A More Detailed Analysis of the Step by Step Opening Than You Ever Wanted

From the Wikipedia page, of course:

The amusement park seen in the opening credits is depicted as being located along the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. (No amusement park exists that is located on the shores of this lake in Wisconsin.) The amusement park used is actually Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, located many miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The body of water depicted in the opening and closing credit sequences — located next to the roller coaster at the park, which is digitally inserted into that particular excerpt — is placed over what in actuality is the parking lot at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The body of water is seen to have large waves on a seemingly calm day, which are much too large for Lake Michigan in the absence of a storm.

And yep, here is that mysteriously stormy body of water in the Magic Mountain parking lot. Would it not be incredibly unsafe to build a roller coaster directly on the sand, just yards from the crashing waves? Those Lambert-Fosters are lucky to be alive.

It’s almost as mysterious as the way the show blinked Patrika Darbo and Peggy Rea into the cornfield after the first season.