Joyland Amusement Park

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Joyland Amusement Park
Type Private
Founded 1940s (as Mackenzie Park Playground)
Headquarters Lubbock, Texas
Key people David Dean, CEO
Industry Amusement Park
Website www.joylandpark.com

The Joyland Amusement Park is a small family owned traditional amusement park, located in Lubbock, Texas, USA within Lubbock's Mackenzie Park. It typically operates from March to September of each year, opening 7 days a week but only during the evening on weeknights.

Entrance to park
Entrance to park

Contents

[edit] History

The park was founded in the 1940s with the name "Mackenzie Park Playground." In 1973, it had 13 rides and was acquired by the Dean family, who renamed the park to its current name. Members of the Dean family still operate the park.[1] Like many smaller parks it uses a mixture of individual ride admissions and pay one price admission, with patrons taking their choice.

Misty Midway
Misty Midway

[edit] Layout and operation

The park is laid out linearly with a midway. Much of the midway has water sprayers overhead to mist guests, which increases guest comfort in Lubbock's hot, dry climate. There are several water rides, and the Paratrooper features the ability for the operator to squirt riders as they go by.

There is a park train that runs from one end to the other, with a single station, done in ATSF colors, as well as a sky ride/chairlift system, also with a single station, both of which allow patrons to view the entire park.

Galaxi coaster
Galaxi coaster

[edit] Rides

Joyland is a family owned park and has about 30 rides, including 3 roller coasters. There is an old time carousel as you enter the park which features classic advertisements on the top, as well as a selection of typical rides such as a Trabant (ride), Scrambler (ride), and bumper cars.

The coasters of the park include:

  • The Galaxi is a (standard model with about 36 instances extant) steel coaster manufactured by S.D.C., a defunct Italian coaster manufacturer,[2] ca. 1971. It was relocated from White Swan Park (Coraopolis, Pennsylvania) in 1989. It has a single train with 2 cars, 2 rows of 2 across riders per car, for a total of 8 riders.[3]
  • The Mad Mouse is a steel wild mouse coaster manufactured by Hershchell in 1956. It was relocated from Bell's Amusement Park (Tulsa, Oklahoma) in 1974. Mouse cars are 2 rows of 2 riders each for a total of 4 riders.[4]
  • The Little Coaster is a (standard model with about 20 instances extant) steel kiddie coaster manufactured by Carl Miler.
  • Greezed Lightnin' was planned to be installed in 2007 and given a new name, but after the ground set aside for it was found to be unstable, installation was pushed back to 2008.[5] This Schwarzkopf Shuttle Looper was purchased from Astroworld in Houston, Texas. It has a single train with 7 cars, with 2 rows of 2 riders per car, for a total of 28 riders.[6]

For 2008, the park has announced a new drop tower that will be installed for the upcoming season. After a "Name the Ride" contest, the name Dare Devil was selected.

Paratrooper ride
Paratrooper ride

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ from the park site history page
  2. ^ from RCDB info on S.D.C.
  3. ^ from RCDB on this Galaxi instance
  4. ^ from RCDB site on Mad Mouse instance
  5. ^ from the park site page which claims to be reprinted from an Amusement Today article by Gary Slade, Volume 10, Issue 1, April 2006
  6. ^ from RCDB site on new coaster plans