Six Flags Over Texas was the first regional theme park to survive—all three of CV Wood’s parks that came about after Disneyland eventually bit the dust. Newspaper ads from the park as well as from local businesses provided visuals such as park maps, logos, concept art, and so on to help folks get a sense of what this new place was all about. In those days
By the end of 1974 Carowinds Corporation was in trouble. Unable to cover their construction costs and with declining attendance, they were forced to sell the park to a company with a bigger checkbook. Fortunately, it was Taft Broadcasting who stepped up. Taft had opened Kings Island in 1972 and was busy developing the Virginia property for Kings
It was front page news when E. Pat Hall died in 1978. He was only 57. A former army guy, he made his millions buying, renovating, and selling textile machinery and facilities. He partnered with a few other businessmen and bought the old Naval Ammunition Depot near Charlotte, transforming it into Arrowood, a major industrial center. There was lots more, and when Carowinds started coming together
Well, they finally made it. After several weeks of wondering if they’d be able to open at all, Hershey unveiled the brand new expansion we’ve been anticipating for so long. And who was worried? It was only the largest expansion project in park history, adding twenty-three acres and clocking in at $150 million. It’s a shame the virus situation poured a bit
In the early years, regional theme parks offered souvenir maps for sale. These were beautifully illustrated works of art with lots of fun details to discover. One of the ideas for the park history book was to include excerpts from these opening
