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American Adventure Park
- Thread starter BigT
- Start date
Themeparksandy1981
TS Member
When I was in junior school in the last 80’s and early 90’s schools were always giving out discount coupons for the American adventure so we were always going there as it was 1 price and all rides and attractions were included.
I always remember walking down the main entrance way and seeing the big lake we would always go right and remember watching a 3D movie then going on the pirate ship which didn’t feel safe and the big wheel. Then my mum would want a coffee break as would sit in the saloon watching the girls dance on the stage behind the bar then head outside and watch the stunt show. There’s never been a show anywhere in the uk that’s come close to even matching it. Then would join the big queue for the log flume which got you very wet then then would go on the rapids which were at the time the best in the uk. We usually would eat lunch now before going on the runaway train and going round to the missile which was the best coaster I had gone on (didn’t go to Alton Towers to 1993) then watched a cinema 360 or 180 can’t remember which 1 it was and then headed to the Buffalo Stampede and ending up riding the train and Tennessee Tentacles with my parents and us ending the day looking round the shops.
With Granada owning the park, Camelot and Granada studios tour in Manchester we visited both Granada studios and American adventure every year. Both parks were getting new attractions and shows every year with the log flume getting extended in 1993 and flat rides were also added around the site from 91 to 94 with the park using its IP’s from Granada studios to bring Motion master to the park with Aliens and the Sooty show. The last major attraction added by Granada was the twin loop coaster called Iron Wolf themed off Wolf from the tv show Gladiators for me this is when the park peaked and was sold to Ventureworld fronted by John Broome he re-marketed the park to the American adventure World and renamed all the park areas and in 97/98 added a flying island attraction which I managed to go on and give a good view of the area but it not major problems and downtime and was removed 2 years later. With Alton and Drayton adding bigger and better attractions year in year out I didn’t go again to the park to 2004/05 where by then the main entrance had moved to around the corner and replaced with cheap car park pay booths the Rapids were reopened with new boats and effects but the log flume and missile were left SBNO and 2 years later the park closed for good.
I always remember walking down the main entrance way and seeing the big lake we would always go right and remember watching a 3D movie then going on the pirate ship which didn’t feel safe and the big wheel. Then my mum would want a coffee break as would sit in the saloon watching the girls dance on the stage behind the bar then head outside and watch the stunt show. There’s never been a show anywhere in the uk that’s come close to even matching it. Then would join the big queue for the log flume which got you very wet then then would go on the rapids which were at the time the best in the uk. We usually would eat lunch now before going on the runaway train and going round to the missile which was the best coaster I had gone on (didn’t go to Alton Towers to 1993) then watched a cinema 360 or 180 can’t remember which 1 it was and then headed to the Buffalo Stampede and ending up riding the train and Tennessee Tentacles with my parents and us ending the day looking round the shops.
With Granada owning the park, Camelot and Granada studios tour in Manchester we visited both Granada studios and American adventure every year. Both parks were getting new attractions and shows every year with the log flume getting extended in 1993 and flat rides were also added around the site from 91 to 94 with the park using its IP’s from Granada studios to bring Motion master to the park with Aliens and the Sooty show. The last major attraction added by Granada was the twin loop coaster called Iron Wolf themed off Wolf from the tv show Gladiators for me this is when the park peaked and was sold to Ventureworld fronted by John Broome he re-marketed the park to the American adventure World and renamed all the park areas and in 97/98 added a flying island attraction which I managed to go on and give a good view of the area but it not major problems and downtime and was removed 2 years later. With Alton and Drayton adding bigger and better attractions year in year out I didn’t go again to the park to 2004/05 where by then the main entrance had moved to around the corner and replaced with cheap car park pay booths the Rapids were reopened with new boats and effects but the log flume and missile were left SBNO and 2 years later the park closed for good.
The Broadcasting Act 1990 was the turning point. No, really.
Prior to that becoming law, Granada was essentially an unstoppable money-making machine. They had an effective monopoly on television advertising across Manchester, Liverpool and the rest of the North West; if the audience were watching TV and not the BBC they were consuming advertising sold by Granada in that region.
The arrangement by which they won and retained their franchise to do this was primarily awarded based on quality of service, and Granada had a reputation of delivering in that regard.
Such was the extremeness of their profitability that they were able to buy out multi-billion pound empires like Trusthouse Forte in the 80s. If you stopped for a meal on a journey, or stayed in a hotel (anywhere) there's a strong chance you would be paying Granada, indirectly. They were an unstoppable force. The only limit was that they were forbidden from expanding their media empire, at all, but that was equally protection for the company because none of their rivals could make a bid for them.
This is the backdrop to which Granada make a deep investment in Park Hall Leisure. It was intended as a way of buying expertise ready to build a studio-style theme park, but the opportunity presented by Britannia Park was too good to pass up and Granada were only too willing to build their empire further still.
The Broadcasting Act changed everything, in a stroke. All of a sudden, Granada was exposed - the regulator would now judge worthiness for the ITV North West franchise based on the amount of money they would pay. Not only that, but in the new world Granada would have to work harder to win the audience - satellite and cable stations were already nibbling away at their share of the audience, but so too now would Channel 4 as they sold their own adverts, and before too long Channel 5 too, not to mention the explosion in choice digital broadcasting could bring.
Granada TV couldn't be relied upon so heavily. The investments paused and the focus for the organisation shifted to retaining their franchise - which they eventually did. The long term investments, theme parks included, would be looked at again when funds allowed.
Perhaps the most critical change would be the weakening of the corporate protection Granada had enjoyed. The final bill did make it difficult for a foreign media organisation to takeover, but in theory Granada could takeover or be taken over by a domestic media interest, including any of the other Channel 3 (ITV) franchisees. Granada was able to use their still enormous market capitalisation to stave off a takeover, but their rivals were converging left, right and centre and it was only going to be a matter of time before one of the companies would become big enough to devour Granada whole. London Weekend were lining up a purchase of the already merged and part-owned Yorkshire Tyne Tees, and the same again with Scottish. If these mergers went ahead, Granada would be in their crosshairs.
Granada got wind. It was kill or be killed, and they had no choice but to act. They paid an eye watering £0.8bn for London Weekend.
The company had gone from expanding rapidly in any direction it could with the TV business as the bottomless well, to contracting rapidly to protect the mothership.
By now it was 1997 and American Adventure had already been running on a much reduced budget for 8 years. Pearson was making waves with their investments at Alton Towers and BPB were at their height of their powers. In the grand scheme of things, the theme parks were now seen as a liability rather than a long term opportunity, and were dispensed of.
The new owners' plan A was to flip the park and put together expansion plans to make such a sale attractive. Six Flags and Grevin et Cie (Looping Group nowadays) were both interested. One can only speculate as to why this never amounted to anything but if I was to indulge I'd say it was because Derbyshire and Amber Valley councils made clear they would not support expansion. The park had always been a political footfall and in the time between Britannia Park's failure and the American Adventure's stalled development, the council had flipped from being supportive to being minded to stymie.
tl;dr - Momentum is everything and the Broadcasting Act had provided a pause significant enough completely destroy the American Adventure's.
I look forward to hearing this read out verbatim by Expedition Theme Park in 18 months time.
Prior to that becoming law, Granada was essentially an unstoppable money-making machine. They had an effective monopoly on television advertising across Manchester, Liverpool and the rest of the North West; if the audience were watching TV and not the BBC they were consuming advertising sold by Granada in that region.
The arrangement by which they won and retained their franchise to do this was primarily awarded based on quality of service, and Granada had a reputation of delivering in that regard.
Such was the extremeness of their profitability that they were able to buy out multi-billion pound empires like Trusthouse Forte in the 80s. If you stopped for a meal on a journey, or stayed in a hotel (anywhere) there's a strong chance you would be paying Granada, indirectly. They were an unstoppable force. The only limit was that they were forbidden from expanding their media empire, at all, but that was equally protection for the company because none of their rivals could make a bid for them.
This is the backdrop to which Granada make a deep investment in Park Hall Leisure. It was intended as a way of buying expertise ready to build a studio-style theme park, but the opportunity presented by Britannia Park was too good to pass up and Granada were only too willing to build their empire further still.
The Broadcasting Act changed everything, in a stroke. All of a sudden, Granada was exposed - the regulator would now judge worthiness for the ITV North West franchise based on the amount of money they would pay. Not only that, but in the new world Granada would have to work harder to win the audience - satellite and cable stations were already nibbling away at their share of the audience, but so too now would Channel 4 as they sold their own adverts, and before too long Channel 5 too, not to mention the explosion in choice digital broadcasting could bring.
Granada TV couldn't be relied upon so heavily. The investments paused and the focus for the organisation shifted to retaining their franchise - which they eventually did. The long term investments, theme parks included, would be looked at again when funds allowed.
Perhaps the most critical change would be the weakening of the corporate protection Granada had enjoyed. The final bill did make it difficult for a foreign media organisation to takeover, but in theory Granada could takeover or be taken over by a domestic media interest, including any of the other Channel 3 (ITV) franchisees. Granada was able to use their still enormous market capitalisation to stave off a takeover, but their rivals were converging left, right and centre and it was only going to be a matter of time before one of the companies would become big enough to devour Granada whole. London Weekend were lining up a purchase of the already merged and part-owned Yorkshire Tyne Tees, and the same again with Scottish. If these mergers went ahead, Granada would be in their crosshairs.
Granada got wind. It was kill or be killed, and they had no choice but to act. They paid an eye watering £0.8bn for London Weekend.
The company had gone from expanding rapidly in any direction it could with the TV business as the bottomless well, to contracting rapidly to protect the mothership.
By now it was 1997 and American Adventure had already been running on a much reduced budget for 8 years. Pearson was making waves with their investments at Alton Towers and BPB were at their height of their powers. In the grand scheme of things, the theme parks were now seen as a liability rather than a long term opportunity, and were dispensed of.
The new owners' plan A was to flip the park and put together expansion plans to make such a sale attractive. Six Flags and Grevin et Cie (Looping Group nowadays) were both interested. One can only speculate as to why this never amounted to anything but if I was to indulge I'd say it was because Derbyshire and Amber Valley councils made clear they would not support expansion. The park had always been a political footfall and in the time between Britannia Park's failure and the American Adventure's stalled development, the council had flipped from being supportive to being minded to stymie.
tl;dr - Momentum is everything and the Broadcasting Act had provided a pause significant enough completely destroy the American Adventure's.
I look forward to hearing this read out verbatim by Expedition Theme Park in 18 months time.
Sazzle
TS Administrator
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
The strangest thing happened to me on Friday of last week... it's a "sweet" story. Puns ahoy!
I booked a fudge making experience at Fudge Kitchen in Cambridge last Friday, and wondered if the company was the same one that had outlets at American Adventure and Lightwater Valley many years ago. I did a bit of Googling on the journey there and thought it was, and figured that I'd ask the question when I arrived.
When I asked "was this company formerly known as Jim Garrahy's Fudge Kitchen, as I think you used to be at American Adventure" the store manager appeared from the basement waving a piece of paper and said "did someone say American Adventure??"
Turns out the manager of the Cambridge store, Lee, used to be the manager of the American Adventure store, and we used to live in fairly close proximity! The entire time we made fudge together we talked about the park and about the local area (Ilkeston), and how our paths would have undoubtably crossed.
The certificate was only found that morning - what an incredible coincidence. There were so many other strange coincidences, like the only customer in the Cambridge store he knew who came from Ilkeston... happens to be my mum's next door neighbour.
I did learn one interesting tidbit - there was a store at Chessington World of Adventures too!
Of all the images I have of the park I don't think I have one of the Fudge Kitchen, which was on the waterfront between Snake Island and The Buffalo (a couple doors down from the fish and chip restaurant). I don't suppose anyone has any images that I can pass back to Lee for nostalgia?
I booked a fudge making experience at Fudge Kitchen in Cambridge last Friday, and wondered if the company was the same one that had outlets at American Adventure and Lightwater Valley many years ago. I did a bit of Googling on the journey there and thought it was, and figured that I'd ask the question when I arrived.
When I asked "was this company formerly known as Jim Garrahy's Fudge Kitchen, as I think you used to be at American Adventure" the store manager appeared from the basement waving a piece of paper and said "did someone say American Adventure??"
Turns out the manager of the Cambridge store, Lee, used to be the manager of the American Adventure store, and we used to live in fairly close proximity! The entire time we made fudge together we talked about the park and about the local area (Ilkeston), and how our paths would have undoubtably crossed.
The certificate was only found that morning - what an incredible coincidence. There were so many other strange coincidences, like the only customer in the Cambridge store he knew who came from Ilkeston... happens to be my mum's next door neighbour.
I did learn one interesting tidbit - there was a store at Chessington World of Adventures too!
Of all the images I have of the park I don't think I have one of the Fudge Kitchen, which was on the waterfront between Snake Island and The Buffalo (a couple doors down from the fish and chip restaurant). I don't suppose anyone has any images that I can pass back to Lee for nostalgia?
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Wow Sazzle, that is incredible! Think I bought some Fudge Kitchen-branded fudge from Lightwater Valley a few years ago actually.The strangest thing happened to me on Friday of last week... it's a "sweet" story. Puns ahoy!
I booked a fudge making experience at Fudge Kitchen in Cambridge last Friday, and wondered if the company was the same one that had outlets at American Adventure and Lightwater Valley many years ago. I did a bit of Googling on the journey there and thought it was, and figured that I'd ask the question when I arrived.
When I asked "was this company formerly known as Jim Garrahy's Fudge Kitchen, as I think you used to be at American Adventure" the store manager appeared from the basement waving a piece of paper and said "did someone say American Adventure??"
Turns out the manager of the Cambridge store, Lee, used to be the manager of the American Adventure store, and we used to live in fairly close proximity! The entire time we made fudge together we talked about the park and about the local area (Ilkeston), and how our paths would have undoubtably crossed.
The certificate was only found that morning - what an incredible coincidence. There were so many other strange coincidences, like the only customer in the Cambridge store he knew who came from Ilkeston... happens to be my mum's next door neighbour.
I did learn one interesting tidbit - there was a store at Chessington World of Adventures too!
Of all the images I have of the park I don't think I have one of the Fudge Kitchen, which was on the waterfront between Snake Island and The Buffalo (a couple doors down from the fish and chip restaurant). I don't suppose anyone has any images that I can pass back to Lee for nostalgia?
It's like all my Publisher 97 dreams come true.
djtruefitt
TS Team
I remember the fudge place, you used to be able to see them making the fudge in there during the day.
Tim
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Air / Blue Fire
Never went to American Adventures but I know the shop in Cambridge and it's cool to know a little bit of the park lives on.
I have a similar story about the Merrivale Tea Room in Great Yarmouth. The owners used to run the Copper Kettle at 'The Village' attraction, closed 2004.
Although its mainly the son that runs it now.
Love it when stories like this pop up!
I have a similar story about the Merrivale Tea Room in Great Yarmouth. The owners used to run the Copper Kettle at 'The Village' attraction, closed 2004.
Although its mainly the son that runs it now.
Love it when stories like this pop up!
Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
The first showhome on the site is now available for viewing; a 4-bed for £362.5k.
Spark
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
It is hard to know where exactly that part is in relation to the site, I believe its not as far down as the runaway train resided
Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I believe the first phase is towards the northeast of the site near where Motion Master was, but not directly over the park's boundaries. The second phase looks as though it will be directly on Motion Master's land, and then head south towards where Twin Looper once stood. I could be wrong though. I may book a viewing for a look around when I'm next passing that neck of the woods.
BigShadowtinytree
TS Member
They’re gonna end up with loads of bookings from enthusiasts who just want to have a nosey around the old park site aren’t they?
Spark
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Sazzle
TS Administrator
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Not bad though for a small theme park in the middle of Derbyshire!31 years ago today. What a lineup...
... not even the good Minogue!
They peaked with Boyzone for Flying Island!
Ian
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
I dunno… Getting Buzz Aldrin over to open a second hand Vekoma Boomerang isn’t something to be sniffed at
