Volume 3, No. 3. February 14, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a family coaster!
Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia, announces the arrival of
Fiesta Express, January 1, 2003. Measurements: eight feet high (2.5 meters),
262-foot long track (80 meters), 2,653-square-foot footprint (246 square meters),
16 passengers. Delivered by Zamperla.
The opening of Zamperla’s first Mini Mouse—indeed, this was the floor
model at the IAAPA Trade Show in November—got a little lost in the snow.
Wild Adventures did not provide a gala event for the new family coaster. “We
just opened it up and let the kids ride,” said Sara Sumner, public relations
coordinator.
The new ride immediately drew attention, to be sure, including from Sumner who
brought her own 4-year-old son back the next weekend to ride Fiesta Express.
However, the park in Georgia’s southernmost city was just beginning an
event called Snow Days. Lasting throughout the month of January, the park opened
up an ice rink and trucked in enough ice to build a tobogganing hill and a snowy
playground. “Kids who had never seen snow before could have some real Northern-like
fun,” Sumner said. “The little roller coaster was lost in the shuffle.”
Mother Nature even lent a hand. New Year’s Day temperatures when the coaster
first went into operation were cold, Sumner said, and on January 18 Valdosta
set 10-year lows as the thermometer dipped to 12 Degrees Fahrenheit (minus 11
Celsius). So, while the park used 60,000 pounds (27,215.5 kilograms) of ice
to build the toboggan hill and 15,000 pounds (6,803 kilograms) a day to create
snow for the festival, “we didn’t go through half as much ice as we
thought we were going to go through,” Sumner said.
Through it all, the cold and snow, Fiesta Express was drawing consistent
traffic, she said. “It’s an excellent opportunity to introduce kids
to the fine art of coaster riding,” the Ohio native said.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
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