Theme and amusement parks' population is being diminished

[coastercrazy216]

I have recently noticed that their are so several parks that closed after the 2006 season. Three examples are Southport pleasure beach, Nara Dreamland (home to Aska), and Kobe Portopialand (home to BMRX. Can any one confirm more park closures and their knowledge on the future of the amusement industry?

 

Photos curtisy of Theme Park Review and rcdb.com

BMRX R.I.P. 1987-2006

Aska R.I.P. 1998-2006

Cyclone R.I.P 1937-2006

[PKIDelirium]

Nice, another overreacting doom and gloom thread!

[Xme3]

wow, that really sucks. But I know for a fact that when the TPR crew visited at least the park (ghetto disneyland) where Aska and BRMX were, nobody was there (watch the video). So its really not a suprise that these coasters are gone but I don't know if you can go on and say that the WHOLE theme park industry is in a state of shambles.

 

Parks open and close every year and its never been a huge deal. Sure its sad to see occasionally a vintage coaster go, I don't think that the industry is doomed.

[FLIPDUDE]

you know, despite the justied closing of nara dreamland and the parks in the path of hurricane katrina, I must agree that indeed this appears to be a sad year for a musement parks, even if you put those aside. rides are closing, ownerships are changing, properties are being sold...

 

We need a hero!

 

 

This looks like a job for Stationman!

[coaster05]

It is business and unfortunately people always want the biggest. It is just like watching retail as one company purchases or forces another company to close down until we end up with a country full of Super Wal Marts so we can all shop for everything in one place so we can get home faster to sit on our couches and ignore our children.

 

It is sad in the amusement industry and I will miss Southport and Erieview which I visited this year. that being said Southport was one of my bottom 3 parks on the trip to the UK and Erieview was cute, but not a place that you would repeat visit. Unfortunately these things just happen. SF parks are for sale because of very poor management as well as Paramount so hopefully the new owners will run them better and this will be a positive.

 

Bottom line all parks need customers, they also need to be run correctly to stay in business. Go visit smaller parks and try to help them out, its the only way they will survive. Posting an amusement park apocolypse thread just focuses on the negative that most of us know already.

[OFortuna]

The parks closing in Japan is no big surprise. The economy there has been in a downturn for a long time, and many of the parks that closed were rumored to be in trouble (rightfully so) for a long time. I remember rumors that even Parque Espana was in trouble. Concievably, it still could be, for all I know.

 

That parks in the US are closing is no big surprise either. Six Flags' struggles were known for years and I think a lot of people had accepted that at some point the debt would catch up with them. With places like Williams Grove, well....if you had been to Williams Grove, you'd understand why.

[waterviper]

"Theme and amusement parks' population is being diminished"

 

......and Leon is gettinggg largggggggerrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

[rollermonkey]

You have to look at the flip side, though. Kemah Boardwalk is a new entrant to the amusement park business, there are new parks in West Virginia and Kansas, there's new parks headed for Singapore and Shanghai, and don't forget that at least three seemingly world-class parke opened around China last year. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, too.

 

There's always some park closing, and another one opening elsewhere. It's always been the nature of the business. Try looking at the historical period of the US just before the Great Depression, and how many parks there were. Then look at how many closed in the next 20 years. (Literally 100's!) You'll see that what's going on now is relatively minor, it just seems bad because you are more attuned to what's happening right now.

[FLIPDUDE]

^^

Help! It's a pop culture refference which I do not get!

 

 

...though I did once have a ocmic charecter named Leon, who was kinda chubby.

 

^With all due respect, aside from the GIANT exception of Dubailand, and tha tone cool waterpakr ina ustralia, I have heard of no new parks opening, which makes me assume they're not allt hat spectacular

[OFortuna]

The park industry in Asia, particularly in booming economies like India and China, have very few ties to the West, so getting information about new facility development would be tremendously difficult. Just last year, clones of S:UF, Thorpe's Colossus, a Motorbike coaster, a Screaming Squirrel, among others, were built and opened in China.

[niiicolaaah]

Parks open and close every year. I don't think this is a big deal.

[Spookbaby]

I think we should all go cry about it.

[SLUSHIE]

This is the sign of the apocalypse.

[viking86]

BMRX R.I.P. 1987-2006

 

BMRX is currently in storage at Camelot so I think its a bit early to say RIP to that ride.

 

http://www.rcdb.com/id3670.htm

[ginzo]

You have to look at the flip side, though. Kemah Boardwalk is a new entrant to the amusement park business, there are new parks in West Virginia and Kansas, there's new parks headed for Singapore and Shanghai, and don't forget that at least three seemingly world-class parke opened around China last year. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, too.

 

There's always some park closing, and another one opening elsewhere. It's always been the nature of the business. Try looking at the historical period of the US just before the Great Depression, and how many parks there were. Then look at how many closed in the next 20 years. (Literally 100's!) You'll see that what's going on now is relatively minor, it just seems bad because you are more attuned to what's happening right now.

 

I agree that there is good news along with the bad. We got three excellent new woodies this year. Holiday World attracted 1,000,000 visitors to a park in the middle of fricken' nowhere that is near no major cities whatsoever. SFOG got a new B&M hyper, and SFMM got a massive flyer.

 

And, look at next year. Maverick, Mystery Mine, Griffon, Flying Turns (maybe), Renegade. Mall of America is getting a Eurofighter in 2008.

 

There's plenty to be excited about.

[coasterdude5]

^^ Yeah, just because parks and coasters stop operation and become "SBNO" or even dismantled, doesn't mean that they'll never reopen. Heck, look at Ghost Town in the Sky, it's been closed for years and it's reopening.

 

None the less, parks will close, whether because of changing demographics or new parks opening, parks will be coming and going often.

[waterviper]

^^

Help! It's a pop culture refference which I do not get!

 

It is a line from the famous movie Airplane that was made in the 80s!!

[apollo210]

Ok, even with all of the parks opening and closing, a lot of parks (some of them really good) are closing. Here are all of the parks I can think of that closed within the past three years:

 

Australia's Wonderland (1985-2004)

Pirate's Fun Park (1920s-2004)

Six Flags New Orleans (2000-2005, the biggest failure ever)

LibertyLand (1971?-2006)

Six Flags Astroworld (1968-2005)

HIpe Hopes Orchard (?-2005)

Kobe Protopialand (1981-2006)

Nara Dreamland (1961-2006)

Erieview (?-2006)

Myrtle Beach Grand Prix (1976-2006)

Myrtle Beach Pavillion (1948-2006)

Southport's Pleasureland (1912-2006)

American Adventure (1987?-2006)

York's Wild Kingdom (1950s-2006)

 

So as I can think of, more modern Parks are closing than Traditional Parks. But still, a lot of parks are opening every year so we shouldn't really worry unless if a sucessful park closes (even though Myrtle Beach Pavillion is an example of that happening already)

[coasterdude5]

^ Libertyland was 1976. Close, though.

[the sound]

I sort of have to agree with the person that made this thread. There have been a lot of parks closing recently, but also, there has been a huge boom in China and Asia to cover for the loss of parks in the States and the UK.

[Homer]

Boo hoo to closing parks...

 

*seriously*

 

Parks close all the time. But go with the flow, new parks open up too. Kemah Boardwalk looks like it may be a great replacement for Astroworld and Hard Rock Park may become the destination park for Myrtle Beach.

 

Don't cry over park closings, a new park may be nearby soon. And then again, some (like Williams Grove) just deserve to be put out of misery.

[coastercrazy216]

Boo hoo to closing parks...

 

*seriously*

 

Parks close all the time. But go with the flow, new parks open up too. Kemah Boardwalk looks like it may be a great replacement for Astroworld and Hard Rock Park may become the destination park for Myrtle Beach.

 

Don't cry over park closings, a new park may be nearby soon. And then again, some (like Williams Grove) just deserve to be put out of misery.

 

You are right and infact my friend and I have been planing a theme park called Saphyria. The park will include 5 roller coasters including a B&M invert, a Maure Shone spinning coaster, a vekoma invertigo, a Euro fighter, and a custom family invert from vekoma. Flat rides include an S&S tower, dueling swining ships, a disko coaster, either a Zaperela giant discovery or a Huss giant frisbee, and a sally interactive dark ride. water rides include an intamin white water rapids ride w/ wirlpool and drop, an O.D. hopkins logflume, and the jewel of the park an intamin Chute the Chutes simmaler to pirates of the carabian only it will be housed in an artificial mountain and will have a 135 foot 87 degree drop. This ride will be themed to the dragon Saphyra from the book Eragon.

 

for more info visit our web site at www.saphyriapark.com

or email us a saphyriapark@gmail.com

 

I designed a forth of the rides in the park

 

BMRX R.I.P. 1987-2006

 

BMRX is currently in storage at Camelot so I think its a bit early to say RIP to that ride.

 

http://www.rcdb.com/id3670.htm

 

i realized that. I was just making the point that yet ANOTHER park has closed

 

I sort of have to agree with the person that made this thread. There have been a lot of parks closing recently, but also, there has been a huge boom in China and Asia to cover for the loss of parks in the States and the UK.

 

But, that dosent make up for some of the lost parks in the US, dose it

 

ADMIN EDIT: Please do NOT post 4 times in a row...that's what the "Edit button" is for!

[robbalvey]

Australia's Wonderland (1985-2004)

Pirate's Fun Park (1920s-2004)

Six Flags New Orleans (2000-2005, the biggest failure ever)

LibertyLand (1971?-2006)

Six Flags Astroworld (1968-2005)

HIpe Hopes Orchard (?-2005)

Kobe Protopialand (1981-2006)

Nara Dreamland (1961-2006)

Erieview (?-2006)

Myrtle Beach Grand Prix (1976-2006)

Myrtle Beach Pavillion (1948-2006)

Southport's Pleasureland (1912-2006)

American Adventure (1987?-2006)

York's Wild Kingdom (1950s-2006)

And how many of them are GOOD parks....hmm....let's see?

 

Out of the entire list, I'd say the park of the bunch was probably Kobe Portopialand! And even their coasters, IMO were FAR overrated (assuming it was because some people who went out there thought they were closing forever and no one else would get to ride them to say they were full of sh1t)

 

Bummer about Aska, too, but man...Nara was a DUMP! At least there is a clone of that ride at Six Flags Great America.

 

Jazzland was also a nice park (SFNO), but I don't think you can really blame it's closure for the same reasons as the other.

 

And Astroworld, whlie it was an "ok" Six Flags park, IMO, it was lower on the list of ones I would visit, and really the only reason I'd ever go there is because I was in Texas visiting the other, much nicer Six Flags parks.

 

So yeah....when I look at that list, I honestly say "Meh....no real loss...."

 

--Robb

[coastercrazy216]

Rob,

 

My point of this topic is that we lost 7 or 8 parks in 2006 which compared to other recent years is a lot

[the sound]

Bummer about Aska, too, but man...Nara was a DUMP

 

That's an understatement.