Someone with a Blogger blog has posted about some early memories of Marineland (including a couple of pictures):
…in my opinion John Holer has made two horrendous mistakes in building his empire and getting rich. Above is the Marineland stadium in the late 70′s when it was known as the Wade Burck Stadium. Below is the same stadium in 2008, only the name has been changed to the King Waldorf Stadium, because of some goofy “fish” with tusks. Big, big blunder and I’ll tell you why. …
Tags: empire, john holer, king waldorf, king waldorf stadium, Marineland, marineland and game farm, rich, tusks, vintage, wade burck stadium
I don’t get the point of the article. Unless it is just a case of sour grapes, from a former employee.
I read and re-read the article several times. I still have no idea who Wade Burck is or why he is important. Comparing the “stadium” at Marineland to Yankee Stadium is ridiculous.
I posted this mainly because it talked about some vintage Marineland stuff (the name of the stadium, the lion show, etc). However, I did have a hard time understanding what the point of the post actually was.
I’m with you drsmooth, so I did a little searching and discovered that Wade Burck is a ‘famous’ lion tamer, most associated with Ringling Bros., and that his son Adam is also now one.
Apparently, in the mid 70′s, there was a circus act at Marineland during the summer (don’t remember that at all), and Mr. Burck was part of it. In fact, he must have been a big part since they apparently named the stadium after him (huh?). I guess sometime after that, the stadium changed to King Waldorf Stadium. All of this seemed like a lot of ‘who could possibly care’ stuff, and I couldn’t figure out why anybody would be blogging about something so trivial and mundane, until I happened to notice who the author of the blog was, none other than Mr. Wade Burck. Methinks someone has a very high opinion of themself.
Good research drafty!
I found what appears to be a photo of Mr Burck posing with Richard Nixon. The internet is truly an amazing place.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2gu7.....G_0009.jpg
Definately a heightened sense of self and dillusional sense of reality:
“Below is the same stadium in 2008, only the name has been changed to the King Waldorf Stadium, because of some goofy “fish” with tusks.” Fish… I thought he was a walrus?
“Same deal with changing the name of the revered Wade Burck Stadium to the King Waldorf Stadium. They are still buying ticket’s, but you can bet there is not the same fondness that there was for the Wade Burck Stadium!!!!! ” I’m sure 99% of the population does not know Wade Burck and most visitors will remember the name King Waldorf stadium.
“Insane blunder number two was redesigning the whole layout and flooring of the Wade Burck Stadium, almost putting an end to the Burck tiger training dynasy forever.” The WHOLE layout??? change EVERYTHING???
” In the photo above right smack in the middle of the castle tower and waterpark slide that has been added, is where Adam would have been sitting in his chair, watching the tiger act and studying the master. If John Holter Sr. had messed up and built “Camelot” on the stage in the 70′s, Adam would have either been in the dressing room or out playing with Johnny, and most likely doing something else today, besides training tigers.”
He said himself “IF” John Holer had built that in the 70s then his son may not be doing the same thing, which I highly doubt is TOTALLY caused by a castle/waterslide.
Folks,
You need to get a life and relax. LOL There is a term “tongue in cheek”, have you heard of it? It was the vein that the thread was posted in that has you in a twist. As Helen states “the internet is a truly an amazing place,” if folks aren’t too quick to pass private judgments. LOL
drsmooth, Sour grapes!!!! Mr. John Holer is on my lifetime personal list of The Ten Most Respected Men I Have Ever Known. You might suggest “envious” grapes, but I assure you, not “sour” grapes. He created and built an incredible attraction.
drafty, you need to unquote famous. I’ll have you know I was the Toronto Sun SUNshine boy for the month of August in 1977 along with Cassanda who was the SUNshine girl. How famous does someone need to be before they get respect? Granted, I didn’t win the SUNshine boy of the year, but are you really going to hold that against me? Geez….. FYI Marineland and Game Farm had land mammal shows in conjunction with the sea mammals ever summer from the 11th of June to the week after labor day from 1975 to 1983. I’m surprised you missed it, as it is still today refereed to today by historians as “The Greatest Land and Sea Mammal Show of All Time.” The show opened with the first and at the time only White Tiger act in the world, followed by dolphins, followed by sea lions, followed by the sea elephant, followed by bears, followed by elephants, followed by Nootka and Kandu.
Oh course a castle and waterslide would have “TOTALLY” shut down the family line of animal trainers. If they had been there back in the day, my son would have no place to have sat and watched every show, day in and day out. He may have grown up into a goof trying to interpret blogs that don’t allow anonymous comments or cute names so that everyone on it know’s each other and understands the nuances and insinuations of the blog. LOL Instead he had a place to sit and observe and himself grew up into a fine animal trainer.
Any other questions, I can be reached at wburck3@aol.com or take a peak at http://www.circusnospin.blogspo.com and ask your questions.
Regards,
Wade Burck