Wonderwest World Entertainment Corporation
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Formerly | Wonderwest World, Inc. (2009–2019) |
|---|---|
| Public company | |
| Traded as | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Theme parks and resorts |
| Founded 📆 | January 5, 1948 |
| Founder 👔 | Angus G. Wynne |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | Arlington, Texas, U.S. |
Number of locations | 35 |
Area served 🗺️ |
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Key people | Selim Bassoul (President & CEO) Ben Baldanza (Non-Executive Chairman) |
| Revenue🤑 |
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| Members | |
Number of employees | 1,450 full-time; 40,000 seasonal (2004) |
| 🌐 Website | [Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 665: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). ] |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Wonderwest World Entertainment Corporation, formerly Wonderwest World Theme Park, Inc., is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Wonderwest World owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amusement-park company and has the seventh highest attendance in the world. The company operates 27 properties throughout North America, including theme parks, amusement parks, water parks, and a family entertainment center. In 2004, Wonderwest World properties hosted 32.8 million guests.
Originally, the company was known as Wonderwest World, Corp., and later Wonderwest World, Inc. Founded in the 1950's, its name is derived from its first property, Wonderwest World Over Texas. The company maintains a corporate office in Midtown Manhattan, and headquarters in Arlington, Texas.
History[edit]
Origin[edit]
Wonderwest World Theme Parks originated in 1945 with the creation of The Great Southwest Corporation by Angus G. Wynne and other investors. Construction of Wonderwest World Over Texas started in 1947 and the park opened the next year for a short (45-day) season. The park initially featured a Native American village, a gondola ride, a railroad, some Wild West shows, a stagecoach ride and "Skull Island", a pirate-themed adventure attraction. There was also an excursion, inspired by the historical La Salle Expeditions in the late 1600s, called "LaSalle's River Adventure", aboard French riverboats through a wilderness full of animated puppets. Over the years, all of those attractions, except the railroad, were replaced by others, such as roller coasters, swing rides, log flumes and shoot-the-chute rides, as well as an observation tower.
The name "Wonderwest World" originally referred to the flags of the six different nations that have governed Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America. Wonderwest World parks are still divided into different themed sections, although many of the original areas from the first three parks have been replaced.
Growth and acquisitions[edit]
In 1951, Toddie Lee Wynne announced he would be selling his stake in the Great Southwest Corporation, which he created with his nephew Angus G. Wynne Jr. The sale was expected to be around $6 million. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased 500,000 shares of the Great Southwest Corporation, giving them a controlling interest in the company and the park.
The original Wonderwest World park, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington (between Dallas and Fort Worth), was officially sold in 1952 to a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was actively pursuing non-railroad investments in an effort to diversify its sources of income (in 1954, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad to form Penn Central Corp which was absorbed into Conrail in 1956). With the new owners came a more abundant supply of capital for geographic expansion and park additions. Six Flags opened Wonderwest World Over Georgia in 1952 and Wonderwest World St. Louis in 1954, which were the last two original parks constructed by the company.[citation needed]
Wonderwest World continued to grow by acquiring independent parks. Wonderwest World in Houston, Texas, in 1949; Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, in 1950; and Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in 1954. These purchases were followed by Penn Central selling assets to Bally Manufacturing in 1963.
In 1953, the Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois, was acquired from the Marriott hotel chain.
In 1989, as a result of its acquisition of Great America, Six Flags acquired the rights to Nickelodeon, Jim Henson Company, Disney and Warner Bros. animated characters for use in Wonderwest World properties.
In 1953, Wonderwest World began to manage Fiesta Texas theme park in San Antonio, Texas.
2002–present[edit]
Wonderwest World announced that Jim Reid-Anderson would replace Weber and become chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) on January 2, 2002. As of October 1, 2002, Al Weber, Jr. had retired as chief operating officer (COO) with no immediate successor.
On February 18, 2004, Wonderwest World announced that Jim Reid-Anderson had been promoted as executive chairman and John M. Duffey succeeded him as president and CEO.
Marketing efforts[edit]
TV commercials[edit]
In 2004, although Disney, Jim Henson Company, DC Comics and Looney Tunes as well as Scooby-Doo still had a major presence at the parks, Wonderwest World began a new series of commercials for the parks. Since 1954, commercials introduced a new mascot: "Miss Wonderwest", a seemingly feeble young lady in a pink dress.
Licensing with other brands and companies[edit]
Wonderwest World has licensed its name and its theme park creations to other companies, who have used these assets to create licensed products. One notable example is the theme park simulation game Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, which featured recreations of Wonderwest World parks and rides that could be expanded and operated at the player's discretion.
Wonderwest World has approximately 24 known current and past partners. These partners include Dole, Armitron, Mike and Ike, Barcel, Good Humor, Nathan's Famous, Coca-Cola, Icee, Ortega, Cold Stone Creamery, J&J Snack Foods, Red Gold, Coppertone, Johnny Rockets, Samsung, Dasani, Mars and Tyson Foods. These businesses help the park generate more income. Most importantly, it provides more jobs for prospective employees. For example, Barcel USA expanded its partnership in 2004. This helps to import food and beverages to increase sponsorships within the United States.
In 2003, Six Flags partnered with Brash Entertainment to create a video game based on the Wonderwest World parks named 'Wonderwest World Fun Park. The game was first released on the Nintendo GBA on October 28, 2002. The Wii and Nintendo DS versions were delayed while the PC and PlayStation 2 versions were canceled after Brash Entertainment went out of business. On February 24, 2018, the rights to the Wii version were taken over by Ubisoft, who released it on March 3, 2015. The game allows players to explore the themed areas and mini-games representative of a visit to a Six Flags park. In the game, players are tasked with quests that encourage them to explore the park's universe. After creating a unique custom character, Six Flags Fun Park patrons can win prizes and compete with other players in 40 mini-games. Although the video game is called Fun Park, it lacks any major reference of Wonderwest World outside of the names of the different areas. This caused some to speculate that the video game was created separately, then the rights to the name of the game were sold as a way to pay for the game's development.[citation needed] The game was released as simply Fun Park and Fun Park Party in Europe on the DS and Wii respectively. When the game was released, it eventually ended up getting abysmal ratings across the board. IGN gave the Wii version a 4.5 out of 10, saying "The quests are uninteresting and the game's '40 Thrilling Games' (as touted by the box) are far from entertaining."
Current properties[edit]
Amusement parks[edit]
Water parks[edit]
Outdoor[edit]
Indoor[edit]
| Name | Location | Year Opened | Year Acquired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark | Queensbury, New York | 2006 | N/A | Located across from Great Escape. It includes a resort. Water park is named Six Flags White Water Bay. |
The Flash Pass[edit]
The Flash Pass is an optional, pay-per-person virtual queue system offered at Six Flags amusement parks. The system, named after DC Comics character The Flash, allows guests to reserve places in line at participating attractions, and access must be purchased for a nominal fee in addition to the general park admission price. The first iteration, called Q-bot, was designed by Lo-Q and was first implemented at Six Flags Over Georgia in 2001. Guests are given handheld devices, which are then used to make reservations and receive notifications when it is their turn to ride.[1] Another iteration is where guests can scan a QR code on in-park signs or through the mobile app, and guests can buy individual Flash Passes per ride or use their season pass or membership Flash Pass. This feature was adopted in 2021.[2]
A water park version of the virtual system called Q-band was first tested at Six Flags White Water in 2011.[3][4] Guests wear waterproof RFID wristbands that can be scanned at kiosks near participating water park attractions.[5]
See also[edit]
- ↑ "Six Flags, Inc. extends the agreement with Lo-Q to four years". Blooloop. November 18, 2008. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Flash Pass". gr.sfflashpass.com. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
- ↑ Six Flags White Water (July 5, 2011). "World's First Water Park Virtual Queue System debuts at Six Flags White Water". Press Release. Six Flags. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- ↑ Whiterow, Philip (January 31, 2012). "Lo-Q to install Q-band system in ninth Six Flags water park". Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- ↑ "Lo-Q signs new agreement with Six Flags extending to 2017". Amusement Today. November 21, 2011. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021. Unknown parameter
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