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American Adventure Park

Ohhh there’s a thought @pluk …
  • Spaceport Close
  • Alamo Road
  • Frontier Street
  • Pioneer Place
  • Niagara Drive
On a serious note, I’d really like to see the history of the site displayed proudly in any of the many public buildings that are scheduled for development. Any easy way might be to have photographs and artwork of the site over the years adorn the walls of the hotel/restaurant/conference centre. It’s something I’m feeling quite passionate about ensuring!
 
pluk said:
They best be naming the streets after past rides and ride parts, an easy sell to a town full of geeks.

Who wouldn't want to live on Rockin Tug Road, Buffalo Spampeed Street, Cobra Roll Close or Lift Hill Walk?
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That's a great idea to name roads after rides - if only there was a way for us to share our collective opinion with the council...
 
Cheers for sharing those pictures :)

It would be an excellent tribute to the area.

I would absolutely love to buy a house on this area,

If they do indeed build a restaurant how apt would it be to theme it to an American diner
 
I can see them doing it. Naming a street is never high priority for a developer which is why so many streets have generic names. Hand them something interesting and relevant and they are bound to use it.

Case in point back in 2004 an attraction called The Village closed in Norfolk. I went past the site last month and the roads built over the site all had topical names:
- Gate House Close - the Old staff buildings
- Bygone Close - The attraction originally opened as the Bygone Village
- Hall Close - where the old Manor house used to be (looked like they'd demolished it with the rest of the park)
- Trust Close - I think this is because the park originally opened as an educational Trust.

They'd also kept The Village as the name for the area and replaced the old themed entrance sign with a stone gate sign.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see AA get the same form of tribute.
 
It does happen. The first infant school I attended was demolished due to being on old mineworkings (it ended up moving on to the same site as the town's junior school, and must've been planned for quite a while), which was great for six-year-old me, as we got three days off around the end of November 1998 so things could be moved from one school to the other! :p The old school was eventually demolished, and the site made safe, before houses were built on the site. The new development had the road name 'Bilson School Court', after the original name for the school. I'd hope something similar happens with American Adventure.
 
Yep the brand new housing estate I moved into recently was built on an old rugby club (they moved to another site with a new clubhouse built with the proceeds) and the rugby club got to choose the street names. They named the roads after former club members who did a lot for the community.
 
A housing estate near me was built on the site of a former golf club, and some of the roads do have golf-related names, I think, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the developers did pay a bit of homage to American Adventure.
 
More sad news from today's Derby Telegraph:

"Derbyshire Live understands Waystone Developments, which is leading the ground works currently underway, did apply to have all the roads around the development to be named after rides from the theme park as a mark of respect, however that idea has been turned down."
 
WillPS said:
Just about says it all about the council's attitude towards the place, sadly.
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I emailed Amber Valley Council and these are the rubbish street names they have chosen:

Miller Drive – after Alfred Edward Miller-Mundy
The Woodside - The Woodside no.3 shaft remains at the site
Nutbrook Drive - south of the site on the site of the former Nutbrook mine,
Lakeside Avenue – linked to Shipley Lake
Deepfields Drive - pits such as Shipley Woodside (the original No.1 sinking), Shipley Newcastle, Shipley Nutbrook, and Shipley Deepfields, the latter being opened in 1817; at times it appears all were working simultaneously.
Coppice Drive – Former colliery
Piper Drive - Woodside workings (known later as Woodside No.2 "Piper",
Nesfield Drive - William Nesfield the architect of Home Farm​
 
Matt N said:
Did the locals not like AA much, then?
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Newp. And the council pretty much guaranteed the place would never operate as a theme park again by immediately demolishing the considerable infrastructure left behind once the keys were handed over.

Mellors had already drawn up proposals for a Centerparcs style development which made use of the rapids and several buildings, but obviously these plans were rendered useless when the council bought in the wrecking crews before they'd even considered them.
 
I have to say, American Adventure is perhaps one of the British theme park stories that makes me saddest. It was quite arguably the country's first true theme park, and it looked to have such potential back in the 80s... but then it just sort of gradually petered out for ages before eventually being put out of its misery.

Had the park's initial momentum continued, I genuinely think we could have had a major player within the UK industry on our hands... I wonder what switch flicked that suddenly made the momentum vanish?

From what I can tell from having watched documentaries and read stuff about the park's 19 years open, one strange thing I noticed about AA is that its "golden era" of high investment, high guest figures and general level of prestige within the UK industry seemed oddly short in terms of a percentage of its operating life; I'm not sure if it was this way in actuality, but it always seems like the park's golden era only actually lasted for the first few years or so... am I correct there? (Do bear in mind that I was only born 3 years before the park shut)
 
Matt N said:
I wonder what switch flicked that suddenly made the momentum vanish?
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TL;DR there was a belief that you could run a park on zero investment, with limited upkeep other than keeping rides just about running, infrequent and low quality new attractions.

AA peaked with investments such as Missile in the late 80s, while Towers was still essentially a fair in the woods.

The drop in new developments coincided with parks like Towers and Drayton were beginning to go through their booms, with the 94 investments and sustained levels through to the millennium.

By the time someone new took the reins the rot had already set in deep, and there was limited new revenue streams to redevelop to the extent that was needed.
 
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