Loop 033 printable

Volume 2, No. 9. May 24, 2002

New Arrivals

It’s an interactive dark ride!
Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas, announces the arrival of Scooby Doo Ghostblasters—The Mystery of the Haunted Mansion, May 18, 2002. Measurements: 15 scenes, 91 Ghostblaster targets, 10 four-passenger cars. Delivered by Sally Corporation.

On the same day Six Flags St. Louis was opening its Scooby-Doo Swamp (see story above), down in San Antonio, Six Flags Fiesta Texas was opening a standard Sally dark ride unit in the park’s Boardwalk area, with vehicles on a track moving through a mansion of scenes featuring the Scooby gang. Though not the revelation that its St. Louis counterpart represented for the amusement industry, the Fiesta Texas version was a novelty for its region, and Communications Manager Sydne Purvis made the most of that fact.

For a media preview on three days before the Saturday grand opening, the park hosted about 50 kids from two San Antonio boys and girls clubs. Not only could the media cover the event, they were invited to participate in a contest of their own. Five teams of two players each representing local media competed for the grand prize, a fully catered picnic for 100 plus park admission for a children’s organization of the winner’s choice. Each team rode through the ride twice, and their combined scores added up for total points, with the Univision team nabbing the grand prize.

For the public opening, the park hosted first riders who won the privilege through radio and newspaper promotions. That was a good way to get an early experience on the ride because, on both days, “people were walking very swiftly into the Boardwalk area as soon as the gates opened,” Purvis said, and the queue generally grew longer as the day progressed, she said.