Big Whoop Amusement Park

"Yes, carnival. Just as soon as they put up the first tent... ...WHOOSH... ...the whole place becomes TRENDY. Sailors coming in all times of the night that awful music drowning on and on and to to be honest with you, I think the Midway games are rigged."

―Lemonhead - The Curse of Monkey Island

The Big Whoop Amusement Park is a recurring location within the fight of Guybrush Threepwood and LeChuck. The nature of it is perhaps the most ambiguous thing; depending on interpretation, the Big Whoop Amusement Park could invalidate the reality of the entire setting of the Caribbean.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

After LeChucks' resurrection, the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush that he can escape LeChuck if he continues looking for the Big Whoop treasure, as it is the gateway to a place of safety where LeChuck can not harm him. When finally he discovers the chest under Dinky Island, inside he discovers only an E Ticket for an amusement park.

During his final confrontation with LeChuck within the mysterious Tunnels Under Dinky Island, a staff member shoos Guybrush and "Chuckie" out of the building. When outside, Guybrush and Chuckie appear as children, being scolded by their parents for running off. When the four decide to go off to ride the "Madly Rotating Buccaneer", Chuckie's face changes and emits some occult powers, unseen by the others.

The scenery is very similar to the Ville de la Booty but a sign declares the location as the "Big Whoop Amusement Park". A building (and a sign) very similar to Stan's Previously Owned Coffins in Booty town can be seen to the right.

The Curse of Monkey Island

In the Curse of Monkey Island, the Big Whoop Theme Park is also known as the Carnival of the Damned. This park was created by LeChuck on Monkey Island in order to lure unsuspecting pirates to their deaths, only to revive them as part of his Army of the Undead. Centred around, and under the Giant Monkey Head of Monkey Island, the Carnival served as a stronghold to protect the true nature of Big Whoop and barracks for his skeleton army. Some of the service tunnels of the park extended to the nearby Dinky Island, in case anyone tried to find Big Whoop using Captain Marley's map.

This park was powered by hell itself, siphoning its power through the same gates of Big Whoop that had granted him immortality. LeChuck realised that the power of hell isn't infinite, and so the park was being transitioned to "monk-electric power": essentially enslaving the monkeys of the island.

The Curse of Monkey Island recontextualises the ending of Monkey Island 2 as LeChuck casting a spell of Guybrush, turning him into a deluded child, and keeping Guybrush trapped, LeChuck left to find Elaine. Guybrush was only able to escape the trap some time later, sailing off on a bumper car to Plunder Island.

When LeChuck was revived as a Demon Pirate, he sailed back to Monkey Island to strengthen his armies and reconsider his position. When he found that Elaine was no longer on Plunder Island, he commanded his armies to scour the seas, eventually learning that Guybrush and Elaine were on Blood Island. He then captured them both, intending to send Elaine through Big Whoop himself, while casting the enchilding spell on Guybrush once again. Guybrush faced off against LeChuck within the Monkey Mountain Rollercoaster, eventually imprisoning him under a block of ice.

In Escape from Monkey Island we learn that the Carnival was destroyed by LeChuck after he was released by Ozzie Mandrill from his ice tomb now that the secret of Big Whoop was out, meaning the trap could no longer work. The explosions used to destroy the carnival activated Monkey Island's long dormant volcano, which sealed off the Caverns of Meat. All that was left was the now empty area around the Giant Monkey Head.

Return to Monkey Island

The Big Whoop Amusement was recontextualised in a different way in Return to Monkey Island. In this game, we apparently see the Park years later, when Boybrush Threepwood and his friend "Chuckie" are seen re-enacting Guybrush's story of the search for Big Whoop.

Once they are ousted by the Janitor, they meet a couple who are not Boybrush's parents, and rather walk out alone; Chuckie pretends that he has glowing eyes and emits thunder. Note that while at first the scenery looks like the epilogue of MI2, once the couple leaves the screen and the kids are left to explore, the place suddenly seems deserted, the signs and activities disappear, and the buildings look old. The rest of the Prologue features Boybrush and Chuckie's exploration of the park, visiting the Outhouse and the Scurvydog Shack to buy some Scurvydogs.

When they leave the park to the right, Boybrush eventually finds his actual father, Guybrush Threepwood, in a grove, who begins to tell the story of the search for The Secret of Monkey Island, beginning the game in earnest.

Curse of Monkey Island aspects of the park like the Giant Monkey head and Dinghy Dog are absent.

Trivia

• In an interview before the release of the first SoMI, Gilbert had said that MI's anachronisms have a "secret, deeper relevance to the story" that would be further revealed in the sequel. The anachronisms of the series therefore indicate that they happen in a theme park of the modern era.
• As the Voodoo Lady said that Big Whoop would send Guybrush to a safe place, it's possible that the fun park was intended to be an alternate reality to protect Guybrush.
• In the Letters column of The Adventurer 6, two players complained about the ending of MI2. The editor explained it by saying that it was not a real ending, but Guybrush was under LeChuck's spell. It is not known if the reply was informed by Ron Gilbert, but it foreshadowed the explanation of the sequels, suggesting that the Amusement Park was a creation of LeChuck, and not the Big Whoop.
• Tim Schafer gave this explanation about the enigmatic ending: "...a lot of people were hoping for a different ending. Monkey 2 was kind of a self-parodying game, and that's a taste of humor that's not for everybody. It kind of makes fun of itself and all other computer games in many ways, especially in that every time you expected a payoff, it would do something that was kind of a non-payoff. The ending of Monkey 2 was considered kind of a non-payoff, but it was a joke, and some people didn't like that. Understandably, they had a lot of expectations after going through 40 hours of hard work."
• Concerning the ending of MI2, Ron Gilbert claimed "we wanted to tackle it head on"[1] in the Return to Monkey Island which would begin "right at the end" of MI2.[2] However the claim proved inaccurate, as the game's intro turns out to be a reenactment by Boybrush and his friend Chuckie. Despite fans' expectations, the matter of Big Whoop (along with the nature of the tunnels, of the fun park, the presence of the Parents and Chuckie) was left unanswered in RtMI. It is not known how much of it was Gilbert's intention while writing the ending of MI2.