Alaska..no amusement parks?

[cathyJ]

Recently at an used book store I purchased a book about those old drive-in movie theatres. Seems like back in the 60s and 70s, such places were all the rage...in Alaska. Even in the winter !!

 

With that being said I am surprised that a city as big as Anchorage never had an amusement park to call its own. If that city had one, I couldn't find anything about it online.

 

Does this make Anchorage the largest American city to never had a park to call its own?

 

I know Hawaii doesn't have any amusement parks but for some reason I remember hearing that Honolulu had a small kiddie park back in the 60s.

[DBru]

According to RCDB, there has never been a park in Alaska OR Hawaii...

[downunder]

^That is only parks that have (or had) coasters on rcdb, was there any that never had coasters, that might be a bit harder to track down?

 

At least there is one coaster that mentions Alaska - Disaster Transport at Cedar Point, I know many people wouldn't mind that one being relocated to Alaska.

[SharkTums]

I know I have pictures of myself at a small kiddie park somewhere in Alaska as a kid. Again, no coaster, but I'm pretty sure they had some bad kids rides.

[Alpenguy]

Alaskaland in Fairbanks has a train and a shop area kind of like the older part of Knott's. There's also mini golf, a carousel, and the only coaster enthusiast attraction: the salmon bake.

 

Hmm, apparently it's called Pioneer Park now, lame.

[Simon Baynham]

Hi all

 

I'm a collector of amusement park and roller coaster-related books and films. During my search to discover interesting titles, I came across a series of books by Carole Marsh who appears to have penned a number of rollercoaster/park titles covering every state of the US.

 

Carole Marsh - "Alaska Rollercoasters: The Ups and Downs of Our States Most Popular Amusement Ride."

 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Alaska-Rollercoasters-The-Ups-Downs-of-Our-States-Most-Popular-Amusement-Ride/Carole-Marsh/e/9780793352272/

 

I must stress that I have never physically happened across these 50 or so titles... Somehow I doubt their very existence.

 

Simon B

[roland303]

While I don't know about Alaska (never been there) Hawai'i does have a waterpark (ironically enough) and it did have a decent state fair for a while. I know, I know, they're not amusement parks per se but some stuff was related to what this site discusses.

 

I would think Alaska is A) too cold and wet, b) earthquake hazards (near the coast), and c) too many critters

[Kennyweird]

I'm not surprised by Alaska's lack of coasters. The Alaskan summer is very short, not nearly long enough for an amusement park to make an appreciable profit.

[Airtime&Gravity]

I know I have pictures of myself at a small kiddie park somewhere in Alaska as a kid. Again, no coaster, but I'm pretty sure they had some bad kids rides.

 

The closest thing Alaska has to a park is AlaskaLand/Frontier Land. Could this be what you are talking about? It's located right next to the Alaskan Salmon Bake if that helps. Granted, this park is in Fairbanks which is a long drive from Anchorage. I wouldn't be surprised if this park or even the Anchorage Zoo(a nice family owned zoo) added a small coaster some time in the future.

[RIP Psyclone]

People move to Alaska to get away. I think Alaska is more about nature than manmade amusement parks. As for Hawaii...it's sort of geographically limited. Not much space to build an amusement park. Also, native Hawaiians are sensitive about disturbing graves of those who died hundreds of years ago, so new construction always has hurdles.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Just for the record, Alaska is one of the top "non coaster places" I want to visit in the U.S.

 

It looks just beautiful, and it was one of the only highlights of the Simpson's movie for me.

 

I actually hope the place stays coaster-free.

[XII]

They could have an indoor park similar to Nickelodeon Universe. I'm sure that would be possible. But I don't think we'll ever see an outdoor theme park in Alaska.

[griffon]

I'll be in Alaska next month on my honeymoon, and I too was disappointed but not surprised about the lack of Amusement Parks and rollercoasters. However.... I quickly found the next best thing.

 

www.alaskazip.com/

 

I'll be sure to write a report about "Alaska's Best Thrill" when I return. Or maybe someone else has been on these.

[cathyJ]

They could have an indoor park similar to Nickelodeon Universe. I'm sure that would be possible. But I don't think we'll ever see an outdoor theme park in Alaska.

 

Anchorage I think could support something like NU. Now for an outdoor park, actually I have heard that winter weather in Anchorage is similar to Buffalo and Cleveland with LESS snow. Maybe an outdoor park could work there. Fairbanks OTOH, the winters ger very cold there but summers are actually quite warm.

 

Now their state cap. Juneau considering the only way to get there is by air or sea, not a chance.

[Tanks4me05]

You know, there are these things called indoor amusement parks. Seeing as they have rides as large as Mind Bender at Galaxy Land, that shows you can fit some pretty big stuff in an indoor park. Plus, has anyone ever thought of building an underground amusement park? You could go about this two ways:

 

1: Build a giant underground "cave" where everything is visible.

2: The cheaper way: Build everything as a network of tunnels. Everything will be dark rides, but you will have almost no off ride film opportunities. Kind of like how Oblivion is built underground.

 

Hawaii is pretty small, but if there is a couple of hundred acres on just one of the islands, there is huge potential, seeing as the terrain is pretty mountainous for some of the islands.

[gldude]

An amusement park in Alaska would make almost no sense, the largest city Anchorage only has about 280,000 people in it and a metropolitan area of 350,000, the entire state only has about 630,000 residents. I doubt many tourists would go to an amusement park in Alaska because Alaska tourism is mainly nature driven, so an amusement park would probably not be such a great business venture. Alaska does have an indoor water park with a master blaster though.

[miniviews]

Here's the two traveling roller coasters from Hawaii's 50th State Fair. In previous years, there was a spinning mouse, but apparently sold it or it was a lease. The grey in the sky is vog (Volcano "Smog") from the Big Island.

Kiddie Coaster

Wild Cat - IIRC, in use for at least 15 years

Wild Cat