Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Bay Beach Amusement Park Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

Hey everybody!

 

This thread is simple! Rather than having a million little threads about everything that goes on at the Bay Beach Amusement Park, this thread is designed to consolidate it all into one user-friendly thread. Feel free to use it to post updates, trip reports, questions, comments, and of course, general discussion. For pictures and videos of the park as well as past updates, see TPR's Park Index Page.

 

Official Park Website

 

 

Below are some links to past updates from the park, you may be interested in. Enjoy!

 

--Robb

 

_____________________________________________________

 

2008

January 16th, 2008 - Bay Beach considers adding wooden coaster & ferris wheel

 

2010

February 2nd, 2010 - Could the Zippin Pippin be reborn at Bay Beach?

February 4th, 2010 - Green Bay Mayor requests halting of the Zippin Pippin dismantling

February 9th, 2010 - Green Bay Mayor announces intent to buy the Zippin Pippin

February 11th, 2010 - The Gravity Group inspects the Zippin Pippin remains

February 11th, 2010 - Zippin Pippin collapses during dismantling, sale still proceeding

February 23rd, 2010 - Approval process for Zippin Pippin purchase begins

March 3rd, 2010 - Zippin Pippin recreation approved for Bay Beach

March 5th, 2010 - City council approves Zippin Pippin deal

March 21st, 2010 - The Zippin Pippin belongs to Bay Beach!

April 20th, 2010 - Martin & Vleminckx overseeing Zippin Pippin project

May 12th, 2010 - Rezoning complete for Zippin Pippin project

August 5th, 2010 - Footers to be poured on August 16th, 2010

August 26th, 2010 - Ground broken on the Zippin Pippin

October 3rd, 2010 - Zippin Pippin construction photo report

October 3rd, 2010 - Trains coming from Thunder Eagle in Pigeon Forge, TN

November 24th, 2010 - Fundraising started to help manage Zippin Pippin excess costs

 

2011

March 26th, 2011 - Major Zippin Pippin construction update photo report

April 25th, 2011 - Zippin Pippin makes first successful test run

May 6th, 2011 - Zippin Pippin preview ride report

June 23rd, 2011 - Zippin Pippin brings in big numbers in early months

 

2012

April 10th, 2012 - Bay Beach considering charity coaster riding programs

 

2013

March 6th, 2013 - Bay Beach is purchasing a used Sea Dragon for the 2013 season

 

2014

February 14th, 2014 - Park sees improvements for 2014, looking for new ride

July 6th, 2014 - Park may become the recipient of donated Train/Tracks

 

2015

January 14th, 2015 - Falling Star among new rides announced for 2015

 

2017

September 19th, 2017 - Bay Beach ready to add second train loop

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Original Post

 

This was in our local paper today

 

 

Posted January 16, 2008

 

Roller coaster, new Ferris wheel in plans for Bay Beach

 

Amusement park proposal goes to City Council Jan. 29

 

By Paul Srubas

psrubas@greenbaypressgazette.com

 

 

A wooden roller coaster and a Ferris wheel large enough to be seen from the Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge are some of the improvements under consideration for Bay Beach Amusement Park.

 

 

Members of Green Bay's Park Committee heard a report this week from Schreiber/Anderson Associates, a Madison-based architectural company charged with designing upgrades at Bay Beach.

 

 

The company based its design in part on input from citizens groups set up after Green Bay bought up the last of the 23 acres of land west of the existing park.

 

 

"This is the culmination of what's been going on for at least the last 20 years of acquiring land," parks director Bill Landvatter said.

 

 

Chris Thiel and Aaron Wiliams of Schreiber/ Anderson pitched a plan that includes the installation of four "featured attractions" — the roller coaster, Ferris wheel, a high-visibility tower ride that gives a view of the park and water, and a spray-and-play fountain.

 

 

The plan would add five more rides to the existing seven "tot rides," and to add six rides to the five existing "family rides."

 

 

The old Ferris wheel, bumper car building, giant slide, ponies and the train would remain, although the latter would have twice the ground to cover under the plan, which includes a second depot.

 

 

The goal of the design was to keep the traditional look and feel of Bay Beach, so lawns, trees and other plantings would be expanded, Thiel said.

 

 

"The character of this park now is a park," Thiel said. "It does not want to be Great America or Disneyland. It's Bay Beach. The picnic areas flow into the ride area, so we tried to maintain vegetation and add to that, and interweave the picnic areas into it."

 

 

The plan includes a new parking lot on the far western edge of the park, a large multi-purpose lawn with adjoining park shelter, equipped with bathrooms, an expanded area for the rides, with pedestrian-friendly walkways, and a boardwalk running the length of the park. There also will be a trolley to transport people across the park.

 

 

A series of buildings near the park's center could be used for concessions, arcades and gift shops, Thiel said. Additional shelters and maintenance buildings would allow the pavilion to be put to better use, and that includes using it for winter activities, he said.

 

 

A grassy area behind the pavilion could serve as an outdoor amphitheater, and there's a plan for a viewing pier out into the bay behind that.

 

 

Restoring the beach and building a walkway to Renard Isle also were in the plan, although Thiel acknowledged the environmental issues associated with the island, which has been a depository for polychlorinated biphenyls sediment dredged from the Fox River.

 

 

"That's another discussion for another time," he said.

 

 

Ideally, Landvatter would like to see Phase I of the improvement project started in 2009. That likely would include the installation of the wooden roller coaster to help increase revenue for continued development, Thiel said.

 

 

Other aspects of the phase would be building some of the pedestrian paths, moving existing rides westward and putting in new plantings.

 

 

The second phase would focus on the pavilion, main park entries, parking lot and the eastern half of the boardwalk. And the third phase would involve installation of new rides, the arcade buildings, a second train depot and work on most of the open spaces to the west of the ride area.

 

 

The next step is to firm up the plan and present it to the City Council at its Jan. 29 meeting with some cost estimates of the phases. Schreiber/Anderson would incorporate any last-minute changes provided by the public or council and wrap the plan up for February or March, Landvatter said.

Edited by larrygator
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 154
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I know I'm stating the obvious to the TPR members.

 

In my fantasy world (I guess it's the 1920's) every beach should have a carousel, ferris wheel, wooden roller coaster, a real boardwalk, games of chance and great food.

 

Leave it up the market dynamics to determine if an area could sustain more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

News From last night from the local news! City Council approves the park to look for a roller coaster!!!!! From what it looks they are looking to buy a "classic coaster" aka used, and from specs shown looks like they are looking at a 65 foot tall one.

 

www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local_greenbay_coaster_one_step_closer_to_reality_20090930_rev1

 

I guess in this case the addage is true. One mans trash is another mans treasure!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Green Bay is so Packer happy, I literally could see them painting this ride green and yellow and naming it Packers: The ride. For real, theme it Lombardi and Favre and that coaster will print Bay Beach money.

 

I hope this plan goes through though. Having visited this park (and the bird sanctuary) so many times as a little kid, I would love to visit it again with a coaster. I just remember cruising on the train and rippin' down the slide in a potato sack. Oh the good ole' days.

 

^Good thinking about Starliner. Perhaps Cypress is just dumping their capital, in which case it would be a steal for Bay Beach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thunder Eagle, which has been sitting in a field up in Canada for sale since being bought from Bell Island also fits the stats closely. After the reviews of Dania Beach Hurricane, I hope it's this coaster.

 

http://www.rcdb.com/606.htm

 

 

Good news for the park, and hopefully I find the time to go up to southern Canada to ride it when it opens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cyclone at Williams Grove is 65 feet

Screechin Eagle at LeSourdsville is 70 feet

 

Since the article said 65 feet, and knowing the shape of the Cyclone when I last rode it, if it is going to be a relocated woodie I would guess Big Dipper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is great news! I love that park without a coaster so adding one would make it even better. When they say there are two coasters the park was looking into I wish they could have said which two. Anyway even if the coaster gets rejected this is a park TPR should not pass up! On a side note I thought it was kinda funny that they called them "upside down loops."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the interview with the mayor, he is the one who mentioned the stats that include the fact that it "does not have an upside-down loop" You really have to take his stats with a grain of salt. He man not know the differnce between a height of 65 feet and a drop of 65 feet. I just think it is awsome that a public owned and run park is looking to add something as sweet as a coaster no matter how "family" it would be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ I know but I just find that weird. I've heard loop-de-loops, loopies, circle, thing that takes you upside down, and 360. It just sounds wrong to me but like you said he probably has no clue what he's talking about. Anyway I'm happy about the new coaster but I wish it wasn't a woodie. The biggest steel coaster in Wisconsin is a wild mouse and we don't have any coasters that go upside down. IMO a small, compact Arrow or Vekoma corkscrew would fit in with the park. I hope the park is also considering getting a kiddie coaster.

The park used to have at least one maybe two coasters so it would be cool if they remade one of those. It said they would also be getting 11 new rides any word on what those might be? Last thing, I'm don't really know a lot of the coaster terms, so what exactly is a camelback?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh man does this place bring back some great memories! Growing up, my parents would sometimes talk us on surprise trips to Bay Beach and we would have a blast going on all of the rides like the train and the giant slide. I think it's fair to say that Bay Beach may be the Kiddieland of Wisconsin and these new additions can only improve the place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sharktums wrote:

If they announced that they are getting 11 rides and a 65' tall coaster is this perhaps a package deal from Cypress Gardens including Starliner?

 

That would be awesome. Starliner looks like a very good coaster and I can see how they could fit that in. The park does need a kiddy coaster to so perharps Starliner and Feista Express?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^Starliner certainly wasn't anything special during its stint at Cypress Gardens... Even the modifications to the turn-around didn't help to make it any less scary than it already was. Feeling the front of the PTC train warp beneath my hands and feet was a sickening experience that I hope to never repeat again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh man does this place bring back some great memories! Growing up, my parents would sometimes talk us on surprise trips to Bay Beach and we would have a blast going on all of the rides like the train and the giant slide. I think it's fair to say that Bay Beach may be the Kiddieland of Wisconsin and these new additions can only improve the place.

 

The giant slide is one of the highlights of my childhood trips to visit family. Really I'm just excited that the park is adding anything, gives me more reason to go back and relive childhood memories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess what y biggest question will be how much they are going to charge to ride. The Park works on a ticket system now. It is $.25 a ticket and most rides require 2 tickets. How awsome would it be to have a coaster 2 miles from my house that is less than a dollar a ride? Even if it is more than the "normal" 2 tickets. Well worth it if you ask me. It is alllll goood for me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/