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/.