Premier CLOSED one of its parks. FOREVER! (Confirmed)
David Bowers
We all said it was going to happen sooner or later. Premier Parks
announced today that operations will cease as of Friday September 11 at
its Funtricity Entertainment Park. Ok, so it was a lesser known FEC
(still had kiddie rides, possibly a kiddie coaster) and other FEC type
activities. But who knows, close Funtricity today, close Wyandot Lake
tommrow! :(
A copy of the PRESS RELEASE follwis this post.
David who is deeply saddened by the knowledge that in the town of
Vicksburg, Mississippi a lot of kids are gonna find out the hard way that
their local amusement park has been taken away from them.
<quoted text>
Funtricity Family Entertainment Park to Close
NEW YORK and VICKSBURG, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 1998--Premier
Parks Inc. (the ``Company'')(NYSE Symbols: PKS and PKSPrA) and Rainbow
Hotel and Casino announced today that the Funtricity Family Entertainment
Park, which is managed by one of Premier Parks' Six Flags subsidiaries, is
being closed on Sept. 11, 1998.
The facility was insignificant to Six Flags' consolidated operations.
Rainbow Hotel and Casino will purchase the ground lease and existing
buildings and is presently exploring alternative uses for the facility.
Premier Parks Inc. is the largest regional theme park operator, and the
second largest theme park company, in the world, based on 1997 attendance
of approximately 37 million visitors. The Company operates thirty-one
regional parks, including parks serving nine of the ten largest
metropolitan areas in the U.S. and six locations in Europe.
This release and prior releases are available on the KCSA Worldwide
website at www.kcsa.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Premier Parks Inc.
Brent Gooden, 405/524-3131
or
Rainbow Hotel Casino
Sean Clark, 601/629-2505
or
KCSA Worldwide, New York
Joseph A. Mansi/Scott Eckstein
212/682-6300 ext. 205/288
RIP Funtricity
----
"Having fun on the coaster, Harry? Ride it again!"
David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville
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Missippi RC
back in 1995 and thought it was a pretty nice place. Not as big as the
parks I usually go to, but the best amusement site in the state of
Mississippi at the time.
I thought it would last more than three years with Six Flags at the
helm, but then again, it's closing does make some sense. Vicksburg only
has a population of about 21,000. The main tourist draw is the riverboat
casinos, which get a lot of business from Monroe, Jackson, and Natchez,
but those people go to gamble, not to visit the park. They apparently
didn't have enough repeat local business to keep going. It's a shame,
but it just goes to show what happens when a park does not build a
roller coaster. 8-)
Glenn, aka Missippi RC
Remove "nospam" from address when responding via e-mail
B.F. "Hawkeye" Pierce, M.D.: "Are you kidding? I wrote the book on
taking out the appendix! I even wrote the appendix, but they took that
out!"
Dave Althoff
: Group,
: We all said it was going to happen sooner or later. Premier Parks
: announced today that operations will cease as of Friday September 11 at
: its Funtricity Entertainment Park. Ok, so it was a lesser known FEC
: (still had kiddie rides, possibly a kiddie coaster) and other FEC type
: activities. But who knows, close Funtricity today, close Wyandot Lake
: tommrow! :(
With the kinds of crowds Wyandot has been pulling in this season? Don't
count on it......
At any rate, here's another way to look at it...
Operating Funtricity was probably one of Six Flags' ill-fated attempts at
diversifying its entertainment operations beyond its group of amusement
and water parks by operating an FEC in a smaller market. Never mind that
there are other organizations out there that know a whole lot more about
running FECs than Six Flags.
Premier Parks, on the other hand, has not shown any real interest in
diversifying its operations beyond the ownership and operation of its
amusement parks. Operating Funtricity was, for them, probably not worth
the effort, as Premier is not otherwise in the FEC business. In fact,
Premier has divested itself of virtually all of its holdings outside the
regional amusement park and waterpark operations.
Also note that, according to the press release, Funtricity was owned by a
regional casino. Sounds like a contributing factor to me: they wanted
out if the FEC business probably more than Premier did.
Remember, this is, as usual, speculation on my part...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
--
/^\ _ _ *** Still open weekends!!! ***
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Erebus
Erebus
931...@ican.net
Robert Ulrich
the time to write:
>OK. If Premier has 31 parks is there a list of them?
Well, my list shows 33 current parks (I think there's duplication in
the Walibi listings). And with the new water parks proposed at SFGAdv
& SFGAm that would bring the total to 35. I count separate gated
admission as a "park" as does the Premier Parks' 1997 Annual Report:
1) Adventure World, The Great Escape, Largo, MD (Washington DC):
theme & water park
2) Frontier City, Oklahoma City, OK: amusement park
3) Geauga Lake, The Great Escape, Aurora, OH: theme & water park
4) Wyandot Lake, The Great Escape, Columbus, OH: theme & water park
5) Darien Lake, The Great Escape, Darien Center (Buffalo/Rochester),
NY: theme & water park
6) The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom, Lake George (Rochester),
NY: theme & water park
7) Riverside, The Great Escape, Agawam (Boston), MA: theme & water
park
8) Elitch Gardens, The Great Escape, Denver, CO: amusement park
9) Marine World & Theme Park, USA, Vallejo (San Francisco), CA: zoo &
amusement park
10) White Water Bay, Oklahoma City, OK: water park
11) Waterworld & Paradise Island Family Fun Park, USA,Sacramento, CA:
water park
12) Waterworld, USA, Concord (Oakland), CA: water park
Six Flags Theme Parks group
Theme Parks:
13) Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington (Dallas), TX
14) Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta, GA
15) Six Flags St. Louis (Six Flags Mid-America), Eureka, MO
16) Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ
17) Six Flags Great America, Gurnee (Chicago/Minneapolis), IL
18) Six Flags Astroworld, Houston, TX
19) Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia (Los Angeles), CA
20) Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, Texas
21) Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Louisville, KY (& water park)
Water Parks:
22) Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, Valencia CA
23) Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, Arlington, TX
24) Six Flags Waterworld, Houston, TX
Other:
25) Six Flags Wild Animal Safari, Jackson, IL
Walibi Parks group
26) Walibi Aquitaine, Agen, France
27) Walibi Rhône-Alpes, Les Avenierés, France
28) Walibi Schtroumpf, Mesieres-les-Metz, France
29) Walibi Wavre, Belgium
30) Walibi-Flevo, Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands
31) Belleward, Ieper, Belgium
32) Oceade, Brussels, Belgium: water park
33) Mini Europe, Brussels, Belgium: mini-village
Robert Ulrich
Craig Raether
>17) Six Flags Great America, Gurnee (Chicago/Minneapolis), IL
this list come from Premier? And if so do you know why they include
Minneapolis as part of its location? I would guess that it meant to say
Chicago/Milwaukee considering Minneapolis is over 400 miles away.
Craig
Dave Althoff
: On Wed, 16 Sep 1998 15:47:33 -0700, "Erebus" <931...@ican.net> took
: the time to write:
: >OK. If Premier has 31 parks is there a list of them?
: Well, my list shows 33 current parks (I think there's duplication in
: the Walibi listings). And with the new water parks proposed at SFGAdv
: & SFGAm that would bring the total to 35. I count separate gated
: admission as a "park" as does the Premier Parks' 1997 Annual Report:
(most of list snipped)
: 3) Geauga Lake, The Great Escape, Aurora, OH: theme & water park
: 4) Wyandot Lake, The Great Escape, Columbus, OH: theme & water park
Neither Geauga Lake nor Wyandot Lake uses "The Great Escape" in
promotional materials. Geauga Lake promotes itself rather heavily as:
3) Geauga Lake: An American Classic, Aurora, OH
Wyandot Lake has a sign out front identifying it as:
4) Wyandot Lake Adventure Park, Powell, OH
...though I don't think I have ever heard the words "Adventure Park" used
in any promotional materials or in-park announcements.
DJ Gallup and Richard Allen
>
> On Wed, 16 Sep 1998 15:47:33 -0700, "Erebus" <931...@ican.net> took
> the time to write:
>
> >OK. If Premier has 31 parks is there a list of them?
>
> Well, my list shows 33 current parks (I think there's duplication in
> the Walibi listings). And with the new water parks proposed at SFGAdv
> & SFGAm that would bring the total to 35. I count separate gated
> admission as a "park" as does the Premier Parks' 1997 Annual Report:
>
> theme & water park
> 2) Frontier City, Oklahoma City, OK: amusement park
> 4) Wyandot Lake, The Great Escape, Columbus, OH: theme & water park
> NY: theme & water park
> 6) The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom, Lake George (Rochester),
> NY: theme & water park
away).
> 7) Riverside, The Great Escape, Agawam (Boston), MA: theme & water
> park
RiversideL the Thrill Park
Which is Springfield, Mass, not Boston.
D.J.
tv's Spatch
<ric...@superior.net> wrote:
>Robert Ulrich wrote:
>> 7) Riverside, The Great Escape, Agawam (Boston), MA: theme & water
>> park
>RiversideL the Thrill Park
>Which is Springfield, Mass, not Boston.
Try telling that to the statesmen in Boston. :)
- spatch, who for years lived in the Region That The State Forgot -
--
der spatchel reading, mass 01867
resident cranky fovea.retina.net 4000
"What mother means is they're still shooting it out, but now it's in color!"
Mark Thurow
> 8) Elitch Gardens, The Great Escape, Denver, CO: amusement park
Elitch's also has a water park. It is part of the amusement park, and not
a seperate gate.
-Mark