Post 1A: Alabama Adventure and Splash Adventure
Post 1: Alabama Adventure and Splash Adventure
Alabama Adventure and Splash
Adventure is located in Bessemer, Alabama.
Alabama Adventure and Splash
Adventure opened on May 23, 1998, under the original name VisionLand. Alabama
Adventure and Splash Adventure is an amusement park/water park combo and is
owned by Koch Family Parks, who previously had minority ownership in another
major small family amusement park, Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari.
Alabama Adventure and Splash
Adventure has an interesting history that not a lot of amusement parks can share.
Alabama Adventure and Splash Adventure was constructed with main efforts coming
from Larry Langford, who was the Fairfield mayor at the time. Together with the
help of eleven different cities, the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park
Authority was formed, and $60 million was borrowed to construct the park. How
did they come up with the name VisionLand, you may be asking? VisionLand was
directly derived from Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people
perish.” This ended up being foreshadowing for Langford, who later received a
lot of criticism in his government position for “not separating church and
state” which is required within the U.S Constitution. AASA had humble beginnings,
opening with four distinct themed lands within the park, including Celebration
City Theme Park, Steel Waters Water Park, Marvel City (the parks’ children’s
area), and Main Street which was a shopping and dining complex similar
to Downtown Disney.
Even though the park continued to
see expansions such as additional rides after its opening date, the park still
filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy in 2002 and decided to only operate the waterpark
for that season. Interestingly, Langford would be indicted for fraud in 2010, although
it seemed to have been disconnected with the park itself. After 2002, a few
companies had eyes on purchasing the theme park, including Themeparks LLC. who
had success with Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky. Themeparks LLC then
decided that the bidding price for the park was too high, so the offer was then
placed to a company named Southland Entertainment Group for roughly $5.25
million. This was extremely controversial, as it was a massive loss in terms of
public funds. When Southland Entertainment Group reopened the park for the
following season, the names of the individual lands within the park were
changed to Magic Adventure Theme Park, Splash Beach Water Park, and Celebration
Street. Marvel City’s name stayed unchanged. With the name changes
came new ride additions to each park. This was also the first year that you
could either buy one ticket for both parks, or just one ticket for one side (meaning
only admission to the amusement park OR the water park).
In 2005, the park received its first
major addition since its’ opening, a rollercoaster named Zoomerang, which was a
Vekoma Boomerang. An older log flume that had already been at the park was also
reopened, and 2005 marked the first year that the park had been ranked the second
most popular tourist attraction in Alabama, with the first being the Birmingham
Zoo.
2006 was another big year for the park,
where Southland Entertainment Group had announced big expansions including a
hotel with an indoor waterpark and other amenities, along with new summer activities
such as concerts. With this change came both name changes and theming changes to
the entire park. The park as a whole would be renamed Alabama Adventure, and
Magic Adventure Theme Park would be renamed Magic City USA.
A management change came again in 2008 when Southland Entertainment Group sold the park to Adrenaline Family
Entertainment. Southland Entertainment Group sold the park in order to focus on
building the hotel, RV park, and the other amenities that they had originally
planned for Alabama Adventure. Both the CEO and CFO, Larry Cochran and Russell
Kuteman respectively, had worked for Six Flags previously, so they were well
versed in the industry. With the management change came another big expansion
to both the theme park and the water park. It should also be noted that
Adrenaline Family Entertainment combined both major parks into one ticket price,
and the name of the park had been unofficially changed to Alabama Adventure
Water and Theme Park on the website.
In 2012, yet another management
change occurred. Adrenaline Family Entertainment sold the park to General
Attractions LLC, which was run by the former owners of the park when it was sold
in 2008. This is when one of the biggest changes to the park was made, when
General Attractions LLC announced that they would be closing the amusement park
section, leaving only the water park. This caused another name change to simply
Splash Adventure and more water ride expansions.
2014 brought another management shift
to Koch Family Parks. The Koch family had been in the industry for a while, as
the founder of the company, Dan Koch, had been the owner of Holiday World and
Splashin’ Safari previously. The new management added five new kids' rides. They
also worked on restoring the park's wooden rollercoaster, Rampage, with opened
after the restoration was completed in 2015. In 2018, the park added even more
rides, and the park has seen more expansion almost every year since it was
purchased by Koch Family Parks.
Timeline
1998:
· Park opens, is named VisionLand.
· Attractions opened:
o
Castaway
Island
o
Neptune’s
Plunge
§ Former name(s) – Mineshaft
o
Salamander
Bay
§ Former name(s) – Quarry Bay
o
Warrior
River
o
Rampage
o
Typhoon
o
Loc-O-Motion
o
Barnstormer
o
Marvel
City Speedway
o
Adventure
Express
o
Balloon
Wheel
o
Motorcross
o
Convoy
o
Bump-A-Round
o
Woodchuck
Run
§ Former name(s) – Cahaba Falls
o
Giant
Wheel
o
Hurricane
o
Vertigo
o
Mind
Spinner
o
Fender
Bender
o
Tidal
Wave
o
Pirate
Ship
o
Midway
Carousel
o
Marvel
Mania
o
Voyager
1999:
· Wild River Gorge rapids ride
overturns, injuring 5 guests
· Attractions opened:
o
Rockwall
o
Venturer
o
Wild
River Gorge
o
Dino
Domain
· Attractions closed:
o
Typhoon
2000:
· Attractions closed:
o
Dino
Domain
o
Rockwall
o
Venturer
2001:
· Wild River Gorge float overturns with
employees inside, no one was injured
· Wild River Gorge reopens after minor
adjustments
· Attractions opened:
o
Stratosfear
Screamer
2002:
· Chapter 9 bankruptcy was filed, only the
waterpark operated this season
· Southland Entertainment Group purchases
the park for a total of $5.25 million.
2003:
· VisionLand name is changed to
Visionland
· Attractions opened:
o
Splash
Kahuna Waves
o
Patriot
o
Scrambler
o
Acapulco
Drop
· Attractions closed:
o
Loc-O-Motion
o
Voyager
(put in storage)
2004:
· Attractions opened:
o
Splashdown
2005:
· Attractions opened:
o
Zoomerang
2006:
· Visionland name changed to Alabama
Adventure
· Attractions closed:
o
Patriot
2007:
· Attractions opened:
o
Vertigo
(again)
2008:
· Southland Entertainment Group sells
the park to Adrenaline Family Entertainment
2009:
· Wild River Gorge capsizes, a family
of three and one other person were injured after being stuck underwater for 20
seconds.
· Attractions opened:
o
UpSurge!
2011:
· Giant fight between youths happens,
is blamed on a “$10 before 10” promotion
· Attractions opened:
o
Buzzsaw
Falls
· Attractions closed:
o
Stratosfear
Screamer
o
Barnstormer
o
Marvel
City Speedway
o
Adventure
Express
o
Balloon
Wheel
o
Motorcross
o
Convoy
o
Bump-A-Round
o
Buzzsaw
Falls
o
Woodchuck
Run
o
Wild
River Gorge
o
Giant
Wheel
o
Hurricane
o
Scrambler
o
Vertigo
o
Mind
Spinner
o
Fender
Bender
o
Tidal
Wave
o
Pirate
Ship
o
Midway
Carousel
o
Marvel
Mania
o
Zoomerang
2012:
· Adrenaline Family Entertainment sells
the park to General Attractions LLC.
· Amusement Park side of the park
closes, water park stays open
· Alabama Adventure name changes to
Splash Adventure
· Attractions opened:
o
Mist-ical
Maze
o
Wipeout
Adventure Course
o
Zipline
2013:
· Attractions closed:
o
Zipline
2014:
· General Attractions LLC. sells the
park to Koch Family Parks
· Splash Adventure name changed to
Alabama Adventure and Splash Adventure
· Attractions opened:
o
Centi-Speed
o
Little
Bumpers
o
Little
Harbor
o
Splash
Express
o
Jump
Around
o
Crank
and Roll
o
The
Vault
o
Helicopter
Heroes
2015:
· Rampage reopens after being renovated
· Attractions closed:
o
Acapulco
Drop
o
Helicopter
Heroes
2016:
· Attractions opened:
o
Drop
Zone
o
Teacups
2018:
· Attractions opened:
o
Scrambler
o
Yo-Yo
o
Splash
Island
o
Tilt-a-Whirl
o
Rockin’
Tug
o
Royal
Express
· Attractions closed:
o
Splashdown
2019:
· Attractions opened:
o
Galleon
o
Free-Fall
o
Twister
2021:
· Attractions opened:
o
Rocket
Racer
Rollercoasters
· Centi-Speed
o
Operating
since 2014
o
Steel,
Sit-Down
o
Make:
Fajume
o
Model:
Wacky Worm
o
Previously
at:
§ Gillian’s Wonderland Pier
§ Gillian’s FunLand
o
Previously
named:
§ Wacky Worm
· Rampage
o
Operating
since 1998
o
Wood,
Sit-Down, Extreme
o
Make:
Custom Coasters International
o
Length:
3,500 feet
o
Height:
120 feet
o
Drop:
102 feet
o
Speed:
56 mph
o
Cost:
$4,300,000
o
Designer:
Larry Bill
· Marvel Mania
o
Opened:
1998
o
Closed:
2011
o
Steel,
Sit-Down, Family
o
Make:
E&F Miler Industries
o
Model:
16ft Outside Spiral CCW
o
Relocated to Elitch Gardens as Blazin’ Buckaroo
·Zoomerang
o
Opened:
2005
o
Closed:
2011
o
Steel,
Sit-Down, Extreme
o
Make:
Vekoma
o
Model:
Boomerang
o
Length:
935 feet
o
Height:
116.5 feet
o
Speed:
47 mph
o
Inversions:
3
o
G-Force:
5.2
o
Elements:
§ Cobra Roll
o
Previously
at:
§ World Expo Park
§ Wonderland Sydney
o
Previous
names:
§ Titan
§ Demon
o
Relocated
to:
§ Wonderla Amusement Park Hyderabad as Recoil
o
Capacity:
760/hr
o
Designer: Peter Clerx
Works Cited
“Adrenaline Family Entertainment.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Sept. 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenaline_Family_Entertainment.
“Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure – Safe, Clean, Friendly, Fun!” Alabama Adventure Splash Adventure, alabamaadventure.com/.
“Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure.” Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure (Bessemer, Alabama, United States), rcdb.com/4702.htm.
“Alabama Splash Adventure.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Nov. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Splash_Adventure.
IN RE WEST JEFFERSON AMUSEMENT/PUBLIC PARK AUTH, Case No.: 02-04303-BGC-9 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. Jun. 13, 2002)
“Larry Langford.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Nov. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Langford.
Martin, Virginia. “After Years of Tumult, Alabama Splash Adventure Is on the Rebound.” BirminghamWatch, 15 June 2018, birminghamwatch.org/years-tumult-alabama-splash-adventure-rebound/.
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