Joyland Amusement Park is an amusement park in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It continued to operate for 55 years, from June 12, 1949 to 2004, permanently closing in 2006. It was once the largest park in central Kansas and featured wooden roller coasters and 24 other rides. With closing, the only amusement park left in Kansas is Schlitterbahn Kansas City. On July 1, 2016, the new owner began to tear it down.
Video Joyland Amusement Park (Wichita, Kansas)
Histori
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The park was founded by Lester Ottaway and his sons Herbert and Harold to serve as a home for the 12-inch (300 mm) steam locomotive solders purchased by Herb Ottaway at Fort Scott, in 1933. Trains have become part of an amusement park there and was originally built by the Elgin Railway Company, Illinois, between 1905 and 1910. In 1934, Herb Ottaway, working as a racing car builder, had been completely refurbished and restored steam locomotives and cars and began transporting miniature trains to the fair in the west of Kansas and eastern Colorado. Ottaway immediately built the path for his miniature locomotive around Manitou Springs, Colorado, racetrack and operated the train there for some time.
The park's current location appeared on June 12, 1949, primarily to provide Harold's miniature locomotive a permanent home in Kansas. Originally located at 1515 East Central in Wichita (between New York and Mathewson streets) but soon moved to its current location at 2801 South Hillside. After Lester Ottaway's death in the mid-1950s, his three sons, Herbert, Harold and Eddie, continued to run it as a family operation.
The Ottaway brothers retired from the amusement park business in the early 1970s and sold the park to Stanley and Margaret Nelson. Stanley died on July 13, 2010, at the age of 87. She and Margaret were the driving force behind the park for over 30 years and a large percentage of the current rides, including the designed prototype Bill Tracy, the darker Whacky Shack rides, were added in 1974, comes from the time of Nelson as the owner. Although there are some Whacky Shacks still in use throughout the country today, this classic two-story dark ride is the last known Tracy project, when he died in August 1974, just months after it was completed. In addition, the original miniature train retired with Ottaways and was replaced with the first time. Huntington miniature trains. It carries serial number 1 from the factory.
21st century
The Ferris wheel, produced by Eli Bridge Company and operating there since its opening in 1949, was the scene of an accident in mid-April 2004 in which a 13-year-old girl fell 30 feet (9 m) away from her and was mortally wounded.. The US Consumer Products Safety Commission investigated the crash.
Because of economic problems and park security issues had to be closed for the 2004 season. His interest re-emerged in 2006 when a Seattle-based company, T-Rex Group, hired him to restore and open some of it. After a financial problem, they did not open it for another season. Since 2006, it stood empty, unkempt, and worse. Since closed in 2004, has experienced many incidents of vandalism and looting. Almost every building is covered with graffiti, and vintage marks from the top of the roller coaster have been stolen in 2009. The administrative offices have also been destroyed. Park owner Margaret Nelson was quoted as saying, "We are sick, our heart hurts, it's not easy, it's not easy."
In 2006 many renovations were done in the park, which focused more on aesthetics than the actual driving safety. The Roller coaster has a $ 10,000 dollar wood repair done and is named "The Nightmare". The Log Jam, the only water ride, has replaced the pump and the system is checked. The real difference to the park after the 2006 restoration was the blue and pink paint of the baby covering it. The Restore Hope organization is engaged to regain support for its rebuilding with an emphasis on community efforts and involvement in the restoration process. The plan is to return it in the next few years and begin a five-step expansion process to help it grow and become an integral part of the Wichita community.
In 2010, the owner of the park died.
On August 4th, 2012, a nursing home in the park was on fire. None of the rides were damaged and the fire was soothed within 30 minutes. Police suspect arson.
In May 2014, it was announced that Joyland owner Margaret Nelson Spear donated a merry-go-round to Botanica in Wichita, and it would be completely restored.
In mid-June 2014, icon and tent parking signs were sold to the Historic Preservation Alliance in Wichita and Sedgwick County. It was unloaded, removed for local storage, and finally restoration.
On February 19, 2015, Wichita Police announced the return of Louie the Clown, an animatronic clown used to play the Wurlitzer organ of the park. He has been missing more than a decade before and was found at the home of Damian Mayes, a former employee of the park. In 2008, Wichita police received a tip that Mayes, who defended Louie and his organ, had Louie, but denied he knew of her whereabouts.
The roller coaster was heavily damaged by a storm on the morning of April 3, 2015, including the destruction of most of the overpasses. In mid-April, Roger Nelson, son of Park's owner Nelson and Margaret Nelson, told reporters, "We are in the process of undermining everything", referring to the roller coaster and the rest of the buildings on the site. He had announced the previous week that Alliance Conservation had purchased a number of park marquee attractions, including the Whacky Shack building and horse and carriage rides, and negotiated to buy a full-size carriage carriage placed in the western end. from Frontier Town. On July 23, 2015, roller coaster components that remain standing destroyed.
On July 1, 2016, new owners began to tear down the park.
Maps Joyland Amusement Park (Wichita, Kansas)
Rides
Summary
The park features more than 24 rides, including:
- Dodge'm - bumper car
- Ferris wheel
- Giant Slide
- Clock log - flume-style log up
- Miniature car
- parachute
- Roller coaster
- Round Up - around 1960 Hrubetz High Speed ​​â €
- Scrambler
- Skycoaster
- Tilt-A-Whirl
- The Whacky Shack - dark journey
- Zumur - A Chance Rides Wave Swinger
Roller coaster
The 1949 wooden roller coaster built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company and designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck, is one of the last surviving original wooden plates. It was one of the 33 remaining coasters of 44 set as ACE Coaster Classic. Originally simply called "Roller Coaster" but for the time changed its name to "Nightmare", it has 2,600Ã, ft (790Ã,m) track span, 80Ã, ft (24Ã,m) drop and 50Ã, mph (80Ã, km/h ) top speed. It has the distinction of being the only remaining coaster in North America using vintage rolling stock with a fixed lap bar. Movies of King Kung Fu were filmed at locations in several locations in the Wichita area, including here. One scene featured several minutes of footage above it. It was badly damaged in a windstorm in early April 2015 and was permanently dismantled shortly afterwards.
Organ fairground
The park has a Mammoth Military Band Organ, also known as the Wurlitzer Style 160, which was the earliest early Wurlitzer model. Built around 1905 by DeKleist Musical Instrument Works and sold by Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. It contains 486 wooden and brass pipes and uses two rolls of hollow paper music, producing effects from military brass bands of 20 to 25 musicians. This particular model is designed primarily for the roller rink industry. In 1915, he was taken back to the Wurlitzer factory and modified into Wurlitzer Style 165. It was sold to W.P. Brown of Coffeyville, which owns and operates the Silurian Springs Bath House, which also features a roller rink, where the organ provides music for several years. In the 1930s he went to storage; it severely damaged the water, and some of its brass parts were then stripped away during an old World War II iron drive. In 1948, Jess Gibbs of Parsons, bought it and started a tiring restoration job. In 1950 he sold the restored instrument to the Ottaway family, who installed it in the park. They added Louie, an automatic/animatronic clown sitting in front of the keyboard and "playing it". Louie and the Mighty Wurlitzer have been the equipment there ever since, creating a voice that echoes throughout the park. It is one of the two organs of the mammoth model that still exists and, until the park is closed, is the only one in public view.
South Korea
The park is also equipped with original company Allan Herschell who designed the carousel, built in 1949, and which still has all the original horses. It was dismantled at the end of each season, a process that has been carefully done for protection every year beginning in 1951. In May 2014, it was announced that Joyland owner Margaret Nelson Spear had donated it to Botanica in Wichita, with plans for a full restoration.
In media
The park element has been captured on the cover of Andy McKee's album, Joyland . The artist is given the theme of "abandoned amusement park" and uses the image of it specifically, because McKee is a native of Kansas.
A rock band called Scepter wrote a song and a video called Joyland about the park from their childhood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=JMunwLkh0Yc
See also
- List of idle amusement parks
- Wild West World
- Wonderland Park
References
External links
Restoration:
- Facebook Group Joyland Recovery Project
- Save Joyland Facebook Group
History:
- Joyland History, a special collection.wichita.edu
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=JMunwLkh0Yc
- The Roller Coaster video was on track in 1990 on YouTube
Photo:
- Many photos
- Photos of amusement parks at the chaotic amusement park, UK diary
- Lots of Joyland abandoned photos
Archive of former website (contains many photos):
- Archive of the former Joyland website
- Archive of former joylandwichita.org website
- Roller Coaster website archive
- Archive of the former Wacky Shack site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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