WhiteWater West Acquires Hopkins Rides

WhiteWater West Industries, based out of Richmond, British Columbia Canada, has announced that they have acquired Hopkins Rides.  Formerly known as O.D. Hopkins, the new acquisition will continue to operate under the same name and provide the same amusement park attractions.

Hopkins Rides is known for creating a plethora of water based amusement rides, with their catalog including the Log Flume, Super Flume, Shoot the Chute, and River Raft Ride.  The company started in 1979 and is based out of Palm City, Florida.

The new Pirate Reef shoot the chute at Legoland California, a Hopkins ride.

Teri Ruffley, Managing Director of WhiteWater's amusement ride section says, "Having Hopkins Rides on board advances our mission to bring to market the most exciting and diverse aquatic amusement park attractions portfolio in the world. We are positioned for and looking forward to a strong year ahead in this segment of the industry."

"Our vision is to bring in originals like Hopkins Rides to reinforce what WhiteWater does best - top-notch attractions", says Geoff Chutter, WhiteWater President & CEO. "And stay tuned... because we have many more originals coming down the line."

The acquisition of Hopkins gives WhiteWater an even greater ability to offer both amusement and water parks an exciting new attraction.  As a personal fan of log flumes, this is very encouraging news!  Perhaps we can see the dawn of a second golden age for flumes, since many parks have had to remove their older versions in recent years.

Congratulations to both companies!

The Amusing Ads Archive - O.D. Hopkins 1993

In the 1990s if a park wanted a water ride one of the first companies they would turn to was O.D. Hopkins.  The company was known for their catalogue of ways to soak theme park guests - including the traditional log flume, river rapids ride, and shoot-the-chutes.

The company built many of the shoot the chutes at Six Flags parks, though quite a few of those have been removed.  The rest of the world is quite literally filled with them, too, as Hopkins supplied dozens and dozens of splash rides all over in various sizes.  Some of their river rapids include Thunder River at Lake Compounce and Blizzard River at Six Flags New England.  Their log flumes are equally popular - the company was highly involved in the hardware for Splash Mountain at the Disney Parks.

A Blast From The Past - RIP O.D. Hopkins

On Saturday April 3rd the amusement industry lost yet another"giant," 83 year old O.D. Hopkins died. As a tribute this week's Blast is in his memory.

Wonderland's Texas Tornado

In the US alone there are Hopkins rides located in Knoebel's Groves Amusement Resort, Disneyland, Six Flags America, Adventureland in Des Moines, Lake Compounce, Camden Park, Mall of America, Funtown USA, Castle Amusement Park, Cliff's Amusement Park, Dollywood, Elitch Gardens, Family Kingdom, Frontier City, Ghost Town In The Sky, Six Flags Fiesta Texas,Wonderland Park in Amarillo,Texas,Hersheypark, Holiday World, Canobie Lake Park, Six Flags St Louis, Joyland Park, Kennywood Park,Six Flags Over Texas, Carowinds, Lake Winnepesaukah, Six Flags Great Adventure, Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, Six Flags Great America, Wild Adventures, Morey's Pier, Western Playland, Noah's Ark Family Park, Rye Playland Park, Santa's Village, Seabreeze Park Six Flags Over Georgia, Story Land, Timber Falls,Wisconsin Dells, Valleyfair, Waldameer Park and Castles-n-Coasters.

Castle & Coaster's Desert Storm

Hopkins started out as a farmer, from farming he moved on to logging. And, from there to road and bridge contracting. On to pre-poured concrete, ski lifts, and eventually amusement rides. In 1991, after more than 30 years in the amusement industry Hopkins tried his hand at retirement. And, he soon found retirement did not slow his creative energies, so he took up a new "hobby," boat building.

Castle & Coaster's Patriot

Hopkins is survived by his wife Hope, three children, 2 step-children and 11 grand-children. A memorial service was held today at the East Blue Hill Community Church in Maine.

Adventureland's Dragon & Outlaw

While the man is gone, his legacy will continue to thrill and soak for generations.

The Amusing Ads Archive - Hopkins 1993

Hopkins has had quite a nice working relationship with Wonderland Park, eh? The park has turned to the manufacturer for many rides, including some rather unique ones.

For instance, Hopkins built the custom, double looping Texas Tornado back in 1985. I've always thought the supports on that ride looked quite interesting. While Hopkins is known for water rides, they stepped outside those bounds for Wonderland, in addition to the coaster they built a monorail and a skyride.

The ad's feature attraction is the new "Pipeline Plunge," a 50 ft. tall set of wet-dry set waterslides that debuted at the park in 1994.

The Amusing Ads Archive - Hopkins 1994

If there is one thing that Hopkins Rides, Inc is known for it's water rides. The company has been making flumes, river rapids, and Shoot-The-Chutes for decades now. Their attractions can be found around the world in the smallest family parks to the large corporate themers.

As this ad makes perfectly clear, Hopkins was proud that the 'new' Elitch Gardens chose them to create their river rafting attraction, eventually named Disaster Canyon. The modern design of the rapids course, along with many special water features like the one in the concept art above, really helped to make the ride stand out in the park's new location.

The ride is commonly attributed to Intamin, though all my older materials say it was just Hopkins who did the attraction. Perhaps there was a business relationship at the time between the two. Anyone know?

Also take note that Sandor Kernacs is listed at the bottom as VP of Sales, he's now the President of IntaRide, the North American arm of Intamin.