Wild Adventures named to top 50 theme parks - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Wild Adventures named to top 50 theme parks

January 3, 2003

Lowndes County - When Wild Adventures was first developed nearly 7 years ago, no one imagined a small animal farm would turn into one of the 50 most visited theme parks on the continent.

"We basically started as a glorified petting zoo and conference center, with about 90,000 visitors each year," said Wild Adventures Vice President Jimmy Holmes. "Now we have about 1.25 million visitors each year."

In addition to its top 50 ranking, Amusement Business Magazine also named Wild Adventures the most popular privately owned park with a ticketed gate admission. And while the entire amusement park business suffered from a decrease in business this year, Wild Adventures beat the odds. "Everyone in the industry saw at least a one percent decrease in attendance, but ours actually boosted by about 20 percent," said Holmes.

Park guests say they aren't surprised at Wild Adventures' success. "We love coming here because it gives the whole family something fun, and there's no lines so we can really get our money's worth," said Eddie Forsberg.

And the park's growth isn't slowing down...park officials say a new water park should be finished by this summer, and they hope to move even further up the top 50 ladder this year.

posted at 2:00 by ashley.harper@walb.com