Hopkins Rides

Hopkins Rides
Industry Manufacturing
Headquarters Haines City, Florida, USA[1]
Area served Worldwide
Products Amusement rides, roller coasters
Website www.hopkins-rides.com

Hopkins Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in Haines City, Florida.[1] The company has had experience in amusement rides for over 45 years.

Contents

History

In 1962 O.D. Hopkins incorporated Hopkins Engineering and started installing ski lifts for J.A. Roebling & Sons of Trenton, N.J.[2] In 1965 Hopkins purchased the ski lift division and all the related assets from Roebling & Sons. Soon afterwards a competitor, Universal Design Ltd., discontinued manufacturing Sky Rides and their customers turned to Hopkins Engineering for parts.[2] Hopkins first customer in the amusement business was Charles Wood of Storytown USA.

In 1971, the name of the company was changed to O.D. Hopkins Associates Inc. and in 1979, Hopkins was approached by Paul Borchardt, owner of Wonderland Park (Texas) to build a log flume for his park. The success of that project started Hopkins in the water ride manufacturing business.[2]

Manufacturing

The company mainly focuses on water ride attractions. Their three types of water rides are:

For a short time throughout the 1980s and 90s, they also made roller coasters. Seven roller coasters were built by Hopkins Rides during this period, of which six continue to operate to this day.

In addition, they also re-fabricated the track to the Arrow Dynamics-built Canobie Corkscrew at Canobie Lake Park.

Installations

Ride Park Type Opening date Status
Aquaman Splashdown Six Flags Over Texas Shoot-the-Chutes 1987 Operating [3]
Bugs' White Water Rapids Six Flags Fiesta Texas Super Flume 1998 Operating [3]
Cliff Hanger Ghost Town in the Sky Steel roller coaster 1998 SBNO [4]
Daredevil Falls Dollywood Super Flume April 1998 Operating [5]
Desert Storm Castles N' Coasters Steel roller coaster 1992 Operating [6]
Dragon Adventureland Steel roller coaster May 12, 1999 Operating [7]
Log Chute Nickelodeon Universe Log flume August 11, 1992 Operating
New Wild Mouse Coaster Misaki Park Wild Mouse roller coaster 1996 Operating [8]
Niagara Mirabilandia Shoot-the-Chutes 1999 Operating
Patriot Castles N' Coasters Steel roller coaster 1992 Operating [9]
Pittsburg Plunge Kennywood Shoot-the-Chutes 1993 Operating [3]
Polar Coaster Story Land Family roller coaster 1987 Operating [10]
Splashwater Falls Six Flags Great Adventure Shoot-the-Chutes 1987 Defunct [3]
Splashwater Falls Six Flags Great America Shoot-the-Chutes 1986 Defunct [3]
Splashwater Falls Six Flags Over Georgia Shoot-the-Chutes 1986 Operating [3]
Texas Tornado Wonderland Park Steel roller coaster 1985 Operating [11]
Tidal Wave Six Flags St. Louis Shoot-the-Chutes May 1991 Operating
Tidal Wave Thorpe Park Shoot-the-Chutes April 7, 2000 Operating
Wild West Falls Adventure Ride Warner Bros. Movie World Super Flume December 26, 1998 Operating [12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Hopkins Amusement Rides". Hopkins Rides. http://hopkins-rides.com/. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c Slade, Gary (November 1989), "O.D. Hopkins Enjoys Past, Anticipates Bright Future", Inside Track: 2-3 
  3. ^ a b c d e f O.D. Hopkins 1998 Ride Catalog
  4. ^ Marden, Duane. "Cliff Hanger  (Ghost Town in the Sky)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/234.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  5. ^ "Interesting Facts About Dollywood’s Daredevil Falls". Dollywood. http://www.dollywood.com/upload/pdfs/factsddfalls.pdf. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  6. ^ Marden, Duane. "Desert Storm  (Castles n' Coasters)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/350.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  7. ^ Marden, Duane. "Dragon  (Adventureland)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/213.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  8. ^ Marden, Duane. "New Wild Mouse Coaster  (Misaki Park)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/2407.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  9. ^ Marden, Duane. "Patriot  (Castles n' Coasters)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/351.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  10. ^ Marden, Duane. "Polar Coaster  (Story Land)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/391.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  11. ^ Marden, Duane. "Texas Tornado  (Wonderland Amusement Park)". Database Entry. Roller Coaster DataBase. http://www.rcdb.com/254.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  12. ^ "Wild West Falls (Warner Bros. Movie World)". Database Entry. Parkz. http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/_/_/_/rides/20-.html. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 

External links