Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

Spring, Texas Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the metropolitan area. The population was 62,559 at the 2020 census. While the name "Spring" is popul ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor SplashTown Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown is a water park located north of Houston in Spring, Texas, United States.Subsections of larger theme parks featured characters from the Hanna-Barbera animation studio prior to 1984, primarily the parks owned by

Taft Broadcasting The Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was rooted in the Taft family, family of William Howard Taft, the 27th Presid ...

such as

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expan ...

(1972),

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 ri ...

(1975),

Carowinds Carowinds is a amusement park located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park straddles the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. However, it has an of ...

(1975), and

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...

(1981). The standalone theme park in Spring was built by Taft Broadcasting, which became the

Kings Entertainment Company Kings Entertainment Company (KECO) owned and/or operated six theme parks around the world. The company was originally owned by Taft Broadcasting and in 1984 was purchased for $167.5 million by senior executives and general managers of Taft's Amuse ...

as of opening. Kings also owned the

Australia's Wonderland Wonderland Sydney (originally known as Australia's Wonderland), was an amusement park in Eastern Creek, Sydney, Australia. Officially opened in December 1985 by the Premier of New South Wales, Neville Wran, the park was the largest in the southe ...

,

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...

,

Carowinds Carowinds is a amusement park located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park straddles the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. However, it has an of ...

,

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 ri ...

, and

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expan ...

theme parks. The park was open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. except Saturdays, when the park closed at 10 p.m. The 1984 season lasted until Labor Day. Admission was for children and adults from Sunday through Friday, rising to on Saturdays; one grandparent was admitted free with each paid admission. Despite increased attendance in 1985, a number of factors led to the park's closure. An oil bust in the early 1980s severely impacted the economy of the Greater Houston area, along with competition with the well-established and more centrally-located AstroWorld, as well as minimal spending in the park on concessions, gift shop purchases, and souvenirs all eventually doomed the park. The park was sold to private investors and the SplashTown USA water park was built in its place; the water park was sold again to Bryant Morris, then to

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

which purchased it in 1999. After initially not wanting to brand and call it "a member of the Six Flags family," Six Flags eventually decided to re-brand it as Six Flags SplashTown. In 2007 it was sold to

PARC Management PARC Management, LLC is an operations company based in Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by are ...

, which renamed it to Wet N' Wild Splashtown. After the park returned to Six Flags management as part of a 2019 operating agreement, it was rebranded

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor SplashTown Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown is a water park located north of Houston in Spring, Texas, United States.

Attractions

Visitors entered the park through a large rainbow archway. The park featured: *A character

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

, including Jabberjaw, Dino, and Yogi Bear *A

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...

roller coaster, now at

California's Great America California's Great America, often shortened to Great America, is a amusement park located in Santa Clara, California. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, it originally opened in 1976 as one of two parks built by the Marriott Corporation. Califor ...

as Woodstock's Express *Boulder Bumpers *Silly Stix, an enormous jungle gym of sorts that looked like it was constructed out of giant

Tinker Toys The Tinkertoy Construction Set is a toy construction set for children. It was designed in 1914—six years after the Frank Hornby's Meccano sets—by Charles H. Pajeau, who formed the Toy Tinker Company in Evanston, Illinois to manufact ...

; it was repainted and rebranded as "Pepsi Pavilion" for the replacement water park. *H.B.L. ''Funliner'' *The Funsonium, a "do-seum" designed by

Edwin Schlossberg Edwin Arthur Schlossberg (born July 19, 1945) is an American designer, author, and artist. He specializes in designing interactive experiences, beginning in 1977 with the first hands-on learning environment in the U.S. for the Brooklyn Children's ...

which housed interactive and educational hands-on games and experiences such as ''Your Name in Lights'' and ''You Are the Star''; in addition, a continuous feed of Scooby-Doo cartoons was shown * Pedal boats with themed characters including Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, and Huckleberry Hound *Water body slides, added for 1985 *Puppet shows *

Papa Smurf Papa Smurf is one of the protagonists from the comic strip the Smurfs. Most Smurfs are said to be about 100 years old, but at the advanced age of 546 (553 in the 1980s series episode "The Littlest Giant"), Papa is the oldest Smurf and the leader ...

's Forest restaurant *A live

Keystone Cops The Keystone Cops (often spelled "Keystone Kops") are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. History The idea for the ...

brass band (branded the 'Kops of Komedy') that performed Hanna Barbera theme songs *'Rufus the Rainmaker', a live performance featuring the "leading authority in the art of rainmaking"

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanna-Barbera Land Hanna-Barbera Defunct amusement parks in Texas 1984 establishments in Texas 1985 disestablishments in Texas The Smurfs in amusement parks Scooby-Doo in amusement parks The Flintstones in amusement parks Landmarks in Texas Defunct companies based in Texas Buildings and structures in Harris County, Texas Amusement parks opened in 1984 Amusement parks closed in 1985 Hanna-Barbera in amusement parks