History
Prior to Adventure Landing's founding; founder Hank Woodburn spent 24 years working with the Putt-Putt Golf Courses of America, specializing in updating the locations, to include new features that Putt-Putt introduced. [2]
In 1994, Woodburn updated the Jacksonville, Fl Putt-Putt (Blanding & Beach Blvd) locations to include go-karts, batting cages, and arcades. [2]
That same year, Woodburn, alongside Chip Linville, acquired 18 acres of land on Beach Blvd in Jacksonville Beach to open up a new arcade & water park independently from Putt-Putt known as Adventure Landing. The dry portion opened on May 26, 1995, followed by Shipwreck Island waterpark in mid-June by Woodburn's company Adventure Golf & Games (which later became Adventure Entertainment Company). [3] [2]
The initial cost of construction for the first location was $5 million. The central structure contained the video arcade, laser tag, snackbar, prize counter, restrooms and other attractions. It was surrounded by miniature golf, batting cages, go-kart track and the water park. [3]
In 1997, three Putt-Putt locations (Jacksonville Blanding, Raleigh, and Buffalo) owned by Adventure Entertainment were converted to Adventure Landing, followed by the Greece location the next year.
In 1998, Adventure Entertainment was sold to a former New York investment banker Randy Levinson; at that time, the company had 5 branded Adventure Landing locations and several Putt-Putt franchised locations. Later that same year, Bob Steele of PepsiCo became CEO of the company, later resigning the next year. The 6th location & 2nd water park of Adventure Landing opened up in Daytona Beach (now Daytona Lagoon) on October 10th, 1998. [4]
On December 18, 2002, a management-led buyout was completed by Adventure Landing LLC for the four profitable parks owned by Adventure Entertainment. [5]
In 2004, Hank Woodburn brought back Adventure Landing from Levinson's Adventure Landing LLC via Adventure Holdings, LLC.
In 2010, Adventure Holdings acquired All Star Adventures & All Star Sports in Wichita from Zuma Holdings, LLC. [6]
The five Adventure Landing locations owned by Adventure Holdings, LLC were purchased in April 2011 by National Retail Properties (NRP), a Real Estate Investment Trust based in Orlando, Florida. All the locations were sale-leaseback transactions, so Adventure Holdings continued to operate the facilities. [7]
In 2012, Adventure Landing purchased The Beach Waterpark in Mason, OH, which reopened in May 2013 as The Beach at Adventure Landing.
In December 2019, Adventure Holdings & NRP Lease Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [8]
In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the locations were closed for a few months, although have later reopened with safety precautions (such as sanitization of high touch points & six feet marks). [9] [10]
The Blanding Boulevard location in Jacksonville was closed Summer 2021 after 24 years in operation. The property was purchased to build a parking lot for Amazon's new delivery center. [11]
The Adventure Landing in Jacksonville Beach was sold in 2021 and a 427-unit apartment complex was planned for the site. The parks were slated to close Halloween 2021, but construction was first delayed until end-of-year 2021, then the date was pushed back until August 31, 2022, and ultimately October 15, 2025. [12] Adventure Landing announced that they were searching Jacksonville for a location to rebuild a new, larger facility. [11]
