Magic Landing

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Magic Landing was a theme park located in El Paso, Texas. It opened in the summer of 1984 and closed in late spring of 1989. Magic Landing was one of two amusement parks operating in El Paso during the 1980s. The other amusement park was Western Playland. Magic Landing opened its doors to the public in the summer of 1984. The exact numbers are not known, but it is believed that thousands of people showed up to the opening in July of 1984. During the time that Magic Landing was open, Western Playland was receiving a lot of competition from Magic Landing.This might be due to the fact that Magic Landing was larger and had more concert venues than Western Playland. During Magic Landing's brief run, there were rumors of various incidents. There was one incident though that was not a rumor. It was this incident that caused Magic Landing attendance numbers to fall over the next three years. In the Summer of 1985, a young male employee was killed at the park. (Las Cruces Sun-News, June 6, 2008) The young man was asked by a patron to retrieve his baseball hat for him from off the roller coaster track. The teenager climbed up the track and rested his arm on the active part of the track. Within a few minutes, the roller coaster went down the track and cut his arm off. The young man was rushed to William Beaumont Medical Center and died three hours later. In the spring or summer of 1988, Magic Landing closed its doors to the public. This was due to low attendance numbers. Since its closing, Magic Landing's buildings are still standing out in the El Paso desert. Many of them are falling apart and have also been vandalized. The rides remained at the park until the early to mid 90s. It would be great to see Magic Landing as it once was back in 1984. Only Western Playland remains in the city of El Paso, TX.

[edit] References

^ Marden, Duane. "Magic Landing (El Paso, Texas 79927 USA)". Retrieved July 21, 2006.
^ Marden, Duane. "Mountain Express (Six Flags Magic Mountain)". Retrieved July 21, 2006.

04.13.08

Crews battled a massive fire in far east El Paso County Sunday. It broke out around 3:00 pm in the afternoon in Horizon city at the old site of the Magic Landing Amusement Park. That is near the Eastlake exit off of Interstate 10.

Dozens of firefighters from Socorro and Horizon City helped battle the blaze. According to officials at least one building caught fire. Officials do not know what caused the blaze. A large plume of black smoke could be seen from miles away. The amusement park opened in 1984 and closed in 1988.