ABOUT OPERA HOUSE SQUARE

Opera House Square opened in 1968 with the Lagoon Opera House as its focal point. East of the Opera House was the Gaslight Restaurant which served "gourmet hamburgers, salads, soup and bread bowls". There was also a General Store and Sweet Shop. Later on there was the Gaslight Sandwich Shop and Ice Cream Parlour. Lagoon's Popcorn Wagon was stationed here for quite a while. In the late 1990s it was moved to Pioneer Village in what used to be the Old Engine House and it is now on display in Carriage Hall.

After the 1989 season, there were no longer any performances at the Opera House. The Ice Cream Parlour closed by the end of the 1995 season. In 1996, Lagoon opened its first franchise restaurant, Subway in this location and sold ice cream closer to the entrance instead. Two years later, Lagoon bought a Jabooka Jooce smoothie franchise and sold them at the Gaslight Restaurant location for a while. (Jabooka Jooce was also sold in what is now Teriyaki Stix near Wild Mouse). The restaurant closed for at least a year or two and re-opened as Arby's in 2001, newly remodeled inside and out. The interior of Subway is much like any Subway, but the Arby's interior remains true to the style of a small American town in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

PHOTOS

Photo: Mike Pitcher

Arby's opened in the location of the former Gaslight Restaurant.

Photo: Mike Pitcher

Subway opened in what used to be the Gaslight Sandwich Shop, Ice Cream Parlour and Sweet Shop.

Photo: Mike Pitcher

SOURCES

Lagoon

Former Employees

Updated 5 May 2007