Splash Adventure
Alabama Adventure, formerly known as Visionland, is a 70-acre theme park, located off Interstate 20/59 in Bessemer, west of Birmingham. The park, which is divided into the Splash Beach water park and Magic City USA amusement park, is owned by Oklahoma-based Adrenaline Family Entertainment LLC.
History
Visionland was built largely as a result of efforts by then-Mayor of Fairfield Larry Langford, who was seeking to provide recreational opportunities and boost development in the western part of Jefferson County. He led the creation of the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park Authority, which counted representatives from 11 municipalities (Adamsville, Bessemer, Birmingham, Brighton, Fairfield, Hueytown, Lipscomb, Maytown, North Johns, Sylvan Springs, and Vance). With help from the Alabama Legislature, the group borrowed $65 million to build the park.
The project team for construction included Volkert & Associates for site surveying, environmental studies, utilities and lighting; HKW Associates for master planning and architectural design; and Brasfield & Gorrie for construction management. Construction began in March 1997, and the park opened for business 14 months later on May 23, 1998.
In June 2002, the park filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy. It was purchased at government auction in 2003 for $5.2 million by the Southland Entertainment Group. For their first year, Sounthland invested about $20 million for new attractions such as a wave pool.
On March 27, 2006, Southland Entertainment officials announced that, after a record-setting season of 345,000 visitors, that $100 million of new rides and other facilities were on the drawing board. They also announced the park's name change to "Alabama Adventure" for the 2006-2007 season, which attracted 388,000 visitors.
In May 2008 Southland sold the park for an undisclosed price to Adrenaline Family Entertainment of Edmund, Oklahoma which is headed by former Six Flags executive Hue Eichelberger. Southland retained ownership of an adjacent 157-acre parcel which it planned to develop with hotel, commercial and retail projects as well as a possible RV park. In January 2012 General Attractions LLC, a company owned by Southland Entertainment's Kent Lemasters, bought the park back from Adrenaline Family Entertainment.
Rides
Magic City USA
- Fender Bender
- Giant Wheel, 120' diameter Ferris Wheel
- Hurricane
- Tidal Wave
- Mind Spinder
- Motorcross
- Patriot
- Pirate
- Rampage, 3,500 foot-long wood roller coaster with a top speed of 56 miles per hour (1998)
- Scrambler
- Space Shot, a 185-foot launching tower
- Wild River Gorge
- Cahaba Falls
- Vertigo (2007)
- Zoomerang, roller coaster (2006)
Marvel City
- Carousel with 60 horses and 2 chariots
- Convoy
- Balloon Wheel
- Barnstormer
- Marvel Mania, roller coaster (1998)
- Adventure Express
- Bump-A-Round
Splash Beach
- Acapulco Drop, water slide
- Cahaba Falls
- Kahuna Waves
- Neptune's Plunge, water slide
- Lazy River
- Splashdown
- Wild River Gorge
- Salamander Bay, children's activity area (2007)
- Upsurge, water slide (2009)
References
- "Alabama Adventure Theme Park." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 28 Mar 2006, 20:41 UTC. 28 Mar 2006, 20:43 [1].
- Tomberlin, Michael (March 28, 2006) "Visionland has new name, plans." Birmingham News
- Williams, Roy L. (April 5, 2007) "Earlier start, new draws for Alabama Adventure." Birmingham News
- Crawford, Cindy F. (May 15, 2008) "Alabama Adventure sold to Oklahoma company." Birmingham Business Journal
- Tomberlin, Michael (February 2, 2009) "New water ride coming to Alabama Adventure." Birmingham News
- WIlliams, Roy L. (January 6, 2012) "Alabama Adventure sold to company created by former owner." Birmingham News
External links
- Alabama Adventure website