# American Adventure- Various visits



## theoss (Oct 26, 2010)

American adventure has really been one of those places I have a look at if I happen to be driving nearby and have time to take a look. Therefore, I have pictures from the various phases of the site wasting away. My most recent visit, about six weeks ago, there was so little left I didn't see the purpose of changing the batteries in my well cared for camera.

As some will know, this site was initally opened as a leisure site, known as Brittania Park, in June 1985 and the venture was a bit of a cock up resulting in the park becoming bankrupt by September the same year and a fraud investigation which resulted in prison sentantces being dished out.

More on that aspect of the park's history here;

http://www.heanorhistory.org.uk/britanniapark.htm

Granada took over the site in 1986, it was then sold on to Ventureworld in 1997, and after various schemes to boost the parks dwindling gate revenue, including rebranding, and actually removing major rides instead of adding to them, the park closed announced closed for good around January 2006. The site stands as merely a lake and tell tale network of pathways around the site.

A selection from Spring 2007;

One redeeming feature of the American Adventure's layout was the way the park opened out in front of you once you had walked across the entrance piazzia. The entrance to the park in general was well designed, a little limited on parking perhaps, but either way the original entrance was lost due to mining subsistance towards the end of the parks years. It was difficult to close to the building close to the entrance due to security presence;




American adventure- lakeside by theoss, on Flickr




American adventure by theoss, on Flickr

In fact, my preffered point of access back then was at the rear of the park, crossing a service road and entering via the River rapids. This was was the return elevator to the passneger loading platforms at the end of the ride;




American adventure- river rapids by theoss, on Flickr

Boat things removed the water course await disposal;




RIver rapids- American Adventure by theoss, on Flickr

Quite nice scenic carpentry along the rapids ride queue system. Although on a hot summer day the queue for the rapids would be huge and this did little to alleviate boredom;




American adventure- Rapids entrance by theoss, on Flickr

Fort Lawrence, entrance to the rapids, and a gateway to the Missile, slide and cinema tent;




American Adventure by theoss, on Flickr

Unvandalised at this stage, catering units still equiped and some some buildings locked;




American Adventure kitchen by theoss, on Flickr

Some scrap go carts;




American adventure go carts by theoss, on Flickr

The safe refuge from security where we hid on spotting a patrol;




American adventure go cart repair area by theoss, on Flickr

The big slide- needed a good waxing;




American adventure- slide by theoss, on Flickr

The cine projector;




American adventure cine projector by theoss, on Flickr

Progressing round the lake, towards the 'new' main entrance. Some rides had already been removed, including the JCBs mini diggers;




American adventure JCB area by theoss, on Flickr

These barriers enclosed the JCBs, which had been mounted on bases so only hydraulic arm and bucket worked. Not a bad idea to have these in a park aiming towards the family/ juvenile market, but they were only available at an additional cost on top of admission;




American adventure JCB area by theoss, on Flickr

Skycoaster loading platform. Something else to paid for additionally to admission;




American adventure Skycoaster loading by theoss, on Flickr

A thrilling crazy golf course;




American adventure crazy golf by theoss, on Flickr

The 'petting zoo';




American Adventure- entrance to zoo area by theoss, on Flickr

And the hidden assualt course, as seen on that glorious thing called TV;




American adventure assault course by theoss, on Flickr


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## theoss (Oct 26, 2010)

A year on, and by this time security had stood down.

Behind the entrance kiosks;




original main entrance by theoss, on Flickr

To the right of this, guest relations, offices and the park's bank;




Entrance buildings by theoss, on Flickr





Safes by theoss, on Flickr

To the left of here, the stores and security office;




Security cabin by theoss, on Flickr

One of the many security reports, security on this site were quite keen to do their job, and the site recieved many visitors;




Security log by theoss, on Flickr

The gun cupboard. Pyrotechnic store for the stunt shows which took place outside 'lazy lil's' Salon. The shows were put on by a group known as the 'mystic horsemen', and were pretty good;




Gun cupboard by theoss, on Flickr

The area here was the site of Lazy Lil's salon, and the mock up western town used for the shows;




Down the hill by theoss, on Flickr

The Aztec building, still secure at the time of this visit, but in here was located the Motion Master theatre;




Aztec area by theoss, on Flickr

Access bridge to Aztec, later destroyed by arson;




bridge to aztec by theoss, on Flickr

Pier 49. The only structure on site which survives to this day;




Steamboat loading by theoss, on Flickr

Another secured building. In Brittania days, this was the Small World building. AA used it as workshops, wardrobe and staff canteen;




Small world building by theoss, on Flickr

Another feature not used ofr may years- the BMX circuit;




BMX track start by theoss, on Flickr


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## theoss (Oct 26, 2010)

Summer 2009, and demolition is well under way;




Blocked access road by theoss, on Flickr

Someone seemed to have sour grapes with Security;




Security cabin- American adventure July 2009 by theoss, on Flickr

The stores building;




Stores by theoss, on Flickr

Amongst piles of rubble, the facade of Aztec;




Aztec by theoss, on Flickr




Half demolished by theoss, on Flickr

The foundations of motion master,, the machine itself can now be found, I think, at Flamingoland, North Yorkshire;




Motion master by theoss, on Flickr




Motion master by theoss, on Flickr

A projector room inside Aztec;




Cinema projection room by theoss, on Flickr

Inside Aztec;




Inside Aztec by theoss, on Flickr




Inside Aztec by theoss, on Flickr

Staff catering inside the Small World building;




Staff catering by theoss, on Flickr

Joiner's workshop;




Maintenance by theoss, on Flickr




Unusual payphone by theoss, on Flickr

Main stairs;




Stairs by theoss, on Flickr

View across the lake;




Lake by theoss, on Flickr


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## theoss (Oct 26, 2010)

And there it is gone. A river rapids boat lugged from the other side of the park and dumped in the lake and a broken camera;






American Adventure December 2009 by theoss, on Flickr




American Adventure December 2009 by theoss, on Flickr




American Adventure December 2009 by theoss, on Flickr

To this date I am not sure what is happening with the site. There was a rumour circulating that Midlands fairground showman family Mellors where interested in doing something with the site, but it's unclear if their idea isn going to progress.


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## evilnoodle (Oct 26, 2010)

I wonder which of the three intruders torched the security cabin???

"Well cared for camera"


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## theoss (Oct 26, 2010)

evilnoodle said:


> I wonder which of the three intruders torched the security cabin???
> 
> "Well cared for camera"



Most of those pictures were taken using my cranky old kodac, which was also well cared for but unfortunanely wobbled off a tripod on a rooftop in leeds.

Best thing about this place? Asking the horse on the exit for a half price voucher to return to the park.


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## UrbanX (Oct 27, 2010)

Fantastic report, you're obviously now really familiar with the site. Odd to think of it sat there for so long, with all of the happy novelty items just rotting. The grass looks extremely well tended in your earlier shots! (Better than my lawn anyway!)


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## losttom (Oct 27, 2010)

Excellent report, thanks for posting this


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## RichardH (Oct 27, 2010)

Ah, I spend many happy minutes here. Thanks for the opportunity to relieve them.


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## Foxylady (Oct 27, 2010)

Fab tour and pics, Theoss. Great to see it from the get-go up to today. A bit of a shame too...loved the first photos of the buildings when they were still there.
Cheers.


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## KooK. (Oct 28, 2010)

Great tour, I remember going here once when I was youger, then realising we were having to drive past Alton Towers to get there, so never bothered again.


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## theoss (Oct 28, 2010)

KooK. said:


> Great tour, I remember going here once when I was youger, then realising we were having to drive past Alton Towers to get there, so never bothered again.



Your right, alton towers was far superiour, and I remember an AT billboard poster in Ilkeston promoting nemesis, which would have been seen by many leaving AA.

The main redeeming factors of this park, which really reflect how it always struggled, were;

1) Much quieter than Alton during the summer season- far less queing..

2) Rarely necessary to pay full admission price- free tickets in newspapers, half price vouchers from many sources- newspapers, the petrol station down the road, when leaving the park.

3) Several bars on site.

That said we used to go from Sheffield a few times a year and we had fun.

This is a good site with early photos of the site;

http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9072&start=1290

Mystic Horsemen on Flickr;


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## BahrainPete (Oct 29, 2010)

A great set of pics and descriptive detail. I always find these type of places quite sad when they're left to rot, considering that the original purpose was to create pleasure. Really good - thanks.


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## devonian42 (Oct 29, 2010)

Thanks for this detailed report theoss.

This has obviously taken some time and effort over a period of years to get to this point. It's sad to see parks like this left to the elements when it is obvious that so much was invested initially to make it a fun place to be for members of the public who cannot whizz off to Florida or even Paris.


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## cainedkaty (Dec 4, 2010)

The school I went to in Sheffield used to take us here every year until we reached the last year at school, then they took us to Alton Towers. I remember the place well. First roller coaster I ever went on was the missile.


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## theoss (Dec 4, 2010)

cainedkaty said:


> The school I went to in Sheffield used to take us here every year until we reached the last year at school, then they took us to Alton Towers. I remember the place well. First roller coaster I ever went on was the missile.





I did my school days in sheffiled. There was one year our class all got 100% attendance in one year- for which we were rewarded an extra day trip. There was a few upset faces (I wasn't one of them of course) when our demand for Alton Towers was substituted for Lightwater valley (where?)

We used to go to AA a few times a year in the mid nineties, it was cheaper and easier to get to than Alton, and they had pubs on site, where at the time Alton didn't. 

There was one year Fosters were running the 'I can see the pub from here' adverts and everytime on the missile some comedian would feel the need to shout this from the top of the missile, refering to the pub near the lake.

It's a shame really, the amusement park industry has really taken a hammering the last few years. Once there gone, i can't imagine there ever coming a time when someone invests millions and builds another park of reasonable size. From what I can gather, Alton Towers, Flamingoland and Lightwater are all doing reasonably well- probably because they went, or are going the 'resort' route.


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## J_a_t_33 (Dec 4, 2010)

Excellent readi, cheers for that!


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## Zotez (Dec 4, 2010)

Really like this report I knew about American Adventure for quite a long time & always meant to visit it, think i'm a bit too late.


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## Locksley (Dec 5, 2010)

Fantastic post! With me being so young (well, 19), most of the places from my childhood still exist, so seeing this place completely demolished is very odd. I only went once but had a fantastic day, still remember it perfectly


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## theoss (Dec 5, 2010)

Locksley said:


> Fantastic post! With me being so young (well, 19), most of the places from my childhood still exist, so seeing this place completely demolished is very odd. I only went once but had a fantastic day, still remember it perfectly



That's how urbex started for me really- finding out about places I had either worked or visited for other reasons and finding out how much of it all had gone. The Atlantis water park at Scarborough being one of the first places I 'explored'.

Just to update this thread with ride relocations I know of;

The missile- Now at Pleasurewood Hills and called 'wipeout'
Runaway mine train- Bought at auction by Mellor family. In storage I think, but has been reassembled and will probably now travel funfairs
Motionmaster theatre- now at Flamingoland.
Mini Mine rush- Flamingoland
Twin looper (aka iron wolf, ex lightwater soopa loopa)- Now operating in Poland as 'tic tac tornado'
Buffalo stapede- Twinlakes park (melton mobrey)
Railway- Twinlakes park
River rapids- Filled in (refurbished 2006)
log Flume- Scrapped.

There are others- these are just the ones I am sure about.

Mystic Horsemen stunt team- Surely will still be around in some form.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

Good site with photos from all eras of the park;

http://american-adventure-memories.info/index.html


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## klempner69 (Dec 5, 2010)

Great report indeed with excellant updates too.Well done.


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