1.
Federal Way, Washington
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Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. Federal Way is located between Seattle and Tacoma and its northwestern boundary is Puget Sound. The population was 95,171 at the 2015 United States Census, Federal Way is currently the 9th largest city in Washington State and the 5th largest in King County, according to the Census Bureaus 2015 population estimate. Originally a logging settlement, the area was first called Federal Way in 1929, the name derived from Federal Highway U. S.99, which ran from Everett and Seattle to Tacoma. Federal Way High School opened in 1930, and the local Chamber of Commerce adopted the name in the early 1950s, the city was incorporated on February 28,1990. Until 2014, Federal Way was home to Weyerhaeuser, the largest private owner of timberland in the world. Weyerhaeuser has opened much of its land to the public, including two botanical gardens, the Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden, and the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection, in 2014, the company announced it would vacate its Federal Way headquarters. City leaders have suggested promoting the location as a community college. Federal Way is also home to the US office headquarters of World Vision, the city has also developed many lake front and neighborhood parks and playgrounds. The 40 acre PowellsWood Garden, known for its outstanding structural plantings and this land, on a portion of the Cold Creek ravine, was purchased by Monte and Diane Powell in 1993 in order to preserve green space in an increasingly urbanized area. Wild Waves Theme Park, the largest amusement park in the region, is known as Wild Waves and it is located on the south side of the city and is the Seattle areas only permanent amusement park. Six Flags purchased Wild Waves in December 2000, however, after low sales, Six Flags sold the park in April 2007 to Parc Management LLC of Jacksonville, Florida for $31.75 million. Federal Way is locally identified by its 1990s semi-urban development, characterized by landscaped off-street multi-structure apartment complexes, the Commons at Federal Way, the citys only indoor shopping center, is located on S 320th St. and Pacific Hwy South near the citys main Interstate 5 exit. Steel Lake Park – located on S 312th St east of Pacific Hwy S, large lakefront area with picnic areas, playground, Celebration Park – on 11th Ave S just south of S 324th St, with sports fields and wooded trails, and Independence Day fireworks. Dash Point State Park – 53rd Ave SW & SW Dash Point Rd, five Mile Lake – on Military Rd S and S 364th St in the unincorporated area east side of city. West Hylebos Wetlands Park – at S 348th St and 4th Ave S, the Denny Cabin was built by David Denny in 1889 as a real-estate office and was made from trees cut down on Queen Anne Hill. The BPA Trail extending from the entrance to Celebration Park west to approximately 18th Ave SW, the trail is paved and lies under the Bonneville Power Administration transmission line. Such a project follows in the steps of similar multi-use developments such as Kent Station in nearby Kent, transfer of the land to United Properties followed by construction of the first tower was scheduled to start in mid-2008
2.
Geographical coordinates
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Amusement park
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An amusement park or theme park is a group of entertainment attractions, rides, and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people. Theme parks, a type of amusement park, are usually much more intricately themed to a certain subject or group of subjects than normal amusement parks. Amusement parks evolved from European fairs and pleasure gardens, which were created for peoples recreation, Worlds fairs and expositions were another influence on the development of the amusement park industry. In common language, the theme park and amusement park are often synonymous. However, a park can be regarded as a distinct style of amusement park. A theme park has landscaping, buildings, and attractions that are based on one or more specific themes or stories. The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions, the oldest being the periodic fair of the Middle Ages - one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England, the worlds oldest amusement park appeared in the Continent. Bakken at Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, Denmark, opened in 1583, a wave of innovation in the 1860s and 1870s created mechanical rides, such as the steam-powered carousel, and its derivatives. This inaugurated the era of the modern funfair ride, as the classes were increasingly able to spend their surplus wages on entertainment. The second influence was the pleasure garden, one of the earliest gardens was the Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 in London. By the late 18th century, the site had a fee for its many attractions. It regularly drew crowds, with its paths being noted for romantic assignations, tightrope walkers, hot air balloon ascents, concerts. Although the gardens were designed for the elites, they soon became places of great social diversity. Public firework displays were put on at Marylebone Gardens, and Cremorne Gardens offered music, dancing, prater in Vienna, Austria, was opened in 1766. The concept of a park for amusement was further developed with the beginning of the worlds fairs. The first World fair began in 1851 with the construction of the landmark Crystal Palace in London, the purpose of the exposition was to celebrate the industrial achievement of the nations of the world and it was designed to educate and entertain the visitors. American cities and business saw the worlds fair as a way of demonstrating economic. The Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois was an precursor to the modern amusement park
5.
Water park
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Water parks in more current states of development may also be equipped with some type of artificial surfing or bodyboarding environment such as a wave pool or FlowRider. Water parks have grown in popularity since their introduction in the late 1940s, the United States has the largest and most concentrated water park market, with over a thousand water parks and dozens of new parks opening each year. Major organizations are IAAPA and WWA, which is the trade association. Water parks which emerge from spas tend to closely resemble mountain resorts. For example, Splash Universe Water Park Resort, a member of the WWA, is themed to match the community in which it is located, the theme is intended to enhance the communitys destination appeal. Therefore, the amusement and leisure-time industry is becoming more concentrated, a process of concentration can be observed in the hybrid versions of theme-, amusement-, and water parks. Some water parks are more spa-oriented, for example, SchwabenQuellen, a member of European Waterpark Association, has no water slides, it has instead many saunas, steam rooms, adventure showers, and relaxation-oriented water play areas. In the 2000s, an effort was made to reduce long waiting lines by introducing conveyor belts to lift passengers or use water jets, an unusual feature at a water park is ice skating. Deep River Water Park in northwestern Indiana features ice skating, made possible by cooling pipes installed under their massive plaza during a recent expansion. The first-ever indoor water park was built in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, World Waterpark is the worlds second largest indoor water park, at over 225,000 sq ft in size. It includes the worlds largest indoor pool, water slides of varying degrees, tube rides, bungee jumping. Tropical Islands Resort, with an area of 710,000 sq ft, is currently the largest indoor water park in the world, with five indoor water parks, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, is recognized as the Water Park Capital of the World. It showcases several of Americas largest indoor and outdoor water parks, indoor water parks in Wisconsin Dells debuted in 1994 after the Polynesian Resort Hotel built the first one in the U. S. Success in extending the tourist season and turning water park resorts into vacation destinations has resulted in tremendous industry growth, usually, resort hotels featuring massive indoor water parks have been reserved for overnight guests. Companies like Great Wolf Resorts/Great Wolf Lodge and Kalahari Resorts have branched out from their origin in Wisconsin Dells to open new locations around the country, mt. Olympus Theme and Water Park is another huge water park in the Dells. The largest indoor water park in the UK is Sandcastle Water Park in Blackpool, England, there are many water parks in southern Europe where the climate suits a long season. For example, in Portugal on the Algarve there are three main parks - Aqualand, Aquashow, and Slide and Splash. Water play areas are similar to parks and include urban beaches, splash pads
6.
Pacific Northwest
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The Pacific Northwest, sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Though no agreed boundary exists, a common conception includes the U. S. states of Oregon and Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Broader conceptions reach north into Alaska and Yukon, south into far northern California and east to the Continental Divide, thus including Idaho, Western Montana, narrower conceptions may be limited to the northwestern US or to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains. The variety of definitions can be attributed to partially overlapping commonalities of the history, geography, society. The Northwest Coast is the region of the Pacific Northwest. The term Pacific Northwest should not be confused with the Northwest Territory or the Northwest Territories of Canada. The border — in two sections, along the 49th parallel south of British Columbia and the Alaska Panhandle west of northern British Columbia — has had an effect on the region. According to Canadian historian Ken Coates, the border has not merely influenced the Pacific Northwest—rather, definitions of the Pacific Northwest region vary, and there is no commonly agreed-upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common conception of the Pacific Northwest includes the U. S. states of Oregon and Washington as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia. Broader definitions of the region may include the U. S. state of Alaska, the Canadian territory of Yukon, the portion of the state of California. Definitions based on the historic Oregon Country reach east to the Continental Divide, thus including all of Idaho and parts of western Montana. Sometimes the Pacific Northwest is defined as being the Northwestern United States, often these definitions are made by government agencies whose scope is limited to the United States. Some definitions include, in addition to Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, western Montana, the coast of northern California, the Pacific Northwest has been occupied by a diverse array of indigenous peoples for millennia. The Pacific Coast is seen by scholars as a major coastal migration route in the settlement of the Americas by late Pleistocene peoples moving from northeast Asia into the Americas. Other evidence for human occupation dating back as much as 14,500 years ago is emerging from Paisley Caves in south-central Oregon, however, despite such research, the coastal migration hypothesis is still subject to considerable debate. Due in part to the richness of Pacific Northwest Coast and river fisheries, in the interior of the Pacific Northwest, the indigenous peoples, at the time of European contact, had a diversity of cultures and societies. Some areas were home to mobile and egalitarian societies, others, especially along major rivers such as the Columbia and Fraser, had very complex, affluent, sedentary societies rivaling those of the coast. In British Columbia and Southeast Alaska, the Tlingit and Haida erected large, throughout the Pacific Northwest, thousands of indigenous people live, and some continue to practice their rich cultural traditions, organizing their societies around cedar and salmon
7.
Amherstburg
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Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, becoming the heart of the settlement and it has been designated as a National Historic Site. The city is approximately 25 kilometres south of the U. S. city of Detroit, Michigan, facing Wyandotte, Grosse Ile Township, Brownstown Charter Township and it is part of the Windsor census metropolitan area. Across the Detroit River from what developed as the state of Michigan in the United States, Fort Malden was occupied as a garrison. The town was developed by Loyalists who were granted land by the Crown in Ontario after the British lost the American Revolutionary War and they built many of their houses in the French style of a century before, giving the new town a historic character. During the days of the Underground Railroad before the American Civil War, fugitive African-American slaves often crossed the river to escape to freedom in Canada, by 1869, the town of Amherstburg in the Township of Malden County Essex had a population of 2,500. Fort Malden was adapted for use as a Lunatic Asylum and its main building was later used as a Port of Entry Money Order office and Post Office savings bank. Amherstburg was incorporated as a town in 1878, the local public high school in Amherstburg is General Amherst High School, named after Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst. French-speaking students in Amherstburg may also attend École Secondaire E. J, Amherstburg is home to several tourist attractions, including Fort Malden and the North American Black Historical Museum. An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected in Amherstburg by the province to commemorate Bellevue Houses role in Ontarios heritage, Bellevue House was the home of Catherine Reynolds, a landscape painter and her brother Robert Reynolds. Additional tourist activities include the Park House Museum and the charming Kings Navy Yard Park, the Gibson Gallery is located in a former Michigan Central Railroad Station, which has been fully restored to its original beauty. A restored Essex Terminal railway caboose is operated as a railway museum, the restored Gordon House is another historic attraction of Amherstburg. Built as a residence in 1798 overlooking the Detroit River, it now houses a Marine exhibit, the Holiday Beach Conservation Area is one of the best fall birding sites in North America. The 546-acre nature reserve contains over 2,000 feet of beaches, picnic areas, Holiday Beach is considered a premiere spot to view the fall migration of raptors. A Festival of Hawks event takes place in September, texas Road is a street popularly associated with paranormal sightings and ghostly experiences. This stretch of road passes through a gully and it has been rumored that a man once murdered another there, since this time people have reported strange disturbances such as car ignitions failing and paranormal light shows. Amherstburg is a city of trade for regional agriculture and it has also become known for several wineries in the area. Amherstburg Farmers Market is open every Saturday, from 8, 30am to 3, the Farmers Market is located at the Malden Community and Cultural Center,7860 County Road 20 at the end of Howard Avenue on County Rd 20
8.
Ontario
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Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
9.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
10.
Zamperla
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Antonio Zamperla S. p. A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides, the company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found inside shopping malls. Zamperla builds roller coasters, like the powered Dragon Coaster, Mini Mouse, Zig Zag, in 2006, Zamperla announced Motocoaster, a motorcycle-themed roller coaster. Rights to some of S. D. C. s rides were handed to Zamperla after the company went bankrupt in 1993, in 2005 the founder of the company, Mr. Another famous Zamperla project is Kernwasser, north of Düsseldorf, an ex nuclear power station turned into an amusement park
11.
Wave pool
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A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, reasonably large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a feature of water parks. Siam Park City Water Park in Thailand is home to the worlds largest wave pool certified by Guinness World Records, Wave pools go as far back as the 19th Century, as famous fantasy castle builder Ludwig II of Bavaria electrified a lake to create breaking waves. On the other hand, in Palisades Amusement Park, a famed center atop the New Jersey Palisades across the Hudson River from New York City, had a wave pool during the 1940s. This was a pool whose waves were generated by a waterfall at one end. J. Austin Smith, an Ohio wave pool manufacturer, worked with the city of Decatur to design, the first indoor wave pool in the U. S. was opened at Bolingbrook, Illinois, at the Bolingbrook Aquatic Center in 1982. Wave pools replicate the movement of the one of two ways, depending on the size of the pool and the size of wave desired. In small wave pools, pressurized air is blown onto the surface of the water, or a paddle creates force in the water, other techniques utilize an accordion mechanism which opens and closes in order to suck water into its belly and push it out to cause waves. However, in high-volume wave pools, large amount of water is allowed into the far end of the pool, forcing the water to even out. In these large wave pools, the water is removed by being channeled through a return canal where it can be used again to generate another wave. Generally, wave pools are designed to use water at inland locations. Wave pools are typically larger than other recreational swimming pools and for that reason are often in parks or other large, Wave pools are more difficult to lifeguard than still pools, and there have been drownings in a few. On the first day they opened their wavepool, it is said that up to 100 people had to be pulled out, the moving water, sun glare, and other factors make them difficult for lifeguards. Unlike passive pool safety camera systems, computer automated drowning detection systems do not work in wave pools, aqualand in Corfu as The Mediterranean Kings Island in Mason, Ohio as Great Barrier Reef 36, 000-square-foot ft2 and Tidal Wave Bay 42, 000-square-foot. Noahs Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin as Big Kahuna, World Waterpark in West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta as Blue Thunder. Largest indoor wave pool,42, 000-square-foot, mechanical wave machines, mount Olympus Water & Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin as Poseidons Rage. Splash Adventure in Bessemer, Alabama as Kahuna Waves, hurricane Harbor in Arlington, Texas Water World, Colorado as Captain Jacks Wave Pool and Thunder Bay. Artificial wave Wave tank Carl Hoffman, Endless summer, Wired 12.05 How Wave Pools Work—Howstuffworks. com
12.
Six Flags
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Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, or simply Six Flags, is an amusement park corporation based in the United States, with properties in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It is the largest amusement park based on the number of properties it owns. The company maintains 18 properties throughout North America consisting of parks, thrill parks, water parks. In 2009, Six Flags properties hosted 23.9 million guests, the company was founded in Texas and took its name from its first property Six Flags Over Texas. The company maintains an office in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and its headquarters are in Grand Prairie. On June 13,2009, the corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and it successfully exited the restructuring on May 3,2010. The name Six Flags refers to the flags of the six different nations that have governed Texas, Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederate States of America. The original park was split into regions, such as the Spain and Mexico section which featured Spanish-themed rides, attractions. The Six Flags chain originated in 1957 with the creation of The Great Southwest Corporation by Angus G. Wynne, construction of Six Flags Over Texas started in 1960, and the park was opened the next year for a short season. The first park initially featured a Native American village, a ride, a railroad, some Wild West shows, a stagecoach ride, and Skull Island. The original park, in Arlington was sold in 1966 to a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, with the new owners came a more abundant supply of capital for geographic expansion and park additions. Six Flags opened Six Flags Over Georgia in 1967 and Six Flags Over Mid-America in 1971, the company continued to grow by acquiring independent parks. Six Flags purchased AstroWorld in Houston, Texas in 1975, Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey in 1977 and these purchases were followed by Penn Central selling assets to Bally Manufacturing in 1982. In 1984, the Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois was acquired from the Marriott hotel chain, also in 1984, as a result of its acquisition of Great America, Six Flags acquired the rights to Time Warner/Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated characters for use in Six Flags properties, Bally surrendered control of the chain to Wesray Capital Corporation in a 1987 leveraged buyout. Time Warner purchased the stake in Six Flags in 1993, changing the companys name from Six Flags Corp. to Six Flags Theme Parks. In 1996, Six Flags began to manage Fiesta Texas theme park in San Antonio, Texas, Premier Parks originally operated as the Tierco Group, Inc. an Oklahoma-based real estate company. The company purchased the Frontier City theme park in Oklahoma City in 1982 for $1.2 million, company officials described Frontier City as beat up and run down, they planned to demolish it, subdivide the land, and build a shopping center
13.
Darien Lake
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Darien Lake is a theme park resort in Darien, New York, United States. It is owned by EPR Properties and operated by Premier Parks LLC, in addition to the amusement park, it features a campground, water park, and an on-site lodging. In 1954, Darien Lake was excavated and filled, the lake was a popular swimming destination for many years. In 1964, investor Paul Snyder acquired a 164-acre parcel of land bordering the lake and opened a small 23-site campground, Snyder continued acquiring more land eventually increasing his holdings to almost 1,000 acres of land which included seven lakes, the largest of which was Darien Lake. Snyder made a deal with HUSS Park Attractions, turning Darien Lake into the North American showcase for the German manufacturers new rides, in 1982, the newly merged Arrow Huss built and opened the parks first major roller coaster, Viper. In 1983, Snyder sold 50% of the park to Funtime Inc. which also owned Geauga Lake, the Fun Country was dropped from the name, and Funtime brought in some major improvements. Although no longer the largest in the country, the Giant Wheel is still in operation today, in the mid-to late 1980s there was Splashmania, a water ski show located on Fun Lake. Following the success of a new roller coaster at Geauga Lake in 1988. The Predator roller coaster opened in May 1990, around this time, Paul Snyder, who up to now still had a say in the parks operation, sold his remaining share of the park to Funtime, turning over all control to them. In 1992, a new style of entertainment was demoed on the midway between Barracuda Bay and the Giant Wheel, a light show called Laser Light Fantasy. The show premiered on the mid-way in front of Barracuda Bay in 1992, in 1994, the old Rainbow Mountain water slides were replaced with a new set of water slides, Cuda Falls and the waterpark became included with park admission. In 1995, growing regional park chain Premier Parks bought Funtime, Premier dove right into changes and additions. In 1995, Skycoaster opened located over Fun Lake, a new miniature golf course opened behind the then-new kiddie area near Viper which replaced the old golf course. Three of the old Adventure Land rides were moved to part of the park as the Tiny Trio in 1997. Nightmare was removed in 1998, and relocated to sister park The Great Escape, in 1998, Premier purchased Six Flags Theme Parks, and began to rebrand its own parks as Six Flags. In May 1999, Six Flags Darien Lake opened under its new name, the midway stage was added to replace the boat tag game and The Emporium gift shop opened in Lassos old location, Crazy Quilt was removed and replaced with Lasso. 2000 brought the reforming of Premier Parks, assuming their new name, Six Flags Inc.2006 was a year of turmoil for Six Flags and its parks. They also added an opportunity to meet with the entire Justice League at the park, many parks throughout the chain, not just those for sale, also experienced numerous changes and cutbacks throughout the summer
14.
Elitch Gardens Theme Park
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Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park, locally known as Elitchs, is an amusement park in Denver, Colorado. It is owned by Stanley Kroenke and operated by Premier Parks, Elitch Gardens is unique in that it is located in a downtown area and is open May through October. $90 million was spent relocating some rides from the original park, the money was from a mix of public and private dollars and various loans. On October 1,1994, the park closed its gates forever. On May 27,1995, the new Elitch Gardens opened up to lower than expected crowds, attendance was weaker than the expected 1.2 million guests the park aimed for. Some notable rides at the opening were the original Carousel and Sidewinder roller coaster, relocated from the old park, and a new version of the Mister Twister. In October,1996, the Gurtler family and its partners sold the park to growing theme park operator Premier Parks for $65 million, Premier noted the lackluster figures the new park had in its first two seasons and new additions were soon rushed in for the parks third season. The first and most notable addition was the third roller coaster, Mind Eraser. The next big addition was Tower of Doom, an Intamin freefall ride that stands at 220 feet, also added was the parks 700-seat Trocadero Theater, named after the famous ballroom and dance hall at the original park. The price tag for these came to a total of $28 million. With the purchase, Premier decided to brand-name some of their parks with the Six Flags prefix, Elitch Gardens was one of those parks and big changes came the next year. Numerous additions came in 1999 when the park was officially renamed Six Flags Elitch Gardens, the first and most notable addition was the Boomerang, Coast to Coaster, a Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster. Other additions included the Looney Tunes and DC Comics characters/themes, throughout 1999-2001, additions were rushed in such as a new Looney Tunes Movietown area, water rides, and flat rides. In 2002, the added the Flying Coaster, a suspended steel flying roller coaster. The ride was a model, and suffered from numerous operational glitches. In 2004, the park installed the Half Pipe coaster, one of two operating in the United States, in 2005, Six Flags parks closed down and removed Chance-Morgan Chaos flat rides for safety reasons. The same year, the added a vertical water slide called Edge to the parks Island Kingdom family water park. Also in 2005, control of Six Flags, Inc. was obtained by Daniel Snyder in a proxy fight, the park faced a grim future in 2006 when Shapiro announced selling six of the Six Flags owned properties
15.
Frontier City
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Frontier City is a western-themed amusement park in Oklahoma City. It is owned by EPR Properties and operated by Premier Parks, currently Frontier City is the only theme park in Oklahoma after the 2006 closing of Bells Amusement Park. The park is the subject of the song Frontier City by the Nashville band Kings of Leon, in 1958, Frontier City opened along Route 66, now Interstate 35. The park featured a haunted farm, mine train, robberies, initially, guests entered the park for free but paid a quarter to watch the gunfight shows. The park started out as Boomtown, a replica of an Oklahoma pioneer town that was built for the states centennial celebration in 1957 at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Jimmy Burge, leader of the committee that built Boomtown, decided to open an amusement park with the same theme, rather than a traditional ribbon cutting, Frontier City was scheduled to have an old fashioned six shooter aimed at a piece of rope stretched across the stockade entrance. The rope stretched across main street is the manner used today for the opening of the park. The park added spinning rides, roller coasters and a log flume ride starting in the 1960s and 1970s, Frontier City was originally owned and operated by OKC businessmen James Burge and Jack Williams. Mr. Burge had been a publicist in Hollywood, CA for twenty years for the likes of Joan Crawford and he visited Disneyland when it opened in 1955, and was very impressed with the theme park business. Being from Oklahoma City, he knew his hometown would be a location for a western-themed amusement park. Back in OKC, he was commissioned as the leader of the 1957 Oklahoma Semi-Centennial Celebration, after the 1957 event was over, Mr. Burge negotiated with the fair board to purchase many of the buildings and props at the Boom Town exhibit. He hooked up with Mr. Jack Williams and together developed the park as a recreation of an 1880s Western town. The four square blocks of streets contained a Marshalls office, saloon, bank, post office, fire department, hotel, the park flourished and prospered during its first six seasons, reporting attendance of over one million people each year. Although attendance was rumored to be recorded by Mr. Burge riding around on the train and counting all the heads every hour, Frontier City was famous for its gunfights, Indian dancing, saloon shows, train robberies and other similar types of Western experiences. In the fall of 1981, a real estate company bought the park with plans to dismantle it. However, the oil crunch slowed down the real estate boom. In 1983, the owners hired a management company to operate the park, in 1987, the contract was not renewed, but the management staff went to work directly for the park owners, Frontier City Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tierco Group, Inc. In 1995, The Tierco Group, Inc. changed its name to Premier Parks
16.
Wet'n'Wild SplashTown
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WetnWild SplashTown is a water park located north of Houston in the Spring CDP of unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. In the early-1980s, the land that WetnWild SplashTown now occupies was a park known as Hanna-Barbera Land. Hanna-Barbera Land only operated for two seasons before its owners, Kings Entertainment Company, sold the park to private investors, the amusement park had all its rides removed, with the new owners installing a water park with several water slides. Much of the parks Victorian buildings, street lights and landscaping remained, Splashtown USA opened to the public shortly after. In the 1990s, the park changed owners twice, first to the Morris Family in 1994, the acquisition was made by Six Flags to eliminate the park from being a competitor to its Six Flags WaterWorld water park, also located in Houston. The park was renamed Six Flags SplashTown in 2000, in January 2006, it was announced that the former Operations Manager of WaterWorld would be the new Splashtown Operations Manager. Several of WaterWorlds attractions were relocated to SplashTown, the park underwent a facelift as well as general cleaning to prepare it for its opening day, April 28,2006. The entrance received a new sign, with the addition of renovated buildings, in January 2007, Six Flags announced that SplashTown, along with six other parks, would be sold for a total of $312 million. The agreement saw Six Flags sell the properties to PARC Management, CNL would then lease the properties back to PARC Management under a 52-year triple-net lease. However, after less than three years into the 52-year contracts, CNL terminated their agreements with PARC Management in November 2010, in early 2011, CNL appointed Premier Attractions Management, LLC as the new operators of the park. The limited liability company is led by former Six Flags employees Kieran Burke, the chairman and CEO, and Gary Story. In November 2013, CNL Lifestyle Properties acquired rights to the WetnWild brand in the United States from Australian firm, in the months to follow CNL rebranded several of its properties to WetnWild water parks, including SplashTown Houston, which became WetnWild SplashTown. The park itself received a multimillion-dollar renovation, height requirement 42 RipQurl, Built in 2008. A cross between the Tornado and the Big Spin, in a way and it was put where the Hydra used to stand. Height requirement 48 Tornado, A ProSlide Tornado involving a tube that fits four people that makes 360°s around a blue-and-yellow checkerboard tornado, thunder Run, Experience wild twists and turns as you speed down this inline tube slide. Texas Freefall, The flagship ride, a tall slide. Twin looping slides that sit side to side, enter in the inclosed casule and the floor inside the capsule drops, sending the rider down the slide and into a pool below. Height requirement 48 Water Works/Big Spin, Slide around and down this unique round slide, zoom Flumes, Slide down the 95-foot flume or try one of the two semi-enclosed slides
17.
S&S - Sansei Technologies
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S&S - Sansei Technologies, formerly S&S Worldwide, is an American company known for its pneumatically powered amusement rides and roller coaster designing. S&S - Sansei Technologies was founded by Stan Checketts as S&S Sports, S&S Sports manufactured bungee jumping and trampoline equipment. S&S Sports was sold in 1996, in 1994, S&S began manufacturing air-powered amusement rides which is now the main stay of the company. S&S - Sansei Technologies is based in Logan, Utah, in 2002, S&S began looking for opportunities to expand their business, citing acquisitions as the best method to do so. In October 2002, S&S founded S&S Arrow, a liability company which purchased the assets of the bankrupt Arrow Dynamics. However, the only Arrow Dynamics coaster design S&S continues to offer is the 4th dimension coaster, in 2004, after four wooden roller coasters were built, S&S closed that division of the company. In 2006, S&S Power opened Celebration Centre, a Family Entertainment Center featuring a number of S&S rides and prototypes, the facility was later sold and is currently no longer operating. On August 25,2006 S&S Power, Inc. announced that Stan Checketts and Gene Mulvihill, CEO Checketts was to direct the company based on the same principles upon which it was founded. to provide the amusement industry with thrilling, high-quality rides the entire family can enjoy. Checketts also announced that the operations of S&S would remain under the direction of Rich Allen. In February 2009, Larsen MacColl Partners acquired a significant equity interest in S&S, the Koffman family and affiliated shareholders were to maintain their ownership interest. Checketts ended his relationship with the company in order to pursue other business interests. As of December 2013, those interests included Soaring Eagle Zipline Inc. of Logan Utah
18.
Arrow Dynamics
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Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster design and manufacturing company based in Clearfield, Utah, United States. Successor to Arrow Development and Arrow Huss, which were responsible for some of the most influential advancements in the amusement, among the most significant was tubular steel track, which provided a smoother ride than the railroad style rails commonly used prior to the 1960s on wooden roller coasters. The Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland was Arrows first foray into roller coasters, Arrow and their successors would continue to build trend-setting ride systems for the next 45 years. In 1975, Arrow Development introduced the first corkscrew style track Corkscrew, though not the worlds first inverting coaster, it was the first in modern times. Arrow Developments ownership changed three times between the 1950s and 1980s, Arrow Dynamics would eventually survive two bankruptcies and spin off a sister company, Fabriweld, primarily to build track, by 1988. Arrow Dynamics eventually met its demise on December 3,2001, S&S Worldwide purchased part of Arrows remaining assets on October 28,2002, and the remainder of the company was dissolved. Late in 2012, Sansei Yusoki Co. Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, Signage at the 2012 and 2013 IAAPA Attractions Expos promoted the new company as S&S Sansei. They started out selling used machine tools, building truck parts, in 1953, they contacted Walt Disney, who was just beginning to plan a new type of amusement park in California. Disney admired Arrows work and hired them to help build the vehicles for Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Disney continued to use Arrow as Disneyland expanded, Arrow designed and built Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Autopia, and Alice in Wonderland in coming years as well as upgrading and renovating the King Arthur Carrousel. In 1959, Arrow Development designed what was to be the first of many roller coasters, built in conjunction with WED Imagineering, the ride was the first modern tubular steel tracked roller coaster. After construction of the Matterhorn, Disney bought a third of Arrow Development in an effort to keep them viable, Arrow had already developed rides for other customers, and had orders for more, so they moved into a larger plant at 1555 Plymouth in Mountain View, California. At the new location, Arrow developed vehicles, flumes and tracks for Its a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, and the Haunted Mansion. Arrow developed the modern log flume ride, eventually installing over 50 around the world, in the 1970s, the company perfected and brought back the looping roller coaster. In 1975, Arrow installed one of the most important rides of its time, Corkscrew, in 1971, Karl Bacon, Ed Morgan and Walter Schulze sold Arrow Development to Rio Grande Industries. At the time, Penn Central owned Six Flags and Rio Grande had plans to build theme parks of their own, purchasing Frontier Village in 1973. In the late 1970s a relationship was formed with Arrow teaching Vekoma how to build tubular track in their native Holland, Rio Grande sold Arrow to the German manufacturing firm, Huss Maschinenfabrik, in 1981. Dana Morgan was appointed president and Ron Toomer was made vice president, dana would leave the company and form Morgan Manufacturing in 1983
19.
Roller Coaster DataBase
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The Roller Coaster DataBase is a roller coaster and amusement park database. RCDB was started in 1996 by Duane Marden and has grown to feature statistics. The website has been mentioned by sources including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Toledo Blade, Orlando Sentinel, Time, Forbes, Mail & Guardian, RCDB was started in 1996 by Duane Marden, a computer programmer from Brookfield, Wisconsin. The website is run off web servers in Mardens basement and a location in St. Louis, as of 2015, Marden still operates the site. In November 2013, RCDB was given a new look, a mobile skin is also being developed. The mobile skin was released for the new year 2016 as well as the removal of the original skin, entries may also feature reader-contributed photos and/or press releases. Each sortable by steel, wooden, or both, each roller coaster entry links back to a page which lists all of that parks roller coasters, past and present, and includes a brief history and any links to fan web pages saluting the park. The site is available in ten languages, English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Japanese and Simplified Chinese
20.
Magic Springs and Crystal Falls
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Magic Springs and Crystal Falls is an amusement park and water park located in Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 50 miles from Little Rock. A single price admission includes all day use of the rides, the park is open weekends from April through October and daily late-May through mid-August. Magic Springs and Crystal Falls was opened in the late 1970s, closed in 1995, Magic Springs and Crystal Falls is owned by EPR Properties and operated by Amusement Management Partners, LLC. Fitraco, a Belgian company, bought the amusement park at an auction in 1995. Ed Hart of Themeparks LLC was approached by Fitraco, and decided to take on the project, Magic Springs and Crystal Falls reopened in 2000 after Hot Springs voters approved a bond issue providing financing for the park. Attendance totaled more than 362,500 in 2000 and beat expectations, in 2001, attendance fell about 25 percent to roughly 272,000, and then to about 254,000 in 2002. The park continued to expand its ride offerings instead of hunkering down, attendance grew again to more than 291,000 in 2003, the year the Timberwood Amphitheater debuted. It topped 400,000 in 2004 when The Gauntlet was added, in March, owners of Magic Springs agreed to sell the attraction to CNL Income Properties. They leased back the park to the owners, who continued to manage it. On June 10,2008, it was announced that PARC Management had taken over the parks management, the leasing agreement between owner CNL and PARC Management was terminated in November 2010 and a new operating agreement with Amusement Management Partners, LLC was announced in January of 2011. In late 2016, CNL sold a bundle of its theme park properties, including Magic Springs, to EPR Properties and it was announced at that time that management responsibilities for Magic Springs would be assumed by Premier Parks, LLC. Arkansas Twister – A classic wooden out and back coaster, relocated from Boardwalk and Baseball in Florida in 1992 where it operated as the Florida Hurricane. Designed by Don Rosser and William Cobb, built by Michael Black, the Gauntlet – A Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster. Built in 2004 by Vekoma for Six Flags New Orleans, the sale never finalized and Magic Springs and Crystal Falls bought the coaster. Features a 110 ft. drop and is the first Vekoma SLC to feature a wheel assembly to give a more comfortable ride. X-Coaster – Only Sky Loop Coaster in North America, diamond Mine Run Roller Coaster - A small but fun and exciting coaster. Big Bad John – An Arrow Dynamics Mine Train Coaster, tallest drop of 41 ft. Originated in Six Flags St. Louis as one half of the River King Mine Train duo. Removed from park in 1988 and sold to Dollywood, relocated from Dollywood in 1998 where it operated as Thunder Express
21.
Pacific Park
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Pacific Park is an oceanfront amusement park located in Santa Monica, California. The park, located on the Santa Monica Pier, looks out on the Pacific Ocean. It is the amusement park on the West Coast of the United States located on a pier. It is owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties and operated by Santa Monica Amusements, Santa Monica Municipal Pier opened in 1909, it was primarily to carry sewer pipes out beyond the breakers and had no amenities. In 1916 Charles I. D. Looff, who built Coney Islands first carousel, started construction on an adjacent pier known as the Pleasure Pier, also called Newcomb Pier, the two piers are now both considered to be part of Santa Monica Pier. The Pleasure Pier thrived during the 1920s but faded during the Great Depression, during the 1930s the pier was mainly used as a ferry landing, while most of the pier was closed down and its attractions sold off. Over the next decades the city of Santa Monica proposed various plans to tear down Newcomb Pier. The city council approved a plan to replace the pier with an island in Santa Monica Bay. Local activists formed Save Santa Monica Bay and shot down that plan, the city acquired ownership of the privately owned pier in summer 1974. In the 1980s the pier was almost destroyed by winter storms, in 1983 the city formed a Pier Restoration and Development Task Force, tasked with returning the pier to its former glory. Summer music concerts were held on the pier, the current 2-acre park opened in 1996 as a full-scale family amusement park. The park is non-gated and there is no charge for admission, there are a dozen rides as well as midway games, food outlets, and shopping. A Seaside Pavilion event space opened in 2009 for corporate and private events and this is a list of rides in operation at Pacific Park as of 2016. West Coaster – A steel roller coaster running around the perimeter of Pacific Park, West Coasters maximum height is 55 feet, and the single train reaches speeds of 35 miles per hour. Pacific Wheel – The original Pacific Wheel was listed on eBay with half the proceeds from the sale donated to the Special Olympics, the current Pacific Wheel measures 85 feet, and the vantage point at the top is more than 130 feet above the pier. Pacific Park claims that the Pacific Wheel is the worlds only solar-powered Ferris wheel, inkies Scrambler – A 12-car Scrambler, refurbished in 2013 Sea Dragon – A pirate ship with a 180° swing. Pacific Plunge – A 45-foot drop tower built by Moser Rides, carries 10 seated people in two gondolas. Sig Alert EV – A bumper car hall named for the traffic alert unique to California, gyro Loop - Players use a joystick to control their speed and rpm while circling and rotating in an attempt to win a prize
22.
Great Wolf Resorts
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Great Wolf Resorts is a chain of indoor water parks. The company owns and operates its family resorts under the Great Wolf Lodge brand, the company is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to a park, each resort features specialty restaurants, arcades, spas, fitness rooms. Black Wolf Lodge was founded in 1997 by brothers Jack and Andrew Turk Waterman, black Wolf Lodge was purchased by The Great Lakes Company in 1999. Later that year, founder and chairman Bruce Neviaser changed the name to Great Wolf Lodge, in 2001, the company built a second location in Sandusky, Ohio, and named it Great Bear Lodge. When a third opened in 2003, the decision was made to place all future parks under the Great Wolf Lodge banner. The name of the Ohio location was changed to Great Wolf Lodge in 2004, the chain has since added twelve additional locations and has one in development. On May 1,2012, Great Wolf announced they were adding a new amenity or attraction to each of their resorts in time for the summer season, in addition, they spent over $4 million renovating the companys first two locations – Wisconsin Dells and Sandusky. On March 13,2012, Apollo Global Management announced an agreement to acquire the company for $703 million, following the announcement, an investor group filed a complaint in Delaware Chancery Court stating that the deal, in which Apollo would pay $5 a share, undervalued the company. On April 12,2012, KSL Capital Partners made an offer of $6.25 a share. KSL then raised its offer to $7 a share on April 8,2012. After Apollo upped its offer again to $7.85 a share on April 20,2012, KSL Capital Partners later announced it would not be making additional offers. The companys shares traded as low as $2.18 in October 2011, on March 24,2015, Centerbridge Partners reached an agreement with Apollo to acquire the Great Wolf chain for $1.35 billion. The acquisition was finalized on May 12,2015 and it will close the existing property by the end of January 2017 for renovations and rebranding. The property will reopen in November 2017. S
23.
Hawaiian Falls
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Hawaiian Falls Waterparks is a chain of faith-based waterparks owned by Harvest Family Entertainment. Hawaiian Falls parks are all using the public-private partnership model, where cities contribute funds and/or other incentives. Each of the seven parks has a separate structure with the cities participation ranging from contributing land. The first two parks were in the City of Garland and the City of The Colony, both in Texas, the third park was located in the South Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. In 2004 Hawaiian Falls experienced financial problems and founder and CEO David Busch sold the company to Herschend Family Entertainment, in 2006 Busch was able to buy the company back from Herschend after purchasing, then reselling The Colony and Garland Parks to CNL Lifestyle Properties. In addition to paying rent to Garland and The Colony, Hawaiian Falls must pay rent to CNL, in 2014 The City of Garland conducted an audit of Hawaiian Falls and was unable to verify Hawaiian Falls gross receipts for the 2011 season. The audit stated that Hawaiian Falls could not provide documentation for group ticket sales, group food and beverage sales, season pass sales. The Dallas park, considered the first inner-city waterpark, was a risky endeavor, David Busch said, From a business standpoint, we shouldnt be doing this. According to Busch, after Hawaiian Falls and the City ended the management agreement, Busch sees his parks as a mission field. The parks are used for baptisms and other religious activities. The parks often feature Christian concerts and events, such as Modesty Matters in 2013, Hawaiian Falls employee program is called Connections. Jones, whose company Pure Group, administers Connections, the program includes after hours Bible study and church services, the five locations Hawaiian Falls operates are located across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area and Central Texas. In 2014 Hawaiian Falls opened a new waterpark in Pflugerville, Texas, in addition to the traditional Hawaiian Falls micropark, each of the new parks includes an adventure park, an arcade, and an event center. The adventure parks, arcades, and event centers are open year-round, CEO Busch has said that he sees these year-round parks as a way for Hawaiian Falls to achieve endless growth, and he is looking to expand outside of Texas. He implied they would make up this shortfall in the winter, stating, in December 2014 Hawaiian Falls closed its year-round adventure parks in Pflugerville and White Settlement. The company claims the parks will re-opening in March dependent on the weather Twelve year-round employees were laid-off, Hawaiian Falls Pflugerville was expected to employ 100 part-time workers year round in addition to its part-time-seasonal and full-time, year-round employees. Hawaiian Falls is awaiting approval on a proposal for a $20 million waterpark in Richland County, the Hawaiian Falls chain began with the groundbreaking of Hawaiian Falls Adventure Park in Garland, Texas on December 18,2002, by David Busch of Horizon Family Inc. a California-based company. Mr. Busch has built and operated other water properties in several states
24.
Rapids Water Park
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Rapids Water Park is a water park in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, that occupies 30 acres near I-95. The park includes a pool, thirty-five water slides, including dual seven-story speed slides. There are also slides for children and toddlers, the park was founded in 1979, on 4 acres of land with four water slides. It has since grown to 30 acres, housing 35 slides, in 2009, the park bought 2.2 acres just north of the park for $2.2 million. In 2000, Miami born rapper, Trina shot her video Pull Over at the Park, in 2009, the MTV reality show Jersey Shore requested to film at the park, but were denied. Rapids Water Park celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2009, inviting the racecar driver Danica Patrick to the park for the festivities, the park appears in the film Donnie Brasco during the water park scene. The parks website breaks the intensity of their rides and attractions into three categories, The most intense rides includes, Big Thunder - A dark ProSlide Tornado with a funnel at the end, the funnel is open,60 feet in diameter and 55 feet in length. Black Thunder - Another ProSlide Tornado slide, taking place completely in the dark, raging Rapids - Four-rider raft slide. Riptide Raftin - Five-rider raft slide, brain drain Rides and attractions designed for all ages includes, Baby Blue - Single rider. Big Red - Single or two-rider raft, body Blasters - Two dark slides,1,000 feet long. Old Yellar - The parks original four open-air water slides, pirates Plunge - Two speed slides, Tubin Tornadoes - Two single- or double-rider raft dark slides. Child- and family-friendly rides and areas includes, Alligator Alley - A smaller-scale version of Criss Crossing, Big Surf - A25,000 square feet wave pool. Criss Crossing - A pool guests can attempt to jump across using slippery, floating objects, flowRider - continuous 35mph simulated wave pool. Lazy River - A lazy river ride that can be used for transportation around the park, Splash Hill - Eight slides, including two racing slides and two dark slides. Splish Splash Lagoon - Three family slides and play pools
25.
Wet'n'Wild (brand)
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WetnWild is a brand used for many water parks across the world owned by Village Roadshow Theme Parks and CNL Lifestyle Properties. It is not to be confused with the Wet n Wild brand originally owned by SeaWorld creator George Millay or Wet N Wild Waterworld, the WetnWild brand originates from WetnWild Water World on the Gold Coast, Australia. It first opened in 1984 as Cades County Waterpark, before being renamed to WetnWild in 1987 after an agreement was reached with chain of Wet n Wild water parks overseas. In 2008, Village Roadshow Theme Parks, the owners of WetnWild Water World, one proposal was to acquire Aussie World and redevelop it into WetnWild Aussie World, however, these plans were cancelled. Internationally the company acquired the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park in the United States, the park was rebranded to WetnWild Hawaii the following year. At around the time, the company also purchased WaterWorld Safari. Village Roadshows ownership of WetnWild Hawaii was short-lived, as the park was sold to CNL Lifestyle Properties for a sum in 2009. Village Roadshow Theme Parks, however, continued to operate the park, in 2013, new WetnWild water parks were built by Village Roadshow Theme Parks in Las Vegas and Sydney. In November 2013, CNL Lifestyle Properties purchased WetnWild Phoenix, with Premier Parks, in addition, CNL Lifestyle Properties also purchased the rights to the WetnWild brand in the United States. Village Roadshow Theme Parks will continue to operate and hold a majority stake in ownership of WetnWild Las Vegas, in 2015, the first Chinese WetnWild water park will open. It will be owned by Guangzhou R&F Properties and operated by Village Roadshow Theme Parks, in 2016, Premier Parks purchased Wild Water Kingdom in Brampton, Ontario, Canada and renamed it WetnWild Toronto
26.
Wet'n'Wild Hawaii
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WetnWild Hawaii is a Hawaiian water park, located in Kapolei on Oahu. The park occupies 25 acres of land and has 25 rides and it is currently the only water park in the state of Hawaii. It is one of seven water parks operating under the WetnWild brand globally, on October 6,1998, construction began for the 25-acre Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park. The water park was the first venture by limited liability company, owned by dentist Jack Harrington and lawyer Brooks Cutter, Waters of Kapolei, LLC invested $14 million in the park. The park officially opened on May 28,1999, in the parks first month of operation, it experienced 20% higher-than-expected attendance, resulting in a total of 440,000 visitors in its first year of operation. This saw the park add a new attraction just one year after opening, in May 2007, WetnWild Hawaii opened Island Adventure Golf, an 18-hole high-end miniature golf facility. In March 2008, an agreement was announced in which the park would be sold to Village Roadshow Limited, the $27 million deal closed in May that year. In early 2009, the announced the park would open under its new name. Village Roadshows ownership of the park was short-lived, the park was sold to CNL Lifestyle Properties for an undisclosed sum in 2009. Village Roadshow Theme Parks, however, continued to operate the park on a lease which concluded in November 2013, premier Parks, LLC will take over operations for the 2014 season. Below is a list of rides at the water park
27.
Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs
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WetnWild Palm Springs is a water park located in Palm Springs, California. The park operated under Cedar Fairs ownership as Knotts Soak City until 2013 when CNL Lifestyle Properties acquired it and it is one of seven water parks operating under the WetnWild brand globally. WetnWild Palm Springs officially opened as Oasis Water Park by Waterpark Associates in 1986, by 2001, Oasis Water Park spanned 16 acres of a 21-acre property, featured 20 attractions and had a seasonal attendance of 200,000 people. In May 2001, Cedar Fair entered into an agreement to acquire the park, the deal was finalised one month later for $9.1 million. The park was immediately branded Knotts Oasis Water Park, with additional advertising driving revenues for the remainder of the year, the opening scenes of the 1987 film North Shore were filmed at the Oasis Water Park wave tank. In the film, the wave tank location where the surf contest takes place was actually depicted as Arizona, actor Matt Adler portrays Arizona surfer Rick Kane who wins the state surfing competition and uses his contest winnings to travel to Hawaiis North Shore. The film also starred Nia Peeples, John Philbin, Gerry Lopez, in the 2001-2002 winter off-season, Cedar Fair invested $2 million into refurbishing and rebranding the park into a Knotts Soak City park, joining other locations in Chula Vista and Buena Park. A Rain Fortress aqua play area by WhiteWater West was also added to the park, the renovation of the park saw increases in attendance and revenue of about 40% in the 2002 season. On August 14,2013, Cedar Fair announced it had sold its Palm Springs Soak City to CNL Lifestyle Properties, the park was allowed to operate under the Soak City name for the until the conclusion of the 2013 season. In November 2013, CNL Lifestyle Properties completed their acquisition of the ownership and operational rights of WetnWild Hawaii, as part of the transaction with Australian firm, Village Roadshow Theme Parks, CNL also acquired rights to the WetnWild brand in the United States. In December 2013, CNL announced the Palm Springs water park would operate as WetnWild Palm Springs from the 2014 season
28.
Wet'n'Wild Phoenix
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WetnWild Phoenix is a water park located in Phoenix, Arizona. The park is situated on approximately 35 acres of land, making it the largest theme park in the state and it is located in North Phoenix at Adobe Dam Regional Park. It is one of seven water parks operating under the WetnWild brand globally, waterWorld Safari originally opened on the site of WetnWild Phoenix. After Village Roadshow Limited invested over $30 million in the park on ownership, at opening the park had over 30 rides. In November 2013, CNL Lifestyle Properties purchased WetnWild Phoenix from Village Roadshow, CNL Lifestyle Properties previously purchased WetnWild Hawaii from Village Roadshow, with both properties set to be operated by Premier Parks, LLC from the 2014 season. Constrictor, Riders speed down the enclosed flume slide into a series of turns, snaking back and forth in the series of spirals. Riders must be at least 42 to ride, maximum Velocity, The first and only ride of its kind in the world, this unique coaster allows guests to race in tandem tubes down two side-by-side slide tracks. Double Riders must be at least 48 to ride while single riders must be at least 60 to ride, monsoon Bay, Ride four-foot high swells in a tube, or body surf for the ultimate ocean experience. Guests under 48 must wear a jacket and be accompanied by a supervising companion. Phoenix Flyers, Guests can choose to brave the fully enclosed slides on their own or grab a friend for a ride down to the awaiting splash pool. Riders must be at least 48 to ride, Desert Racers, From four stories high, the Desert Racers takes guests head-first on a racing mat into an enclosed tube, and then loops them into a six-lane downhill speedway. Riders must be at least 42 to ride, tornado, Guests begin their journey being catapulted from 38 feet in the air through a 160-foot tunnel before plummeting into the eye of the storm. Riders must be at least 48 to ride, Crazy Cactus Roaring River, Enjoy a whole new ride experience on the Crazy Cactus Roaring River. It went under a transformation from a really LAZY river to one thats sure to please the whole family with wave action, tipping buckets, waterfalls. There is no height requirement but, weak or non-swimmers are recommended to wear a jacket that is provided free of cost. Rider must be at least 48 to ride, Raging River, Guests take a family raft winding down over 600 feet of the Raging River’s canyon walls, around sharp turns, and over steep drops giving your group tons of wall time. Riders must be at least 42 to ride, mammoth Falls, Guests drop 57 feet before the raft goes vertical, shooting up a wall, then falling back to experience weightlessness before arriving safely to the calm waters below. Riders must be at least 42 to ride, soak em Playground, An interactive children’s spray ground perfect for the youngest guests and filled with interactive water activities
29.
Nashville Shores
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J. Percy Priest Lake is a reservoir in north central part of Tennessee. It is formed by J. Percy Priest Dam, located between miles six and seven of the Stones River, the dam is located about 10 miles east of downtown Nashville and impounds a lake 42 mi long. The lake and dam are named for Congressman Percy Priest, the lake covers portions of Davidson, Rutherford and Wilson counties and consists of 14,200 acres of water at summer pool elevation 490 feet above mean sea level. The water is surrounded by 18,854 acres of lands,10,000 acres are devoted to wildlife management. The site of the town of Old Jefferson was inundated by the reservoir. The Percy Priest dam project was first authorized by the U. S. Congress in 1946 under the name “Stewarts Ferry Reservoir. ”An act of Congress approved July 2,1958, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers project was completed in 1967. The dam, powerhouse, lake and public lands are operated and supervised by the Corps of Engineers Nashville District personnel, the Natural Resource Management Office maintains three campgrounds, eleven day-use/picnic areas and twelve boat launching ramps. Marinas at the lake include Nashville Shores, Elm Hill, Four Corners, Fate Sanders, Hamilton Creek, geographic data related to Percy Priest Lake at OpenStreetMap
30.
Six Flags America
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Six Flags America is a theme park located in Woodmore CDP, Prince Georges County, Maryland, near Upper Marlboro, and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Founded as a center in 1973 by Ross Perot, ABC television operated the park as a drive-through safari called The Largo Wildlife Preserve beginning in 1974 until its closure in 1978. The property was bought by Jim Fowlers Wild Kingdom, thereafter the site was converted from a wildlife preserve into a park named Wild World gradually over the years. The America in the name was chosen regarding the close proximity to the United States capital. The parks history dates to 1973, when Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, ABC television later bought out Perot and his partners and opened the park as a drive-through safari called The Largo Wildlife Preserve in July 1974, projecting 850,000 visitors a year. The initial projections that were expected never materialized, in 1975, the park added narrated tours through four-car 150-person trains. However, the failed to generate a profit. In 1976, ABC bowed out, citing massive losses, the park stayed open with a decreased staff in 1977 and was closed altogether for the 1978 season. Then at the end of 1978, the park was sold to Jim Fowler, in the 1979 season, the park reopened with the train tour through a safari and a small park with a childrens playground, animal shows, and a petting zoo. The park continued to not be profitable but stayed open summers through the 1979 season when Fowlers company bowed out as well, the park again was closed for the 1980 season. In the Summer of 1980, the park was sold to a group of local businessmen, the park added three carnival flat rides, two kiddie rides, and a merry-go-round. Also that year, the became known as Wild World. In addition to the few rides, four tube waterslides were added and this brought modest improvements in revenue. In 1982, four more flat rides, including a Ferris wheel. The waterslide area was expanded at the time to a water park with the addition of a couple more water slides. The parks attendance improved but the still was losing money. For the 1983 season, the animal drive-through safari did not reopen, in 1984, most of the adult rides were removed from the park and put in storage, leaving only three. Some of the childrens rides also remained, the park opted to move in the direction of being only a water park
31.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
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Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is a 135-acre animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, roughly halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento on Interstate 80. The park includes a variety of roller coasters and other amusement rides, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom first opened in 1968 as Marine World, a small zoo in Redwood City, California. In the mid-1970s, it merged with a failing land-animal park called Africa, USA, in late 1985, the increase in value of the parks property became too great a tax burden. Following an intensive search for a new site led by Michael B, demetrios, construction began on a new and larger park in Vallejo, California, about 55 miles north of Redwood City. The new Marine World opened to visitors in 1986 and remained under control of the non-profit Marine World Foundation, the park defaulted on its debt to the city of Vallejo, after which the city took ownership in 1996. Vallejo hired Premier Parks to manage the property, upgrade it, Premier added some non-animal attractions, particularly amusement rides, to increase attendance. In 1997, the added two major ride attractions, Popeyes Seaport and DinoSphere. Popeyes Seaport offered eleven childrens attractions, including an interactive foam ball play structure, DinoSphere took the place of the parks Australian Walk-A-Bout attraction. DinoSphere was an Iwerks Turbo Theater, capable of seating 100 riders per showing, the theater played the Iwerks film Dino Island for its first season of operation. The theater has since changed films numerous times, the number of amusement rides increased over the next few years, including the addition of several major roller coasters. In 1998, the name changed again, to The New Marine World Theme Park. The 1998 season saw the addition of two roller coasters, Kong and Boomerang, Coast to Coaster. Kong was relocated from Opryland USA after that park shut down in 1997, other major additions that year included Hammerhead Shark, a Zamperla Prototype Hawk 48, VooDoo, A HUSS Top Spin, Monsoon Falls, and White Water Safari, Intamin water attractions. DinoSphere also received a new film, Dino Island II, Escape from Dino Island. After the final operating day of the 1998 season, October 31, the most notable result of the name change was the addition of Warner Bros. With the new name, the received the wooden roller coaster Roar. Built by Great Coasters International Inc, Roar was the first coaster to feature Millennium Flyer trains. The 1999 season also saw the introduction of Tasmanian Devil, a Frisbee flat ride manufactured by HUSS, and Scat-A-Bout, Popeyes Seaport was rebranded Looney Tunes Seaport and received the Roadrunner Express kiddie coaster
32.
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
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Six Flags Fiesta Texas is a theme park built by the Gaylord Entertainment Company and now owned and operated by Six Flags. Fiesta Texas opened on March 14,1992 in San Antonio, spanning 200 acres, the park was originally built to become a destination musical show park with its focus on the musical culture of the state of Texas. The parks current icon is Scream which can be seen all around the park. The vibrant colors of Scream can be seen from the intersection of Loop 1604, most of the other attractions at the park are hidden due to the park being surrounded by a rock quarry wall. Before Six Flags Fiesta Texas opened in 1992, the used to be the site of a limestone quarry created in 1934. The portion where Fiesta Texas is located was mined out in 1988, when the initial ownership group began investigating a possible major theme park development in San Antonio, Texas, they faced significant competition in the Texas market. There were similar established Six Flags parks in Arlington and Houston as well as the nearby Sea World of Texas, which opened in 1988. Based on the competition, the development team believed the opportunity in San Antonio was there, the concept plan and master plan were developed by FORREC International based in Toronto. FORREC handed over detailed design of the project to San Antonio-based architecture and engineering groups, Benham/Jones Kell, actual construction of the theme park took approximately 23 months, running from early 1990 to the parks opening in March 1992. Construction of the park was overseen by a joint venture of two general contractors, Lyda Inc. of San Antonio and Manhattan Construction Company of Tulsa. The park had four sections, Crackaxle Canyon, Los Festivales, Spassburg. Two years later opening in 1992, Fiesta Texas opened a new theme area behind the area of Rockville called Fiesta Bay Boardwalk with multiple new rides. Time Warner took over management and operations of Fiesta Texas in 1996 and added the Six Flags name to the park, premier Parks, which acquired the Six Flags theme park chain from Time Warner, purchased Fiesta Texas from USAA in October 1998. In 1999, Fiesta Texas saw the biggest expansion ever in history with more than 10 new rides and water rides. Also in 1999, Six Flags Fiesta Texas was awarded Amusement Todays Golden Ticket Award for Best Shows in the theme park industry, the park received the award every year until 2008. Six Flags Fiesta Texas announced the rename and expansion to its park to White Water Bay in 2006. The Six Flags company began the process of removing licensed theming company wide across its theme parks from attractions that the park had built in previous years. Six Flags Fiesta Texas had to rename and retheme seven rides as well as the theme area from Wiggles World to Kidzopolis
33.
Six Flags Great Adventure
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Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located in Jackson, New Jersey, owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corp. Situated between New York City and Philadelphia, the complex also contains the Hurricane Harbor water park. The park opened in 1974 under restaurateur Warner LeRoy, Six Flags took over ownership of the park in 1977. Today, the park contains eleven themed areas, numerous artists have performed concerts at the park, including The Ramones, The Beach Boys, Heart, Kansas, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, Falling In Reverse, Alice Cooper, and Justin Bieber. His proposal also included plans for hotels, which were connected to the parks and could be reached by boats, buses, LeRoy wanted his parks to flow naturally through the forest and lakes, capitalizing on the back-to-nature movement of the era. He chose a property owned by the Switlik family, in an area centrally located between the New York City and Philadelphia regions. The property on CR537 had easy access to the newly-constructed Interstate 195, LeRoy collaborated with Hardwicke Industries, who previously built safari parks in Canada and Europe. Together, they set out to open the seven parks in stages over a 5-year period. After a 4,500 invitation-only guest opening on June 30,1974, the Enchanted Forest was designed and built to look as if it appeared through the eyes of a child. Almost everything was designed to be bigger-than-life, a Big Balloon was a tethered hot-air balloon that loomed over the parks entrance and was the biggest of its kind in the world. The Giant Wheel, then the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, one of the few smaller-than-real life attractions was an outdoor walk-through attraction called the Garden of Marvels. It used working G-scale LGB trains and boats amongst models of American landmarks and this miniature village was an idea taken from LeRoys proposed Over the Rainbow floral park. This section created the main midway named Dream Street. Shoppe Lane was named after a shopping extravaganza park, which LeRoy had designed for the property. It lent its large open squares, huge fountain, street performers, fairy Tales was the name of a shop that opened with the park in one of the parks over-sized bazaar tents. It sold stuffed animals and toys, including Superman, other influences from LeRoys proposal would surface in the years to come. Neptunes Kingdom was a concept for a lakeside, aquatic show park, from its design came Aqua Spectacle, the home for dolphin performances and high dive shows. Today, the stadium features dolphins but is now known as Fort Independence, neptunes Kingdom was designed to run the length from Runaway Train to Northern Star Arena, but most of its influences appear in the parks Lakefront area
34.
Six Flags Great America
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Six Flags Great America is a Six Flags theme park located at Gurnee, Illinois, in the Chicago metropolitan area. It first opened in 1976 as Marriotts Great America, Six Flags purchased the park from the Marriott Corporation in 1984, making it the seventh park in the chain. As of 2016, the park has ten themed sections, a 20-acre water park, the annual attendance of the park is estimated to be around 2.7 million. Six Flags Great America is 5th in number of roller coasters at any park in the world. Marriott Corporation began construction on the park in 1974 and opened it on May 29,1976, the park was an immediate success due in part to its Americana themes and grand opening during the American Bicentennial. A seventh area, The Great Southwest, was planned but was not built until 1996, each themed area had its own staff costumes, and the design of buildings, shops, and restaurants were also all unique to each theme. For example, the Klondike Cafe in Yukon Territory served beef dishes in large pans like those used for panning for gold, originally the park included three roller coasters, Willards Whizzer, Turn of the Century, and Gulf Coaster. Gulf Coaster lasted only one due to its unpopularity and a small fire. Eagles Flight was a commercially successful ride and was considered a top 10 ride by Roller Coaster Weekly magazine. Since the removal of Sky Whirl after the 2000 season, Six Flags Great America has continued to operate without a Ferris wheel, an original 1976 Marriotts Great America ride, Orleans Orbit, and renamed Orbit, took its final spin in August 2016. While resembling a Ferris wheel, it delivers a far different ride experience, the entire wheel rests flat, just above ground level, to allow simultaneous loading and unloading of all passenger cabins. Once riders are locked in, the wheel begins to rotate, the spinning wheel picks up speed and is lifted on an arm to a nearly vertical position, sending riders upside-down as they go over the highest point. Enterprise is the common name for such a ride. Originally installed in Orleans Place, the ride has since relocated to Hometown Square. It made way for White Water Rampage, now known as Roaring Rapids, Orleans Orbit is now known simply as The Orbit. Another original 1976 Marriotts Great America ride, Rue Le Dodge, is known as the worlds largest operating bumper car floor, an exact copy of the ride under the same name opened at Californias Great America in Santa Clara, California. In 2005, however, its bumper car floor became a one-way traffic ride, to determine the flow of traffic, a concrete island was added to the center of the floor, removing floor space. This left Rue Le Dodge at present-day Six Flags Great America as the largest operating bumper car floor in the world, the floor currently sits at 51 feet 9 inches × 124’9” or 6,455 sq ft
35.
Great Escape (amusement park)
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Great Escape is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corp. It is located approximately 60 miles north of Albany, in Queensbury, New York, but is advertised as being in Lake George, New York and it is one of two Six Flags parks not to be officially branded with the Six Flags name. The Great Escape was opened in 1954 as Storytown USA, a Mother Goose themed amusement park by businessman Charles Wood who bought the land with his wife for $75,000. In 1957, realizing that the park was geared only toward small children, the park opened its Ghosttown area, in 1983, the park officially changed its name from Storytown USA to The Great Escape. For publicity, the park placed bumper stickers on every car in the parking lot and this practice stopped a few years later due to complaints, and employees switched to offering bumper stickers free of charge to any willing customer. In 1984, The Great Escape opened the Steamin Demon, the first of its eventual seven roller coasters, the showpiece attraction at The Great Escape is the Comet. Re-opened at The Great Escape in 1994, this roller coaster already had a 41-year history as The Comet at Crystal Beach and it was saved shortly after the park closed down forever after the 1988 season. Roller coaster enthusiasts recognize it as one of the best wooden roller coasters in North America, in February 2006, The Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark opened up with positive reviews and sold out weekends throughout the first month. This major addition includes a 38,000 square feet waterpark exclusively for lodge guests and this is New York States first indoor waterpark. The park debuted several new features for the 2006 season and these included character greetings from the likes of the whole Justice League. For the 2007 season, The Great Escape re-themed their dive show to a themed show, branded their pizza restaurant a Papa Johns. Other milestones include,1954 — Charles Wood opens Storytown USA,1957 — Ghosttown section of the park is opened. }1960 — Jungleland section of the park is opened. 1967 — Alice in Wonderland walk through adventure is opened,1982 — Addition of about eight adult spinning rides. 1983 — Name change from Storytown USA to Great Escape Fun Park along with the addition of a few other adult rides,1984 — Addition of Steamin Demon, an Arrow Dynamics 3-inversion roller coaster, which was previously installed at Pontchartrain Beach as Ragin Cajun. 1986 — Opening of Raging River, an Intamin river rafting ride,1994 — A used wooden track and steel frame roller coaster called the Comet was brought from Crystal Beach, Ontario and reassembled at Great Escape and opened, giving the park three roller coasters. 1995 — Great Escape opens its water park, Splashwater Kingdom,1996 — Acquisition by Premier Parks, which later bought and changed its name to Six Flags. 1997 — Addition of Boomerang, Coast to Coaster, a Vekoma Boomerang, was and currently is still the tallest roller coaster at the park. 1998 — Addition of Alpine Bobsled, an Intamin alpine themed bobsled roller coaster,1999 — Addition of Nightmare at Crack Axle Canyon, an indoor Schwarzkopf Jet Star featuring four-person cars, but only operated with two people
36.
La Ronde (amusement park)
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La Ronde is an amusement park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, owned and operated by Six Flags. The park is under a lease with the City of Montreal. It is the largest amusement park in Quebec, and second largest in Canada and it is on 146 acres located on the Northern tip of Saint Helens Island. This is an extension to the island in the space were the small Ronde Island had been. The park hosts LInternational des Feux Loto-Québec, a highly regarded international fireworks competition, La Ronde is one of two Six Flags parks not to be officially branded as a Six Flags park. The park opens from mid-May to late October, with admissions in July. Toddlers under the age of 2 receive free admission, family rides require a height of 36 in, while most intermediate rides require 44 in ) and high-thrill rides require 52 or 54 inches. La Ronde closes its season in the last weekend of October, to celebrate Halloween, in the month of October, the park hosts its annual La Rondes Fright Fest. The festival includes four extravagant haunted houses and more than a hundred horrifically-costumed performers, La Ronde was the entertainment complex build for Expo 67, the world fair held in Montreal from April 27 to October 29,1967. Visitors could experience the rides, restaurants and beer halls of La Ronde until 2,30 a. m. nightly, the rest of the Expo site closed down at 10,30 p. m. After Expo 67 Worlds Fair, the City of Montreal continued to run the amusement park for the next 34 years, the City of Montreal sold La Ronde to Six Flags, an American theme park chain, in a deal completed on May 4,2001. It acquired all of the assets of the park for $20 million USD and has a contract to lease the land from the city. Before the announcement of the Six Flags purchase, the city had considered offers from other bidders including Paramount Parks, Cedar Fair, and Parc Astérix. Since then, Six Flags has invested around $90 million in new rides and improvements, such as Le Vampire, Splash, Le Goliath, La Ronde has a Nintendo-sponsored video game centre with the latest Nintendo video games and attractions. Since 2009, the former 3D theatre has housed Nintendo DS and Wii consoles, advertisements, in May 2002, La Ronde announced the installation of a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster called Le Vampire, which was the first major investment by Six Flags. It is a clone of the Batman – The Ride roller coasters found at many other Six Flags parks, in May 2006, La Ronde opened its ninth roller coaster, Goliath, a 53-metre high Bolliger & Mabillard mega coaster. It reaches speeds of 110 km/h, making it the third tallest, for the 2007 season, La Ronde painted its iconic observation tower bright orange to advertise Pizza Pizza, an Ontario pizza chain that, at the time, was just emerging into the Quebec market. All of the pizza stands inside the park were renamed from Pizza Ronde to Pizza Pizza,2007 was La Rondes 40th anniversary
37.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
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Six Flags Magic Mountain is a 262-acre theme park located in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, California, north of Los Angeles. It opened on May 30,1971, as Magic Mountain, in 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the parks title. With 19 roller coasters, Six Flags Magic Mountain holds the record for most roller coasters in an amusement park. In 2015, the park had an estimated 3.1 million visitors ranking it eighteenth in attendance in North America, the admission price in 1971 was $5 for adults, and $3.50 for children between the ages of 3 and 12. The Showcase Theater, was part of the park and featured Barbra Streisand as the first of many headline performers who would appear at Magic Mountain over the years. In the 1971 season, Magic Mountain obtained permission from Warner Bros. to use the Looney Tunes characters, however, they did not continue using the characters after their first year. In 1972, they began using trolls as the park mascots, the trolls King Blop, also known as King Troll, Bleep, Bloop, and the Wizard became recognizable symbols of Magic Mountain. All King Productions, a contractor, provided the entertainers wearing the costumes until December 31,1972, the characters were used until 1985. Also in 1972, a flume ride named Jet Stream was added. In 1973 the park added its second roller coaster, the Mountain Express, in 1974 the park also installed a new complex of spinning rides in what would later be known as Back Street. The new additions consisted of the Himalaya, Electric Rainbow, in 1975, the Grand Centennial Railway opened in the Back Street. It took riders on a journey to Spillikin Corners and back. With the opening of Great American Revolution in 1976, Magic Mountain became the first park in the world to have a modern, when it was built, there was very little in the way of surrounding brush. Now, the tracks are surrounded by trees and bushes, which prevents the riders from knowing the track layout beforehand, universal then filmed a major movie at Magic Mountain with the Revolution as its centerpiece called Rollercoaster in 1977. In 1978, Colossus, at the time the fastest, largest dual-tracked wooden coaster, following its first season, it was closed and extensively redone. When it reopened, it was a smoother ride. In 1991, the camel hump before the last, or third, though it decreased the speed of the ride after this particular brake, it did allow three trains to run per side at a time, greatly increasing capacity. One of the trains sometimes ran backwards for a few years in the mid-80s, however, until the late 1990s this kind of ride was no longer possible due to the newer ride system in place, as well as different trains
38.
Six Flags New England
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Six Flags New England is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Springfield, Massachusetts. Dating to the late 1800s, it is the oldest amusement park in the Six Flags chain, throughout most of the 20th century, the park was known as Riverside Park. It started out as a grove called Gallups Grove in 1870. Prior to 1900, most of the parks patrons arrived via steamship, in the early 1900s, a few mechanical rides and a carousel were added. The park was purchased in 1911 by Henry J. Perkins who transformed the park from a picnic grove to an amusement park. He built the parks first roller coaster, The Giant Dip, in 1912, under Perkins ownership, the park continued to prosper and additional amusements were added, including a 300-foot-diameter pool that became known as Lake Takadip. The original Giant Dip coaster was replaced in 1920 by a new, a third coaster, Whirlwind Racer, was added in 1928. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 took its toll on the park, for the 1932 season, the park operated only Wednesday through Sunday, and in 1933 it closed. Several attempts to reopen the park failed and it remained closed through 1939, a drive-in movie theater operated in the parking lot from 1937 to 1939. Edward Carroll Sr. purchased the park in 1939 and after making improvements. Carroll is credited with rescuing Riverside and turning it into the largest theme park in New England and he purchased the plans and cars of the 1939 New York Worlds Fair Cyclone Roller Coaster and opened a new coaster in 1941. That coaster, now known as Thunderbolt, is operating at the park, the park continued to add new rides and removed some older ones. The theater and bowling alley were removed in the late 1950s, the 1960s was a popular period for stock car racing at Riverside Park. NASCAR began to hold events at Riverside Park Speedway in 1976, the winner of the first NASCAR-organized event at Riverside was Bob Polverari. In 1977, Riverside Park added its first looping roller coaster, the park continued to be successful throughout the 1970s, and a log flume ride was added in that period. In 1983, Riverside Park added its third coaster, which was also the parks second wooden coaster. The owners originally wanted a coaster exactly like the Coney Island Cyclone and it became known as the Riverside Cyclone. In 1987, Riverside attempted to build a white-water rafting ride called the Lost River Water Ride, plagued with problems, the attraction never opened and was subsequently abandoned
