I'm Goin' to Praiseland

"It is with uh, great pride that I dedicate this new school, sports arena, or attraction."

- Mayor Quimby

"I'm Goin' to Praiseland" is the nineteenth episode of season 12.

Plot
At an ice cream social at the church, Ned Flanders bumps into Rachel Jordan (from the episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily"). He invites her to spend the night at his place (with him sleeping on the couch), claiming to have gotten over Maude's death. Once there, she notices that he has a lot of photos of Maude, and he insists that she doesn't sleep on Maude's indentation in the bed. During the night he changes Rachel’s hair to look like Maude's; she screams and leaves, which causes Ned to realize that he hasn't gotten over Maude at all.

The next day the Simpsons volunteer to sort all of Maude's things while Ned is at the eye doctor. Homer brings over a shredder to help "sort" things faster. When Ned returns they have sorted everything of Maude's, and her face on their wedding photo has been replaced with Homers. Bart then finds Maude's sketchbook that apparently didn't get "sorted". Ned flips through and finds a sketch of a Praiseland amusement park that was Maude's last wish. Ned decides to fulfill Maude’s dream, and so he buys the old Storytown Village from the Rich Texan.

After weeks of work, it's finally time for the grand opening of Praiseland. The park features a ride that reads you all of the of David, a   (flavored plain), and a statue of Maude with the phrase "She taught us the joy of shame and the shame of joy". Sadly (yet unsurprisingly), the amusement park is a flop.

Just as everyone is about to leave, a Maude mask floats up in front of the face of the statue. After this phenomenon ends Principal Skinner tries to argue it away, only to fall on the floor and speak. He then stands up to say that he had a vision of heaven. Praiseland becomes immensely popular as people pay to see "Miracle Maude". Ned then finds out that there is a leak in the gas line, and that instead of miracles, people are just getting goofy off the gas. Ned contacts a gas supplier about the leak, hearing that it is poisonous and permanent. He worries that someone could get hurt by it although Homer denies it as the park had rich people mingle with poor, bullies sharing bread with nerds and orphans putting lit candles near the statue. The latter which alarms them as the lit candles would ignite the leak and cause a gas explosion that would kill them all. Homer and Ned stop the orphans by lunging on them. Although the leak had not been ignited and that the visitors are unaware of it, the visitors are outraged by the two supposedly attacking orphans and leave. This prompts Ned to close down Praiseland forever.

Ned runs into Rachel again, who is wearing a wig after the hair incident. They then go back to Ned's house where they make the bed, erasing Maude's indentation.

Production
The episode is written by Julie Thacker, wife of then show runner Mike Scully and directed by Chuck Sheetz. The inspiration for the episode was the Christian theme-park, Heritage USA. And the gas leak featured in the episode is based on true events which happened at Disney World.

Deleted scene
A scene was deleted from the episode, probably due to copyright infringements, and is included on the season 12 DVD.
 * Ned gives a list of bands not coming and Marge saying "I've never seen a amusement park as bad as EPCOT Center.

Reception
The episode has received negative reviews from critics, one of them being Nancy Basile, who said the episode was Not Must See TV and said she loathed it.