the Belgian waffle stand on one side of the store entrance, and added a booth on the other with an animatronic seal and TV screen promoting Marineland. Members of the r/Niagara subreddit (where this site has it's origins) helped with remembering that there were identical others which apparently existed in Maple Leaf Village and the Skylon at the same time. This was likely to drum up some (even then) much needed positive advertising for the rightfully disliked park, in the areas of the city where the tourists actually were, unlike the park itself. The "Sailor Seal" animatronics were designed by Advanced Animations, who had also done Marineland's short lived "Hot Air Fantasy" animatronic show.
Fun Factory in 2000.
Sailor Seal in 1992.
Movieland was moved down The Hill to Circus World's former location in 2005 (along with the Fun Factory which would now contain the wax hand casting counter), and Circus World's owners moved a smaller version of the attraction to the then-popular Victoria Ave. area. Movieland retained all the figures and sets they had at the time of the move, moving them all into the new space and also adding several new scenes. All the scariest elements were put in the new "House of Horrors", a small optional haunted house section at the end of the attraction after the regular horror section. "Ask the Brain", an animatronic fortune telling machine formerly part of the Dazzleland complex, was also moved to the horror section. The House of Horrors would include several new scenes and props including several from major prop studios like Scarefactory, and have a catacombs hallway, a section with a vibrating floor, a crypt hallway as well as a mirror maze. The finale to this section is a shaking electric chair that guests can sit in for a photo-op, or execute their friends with the push of a button. The museum now emptied into the Fun Factory, that had moved down The Hill with Movieland into the former Canada Trading Co. space, although the popular Fantasy Fudge Factory counter from the space's Canada Trading Co. days was retained. This counter would be removed in 2009 when the Fudge Factory got it's own store space, ironically in the former base of the now-demolished Space Spiral Tower.
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Left: The relocated museum in 2005. Right: The relocated Fun Factory that opened next to the museum shortly after.
Cosmic Golf, 2005. Several exterior element were left over from Movieland.
In Movieland's old home, Cosmic Golf, a blacklight mini golf was temporarily set up. Two years later in 2007, the golf moved to it's permanent home in the basement becoming Galaxy Golf, and the Niagara Marketplace gift shop that had formerly occupied the basement was moved upstairs. The new store would be a hybrid of the Niagara Marketplace and the old Canada Trading Co. gift shop. While there were now no private vendors and it was all one store like the old Canada Trading Co., a focus was still put on handmade/cultural goods like the market sold. This new store would be named the Upper Canada Trading Co., which contained a Tim Horton's beside it. This was all the second phase in a 5-step plan HOCO was implementing at the time to overhaul their side of the street, but they would shift gears to a new development plan in the 2010's following a variety of changes to the industry. This had little effect on the mini golf however, which was re-themed to Wizard's Golf in 2014.
Former location of the original Movieland today.
While the original Movieland building still stands today, the attraction itself has continued to prosper and expanded down the street, receiving all-new, grand signage with the move. The newer location features a front window which was originally home to scene depicting a wax figure making wax figures, but this was quickly replaced the following year with an Ocean's Eleven scene. The new lobby featured the same Egyptian theming and expanded on it further, retaining all the same elements but adding Bresnan Frasier in "The Mummy", the pop-up skull relocated from the old entrance hallway, and Lara Croft. Indiana Jones lowering on the rope made the move aswell, however a snake pit with a cobra rising out of it replaced the fogging well. The pharaoh made the move too, now accompanied by a talking snake that slid out of a "secret" hatch in the ceiling that opened and closed. The Egyptian theming has since been entirely removed from the lobby proper however, with the half of the space containing Brendan Frasier, Lara Croft and Anubis first being replaced in 2009 with a Pirates of the Caribbean scene. Brendan Frasier and Lara Croft were added to a condensed Egytptian scene in the half with Indiana Jones over the cobra pit, however the scene was replaced with Katy Perry in 2015. The iconic pharaoh on the corner of the space remains, however the snake's heavy Middle-Eastern accent has been changed for obvious reasons to a British woman's voice. The front window scene was changed to Heath Ledger's Joker in 2013, and Katy Perry was quickly replaced with Taylor Swift in 2016.
The Pharoah and the snake in place in the newer location.
Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in the lobby. Note the stone lion relocated from the original location's facade in the background..
Indiana Jones in the newer location down The Hill.
Relocated Frasier and Jolie to the Indiana Jones scene.
Updated lobby and Bone Blaster in 2023.
The interior of the current location would also see a variety of changes over the years such as the Crocodile Dundee scene being replaced with a recreation of the set from the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and the Jurassic Park Dilophosaurus scene (which had seen better days) being replaced by The Rock and a hippo from the 2016 Jumanji. The entire attraction would be remodeled in 2019 when the Fun Factory store the attraction exited into was removed. The front half of the former store space became the Bone Blaster Shooting Gallery, with the back half becoming a large superheroes room. A section of the lobby wall behind the former Pirates of the Caribbean scene was knocked out in favor of a large, open exit to this area that allows people to gaze in at the heroes.
The House of Horrors (now renamed the Horror Chamber) was also heavily remodeled at this time to be more movie-oriented, now featuring the relocated Alien figure in a large Alien scene that replaced the vibrating floor section, the crypt, and the mirror maze. Pennywise also replaced a scene formerly at the end of the mirror maze containing a zombie girl. A small but historically significant change to also come with this remodel was the removal a taxidermy moose in the Dr. Doolittle scene, that had actually originally come from the "Road to Utopia" scene present in the attraction on opening day and was once ridden by a figure of Bob Hope. The moose was replaced with a large stuffed bear.
The moose in the Dr. Doolittle scene before it's removal.
As the landscape of cinema constantly evolves, Movieland has had a long history of staying relevant, up to date and fresh while (mostly) staying true to its spirit, even retaining several older scenes. Several opening day Don Post figures remain in the attraction today, including Laurel and Hardy, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, the Wizard of Oz characters, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, and the famous giant King Kong. The original figures will celebrate their 60th birthday in 2026, along with the historic attraction itself.
