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What area really needs a theme park?


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I might be in the minority here, but I'd rather have no local park but several great parks within a 2-4-hour drive, as opposed to one decent park down the street yet nothing else in the region (looking at you, SFGAm). I like the variety of being able to go Dollywood one weekend, Holiday World the next, followed by Kentucky Kingdom, etc., all without having to buy a plane ticket or use all of my Kroger fuel points.

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^I feel pretty good in a place like Columbus, but it was even better when Geauga Lake was still a thing. 1.5 hrs to KI, 2 hrs to CP, 3 hrs to Kennywood and Kentucky Kingdom, 3.5 hrs to Waldameer, 4 hrs to Holiday World, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few in-between. So many awesome and varying parks within a short drive is much preferred to having a major park in my backyard.

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That sounds like it would take a huge chunk out of your pocket. Then again I just abuse the SF pass prices and go to SFFT thirty times in a summer so I guess that's my preference. I think being somewhere between KI and CP would be good because they would each be ~2 hours away and you can get the CF platinum pass which would make it worth it. I have a ton of local parks but can't afford to get season passes to all of them.

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Delaware is a horrible state whose only attraction is that giant statue of Mary on the side of I-95.

 

And sadness.

 

 

You are my hero. I thought I was the only one who had this opinion of Deleware.

 

Edit: How about upstate New York. There is Great Escape and Darian Lake, don't all jump at once.

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No doubt - Pacific Northwest. Closest parks are Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, CA) and Silverwood (ID).

 

Pyallup and it's single wooden coaster doesn't count. (It's only open for the State Fair, anyways.

I don't think the area "really needs it," and I was surprised to see the Pacific Northwest as an area mentioned within the first 5 replies to this topic n years ago, but I would love to see a full-blown theme park in our area with, you know, new coasters sometimes. That hasn't even been a concept here since 2003 when TImberhawk was built, including anything worth mentioning up in BC or in Oregon, Idaho, etc. Silverwood hasn't had anything new coaster-wise (except a family powered spinning coaster) since Tremors in 1999. Everything else in the area is old or second-hand- Aftershock is really amazing, but was down an entire day last summer while I was there and I felt bad for people only there 1 day. Puyallup got Rainier Rush which is shit--and like he said it only operates twice a year--Wild Waves/Enchanted Village is getting an Enterprise and a tower ride of some sort, but it's a coaster drought out here. Granted we have some great coasters within 3-6 hours ( )- I just got up there to ride Coaster in Vancouver last weekend and it was @$&%ing fantastic, and Silverwood's lineup is awesome, but something new eventually would be nice. Trouble is, unless SIlverwood springs for something new, I don't see anything cutting-edge being available to us Northwesterners without a plane ticket anytime soon.

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  • 2 years later...

I think the Raleigh-Durham area could use a park. I’m planning on moving to the area this upcoming spring and it’s a three-hour drive to Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. That isn’t a terribly long drive, but since Raleigh-Durham is a decent-sized metro with solid population growth, I think the area could support its own park.

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I think a sesame Place or legoland would do great in Grand Rapids. Large metro. MIA is an hour away. Cedar Point and SFGAM both being around 5 hours away. A little IP park would do wonders. Would also be nice to see once of the 3 large malls get a sealife Aquarium.

 

Amazes me that Arizona doesn't have a major amusement park (Sorry Castles and Coasters)

Neveda is another state that could use a huge sprawling park. Though the perfect weather in the Adventuredome is nice

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Maybe not "needs it," but it'd be cool to see one in Miami.

 

Nashville and Memphis are two cities I'm surprised there's currently nothing.

 

Libertyland became a victim of King Willy and his corrupt ways. In Nashvegas, The Gaylords have lamented the decision to shutter Opryland numerous times in favor of a oulet mall that did live up to the hype. The flooded would have hurt it as well.

 

 

 

Opryland Hotel is opening has opened it's indoor waterpark.

 

Memphis has this golden spot in major need of a redo and it's called Mud Island. It could be the Tivoli Gardens of the USA with some effort. It has a world class setting, a wonderful but small amp that needs an expansion, a Mississippi River Museum that needs a major overhaul to modern standards and a picturesque working scale model of the Mississippi.

 

What it needs:

 

A world class aquarium to go along with the stellar Memphis Zoo as part of a Museum revamp. A Soaring type ride featuring a full length trip down the Mississippi would be the Cherry on Top.

 

The northern end of the Island would be where the rides would be. It is compact and the rides designed accordingly. The crown jewels would be a 300plus foot Star Flyer, a bid wheel and a signature compact steel coaster and a classic woodie. I would make as many of the rides year round as possible so I would have a large structure that resemble classic carousel houses that woul hold a double deck carousel as it's centerpiece and 4 or five kiddie rides/coaster. Ot would have a cafe area, birthday/party rooms and a prize arcade. I would propose double decking the flat rides. Like a bumper car ride with a n air race above for example. These structures would be open air but the lower level enclosable to be heated. The structure themselves along with the Caroisel house would feature ornamental iron work like the kind found on 19th century paddlewheelers. Green and gold would be the colors like Tivoli. Black and Gold would be swell too. I would add a seasonal water fortress play area and a lazy River around it for the Summertime.

 

There would be drew admission with ticket packages for rides and other attractions like the monorail ride, aquarium and Museum but the park like areas like the riverwalk would be free.

 

I would develop a Christmas time lighting show complete with a European style Christmas Market on the South End of the Island. To help it become nearly year round.

 

I would add an architecturally significant open air cover to the amp that did not onstruct the city skyline view.

 

I would add a land bridge to to cross the harbor to Beale Street Landing and Beale Street.

 

Memphis now has both bridges outfitted with impressive led lighting packages. There's the pyramid, the skyline, Beale, and the big ol river all right there. It's an ideal setting. It is between two major interstates, I-40 for east/west and I-55 for north/south and I-69 in the works. Tens of millions drive within eyesight of it every year.

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Libertyland became a victim of King Willy and his corrupt ways.

 

Who is King Willy?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._W._Herenton

 

 

He had a grand scheme to completely redevelop the fairground in to a shopping/lifestyle center. During this time Libertyland was shuttered and the Mid South Fair bailed.

 

He signed off on a a noncompete clause with the Griz that effectively caused the Mid South Colossium to fall into disrepair. He allowed the venue size to be set way too small at 6,000. This has meant that Memphis has continued to be hamstrung on renovating the MSC and the Mud Island amp. This allowed Southhaven MS to build a 10,000 seat arena and 10,000 seat amp and steal over 40 events a year from Memphis proper. It has now led to a nasty dispute with Graceland as the Elvis folk want to built a performance space that seats over 6,000 as part of a larger project and the Griz have objected to any TIF financing for it. King Willy is the gift that keeps screwing Memphis.

 

It was during this time that Memphis stalled and Nashville took off. But... at last count, they was billions of dollars development and redevelopment about to be dropped on downtown Memphis. It made USA Today's top 5 places to visit this year and has made Frommer's top 19 for 2019 places in the world to visit for next. This idea for a Tivoli like park on Mud Island would just be a missing piece in the puzzle that Memphis is about to solve.

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^ Okay. I am curious. What did 'he' do there?

 

Libertyland was a nonprofit entity sitting on city land; think a situation kinda like Kentucky Kingdom, except with an even more aggressive to chuck the park mentality from City Hall. The city could have done all sorts of things to assist since it was an asset that was valuable to the general populace, but they did the usual thing and thought short term, immediate payback potential and of course when the recession hit, that ended any hope of the area being redeveloped (if there was really any shot at all). Given that there were serious issues with kickbacks on other projects, its not entirely unlikely that Libertyland being set up to fail (poor investment in infrastructure surrounding, reduction of transit to park, bad revenue sharing deals, skyrocketing rent and utility costs that would have been generated by the city) was something which had been prepped in backrooms with briefcases full of money.

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^ Actually, I was asking about the "Muskegon, Michigan" that thrillrider posted.

 

Is that the park that existed there, Libertyland?

 

And what ytterbiumanalyst was agreeing about, with that post, in this thread's context?

 

Thank you for this explanation about things. I'm old, and I catch on slow.

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Muskegon is the home of Michigan's Adventure. The joke is that it's not believed to be much of a park, so the region could use an "actual" park.

 

I personally disagree with the assessment and found MiA to be quaint and perfectly sized for the region.

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I still believe Houston and Phoenix are the two biggest contenders for medium-to-large sized amusement parks. Houston is the 4th largest city in the country by population (after the obvious big three), and Phoenix is 6th.

 

I know population isn't the only factor that allows a park to thrive, but I'm still surprised after all these years that Phoenix only has Castles n Coasters. At least there was a Six Flags in Houston for several decades. I wonder why nobody has attempted to tap into the Phoenix market? I've heard the excuse of "excessive heat" throw around, but it's not like California or Florida are much cooler.

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