Pacific Ocean Park was a joint venture between CBS and Santa Anita Park.
It opened on Saturday, July 28, 1958 with an attendance of 20,000.
The next day, the park drew 37,262, outperforming Disneyland's attendance that day.[5] Admission was 90 cents for adults, which included access to the park and certain exhibits.
It was locally known by the acronym POP, (pronounced "pee-oh-pee"), as it was soon nicknamed and commonly used to refer to the name of the park, was also marketed as "Pay One Price", though other rides and attractions were on a pay-per-use basis.
Like Disneyland, it found corporate sponsors to share the expense of some exhibits.
Six of the pier's original attractions were incorporated into the new park, including the Sea Serpent roller coaster, the antique Looff carousel, the Toonerville Fun House, the Glass House and the twin diving bell
Mystery Island Banana Train Ride was considered by many the park's best ride. Passengers took a trip aboard a tropical banana plantation train, complete with a simulated volcano and simulated earthquakes.
The Mystery Island Banana Train opened in 1958. The train was located inside Pacific Ocean Park. The park featured many unique rides located on a pier in Santa Monica above the ocean. The Mystery Island Banana Train was known as the best ride in the park.
It was located on the very end of the pier and pulled guests in to the back of the pier. The ride featured six trains each with two cars and one engine located in the back.
The trains were built by Arrow Development. The guests crossed over a rope bridge above the water, and then loaded the train under a large longhouse.
Waterfalls covered the pylons that held up the attraction.
The ride started off in the jungle with a live parrot, cannibals and vultures. Soon guests found their train climbing up a long lift that took them inside the volcano.
Inside the show building, hidden with a false mountain, guests encountered a large cavern filled with bats. The train soon entered the crater of the volcano.
Here, lava would be bubbling up from the ground. The train crossed under it’s track and entered back into the mountain. In the next scene geysers erupted carrying lava up with them.
Riders soon found themselves in an earthquake. This part used rotating tunnels similar to the now closed Mummy tunnel at Universal Studios Hollywood.
The train now was traveling over a rickety trestle with the ocean below. The next show building was disguised with more rock work and thatched longhouses on the roof. That building housed the final, a massive sea storm. The train escaped and crossed over its tracks again.
An animatronic bird would thank the guests for riding before they disembarked. The mountain at the end of the attraction also housed the turnaround for the Ocean Skyway attraction.
Low revenue resulted in the ride closing in 1967 along with the rest of the pier. The pier was demolished in 1975.