Six Flags AstroWorld

Six Flags AstroWorld, also known simply as AstroWorld, was a seasonally operated amusement park in Houston, Texas. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was situated between Kirby Drive and Fannin Street, directly south of I-610. The park opened on June 1, 1968, and was developed originally and constructed as part of the Astrodomain, the brainchild of local philanthropist and former Houston mayor Roy Hofheinz, who intended it to complement the Astrodome. The Hofheinz family sold AstroWorld to Six Flags in 1978.

Notable rides featured at the park included the Texas Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster built in 1976 that was modeled after the well-known Coney Island Cyclone, and Thunder River, considered the world's first successful river rapids ride when it opened in 1980. WaterWorld, an adjacent water park, was acquired and added to AstroWorld in 2002. Following declining revenue, rising property value, and other issues facing Six Flags, the company closed AstroWorld permanently after its final day of operations on October 30, 2005, the final night of Fright Fest. Many rides were sold at auction or relocated to other Six Flags' properties, and demolition of the remaining structures was completed by mid-2006.

History

Planning and construction

Judge Roy Hofheinz, who was one of the original owners of the Houston Astros baseball team and spearheaded the lobbying effort that resulted in Harris County financing the construction of the Astrodome, founded the "Astrodomain" holding company after the Astrodome's opening in 1965. It owned in south Houston surrounding the Astrodome. Hofheinz continued to develop the Astrodomain, creating AstroWorld (1968), the Astrohall convention center (which hosted twice-daily stagings of the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1969; Hofheinz had acquired the circus in December 1967), and four hotels with a capacity of 5,600 guests to serve visitors: the Astroworld Motor Hotel (with a private suite for Hofheinz on the ninth floor), Holiday Inn-Astroworld, Howard Johnson Motor Lodge-Astroworld, and Sheraton Inn-Astroworld.

In 1967, Hofheinz initially denied that preliminary work for an amusement park had been underway, but later announced on September 16 that approximately half of the remaining land, , was being developed for a park to be named "Astroworld". Hofheinz showed an architectural model of the park and announced that Randall Duell and Associates had designed it; Duell, a Hollywood set designer and architect, had previously designed Six Flags Over Texas. An initial $25 million investment paid for extensive landscaping and a long pedestrian viaduct spanning the I-610 freeway, the first privately owned, publicly accessible span over a federal highway. Lloyd, Morgan & Jones designed the bridge.

Additional design work for the park was performed by I. A. Naman & Associates (air conditioning); Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam (electrical); Walter P Moore (structural); Turner, Collie & Braden (civil engineering); and Linesch & Reynolds (landscape architects). of fill was required for the site, because of its low elevation and drainage issues. Dozier Specialty, who had previously worked on Colt Stadium, was the general contractor. The name AstroWorld was selected following Houston's designation as the home of the Johnson Space Center in 1965, paying homage to the nation's crewed space programs.

Executives commissioned Ed Henderson, a Disney animator, to build a scale replica of the park and design maps for park guests. Henderson's model of AstroWorld, measuring , was built as a publicity preview of the park in 1967. Architecture students at Rice University and the University of Houston sculpted many of the buildings. It was displayed in the window of Foley's, a downtown department store, then moved to Hofheinz's Astrodome suite once the park opened; as an Easter egg, a model of Hofheinz's black Cadillac is parked in a private lot in the northwest corner of the park's model. After the park closed in 2005, the model was discovered sawed into six pieces in a warehouse, then returned to Henderson. He stored it in his garage before it was displayed in fall 2010 at the Optical Project gallery, operated by artists Bill Davenport and Francesca Fuchs. In 2011, it was sold to I. A. Naman and Associates, the same firm that had designed the park's outdoor air conditioning; they donated the model to the Houston Public Library.

Hofheinz family

The Hofheinz family, Roy and his three children (Roy Jr., Fred, and Dene), shared ownership of the park. Hofheinz hosted a press preview in May 1968; Leonard Traube wrote the park "has a beautifully realized continuity and layout calculated to move traffic in such a way as to make practical the policy of a single gate admission for virtually everything on the grounds", referring to the Duell loop that routes visitors through each part of the park.

AstroWorld opened on June 1, 1968, just south of the Astrodome, creating a multi-facility entertainment complex; 50,000 guests visited the park during the first weekend. Hofheinz enlisted two of his grandchildren to launch the amusement park with the release of 2,000 balloons. An initial workforce of 1,200 collected tickets at a price of $4.50 for adults and $3.50 for children. Stan McIlvaine, who had formerly operated Six Flags Over Texas, was the first general manager of AstroWorld. Two of the park's sixteen attractions were not operational on opening day.

Marvel McFey, the park's official mascot (branded the "Ambassador of Happiness"), was introduced in 1972. He was accompanied by a menagerie of "animal gypsies": Winston Wolf (the sheriff of AstroWorld); Pigs One, Two, and Three (mischievous tricksters named Quiz, Chiquito, and Harpo); Percy Penguin; Pierre Le Rat (the resident artist); Flopper Rabbit (a country bumpkin); Beethoven Bear (a checkers champion); Samantha Skunk ("a bright purple and pink flower child"); Frieda Frog (McFey's secretary); and Lester Lion (a frustrated baseball player). In addition to their in-park greeting and show duties, Marvel and his caravan of Enchanted Animals represented AstroWorld at many civic functions. Rolly Crump designed and built the character costumes.

In 1970, just two years after the opening of Astroworld, Hofheinz survived a stroke that left him in a wheelchair. The enterprise announced a $38 million long-range financing program in 1972, with notes held by General Electric Credit Corp., Ford Motor Credit Co., and HNC Realty. Those creditors assumed control of the Astrodomain in 1974. Astrodomain sold the hotels to Servico Inc. in May 1976. Hofheinz liquidated his interest in the company a short time later.

Six Flags

Six Flags purchased a 20-year operating lease for AstroWorld in mid-1975. The following year, Six Flags AstroWorld introduced a new, high-speed roller coaster, the Texas Cyclone. A new playground named "The Magical World of Marvel McFey" was added to Children's World for the 1977 season. That same year, Robert Cartmell named the Texas Cyclone the best roller coaster in the world. The formal purchase of AstroWorld by Six Flags concluded in 1978. In 1978, the new attraction was Greezed Lightnin', a high-acceleration loop roller coaster.

McFey's tenure as the park's mascot ended in 1984 as Bugs Bunny and other ''Looney Tunes'' characters moved into the Enchanted Kingdom for the 1985 season; AstroWorld's parent corporation, Six Flags, had acquired the license to use the ''Looney Tunes'' characters in 1984 for its theme parks from Marriott along with the Great America in Gurnee theme park; Marriott had held the license since 1976 for its twin Great America parks.

Six Flags continued to change ownership, being purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1982, then by a private equity firm, Wesray Corporation, in 1987. Time Warner acquired a minority stake in 1990 and owned the company outright by September 1993. During Astroworld's first twenty years, it entertained more than thirty million visitors. The amusement park persisted while new competitors in Houston emerged and failed, including Busch Gardens, Hanna–Barbera Land, and SeaArama Marineworld. Attendance increased during these earlier years. In the early 1990s, the Six Flags parks gained access to DC Comics characters through its corporate owner, Time Warner; Batman: The Escape was installed at AstroWorld for the 1993 season. In February 1998, Premier Parks, led by CEO Kieran Burke, acquired Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. In 1984, Premier, originally Tierco, a property management group, hired Gary Story to rehabilitate one of its properties, an older park named Frontier City in Oklahoma City; Story's successful turnaround of that park started the company's theme park acquisition program.

Closure and demolition

The Six Flags acquisition was part of an ambitious Premier Parks purchasing program, which bought 31 amusement parks in four years, including the 12 Six Flags parks. Burke received a $2 million bonus for completing the Six Flags acquisition. However, Six Flags failed to turn a profit for five straight years after the 1998 acquisition, announcing a $122 million loss for the first half of 2003; capital expenditures began to be scaled back because of its debt load. In August 2005, Six Flags announced it was selling its chain of parks. One month later, on September 12, Burke announced AstroWorld would be closed and demolished at the end of the 2005 season. The company cited issues such as declining attendance, rising property value, and conflicts involving off-site parking at Reliant Stadium, which houses the Houston Texans football team and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR). In 1997, the combined attendance of AstroWorld and Water World was 2.27 million visitors; AstroWorld alone was ranked as the 28th most attended theme park in the United States with 1.99 million guests. AstroWorld attendance ranked 35th overall among all theme parks in 2000, 37th overall in 2002, 36th overall in 2003, and 39th overall in 2004, which was eighth among all Six Flags parks in 2004. A contractual agreement that allowed Six Flags patrons to park at Reliant Stadium expired in August 2005, and attempts to extend it failed. CFO Jim Dannhauser cited the expired parking arrangement as a "contributing factor" in the decision to close. Burke later explained in 2014 the decision was based on " stroWorld'scondition and location and the costs to modernize ... we had big offers pouring in for the land at the time and it just made more sense to close it." The final date of park operation was October 30, 2005. Following the closure, most of the park's assets, including rides and equipment, were sold during a three-day public auction held January 6–8, 2006.

Company executives expected to sell the land for as much as $150 million, but ultimately received less than half that amount. After spending $20 million to demolish the park and clear the land, Six Flags sold the cleared property for $77 million in 2006 to Angel/McIver Interests, a land development firm based in Conroe, Texas. By that time, Burke had been removed as CEO. In 2009, the former Astroworld site was still vacant. The land tract was reported as taking up . The land owners hired real estate consultants, Croswell Torian Commercial Properties, to subdivide and market the property to other developers under the "SouthPoint" brand, though no development had yet occurred. The original tract purchased by Hofheinz was reduced by : were acquired by Harris County Metro and another piece of the tract on the northwest corner sold to a car dealership.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) are the owners of a record-holding of cleared land bounded by West Bellfort Drive, Fannin Street, Kirby Drive, and I-610. The original amusement park site occupied of that. Parts of the tract were developed, and other parts were undeveloped; the HLSR was using some of that property for overflow parking and conveying those visitors over the long pedestrian viaduct, the last remnant of the former amusement park. Though the site includes a great field of grass, the land is stabilized and partly paved with asphalt, so it can be used for parking.

Areas and attractions

There were ten themed areas by the early 1980s. WaterWorld, an adjacent water park built in 1983, became part of AstroWorld in 2002. The park's outdoor concert venue, the Southern Star Amphitheatre, opened in 1980. Well-known musicians and bands performed at the amphitheater over the years, including The Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead, and Bob Dylan.

At the time the park closed, the themed areas were:
* WaterWorld
* Oriental Village (originally ''Oriental Corner'')
* Mexicana (originally ''Plaza de Fiesta''; included ''Children's World'', which was removed to install XLR-8 in 1984)
* Nottingham Village (1972 expansion initially named ''Country Fair''; renamed in 1981)
* Western Junction
* Americana Square
* European Village (originally included ''Alpine Valley'')
* USA (originally ''Mod Ville''; ''Coney Island'' expansion (featuring Texas Cyclone) added in 1976; later renamed ''International Plaza'' in 1977)

Ride history

The Alpine Sleigh Ride, Astrowheel, and Mill Pond were among the park's original sixteen rides. The Alpine Sleigh Ride " ookpassengers in roller coasters fashion over a mountain and through snow storms and waterfalls". Its opening was delayed by three weeks after the park's opening day. The water skimmer ride Mill Pond was not operational on opening day for mechanical reasons as well as the late arrival of two "water bug" cars. The Black Dragon debuted within the first year.

To compensate for the humidity in Houston, the park included more than 2,400 tons of cooling with vents in the shaded areas of the park, which AstroWorld called "the largest outdoor air conditioning system in the world" at its opening. Additional air conditioning systems were fitted to the Alpine Sleighs, blowing gusts of refrigerated air over guests at .

The "610 Limited" was the park's perimeter railroad, originally operating two steam locomotives, each -scale 4-4-0, which were built by Bob Harpur. Each original train had an engine, tender, and four cars for a capacity of 250 passengers, carrying them at speeds up to over of track. The No. 2 train was sold for scrap to Gary Norton in 1986 and served at Silverwood Theme Park briefly before the engine was sold to private owners and restored in Georgetown, California; the coaches remain in service at Silverwood. No. 1 remained in limited operation after diesel locomotives were relocated from Six Flags Magic Mountain; after AstroWorld closed, No. 1 was sold in January 2006, restored, and returned to service on the Pacific Coast Railroad at Santa Margarita Ranch in April as ''Caroline''. In addition, Harper Goff designed a custom railcar for Judge Hofheinz, named the ''Astrodoma'', designed to run on the same tracks; it was stored alongside its locomotive in 1976 after the park was sold to Six Flags, and remained undisturbed before it was sold in 2018.

Bamboo Shoot (a log flume later named Ozarka Splash) and the Serpent junior coaster were installed in 1969. Bamboo Shoot took riders on a course at speeds up to ; each of the 25 boats carried four adults or six children. Serpent carried 24 passengers on a track in six cars. The Alpine Carousel (also known as the Dentzel Carousel, after its manufacturer) in Alpine Village also was added for the 1969 season. It was originally built in 1895 and operated from 1907 to 1967 in Forest Park (formerly Eichelberger Park) in Hanover, Pennsylvania. After Forest Park was sold to make way for a shopping center, AstroWorld purchased the carousel and moved it to Houston. It retained its original pipe organ and drums, and the menagerie of animals included lions, ostriches, pigs, camels, horses, rabbits, giraffes, and tigers. Some animals on the outside ring were swapped from a D. C. Muller and Bros. carousel that had previously operated at Pen Mar Park between 1907 and 1943; August Karst operated both the Pen Mar and Forest parks. The Brass Ring Carousel Company of Sun Valley, California, purchased the carousel before the 2006 auction of AstroWorld assets, and restored it for a private museum.

The Swamp Buggy (a dark ride with a drop over a spiral track "wrapped around a huge tree"), Magnetic House (a fun house) and a wooden bridge were added for the 1970 season to an island (themed "Fun Island") in the lagoon between the Astroneedle and Plaza de Fiesta. The first major park expansion opened in 1972 with a new area themed ''Country Fair'' between Americana Square and Oriental Corner. Country Fair included typical midway attractions and the first major roller coaster in the park, the Dexter Frebish Electric Roller Ride (renamed "Excalibur" in 1981 with the retheming of the expansion to Nottingham Village). The park added a second antique carousel at this time in Country Fair, originally built in 1907 by Borelli. Installed in 1976 as part of the "Coney Island" expansion, Texas Cyclone was among the largest wooden roller coasters in the U.S. and featured a drop at 53 degrees, achieving a speed of . During construction, a tropical storm damaged a portion of the ride, delaying its opening. After the park closed, the coaster's trains were relocated to La Ronde. Greezed Lightnin', installed in 1978, could accelerate from 0 to in four seconds. Joe Bob Briggs (writing under his given name, John Bloom) covered the looping coaster in ''Texas Monthly'' that year, noting the ride only lasts 28 seconds, adding the second half of the ride is carried out in reverse: "If there is anything more frightening than entering a 360-degree loop in a coaster car, it is entering a 360-degree loop ''backwards'' in a coaster car".

Thunder River, installed in 1980, has been described as the "first commercially successful river-rapids ride". Warp 10 took over the former site of the Astrowheel in 1981; it was later moved to Pla