In a further departure from tradition, Happyland was not located near a railroad or trolley line but was set up to cater to the motoring public, with a parking lot that initially held 400 cars. The park proved popular with young families who moved into surrounding communities such as Bethpage, Levittown, Massapequa, and Farmingdale, and attendance in the first years of operation surpassed expectations. However, the postwar suburban construction boom soon proved such doubts unfounded, as the area around Happyland was rapidly developed for housing. (The glass doors used were salvaged from the French pavilion at the 1939-40 World's Fair.) When Nunley announced plans for the new park, some colleagues in the amusement business questioned the wisdom of building an expensive facility at a site that seemed too far from population centers to be successful, calling the location "virtually deserted". Two walls of the pavilion were designed with large movable glass panels which could be opened in warm weather or closed when it was cold. The new park would be larger than Nunley's other locations and, unlike its predecessors, was designed from the start for year-round operation, with a heated indoor ride area. Happyland was established by William Nunley, a third-generation amusement park entrepreneur, who already operated facilities in Baldwin, in Queens (in Broad Channel and Rockaway Beach), and in Westchester County (in Yonkers), N.Y. It operated from 1951 through 1977 or 1978. Nunley's (later called Smiley's) Happyland was an amusement park in the hamlet of Bethpage on Long Island, New York, located at the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike (Route 24) and Hicksville Road (Route 107).
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