Aerial Antics: American Adventure

The American Adventure Theme Park, once located in the United Kingdom, is the subject of this week's Aerial Antics.  I will admit I knew almost nothing of this theme park prior to this article, but after discovering some great aerials of it became interested.

The park closed for good after the 2006 season, after which many of its rides were sent off to other theme parks.  Here is a map of the park from one of its last years of operations to give you an idea of what it offered:

And a similarly positioned aerial of the park for comparison:

American Adventure opened in 1987 with an old west theme, one of American's most romanticized aspects around the world.  It grew from there, with other sections featuring North American themes.

A couple of the park's older attractions included the Runaway Mine train, a powered coaster, and the Nightmare Niagara log flume, which was already removed in this photo.  You can see pieces of it coming out of the rock mountain that it traveled through.

Another simple, but popular, attraction was the Buffalo Ride.  This was another powered coaster, in this case supplied by Zamperla.  It was moved to Twinlakes park, also in the UK, where it still operates.

The park had a nice river ride, named Rocky Mountain Rapids and themed to the great Canadian wilderness.  The ride didn't operate the last year or so the park was open, which is a shame.

The Missile was added in 1989 to round out the more extreme thrill ride selection at the park.  A standard Vekoma Boomerang, it was moved to Pleasurewood Hills, UK, when American Adventure closed.

These buildings intrigued me, mostly because of the rock wall facade with giant faces on them.  Turns out they held a motion simulator that changed themes numerous times through the years.

French rides manufacturer Soquet is responsible for the looping coaster seen here - formerly known as Iron Wolf, Gladiators, Sky Looper, JCB Twin Looper, and finally just Twin Looper.  The coaster now makes a nice home in Poland where it is known as the Tic-Tac-Tornado.

Also take notice of the play area at the bottom of the photo where you could use your own JCB themed digger or other heavy equipment vehicle!  Unique.

For your own trip around the American Adventure, click here.