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Volume 2, No. 9. May 24, 2002

Rebirths

It’s a roller coaster!
Magic Springs in Hot Springs, Arkansas, announces the rebirth of Big Bad John, May 18, 2002. Measurements: 2,349 feet long (712 meters), 55 feet high (17 meters), 40 mph (64 k/ph), 30-passenger, five-car trains. Original coaster delivered by Arrow Dynamics, Inc., rebirth by Great Coasters International.

Once again, Magic Springs went the route of finding an old favorite to deliver new thrills when they nabbed the Thunder Express of Dollywood (and, previous to its Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, home, the River King at Six Flags St. Louis in Missouri) for installation at the Arkansas park. Rehabed, retracked and renamed, the steel-track, wood-frame Big Bad John runs through a wooded ravine at Magic Springs, concluding with a plunge through a tunnel.

“It fit perfectly into our family setting,” said Maria Partlow, vice president of marketing and sales for Themeparks LLC, the company managing Magic Springs. She said the company approached Dollywood when the Pigeon Forge park decided to take Thunder Express out, even before Magic Springs was open. “In the back of our minds we knew we had a good shot of opening Magic Springs,” Partlow said. “We knew pretty much where we were going to put it and how beautiful it would be in that setting. It worked out pretty much as we planned, in fact, better than we thought.”

As he has every year since the park re-opened in 2000, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee turned up for the media day preview Friday with his thrill-seeking wife, Janet. “She will ride any ride in the park,” Partlow said, as will Gov. Huckabee—once. “The governor’s very game. He does it, but he doesn’t necessarily like it all that much.” However, Big Bad John he enjoyed, she said.

As did the public who turned out under a crystal-blue sky and warm spring temperatures. The new coaster, Partlow said, “was full all day long.”