 The most recent park logo found on a 1995 park brochure | |
| Location | Thorntown, Indiana, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°08′41″N86°32′12″W / 40.144764°N 86.536678°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Opened | 1983 |
| Closed | 1996 |
Old Indiana Fun Park was an amusement park located near Thorntown, Indiana off I-65 at 7230N 350W. The site is now used for a privately owned hops farm and processing facility. [1]
The park opened under the name "Middle Country Renaissance Festival" during August 1983. It ran for six weekends until the end of the first weekend of October 1983. Construction of a ride park started in 1984, and it opened on June 9, 1985 as “Middle Country USA”. They gradually added rides until 1986, but remained mostly a picnic area and campground with a few attractions. In spring 1987, the park filed Chapter 11 because attendance was not sufficient to meet expenses and further development costs. It opened for that season under bankruptcy court supervision
On Sunday, August 11, 1996, 4-year-old Emily Hunt was paralyzed from the chest down and her 57-year-old grandmother, Nancy Jones, was killed after a miniature train ride at the Old Indiana Fun Park derailed and overturned as it approached a curve. [2] The two victims were crushed under the weight of the cars. Upon investigation, the train was traveling much faster than its design speed of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h).
The ride attendant claimed to have applied the brakes as the train neared the curve, but it was discovered that many of them were either broken, missing, or not connected, and that most of the anti-derailment devices were missing. The speedometer was broken, along with the governor, which limits the speed of the train. The track was littered with broken ride parts.
The ride passed two state inspections in the 3-month period prior to the accident, before the safety inspector admitted that he was not qualified to inspect amusement rides. A state review of the park's own records showed that the train had derailed 79 times in the 2 months prior to the accident, and as many as 15 times in a single day. The owners of the park admitted negligence, but denied knowing anything about the condition of the ride prior to the accident. They later declared bankruptcy, and most of the rides were auctioned off on February 22, 1997.
Premier Parks was planning to redevelop the park and open it in 1999, but after acquiring Six Flags in 1998, the refocused Premier Parks (which had by then adopted the Six Flags name) eventually cancelled the project.
Prior to the project cancellation, the company purchased four roller coasters from the closed Opryland USA in Nashville, Tennessee (Chaos, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Screamin' Delta Demon and Wabash Cannonball), and transported them to the park, planning to reconstruct them there.
During 2000, two more roller coasters from the former Riverside Amusement Park (Black Widow and Little Rickie's Little Twister) in Agawam, Massachusetts (renamed to Six Flags New England in 2000) arrived at the park and were placed in the old parking lot along with the other four and, again, the park sat with no activity.
In July 2002, Six Flags sold the 330-acre (1.3 km2) property to Trevor Gray, former owner of Sunshine Holdings (containing a tanning bed company, ETS, and a lotion company, Australian Gold) and now of Sunshine Properties, which planned to turn it into a nature preserve.
Six roller coasters were still on site when Six Flags sold the property. One roller coaster, however, the Rock n' Roller Coaster, would be taken to Six Flags Great Escape in Queensbury, New York and would reopen on June 27, 2003 as Canyon Blaster.
When Six Flags sold the property, it included provisions for them to keep the rides there for a period of four years. This ended on April 1, 2006 and some were still on the site as of that time. By June 11, 2006, all of them were gone.
Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately 20 miles southeast of Trenton in Jackson, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelphia and includes a water park named Hurricane Harbor. It first opened to the public as simply Great Adventure in 1974 under the direction of restaurateur Warner LeRoy. Six Flags acquired the park in 1977. The park is located right off of Interstate 195 and is along Monmouth Road.
Six Flags Darien Lake is a 1,200-acre (4.86 km2) amusement park and resort located in Corfu, New York, off of Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Rochester. Six Flags Darien Lake features a theme park, water park, campground and lodging. It is owned by EPR Properties and operated by Six Flags.
A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (1946–1981) and Arrow Huss (1981–1986), which were responsible for several influential advancements in the amusement and theme park industries. Among the most significant was tubular steel track, which provided a smoother ride than the railroad style rails commonly used prior to the 1960s on wooden roller coasters. The Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, built in 1959, was Arrow's first roller coaster project.
Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement installations". The company has offices throughout the world, including three in Europe, three in Asia, and two in the United States.
Worlds of Fun is an entertainment complex with more than 235 acres located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is the largest amusement park and water park in the Midwest. Founded by American businessmen Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman, the park opened in 1973 under the ownership of Hunt's company, Mid-America Enterprises. Oceans of Fun is a water park that opened in 1982 and is next to the amusement park. Admission to Oceans of Fun is included with the price of admission to Worlds of Fun. Both parks were sold to Cedar Fair in 1995 for $40 million.
El Toro is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Designed by Werner Stengel and manufactured by Intamin, the ride opened to the public on June 11, 2006. Intamin subcontracted Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) to build the ride, and the coaster's track was prefabricated, allowing for quicker installation and lower construction costs. El Toro is the main attraction of the Mexican-themed section of the park, Plaza Del Carnaval. It replaced another roller coaster, Viper, which closed following the 2004 season.
Canyon Blaster is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor in Queensbury, New York.
Storm Chaser is a steel roller coaster located at Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Designed by Alan Schilke and manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) at an estimated cost of $10 million, the ride opened to the public on April 30, 2016. It features three inversions, a 78-degree drop, and a maximum speed of 52 mph (84 km/h) utilizing RMC's patented I-Box track technology.
Orient Express was a steel roller coaster located at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. Introduced in 1980, the ride was manufactured by Arrow Huss and designed by Ron Toomer. It was replaced in 2004 by Spinning Dragons, a Gerstlauer spinning roller coaster. The red-orange track was located between the two entrances of the park. The station house was retained for use with a haunted attraction during the park's annual Halloween event.
The following article is a summary of notable incidents at the amusement parks and water parks that are operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. In some cases, these incidents occurred while the park was under different management or ownership.
Shockwave was a stand-up roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Opened in 1986, it was the third stand-up roller coaster installation built and designed by Japanese company TOGO. Following closures of the previous two, it became the oldest of its kind still in operation. After nearly thirty years in operation, Shockwave closed permanently on August 9, 2015. It was replaced by Delirium, a Mondial Revolution flat ride, which opened in 2016.
Expoland, located in Suita, Japan was opened as the amusement zone at the International Exposition in 1970 in Osaka and thrived for over 30 years as an amusement park. There were more than 40 rides and attractions and 19 restaurants and shops. The park was permanently closed in 2009.
Wabash Cannonball was a steel roller coaster at the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee. Built by Arrow Development in 1975, it was the second roller coaster added to the park following the Timber Topper. Located in the State Fair section of the park, the ride was built in an area previously occupied by the park's buffalo exhibit.
Superman The Ride is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Built by Swiss manufacturer Intamin, the hypercoaster opened to the public as Superman – Ride of Steel in 2000. It features a 208-foot (63 m) lift hill, a 221-foot (67 m) drop, and a maximum speed of 77 mph (124 km/h). In 2009, the park changed the name to Bizarro, named after a DC Comics character portrayed as the antithesis of Superman. In accordance with the theme change, the coaster's track and supports were repainted with a purple and dark blue color scheme, and other special effects were added. In 2016, the Six Flags reverted to the original theme, but instead of restoring the name, it was changed to Superman The Ride. A virtual reality feature was added the same year, which created an optional 3D experience for passengers, but was removed prior to the 2017 season.
Invertigo is the name of an inverted shuttle roller coaster model developed and manufactured by Dutch company Vekoma. Four roller coasters based on this model were built, with the first installation opening in 1997 as HangOver at Liseberg amusement park located in Sweden. Three of the four are still in operation. Invertigo is designed as an inverted variation of their traditional Boomerang model, which first appeared in 1984. Invertigo's seat configuration is also a departure from its predecessor, in that riders sit back-to-back, resulting in all rows facing one another with the exception of the first and last.
Apocalypse: The Ride, formerly known as Terminator Salvation: The Ride, is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Manufactured by Great Coasters International, the roller coaster opened to the public on May 23, 2009. It is located in The Underground section of the amusement park on a plot of land formerly occupied by the Psyclone (1991-2007), Shockwave (1986-1988) and Sarajevo Bobsleds (1984-1986). It was the first wooden coaster to feature onboard audio, and its Terminator theme was short-lived following a corporate restructuring by Six Flags in 2011.
The Illusion is a fully enclosed tubular steel roller coaster, manufactured by Vekoma. It runs on Vekoma's narrow MK-700 track system. Two were built, both in 1989, Chaos in Opryland USA (Tennessee), and Revolution / Mount Mara in Bobbejaanland (Belgium). Only the one in Bobbejaanland is still active.