pgathriller Posted June 28, 2005 Posted June 28, 2005 I am serious about owning my own amusement park when I grow up but I don't know how. How do I get the money, how do I buy the land, how do I get city permission? I want to start out with very few rides and add more when I make money. I just need to know how to get started. Please help!
coaster1 Posted June 29, 2005 Posted June 29, 2005 Investors or donations .. both are very hard to come by. Also bonds, loans and grants from banks and what not ... City permission .. well you have to swoon them and voters most of the time for discounts on land .. don't forget about paying them off and dealing with the FAA in most places.
phazan Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 i dont mean to discorage you but you would have to be VERY rich to start an amusment park. look at the price for just a bumber cars ride. its crazy how expensive things get. on top of the ride cost the land (depending where at) is going to be probably very expensive too. an average size of land for an average house cost around 100,000-300,000$. also there is a great cost for insurance. if the park is succesfull you probably wont be seeing any good sized roller coasters because it takes a lot of saving.
vertgforces Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 ^thats wat the loans/donations/investors/etc. are for
TwistedTrack Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 actually i heard that Walt Disney started his company with forty dollars in his pocket... i saw this at http://www.coasterforce.com/info/designers/disney.php
BiCoastal Kid Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 ^Yeah, but Disney made millions in movies/cartoons/merch before he even thought about seriously building Disneyland. Anyway, about the park, if you can make a good model fo what you want to do, it should help inconvincing people to invest/donate/vote/support in favor of your idea. If you can get a leg-in to a major park developer, that wouldn't hurt either.
Carnage Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 ^thats wat the loans/donations/investors/etc. are for But you'd pretty much have to be rich to get loands/donations,etc. You've got to have some sort of backing to prove that you're not going to run with their money. People won't just fork over thousands of dollars to some guy who thinks he can build an amusement park because of his RCT experience. No offense to the original poster, but this isn't a dream you should really be depending on. Because it is very unlikely you are going to be able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.
CoasterFanatic Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 Parks are not opening ... they are closing. Sounds like a bad investment to me. Seriously, I think the only way to be successful these days is to start small (putt-putt, go-carts, etc) and build off that. The days of getting any venture cap. for building a park are OVER.
ECZenith Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 Get rich and creative and stay out of New England. We have thousands of 300 pound soccer moms that shoot down any proposal to build a park. NOT IN MY BACKYARD! But seriously, I guess the easiest way to start an amusement park would be to find partners and investors. Get a sub-tropical location with a big tourist flow. Start with go-karts and a mini golf course, etc... and if you started to make some money, get some used rides and go from there. Or, make some nice, rich celebrity friends, get them drunk and present the idea.
Kroger8 Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 Not to go too far from the original subject, but the area of Greenville SC has been well overlooked for a park, just a couple of months ago the city built a waterpark with a lazy river and two slides, its always extremely crowded, they are having to turn people away and are already trying to expand it. I think a small theme park would do well in this area. If you do start one, I think you would have a lot of people to come to a park here.
bgwfreak Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 actually i heard that Walt Disney started his company with forty dollars in his pocket... i saw this at http://www.coasterforce.com/info/designers/disney.php He started his company with $40, not Disneyland. I work for Bank of America and basically Bank of America is responsible for Disneyland. Nobody wanted to give him the money, at the time a "theme park" was a radical idea and costed far too much money in their eyes. Well of course Mr. Disney proved everyone wrong when it was a huge success. Basically you need to have some capital (money) of your own, maybe have some rich investors and then get loans as well. Much like everyone else said. It also helps if you're in a region where you wouldn't have too much competition (like you wouldn't open up across the street from SFMM). It's not impossible to do, it's just kind of difficult today with the way the economy has been. But the past year and this year have turned into good years for the amusement industry, so I can see us staying out of the slump if this keeps up. I think the "sting" of 9/11 is over, and most people aren't afraid of terrorists enough to not go on vacation anymore.
CoasterExpert13 Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 Telling him that he shouldn't pursue in starting his own theme park because it's "nearly" impossible unless you are rich, Is like say the same that I can't pursue becoming a Roller Coaster Designer. My college classes are for becoming a Computer Engineer..but that's just the beginning...there are alot of steps to take in order to become a Coaster Designer..as well as a Park Owner. Now I know of a few parks that are owned by families and have started without much...but now has become sucessful....so with all that said...Anything is possible....you don't have to be rich..BUT it would be nice if you were.
Homey G. Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 Hey Kroger, I live in Greenville. Are you talking about the waterpark near Simpsonville? If so I know what you're talking about, but I'm not sure the Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson area could support anything more than a decently sized waterpark with maybe a few flats. I'd love for this area to become the next Dells. People drive through here on their way to Myrtle Beach from all over the country (God knows why they HAVE to go to Myrtle Beach), so it could work, I guess. Land out near Woodruff Road and Simpsonville is only gonna go up though. But it's very interstate accessible.
bgwfreak Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 ^ I'd actually like to see a park built in Columbia. It's only like 1.5 hours from my house (now that I-485 is finally open to the South). It'd be awesome to have two parks within a short driving distance. I'm 25 minutes from Carowinds. I think we might see it within the next 10 years or so if the Hard Rock park gets off to a good start, maybe we'll see a park in Columbia. I'm so jealous of people that live in PA or CA and have like 7 parks to choose from.
GoodYellowKoRn182 Posted July 1, 2005 Posted July 1, 2005 I live in Ohio but i'm within driving distance of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, Cedar Point, Paramount's King's Island, Paramount's King's Dominion, Hersheypark, Kennywood, Idlewild, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
Kroger8 Posted July 1, 2005 Posted July 1, 2005 Yea I was talking about the one near Simpsonville, I think the area could support a small "fun" park, something like the size of the Pavilion or smaller, put it in a central location, near say Laurens or somewhere, where it would be accessible from Anderson, Greenville, Spartanburg, and Greenwood and Abbeville as well. "The Dells of the South" that would be great. There may be land out there, but think about all the traffic problems on Woodruff Rd. already, its a nightmare now, think about if a park came in. I wonder if the park near Simpsonville has any restrictions because it is a county-owned park, I wonder if its any different from a privately owned waterpark.
ECZenith Posted July 1, 2005 Posted July 1, 2005 I've got to drive at least 2 and a half hours to get to any park. Ones close to me are Lake Compounce, SFNE, and Canobie. The perfect spot for a park in New England is I-95 between Conn. and Rhode Island. Six Flags was originally supposed to build there and it got shot down. Would have been interesting seeing if Riverside could survive the competition. At least Edaville Railroad (tiny park in Carver, Mass) seems to be keeping their head above water. They were in huge financial trouble a couple years ago but seem to be adding rides gradually. I hope they don't get the Lincoln Park/Crescent Park/Whalom Park treatment, New England used to be the epicenter of amusement parks, If only I was born a decade earlier.
FlyingScooter Posted July 1, 2005 Posted July 1, 2005 i say go for it. I agree w/Ted. Start w/ a putt putt course or go cart track. The experience you gain from a start like that, ie: food vending, permits, insurance, managing employees etc, would be great. You can find a ton of used rides at http://www.italintl.com I was thinking of getting a FlyingSCooter set up for my yard, but my yard is like 5' too small. As far as rides go, that one is quiet and the neighbors wouldn't care. Best of Luck! Maybe this will help. http://www.jeremyreid.com
pgathriller Posted July 2, 2005 Author Posted July 2, 2005 Thanks for all your help (I think). I wasn't planning on starting out big. Maybe a couple of used hamptons and maybe a really cheap thrill ride. I just want something that can make some money. From there I will grow. Some used rides you only pay in bills every month. So I would make money from the ride every month to pay the bill and when it is payed for and I can keep the money it rakes in. I look at http://www.usedrides.com . It is the best used ride site on the web. If you think about it, they have 2 hampton rides for $5,000. I think if I start small I can do it. Then they have a rock-o-plane for only $10,000. With those 3 rides it would only be $15,000 and I will be paying it monthly. Keep posting!
Kroger8 Posted July 4, 2005 Posted July 4, 2005 Yea but most of those rides you were referring to need paint and other "upgrading," potentially costing what, $25,000? All for three, small rides.
CoasterFanatic Posted July 4, 2005 Posted July 4, 2005 If you buy a $10,000 Rock-O-Plane you better believe that it won't be able to run "out-of-the-box". It will need a lot of maintenance. You will have to have custom pieces fabricated because they haven't sold parts for them in years. Once you start putting "Custom" parts on it, the insurance company is gonna be all over you. Now you got a $50-60,000 Rock-O-Plane and your insurance premiums have already doubled. // understands why there isn't too many Knoebels and Kennywoods around
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