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Amusement park in Saco, Maine From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Funtown Splashtown USA (commonly referred to as "Funtown") is a family-owned amusement park located in Saco, Maine, in the United States.
Previously known as
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 Funtown as viewed from above US Route 1 | |
| Location | Saco, Maine, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43.52725°N 70.42764°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opened | 1960 |
| Owner | Violet Cormier |
| Slogan | "Where the Great American Family Comes to Play"; "Create memories that will last a lifetime!" |
| Area | 25 acres (10 ha) |
| Attractions | |
| Total | 25 amusement park rides |
| Roller coasters | 2 |
| Water rides | 20 water slides and 2 pools |
| Website | http://www.funtownsplashtownusa.com |
In 1960, Ken Cormier (October 8, 1932 – January 8, 2013) and his wife Violet Cormier opened Marvel Drive-In, a drive-in restaurant. Ken’s brother-in-law, Andre Dallaire had opened a mini-golf course next to Marvel Drive-In the previous year. In 1963, Andre opened a go-kart track behind his mini golf course, and in 1964 Ken added batting cages and an archery range in 1967 behind Marvel Drive-In. Over the next few years, Cormier and Dallaire added several kiddie and carnival-style rides including SkySlides and Swinging Gyms. A gift shop was also opened.
In 1967, Cormier and Dallaire formed a partnership and established Funtown USA Over the next few years, Funtown added a Zipper, outdoor bumper cars, and a Bayern Kurve named “Luv Machine.”
In 1996, Cormier bought out the remaining Dallaire interest at the park and renamed it to Funtown Splashtown USA with the addition of a waterpark.
The park features Northern New England’s tallest and longest wooden roller coaster, Excalibur, as well as New England's longest and tallest log flume, Thunder Falls. It also has a 220-foot-tall (67 m) Drop Tower called Dragon's Descent.
One of the park's most popular rides is the Astrosphere, an indoor Scrambler which features a state-of-the-art laser and light show while playing ELO's "Fire on High."[1]
The Splashtown area features Pirate's Paradise, a large interactive waterpark playground which dumps hundreds of gallons of water onto its guests every few minutes. For the 2007 season, an expansion was built that doubled the size of the waterpark and added two new thrill slides, Tornado and Mammoth. An additional expansion in 2012 added another 6 thrill slides to Splashtown.
| Height Requirements | Ride Name | Ride Type | Manufacturer | Year Opened | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antique Cars | Antique Taxi Cars | Arrow Dynamics | 1982 | Rail-tracked vintage Tin Lizzys chug along a center-railed paved track. | |
| Astrosphere | Scrambler | Eli Bridge | 1976 | The Astrosphere is an indoor dark Scrambler ride (inside a dome) with a choreographed music and lights show; theme song is Fire On High (The Astrosphere Mix) by ELO. [2] In 2019, the Astrosphere attraction was outfitted with a new dome made out of concrete. The light and sound show was also upgraded to include new video projectors that brought back many of the original photo slides.[3] | |
| Balloon Race | 8-arm single axle family Ferris Wheel | Zamperla | 1994 | A small-fry family sized Ferris wheel with 8 balloon seats gently goes around up-and-down. | |
| Barney Oldfield Roadsters | Rail-tracked vintage Sportscars | 1993 | Vintage roadsters ride along on a railed paved track through the section. | ||
| 48-in to ride alone*⁵ | Adult Bumper Boats | Adult size bumper boats | 1993 | Families rock and bump along on full sized bumper ring boats in a pool inside a pavilion. | |
| Casino | Trabant | Chance Morgan | 1987 | This Trabant ride looks like a roulette wheel, taking its riders on a wild spinning, rising, and dipping journey. | |
| Less than 48-inches | Cactus Canyon Canoes | Junior canoe water tracked ride | 1982 | Cactus Canyon takes riders in mini canoes along a water-filled trough track, and through a teepee. | |
| Classic Carousel | Fairground model carousel | Chance Rides | 1982 | ||
| Dragon's Descent | Turbo Drop tower ride | S&S | 2001 | A drop tower ride that stands 220 feet (67 m) tall. Following a brief freefall, the ride uses hydraulics to bounce riders back up and down until the carriage eventually returns to ground level. | |
| Excalibur Roller Coaster | Wooden tracked roller coaster | CCI | 1998 | The Excalibur is Maine's first wooden roller coaster since 1948. Named for King Arthur's sword. | |
| Flying Trapeze | Yo-Yo flying swings ride | Chance Rides | 1988 | The Flying Trapeze takes riders up high and around. | |
| Between 36-inches and 48-inches tall*¹ | Frog Hopper | Junior Tower Drop | S&S | 2001 | This junior-sized version of a drop tower ride. |
| Grand Prix Racers | Individually driven go-karts | Johnson | 1993 | The Grand Prix Racers are gas-powered go-karts that race along a winding paved track. An enforced limit of 2 trips per rider on this attraction is in place. | |
| Haunted Hotel | Dark Ride | Sally Dark Rides | 2023 | ||
| Less than 48-in*⁴ | Helicopters | Junior flying helicopter roundabout | 1972 | These mini copters go up-and-down by controlling the handlebars. | |
| Less than 48-inches tall*² | Kiddie Boats | Junior sized motorboat roundabout | 1976 | This ride takes junior riders in small motorboats slowly around within a water-filled ring trough, with a mini lighthouse as its centerpiece. | |
| Less than 42-in | Kiddie Bumper Boats | Junior sized bumper ring boats | 1993 | A junior sized bumper boats ride for younger junior riders. | |
| Less than 48-in | Kiddie Cars | Auto Umbrella junior roundabout | Hampton | 1972 | A kiddy ride consisting of mini cars, trucks, buses and bikes. |
| Less than 48-in*³ | Kiddie Swings | Junior flying swings ride | 1972 | ||
| Less than 48-inches | Kiddie Train | Junior tracked mini train ride | 1987 | This junior train ride goes through a mini town. | |
| Merry-Go-Round | Fairground model carousel | 1967 | The original Merry-Go-Round had its place near the Auto Umbrella and Sock-It-To-'Em bumper cars for many years, and was enjoyed by its many fans, who were sad to see it leave after the 2012 season (as part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides expansion); the Auto Umbrella was then moved closer to the Kiddie Swings and Kiddie Copters. | ||
| Less than 48-in | Red Baron Planes | Junior biplane roundabout | 1976 | These biplanes look like mini replicas of warplanes, and go up-and-down by controlling the handlebars. | |
| Sea Dragon | Pendulum swinging pirate ship | Chance Morgan | 1987 | The Sea Dragon pirate ship ride swings its riders fore and aft. | |
| Sock-It-To-'Em Bumper Cars | Traditional style bumper cars | Soli | 1975 | This is the ride that replaced the original outdoors Hydrobumpers ride (see below—Former Attractions). Familiar bumper cars inside a steel floored building with a central bumper median strip often bump-and-sock into each other. | |
| Tempest In The Tea Cups | Spinning tea cups platform ride | Zamperla | 1987 | Large tea cup cars (3 on each bull plate roundel) spin riders around inside a gazebo tea house. | |
| Thunderbolt | Flying Bobs | Chance Morgan | 1988 | This ride has swinging shuttle podkarts that race forwards—then backwards while pop music is playing. | |
| Thunder Falls | Log Flume water tracked ride | Hopkins | 1984 | Thunder Falls is Maine's first log flume ride—race through Snake Canyon and Hopkins Rapids on the longest and tallest log flume ride in Maine. | |
| Tilt-A-Whirl | Tilt-A-Whirl | Sellner Manufacturing | 1976 | A ride where its riders are inside domed tipkarts that are spinning very fast, while the platform races along an invisible inner track. | |
| Wild Mouse Roller Coaster | Wild Mouse steel compact family roller coaster | Maurer Söhne | 2009 | The Wild Mouse is a steel compact coaster that winds its riders up-and-down through hairpin turns and fast drops. (Replaced the Galaxi Coaster which is now in Ecuador according to some staff at the park.) | |
| Attraction Name | Attraction Type | Manufacturer | Year Opened | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poseidon's Plunge | AquaDrop | WhiteWater West | 2012 | Part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides |
| Triton's Twist | FlatLine Loop | WhiteWater West | 2012 | Part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides; only installation in the Western Hemisphere |
| Amphitrite's Challenge | Whizzard | WhiteWater West | 2012 | Part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides |
| Mammoth | Dark Mammoth | ProSlide | 2007 | |
| Tornado | Tornado 45 | ProSlide | 2007 | First and only Tornado slide in Northern New England |
| Pirate's Paradise | Rain Fortress | 2003 | Branded "Portland Pirate's Paradise" from 2007-2013 through a partnership with the Portland Pirates, the local AHL affiliate | |
| Splish tube slide (Green) | Inner Tube | WhiteWater West | 1999 | Replaced the Thunderbolt Water Slides |
| Splash tube slide (Black) | Inner Tube | WhiteWater West | 1999 | Replaced the Thunderbolt Water Slides |
| Liquid Lightning tube slide | Inner Tube | WhiteWater West | 1999 | |
| Fun Lagoon | Lagoon-style pool | 1999 | ||
| Swimming Pool | Wading pool | 1982 | Expanded in 2012 | |
| Corkscrew | Mat slide | 1982 |
| Photo | Ride Name | Ride Type | Year Opened | Year Closed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balloon Flight | Flying balloons roundabout | 1984 | 1986 | The Balloon Flight took its riders flying up-and-down for 3 years. Removed after the 1986 season to make room for the Casino Wheel (Trabant). | |
| Captain Isaiah Cutler's Haunted House | Indoor walk-through haunted fun house with mechanical props and tricks | 1967 | 1995 | This famous haunted fun house was a long-time fixture at the old MainePlay Amusements area (now the Splashtown water park section) for its first 30 years. It featured 3 to 6 live actors in costume, various mechanical props (ghosts, witches, and monsters), and mechanical tricks (moving shuffle bridge, spinning dizzy tunnel, amongst others) in a mainly darkened house building. This house was closed—and removed—after the 1995 season due to high operational costs. | |
| Ferris Wheel | #8 Ferris Wheel (Big Eli) | 1975 | 2000 | This 8-seater classic Ferris wheel was removed after the 2002 season in favor of the Frog Hopper. | |
| Galaxi Roller Coaster | Family compact steel figure-8 roller coaster (S.D.C.) | 1978 | 2008 | The Galaxi was Maine's first-ever roller coaster in an amusement park. It had 7 autocar style coaster cars that went through an undulating figure-8 steel compact track. This mainstay ride lasted for 31 years, and was removed after the 2008 season to make room for the Wild Mouse. | |
| Giant Slide | Fiberglass grooved amusement slide ride | 1972 | 1986 | Riders walked up the long stairway to the top station of the Giant Slide, then—slid down in burlap bags. Another mainstay during Funtown's earlier years. | |
| Hydrobumpers | Flying saucer bumper ring cars | 1967 | 1974 | This was the original outdoors hydro bumper ring cars ride with the headlight post at its center, and pennant streamers emanating from it. It was at Funtown USA for 8 seasons, after which the Hydrobumpers—along with the Zipper—were removed. The area is now occupied by the building which houses the Sock-It-To-'Em traditional bumper cars. | |
| Hydrofighter | Water gun fight tower ride | 1988 | 2000 | Riders climbed aboard bibbed seats, and rose high, then—squirted each other with on-board water guns. It got removed after the 2000 season to make room for Dragon's Descent. | |
| Kartland Go-Karts | Individually driven gas-powered go-karts (Johnson) | 1967 | 2000 | Kartland was MainePlay's original go-kart track that served Funtown USA for 36 years. During the earlier years, this attraction was a pay-per-ride owned by MainePlay; in 1993—after the merger with Funtown USA proper—the ticket booth closed down, and operated on a 2-trips-per-rider policy. The Kartland Track was enjoyed by its fans for so long, until it retired at the close of the 2002 season. The area then became a picnic area for 9 years. It's now the home for the new Apollo's Water Slides Area, which opened in 2012. | |
| Noah Zark | Ark themed junior play area | 1982 | 2000 | Noah Zark (a corruption of Noah's Ark) was a kiddy play area that looked like an ark boat. | |
| Paratrooper | Rise-and-fall seated roundabout | 1982 | 1987 | Another classic spinning ride that was enjoyed by fans for 6 seasons; got removed at the close of the 1987 season. | |
| The Luv Machine | Bayern Kurve | 1975 | 1981 | The Luv Machine was a groovy psychedelic themed Bayern Kurve bobsled tracked platform ride that speeded its riders up-and-down along its grooved inner track; got removed after the 1981 season to make room for the Antique Cars. | |
| UFO | Rise-and-fall spinning platform ride | 1972 | 1981 | The UFO Ride was a one-of-a-kind spinning platform ride; part Round-Up, and part Enterprise! UFO was removed from Funtown USA after the 1981 season to make room for eventual expansions. | |
| Water Bugs Bumper Boats | Family sized bumper ring boats | 1984 | 1992 | This was a bumper boats attraction housed in a pavilion behind the Sock-It-To-'Em bumper cars. After 1995, the boats were removed, the water was drained, and the pool was filled in with white gravel. It's now part of a picnic area. | |
| Zipper | Zipper | 1967 | 1974 | The classic Zipper ride was at Funtown USA for only the first 8 seasons, and was—afterwards—removed. It stood where the Cash Cube game does now. | |
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