Dates

• Existence: June 1987 - 4 January 2007

Biography

The American Adventure was a theme park in Derbyshire, England opened in the site of an old mine in June 1987 by Granada. Initially the park had an American wild west theme, which overtime developed into a wider north American theme to include space travel and Canadian culture and later integrated other aspects of general popular culture.

The American Adventure started to decline in 1996 and a year later it was sold to Ventureworld. Under Ventureworld the park was renamed American Adventure World with the intention of moving away from the American theme and eventually renaming the park Adventure World. The change of ownership however did not stop the park’s decline and in 1999 it was sold once again, this time to THG Group, the owners of Pontins and Blackpool Tower. THG restore the park’s original name and focused on the larger white-knuckle rides, decommissioning many of the smaller ones, but it didn’t manage to revamp the site and stop its decline in popularity.

In 2005 the park was re-themed in an attempt to attract a family audience, and three of its major rides were closed. The park managed to operate that year and the following one, until it announced its closure on 4 January 2007. The rides were sold to other operators and Derbyshire County Council took control over the land, which it renamed Shipley Lakeside. After the demolition of the remains of the park, the land was approved for development in 2012.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records: