The cult-hit animatronic show was brought back to life at the popular theme park resort in Matlock Bath in the Peak District in 2023 and since then two special ‘Gully Con’ events have taken place which have seen fans from across the UK and Europe flock to be part of it.
And now the resort is gearing up to welcome over 80 die-hard fans of the attraction for the sold out ‘GullyCon 3’ happening on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June 2025.
The Hard Luck Bears Jamboree is a retrofitted Rock-afire Explosion show, which had been a regular fixture at Gulliver’s Kingdom, Gulliver’s Land in Milton Keynes, and Gulliver’s World in Warrington until 2017. The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic house band of a US restaurant chain, Showbiz Pizza, which had around 200 locations and shows in the 1980s.
Nick Thompson, theme park assistant at Gulliver’s Kingdom, said: “The Hard Luck Bear Jamboree is an original Rockafire Explosion - a band of quirky animatronic characters that can be programmed to sing songs, dance, and converse. Once immensely popular in the USA around the eighties and nineties, these shows were the main source of entertainment for a chain of restaurants designed specifically to display the show and a few were also sold to guest attractions and theme parks around the world, including this one here at Gulliver’s. The restaurant chain ended up merging with another business and nearly all these shows ended up being left to ruin or destroyed. Ours is one of currently under five of these shows publicly in service in the world so it is something we are incredibly proud of.
“Recently the Rockafire Explosion has received an immense surge in popularity within the realm of popular culture and a new generation of super fans have rediscovered the show. Some enjoy dressing up as the quirky Rockafire characters and making fantastic artwork, many have programmed their own movements and entire shows of their favourite songs. But most Rockafire fans have never actually seen the show in real life before. And then in 2023 we were approached by long-time fan and electrician Xan Dewaegemaker, who with the help of fellow fan Ben Learmonth, through a labour of love were able to bring our show back to life after being unused for several years.
“We are so pleased that our specially created Gully-con event is back for the third time which gives these super fans a chance to meet up and celebrate the show’s miraculous revival. It’s already sold out and fans will have plenty of time to mingle, make artwork, acquire real life measurements to recreate the show virtually and will bring memorabilia from the Rockafire’s golden years – as well as enjoying pizza and hot dogs. We can’t wait to welcome them.”
For more information about Gulliver’s Kingdom visit: www.gulliverskingdomresort.co.uk.