What area really needs a theme park?

[BeemerBoy]

^ Heck, the drive ain't too terribly bad either...and it's cheaper.

[vacoaster09]

yeah it must be the insurance rates. They are opening up a new casino down here, Margaritaville on May 22nd. Its a big deal down here... I just had just an idea in my mind that a theme park is definitely needed here. Could be a good venture to partner up with one of the Casinos as a resort or such.

 

I'm just spoiled having been from the D.C. area (east coast in general) as I was able to get to loads of parks with a short drive and come back the same day. I can't do that anymore here and requires alot of more advance planning. Sucks especially on a year like this one with so many rides opening. Then I drive over to NOLA and see that sad sight.

 

I was wondering as Texas usually gets hit with Hurricanes as well yet the Galveston Pier is happening.

 

You will not find me driving 8 hours to get to any theme park so Orlando would still be a flight... I find orlando to just be expensive in terms of planning a trip, transportation from Airport, high park tickets. Only thing is I know I will get my money's worth. Like I said just takes more advance planning. Just wish it was like it was when in D.C.

 

Well hopefully the coast will realize that needs a amusement park and will work out some kind of deal to develop incentives for such a start up.

 

Also We have a waterpark called Gulf Islands Water Park so its got to be possible to get a theme park.

[ernierocker]

I am dying down here. I just moved here from Washington D.C. there no theme park relatively close. Louisiana and Alabama are on either side but neither have theme parks within reason. Does anyone or has anyone heard of any developments to build a park down here? (Besides SFNO attempts). With Biloxi being such a huge market for Casinos and beach goers and great weather I am surprised that nothing has been planned.

 

Merged your thread into an already existing thread. Feel free to continue talking about this area in question or any other areas that you guys think needs a theme park.

[ScottBrown]

Northern California desperately needs one the nearest parks to us are in upper Oregon or the Bay Area of California nearly 300 miles away

[jzoole]

Memphis, Omaha and Boise all come to my mind as metros with no major park within close proximity and no major competition, with populations sizeable enough to support a medium-scale regional park.

[ScottBrown]

Oh and by Nor Cal I mean actual northern California not the Bay Area I never understood why people in the Bay Area call it Nor Cal when I am 8 hours further north than they are

[Mechanic]

The issue with what is truly the northern part of California is that there simply isn't a sufficient population base or level of tourist traffic to justify a park of any significant size.

[ScottBrown]

I think something on the scale of SCBB would work nicely up here we get many more tourists than you think the areas main economy is based on tourism. Just based on rented hotel rooms alone Humboldt County had around 1.3 million visitors last year, and putting that aside a park would do well here with the locals as well as there is simply nothing else to do around here

[Mechanic]

I think that if you look into the demographics related to those numbers of tourists you would likely find that many are retirement age. Not exactly the same demographic that would be most interested in including a theme park as part of their vacation. Surely the locals that fit the theme park visiting demographic would visit due to a lack other attractions, but again the population in the area is relatively small. I'm not trying to burst your bubble and I would welcome a park being built in the northern part of the state, but honestly, I think if it really was viable then it probably would have already been done.

[Someotherguyuser]

I always thought Hawaii could use a small park.

[australianalex]

Here in Australia, all the decent parks are bunched together on the Gold Coast. I think the main major tourist destinations here in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne) really need to get a decent theme park. Sure, they have Luna Park in both areas, but both parks are very run down. Sydney is getting a Wet n Wild soon which is great, but I'd love to see them get an actual theme park.

Also, I have loads of family in Scotland and was quite dissapointed to find out that M&D's is really the only theme park there. If Wales can get a good theme park, why can't Scotland?

[Tanks4me05]

Does anyone else think that the Northeast could use an indoor amusement park? True, we have a lot of parks in general, but virtually nothing is open past Halloween. We definitely have the climate to justify for an indoor park, and there's enough people to draw from to get a good crowd.

[vacoaster09]

MIssissippi Gulf Coast

[ScottyVizz]

The Miami-Dade County could certainly use a theme park. The nearest theme park is about 200 miles away. Miami is a great tourist city with the restaurants, beaches, and culture..so an investment in an amusement park to compete with the Orlando and Tampa parks wouldn't hurt.

Also, I know that the San Francisco Bay Area already has 2 parks in the area (Great America & Discovery Kingdom), but we could honestly use some sort of revamp on both. The Bay Area is heavily populated with both residents and tourists..why are the parks so small? My home park of Six Flags New England was far more impressive in terms of size.

[ernierocker]

Miami also has actual zombies going for it as well...

[ScottyVizz]

Miami also has actual zombies going for it as well...

 

Yes..I heard. An entire guys face! Yikes!

That could give one the opportunity to pitch the idea of a zombie exhibit inside the park!

[ScottBrown]

I think that if you look into the demographics related to those numbers of tourists you would likely find that many are retirement age. Not exactly the same demographic that would be most interested in including a theme park as part of their vacation. Surely the locals that fit the theme park visiting demographic would visit due to a lack other attractions, but again the population in the area is relatively small. I'm not trying to burst your bubble and I would welcome a park being built in the northern part of the state, but honestly, I think if it really was viable then it probably would have already been done.

 

Given the wild history of this area I am actually a bit shocked that there was never a park constructed to outdo Coney Island here in Humboldt

[Geauga Dog]

I went back and re-read some of the posts in this thread and Phoenix was brought up a few times. Phoenix did have a park called Legend City that closed in 1983. Here's a website about the former park.

 

http://www.legend-city.com/

 

While it doesn't seem to have had a whole lot at the time but if you look at some of the aerial photos on that site it appeared to be a rather decent sized park.

[SkyBreak95]

High Tech Corridor or Teays Valley W.V.

[slappybob]

Nashville,TN hopefully the new Dollywood/Gaylord water/snow park will be good but thats just for when I go visit Nashville I myself live two hours away from Dollywood and SFOG

[Chittlins]

As much as I love Dollywood, I have never understood why TN doesn't have more than one park. I really think that Nashville could use a park. Yes, I know there was Libertyland and Opryland but since they are long gone I could see Nashville getting a really nice park.

 

Memphis. Libertyland's location was poor and was used as a babysitter. Two major interstates north/south I55 and east/west I 40 with I 69 planned and a highly visible location that can be seen from both. Mud Island. Compact high thrill rides like Iron Shark and Boardwalk Bullet. To make efiecient use of limited space, rides must intermingle like indoor Parks and coasters /water rides in outdor Parks like that new airtime flume with the bobsled coaster. The place already has some major infrastructure in place like parking decks, trams and cool features like the river walk which is a small scale replica of the entire Mississippi River System and a River Museum that can be switched to an up charge feature and kick ass 6,000 permanent seat amplitheater offering a fantastic skyline backdrop. Recent addition of

A new port for River cruises and riverfront park called Beale Street Landing and upcoming conversion of the Pyramid into a Bass Pro complete with a hotel, indoor swamp, indoor Marina and silliness going in just across the harbor.

[johnychen]

I say Houston as mentioned in previous posts. Being the 4th largest city in the US and catching up to number 3 quickly we need a park badly. There is a perfect plot of land to build one. It is located on the light rail line across from the Astrodome. It even has a bridge that connects the plot of land to a large parking lot.

 

If that is not good enough there is an empty Astrodome with great air conditioning that' begging to be converted into an amusement park. I say put in some artificial ski slopes using snowflex technology and a a couple of coasters and rake in the profits. The stadium already has built in slopes. It would be a double win. The closest major amusement park is 3 hours away and the closest ski slope is 11 hrs away in New Mexico.

[Chittlins]

I say Houston as mentioned in previous posts. Being the 4th largest city in the US and catching up to number 3 quickly we need a park badly. There is a perfect plot of land to build one. It is located on the light rail line across from the Astrodome. It even has a bridge that connects the plot of land to a large parking lot.

 

If that is not good enough there is an empty Astrodome with great air conditioning that' begging to be converted into an amusement park. I say put in some artificial ski slopes using snowflex technology and a a couple of coasters and rake in the profits. The stadium already has built in slopes. It would be a double win. The closest major amusement park is 3 hours away and the closest ski slope is 11 hrs away in New Mexico.

 

It would be a good repurpose of the building considering the summer heat and opportunity for a year round operation. I am watching the work of gutting the Pyramid Arena in Memphis of its former 22,000seat self for the Bass Pro developement. Google Ericson Group Pyramid to see their proposal for the interior of the Pyramid that wasn't chosen and imagine what they could do with the Astrodome.

[jzoole]

There have been a lot of proposed plans to repurpose the Astrodome, and none of them have moved along due to the astronomical cost it would take to even bring the Dome up to code (much less turn it into something else). The land AstroWorld sat on (besides not being for sale) would command a really high price per acre, and its location on 610 lended itself to the park becoming a babysitting park. I think the best option for a park in Houston would be to buy up some cheap land just north of Houston and build a full-blown park. Measures can be taken to provide lots of shade stustures/air-conditioned queues/misters etc to combat the heat. And anyway it's much more wooded up there and more bearable in the summer. Those are my thoughts on Houston. But I agree, it's insane for H-Town not to have a major park.

 

Also, I think the Mud Island idea sounds awesome and very feasible for Memphis! I'd even go so far as to say Memphis could support a full-on medium scale amusement park (along the lines of Magic Springs/Silverwood size).

[Chittlins]

There have been a lot of proposed plans to repurpose the Astrodome, and none of them have moved along due to the astronomical cost it would take to even bring the Dome up to code (much less turn it into something else). The land AstroWorld sat on (besides not being for sale) would command a really high price per acre, and its location on 610 lended itself to the park becoming a babysitting park. I think the best option for a park in Houston would be to buy up some cheap land just north of Houston and build a full-blown park. Measures can be taken to provide lots of shade stustures/air-conditioned queues/misters etc to combat the heat. And anyway it's much more wooded up there and more bearable in the summer. Those are my thoughts on Houston. But I agree, it's insane for H-Town not to have a major park.

 

Also, I think the Mud Island idea sounds awesome and very feasible for Memphis! I'd even go so far as to say Memphis could support a full-on medium scale amusement park (along the lines of Magic Springs/Silverwood size).

 

It's all about location, it doesn't need to be near neighborhoods and it doesn't need to sell season passes. Mud Island is controlled access with a pedestrian bridge across the harbor with the option of the monorail. The problem in Memphis is letting groups take something over. There isn't a politically correct way to address it properly but if you let the youth take it over it will not succeed.

 

There's several theming routes. On the southern tip, I say go for something named after a faded Memphis event called the Cotton Carnival and theme the rides to Memphis' music heritage. A Ferris wheel themed to the Sun Records label, a star flyer themed after Stax. Too late to save Elvis's favorite coaster the Zippin Pippin but another ride that's themed for him like a Rock and Roll/himalaya type ride. Most rides would go to the north end but south of the bridge. Coaster names from Rivercat or Mudcat for woodie to Ol Muddy for a flume and The Big One for a steel coaster paying homage to the New Madrid Fault line. A Memphis Belle themed area with a simulated ride inside it on a bombing run complete with actors Manning guns and shaking from flak. A flat ride with replica Memphis Bell themed cars. Water battle areas themed after the civil war era Battle of Memphis. Something Tom and Huck is a must for a park on the Mississippi.

 

 

 

Most of Mud Island isn't natural but man made. It can be added to a bit and raised strategically to make sure vitals stay out of flood water. Last year gives them the templete for that.