SEE PAGE...22 TM www.AmusementToday.com Vol. 14, Issue 1 APRIL 2010 $5.00 San Antonio’s Kiddie Park saved! Brain Surge Pam Sherborne Amusement Today New Chance Morgan ride There is a little acre in debuts at Mall of America San Antonio, Texas, that has Scott Rutherford caused some big news among inventor Bill Kitchen, fea- Amusement Today those in the community and tures eight sweeps radiat- has spread throughout the ing from a central column. amusement industry. The first park model At the end of each sweep That news — the reopen- of Chance Morgan’s new is a two-seat gondola with ing of San Antonio’s oldest Unicoaster flat ride was over-the-shoulder restraints. amusement park, Kiddie Park. unveiled March 20, 2010 at Sixteen riders per cycle use a The significance — it is one of Nickelodeon Universe inside lever between the seat pairs the oldest kiddie parks in the Minnesota’s sprawling Mall to control the forward/back- U.S. of America. ward flipping motion of the It opened in 1925 and This intriguing new inter- individual gondolas as they many San Antonio natives active attraction, inspired by travel around an undulating 4See MALL, page 3 remember their first visit to AT PHOTOS / GARY SLADE a concept from SkyCoaster the small park as children. Above, Ashley Weaver, owner and GM of Kiddie Park in But, over the years, as often San Antonio, proudly shows off the park’s new entrance. happens, small parks such as this one fall into despair. If it Below, Kid Steam hand cars were added new this season weren’t for the dream of Rad with the reopening of the historic kiddie park. and Ashley Weaver, that small part of the amusement indus- try might be no more. They are now the new owners. “We used to ride by that park all the time,” said Ashley Weaver. “My husband remem- bers going there as a boy. We used think of all the possibili- ties there. When it came up for sale, we decided to buy it.” The couple took owner- ship of the facility, only for children under 12 years of age, PHOTO COURTESY MOA in August, 2009. They kept the BrainSurge, the first example of Chance Morgan’s new facility open during the fall, Unicoaster flat ride, opened to rave reviews on March all along doing improvements, 20 at the Mall of America’s Nickelodeon Universe. 4See KIDDIE, page 3 INTERNATIONAL AMUSEMENTPARKS WATERPARKS BUSINESS MIDWAY/CLASSIFIEDS SEE PAGES 5-8 SEE PAGES 9-13 SEE PAGES 14-18 SEE PAGES 19-24 SEE PAGES 23-31 Dated material.Dated RUSH! NEWSPAPER PLEASE POSTMASTER: 26, 2010 March Mailed Friday, PERMIT # 2069 # PERMIT FT. WORTH TX WORTH FT. PAID @ US POSTAGE US PRSRT STD PRSRT 2010 Golden Ticket Awards • Busch Gardens Williamsburg • Williamsburg, Virginia 2 AMUSEMENT TODAY April 2010 TM Gary Slade Founder and Publisher [email protected] Kiddie Park reopens Located just a few blocks from the site of the former Playland Amusement Park, north of downtown San Antonio, Kiddie Park has a long rich history, one that has outlived its neighbor down the road. Dating back to 1925, Kiddie Park is Texas’ oldest operating park, and it is not only a San Antonio favorite, but is a part of the local culture and area’s history. Why you ask? Because generations of San Antonio families have made the trip to this simple, laid back, one-acre parcel to make their first ride on a carousel, ferris wheel, or umbrella ride a must do. Go- ing to Kiddie Park is like watching time stand still. It continues to operate the old classics and in doing so has the old-time charm to go with it. When Kiddie Park closed during the summer season last year, its future looked bleak. The property was showing its age, Scott Rutherford its safety record was starting to become a concern among local fandom and it wasn’t a fun and festive place children under 12 Preservation: material or memory? years were enjoying. That’s when Rad and Ashley Weaver stepped in and did Well, the long-awaited spring season actual structure the King enjoyed all what was right for the local community. They saved Kiddie Park is finally upon us and I guess it’s time for those years ago. While they can spend by acquiring the entire property from its former owner. They me to dust off my Preservation Soapbox their money on whatever they choose spent long tireless hours cleaning up the facility. They rebuilt and climb up for a sermon. (the reported price tag was $35,000 for rides that were in need of maintaince, they painted, they added This time it’s about Bay Beach the rights and a total of nearly $3 million new fencing and landscaping, they added a new office and Amusement Park in Greenbay, Wisconsin, to complete the project), I find myself restroom facility, and they gave the park a San Antonio limestone and their “purchase and relocation” of wondering if they were aware of other rock entrance that would make any person calling Texas home the famous 1915 vintage John Miller- Rutherford candidates that were in much better proud to walk through. Kiddie Park was back and better than designed/Harry Baker-built Zippin shape for relocation? ever. Pippin wooden roller coaster from the Mid- Chief among these are the Miracle Strip While Ashley serves as the park’s general manger, and is South Fairgrounds aka Libertyland in Memphis, Starliner (recently rebuilt and in excellent con- there to oversee the day to day operations, she did the right Tenn. dition at Florida’s recently-closed Cypress thing by surrounding herself with many qualified people on her While I applaud their efforts to save a classic Gardens); Geauga Lake’s wonderful Big Dipper; staff. She may not have had any previous park experience, but wooden roller coaster from oblivion, my concern or even the Americana Screechin’ Eagle. All she did have the one thing that one cannot overlook: she and over this one is: Just what are they preserving? three are proven rides that deserve to saved. her husband cared enough about this park, about the children It’s a known fact that the late Elvis Presley Dare I say that all three are far more entertaining who visited it, and their local community to borrow the money was fond of renting out the park and privately coasters than the now-gone Pippin, which has needed that would ultimately allow it to reopen. riding the Pippin (that’s what the coaster was now been completely demolished. At a time when our industry has seen far too many tradition- called in the pre-Libertyland days). He reported- Whatever the outcome of this saga, the al parks close for various reasons, this is certainly the feel good ly took a spin with daughter Lisa Marie six days building of the new ride is a plus for all parties. story our amusement industry has been long overdue to read before his death. On the surface, it seems like a Though the lights went out in Memphis for the about. marketable PR coup for Bay Beach to claim that world’s second oldest roller coaster, it’s a safe Amusement Today salutes Rad and Ashley Weaver for saving Elvis’ beloved coaster will reopen in Wisconsin bet that the Badger State’s Zippin Pippin 2.0 a San Antonio instution and ensuring that a whole new genera- in 2011. But will it be, really? will most likely be one that Elvis could not have tion of visitors will have their stories to tell in the future. According to various reports, Bay Beach resisted. is purchasing the idea of and rights to rebuild Amen. —Gary Slade the Pippin instead of physically relocating the AMUSEMENT TODAY STAFF ADDRESS, SUBSCRIPTION, POSTMASTER INFORMATION Mailing Address Deliveries Gary Slade Sammy Piccola P.O. Box 5427 2012 E. 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