Sunday, February 10, 2013

From The Vault: Six Flags Hurricane Harbor 1995



Last week we took a look at Six Flags Magic Mountain's 1995 brochure, and that same year I had also received some information on their brand new water park, Hurricane Harbor.  After looking it over I thought it would make a wonderful compliment to that post, so here it is!


The entire water park was built right next door to the theme park, and opened as a full day experience instead of being added on to little by little.  As indicated in the brochure's cover, the park kept theming to a high level, making the park appear as though it was a hidden tropical paradise.


More concept art.  Looking around these interwebs we love so much, you can find some information on some of the companies that worked on the park.  Our friends at R&R Creative Amusement Designs were involved, along with some additionally great drawings and prop design from others.


Okay, here's the guts - they're breaking down all the attractions that were featured in "California's only themed water park."  The water park opened before companies had started to design the really crazy slides we see today, so the selection is pretty traditional.  You've got your big wave pool, lazy river, children's areas, and a nice variety of body and tube slides.


The large middle section needs few words to get its point across - the focus is a large piece of artwork showing a part of the middle of Hurricane Harbor.  One of the children's areas, Shipwreck Shores, had a play structure lightly themed as a pirate ship.  There also was a large volcanic peak that had waterfalls cascading down the side when the gates opened.

Watch out for the super creepy pirate on the lower right, though.  Not sure what he's doing there. 


I also got a map of the park, which I decided to include for a couple reasons.  One is that one side includes the Legend of Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, which is nice of them to share with visitors.  It goes on to tell the rather elaborate story of Captain Red Eye and his mysterious treasure map.  I'll let you guys read it yourselves.


I also wanted to include the map because it nicely shows off all the slides and attractions that were offered when the park first opened.  Looking back, though, there hasn't been an awful lot of development since the park opened anyway.  A Tornado slide was added, and one kid's area was redone and transformed into a Mr. Six area - only to have that theming removed shortly after when new corporate management took over.

It feels like this water park is prime for development, and soon.  But if it isn't a roller coaster, will Magic Mountain build it?  I kid, I kid.


3 comments:

zacqua10 said...

SFMM's HH never had the Wiggles water park area. That was just Six Flags White Water. They got Mr. Six's Splash Island, which was a totally new kids play structure. They removed the existing, outdated one to place Splash Island.

NewsPlusNotes said...

Just edited the post for that correction, thanks!

Justin said...

They expanded the waterpark heavily in 1997 adding Black Snake Summit, Reptile Ridge, and Racing Slides