The Rise And Fall Of The American Adventure Theme Park

Anyone born in the UK before 1990 will most likely remember ‘The American Adventure’ theme park. Located in Derbyshire, it was one of the nation’s best loved theme parks, rivalling other popular theme parks such as Alton Towers and Drayton Manor throughout the 1990’s.

However, while Alton Towers and Drayton Manor are still going strong today, the same can’t be said for The American Adventure. By the late 1990’s, the park had began to seriously decline and visitor numbers began to dwindle.

First opening it’s doors to the public in 1987, the American Adventure was a theme park based around the old wild west. When the park first opened many of the rides were based on the wild west theme, rides such as the Runaway Mine Train, Cherokee Falls log flume and Buffalo roller-coaster.

However, as the years passed by the attention to detail seemed to allude the owners of the park who left the rides un-themed or completely out of place in themed areas.

For instance one of the most popular rides in the park was called ‘The Missile’, based on a NASA space shuttle, which had very little to do with the original wild west theme. However, this was the least of the park’s issues, as you are about to find out….

One of the most memorable things for many visitors in the 80’s and 90’s was the entrance to the park. Upon arrival you would go through the turnstiles and be greeted with souvenir shops, food stands and park employees dressed as cowboys and Indians.

The ‘American’ theme was really pushed hard, which you can see here, not just wild west, but anything American.

This is the back of the entrance, just inside the park, most likely taken around 1990. The facade would change many times over the years and eventually a ramp would be put in for disabled users.

While it might not be a white-knuckle ride, visitors to the park will undoubtedly remember the large Indian heads that greeted you as you passed though the Aztec Kingdom. The fate of these slightly creepy faces was not a great one, as you will find out later in this post.

High Sierra was a wagon-themed Ferris Wheel, it was ever-present in the park. It offered riders a good view of the park and the lake despite it not being that large.

When the park closed the High Sierra would later relocate to Billing Aquadrome leisure park in Northamptonshire.

The Buffalo Stampede was also ever-present in the park, the family-friendly ride would gather enough pace for a few minor screams. However, it was the rickety ride that many Buffalo Stampede riders will remember most.

After the park closed the ride was moved to nearby Twinlakes Theme Park where it still operates today.

The Runaway Train was another ever-present ride based on a wild west railroad train. After the park closed the Runaway Train was dismantled and sold to the Mellors Group who use it as a mobile attraction.

You can hire the Runaway Train for big events, if you have the space, taking around a week to build and dismantle.

Cherokee Falls was a two drop log flume that existed in the park from 1987 until 2004. In 1993 the flume underwent a large transformation that included the largest water drop in the UK (as seen in the photo) and a name change to ‘Nightmare Niagara’.

What happened to Nightmare Niagara after it was dismantled nobody seems to know. It didn’t pop up again in the UK, whether it has found a new home in another country we just don’t know.

The Santa Fe Railroad was a miniature train that rode the train-track around the lake. It was ever-present in the park, when The American Adventure closed it was sold to Billing Aqaudrome in Northamptonshire.

You simply couldn’t visit the American Adventure without watching one of the cowboy shows. These would usually include things like shootouts, lassoing and horse tricks in a wild west town setting.

One of the most fun shows to watch was a cowboy shootout. These would include cowboys being shot and falling off buildings and horses on to hidden crash mats.

The Missile is one of the most iconic rides in UK theme park history, having been officially launched by Buzz Aldrin in 1989.

Originally painted bright white to match the colour of a NASA space shuttle, in later years it would be painted black before eventually being closed and sold off to Pleasurewood Hills in Norfolk, England in 2004. The ride is still in operation today under the name ‘Wipeout‘ but now painted a light-blue colour.

As already mentioned, the Missile really didn’t fit in to the whole Wild West theme. Many rides that opened in the years after the park first opened didn’t, a huge oversight by the parks management team as things looked out of place.

The Twin Looper was another of The American Adventure’s big roller-coaster attractions. In the 11 years it operated in the park it went by a number of different names due to advertising and sponsorship.

Bought in 1995 from Lightwater Valley theme park in North Yorkshire, the ride had been operating under the name ‘Soopa Loopa’. When it relocated to the American Adventure it first went by then name ‘Iron Wolf’. The ride was opened by Wolf from the TV show Gladiators (UK version).

It would later be known as Gladiators, Sky Looper, JCB Twin Looper and simply Twin Looper after JCB ended their sponsorship.

The Twin Looper now resides in Poland after being sold off in 2007 and goes by the name ‘Tornado’.

From 1996 onward the theme park really began to decline in quality. After being sold to a new owner in 1997, the park changed its name to ‘American Adventure World’. It would later re-brand as ‘Adventure World’ before eventually reverting back to its original name, ‘The American Adventure’.

By 1999 the park was in bad shape, many smaller rides had disappeared and the entrance had to be closed due to subsidence. The new entrance looked nowhere near as attractive at the original.

Lack of investment also meant very few new attractions were built in later years at the park. After 1997, the only notable rides opened were the Flying Island (1998) and Mini Mine Rush (2006).

The Flying Island was opened by Irish boy-band ‘Boyzone’ in 1998, it was an observational tower that gave you a great view of the entire park. However, it lacked any real wow factor and wouldn’t bring in the visitors the park needed.

In 2005 three of the parks major attractions were closed, Nightmare Niagara, Rocky Mountain Rapids and The Missile were all closed. At this time The American Adventure was trying to re-brand as a family park. It was aimed at under 14’s and no longer felt the need for white-knuckle rides.

While some investment was made in 2006, as The American Adventure tried to push it’s new family park image, when the doors closed at the end of the 2006 season they would never re-open again.

In January 2007 it was announced that the rides left in the park would be sold off. It was the end of the road for ‘The American Adventure’ after 19 years of operation.

In 2007, after the park was closed much of the parks attractions were auctioned off or destroyed. However, some structures still stood and the footprints of rides remained.

By 2008 the ‘American Adventure’ sign on the drive into the park had been removed. All that remained was this out of place wall where the sign was once attached.

The original entrance to the theme park was still standing, however the signage was long gone as the entrance had moved location some years earlier.

The Native Indian faces were still in place on the side of the Aztec Kingdom. Unfortunately this would be their last year standing.

Pier 49 was still standing, but the Santa Fe railroad track which went around the lake was gone.

The foundations of Nightmare Niagara, once the UK’s highest water drop, now nothing but concrete footings remained.

Crazy golf at the park had seen better days, however you could still make out some of the holes.

The track of the Rocky Mountain Rapids was now completely filled in and almost entirely unrecognisable. You would have never known the rapids had been there apart from the odd piece of debris.

Some of the shops were still looking in decent condition, despite the fact you couldn’t get fish and chips anymore.

However, by 2009 things were not looking quite so good for the remaining structures at The American Adventure. Demolition of the site was well underway…..

Possibly the saddest photo any American Adventure fan will ever see…The Aztec Kingdom had finally been demolished and the creepy Indian faces that were once such a huge part of the American Adventure experience had finally been destroyed.

A half demolished Aztec Zone where the Native Indian faces would once look out from.

By 2009, much of the vegetation was beginning to over-grow. This photo is from the top of the main steps near the park entrance.

A sad sight, one of the Rapids cars sits on dry land long after the ride has been demolished and rapids filled in with concrete and soil.

By 2016 the park had fallen into further decay, and almost everything has now been demolished apart from a few buildings. The only way to tell where anything once existed is by markings left on the floor.

The main steps, as you can see, have fallen into further decay. Much of the surrounding vegetation however has been removed.

This aerial view of the park shows that everything has now been removed, as well as much of the vegetation. At the bottom left of the lake you can see the protruding land Pier 49 once stood on. The Missile was located at the top right hand corner of the lake.

As it stands planning permission for new residential houses has been granted and building is set to begin in 2019. This is despite calls from locals to try and get funding for a new park on the land.

Once house building begins we will get more photos, as the dream of The American Adventure reopening is put to bed, forever.