Splash Adventure
Alabama Adventure, formerly known as Visionland, is a theme park, located off Interstate 20/59 in Bessemer, west of Birmingham. The park is owned by Southland Entertainment Group, and managed by John Collins.
Its featured rides are the "Rampage," a wooden roller coaster, and "Zoomerang," a steel "boomerang" coaster. Today, the park is divided into two parks: a water park and a "dry ride" park that includes the Rampage.
Visionland was built largely as a result of efforts by Jefferson County Commission President Larry Langford, who at the time was the mayor of Fairfield, to generate public interest in the project. Eleven cities came together to form the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park Authority. With help from the Alabama Legislature, the group borrowed $65 million to build the park. Construction began in March 1997, and the park opened for business in May 1998. WaterMark Place, a nearby 200,000-square-foot outdoor shopping mall, also aims to attract business and tourism to the area.
In June 2002, the park filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy. It was purchased in 2003 for about a tenth of the construction cost by Southland Entertainment Group. They have invested about $20 million more into new attractions such as a wave pool.
On March 27, 2006, Southland Entertainment officials announced that, after a record-setting season last year in terms of visitors, that $100 million of new rides and other facilities were on the drawing board. They also announced that the park's name would be changed to "Alabama Adventure" for the coming season.
Rides
Marvel City
- Carousel
- Convoy
- Balloon Wheel
- Barnstormer
- Marvel Mania
- Adventure Express
- Bump-A-Round
Splash Beach
- Acapulco Drop
- Kahuna Waves
- Neptune's Plunge
- Lazy River
- Splashdown
- Salamander Bay, children's activity area (2007)
Magic City USA
- Fender Bender
- Giant Wheel
- Hurricane
- Tidal Wave
- Mind Spinder
- Motorcross
- Patriot
- Pirate
- Rampage
- Scrambler
- Space Shot
- Wild River Gorge
- Cahaba Falls
- Vertigo (2007)
- Zoomerang (2006)
References
- "Alabama Adventure Theme Park." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 28 Mar 2006, 20:41 UTC. 28 Mar 2006, 20:43 [1].
- Williams, Roy L. (April 5, 2007) "Earlier start, new draws for Alabama Adventure." Birmingham News.
External links
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