American Adventure Land

heres part 1, my first and failed visit

went alone (well took the dog) and walked the perimiter mentally noting a few get in point then shut the pooch up in the car stright over the fence diving into some bushes

Pyracantha...... (very spikey bushes) as secruity whizzed past along the access road id just walked up, so lay there for 30 mins which turned into 40 odd.

id now decided id wait untill the cover of darkness before i proceeded at to which the hevens opened and i got soaked....so back over the fence i wend and trundled home




from my vantage point


clouds didnt look to promising


the bear got hungry........i hoped i wasnt next on the menu


theres a 1/3 scale replica of a headstock as the site was originally a colliery

part 2 and my second visit

this was the goodbye auction where some of the last rides and odds and sods were auctioned off i decided after my failed visit id take the easy option go for the viewing so i could walk right in, unfortunatl a vast majority of the park was fenced off



WOOOOOOOAH bug in the car park!!!! and it parked next to me


thankfully the bear had been fed









all up for auction



about the last ride there



funky little control booth



lost property lying on the desk in there



that was fenced off



wild west



logs



one of the resturants



sick bay must of been 'dated'



anyone want to hold coffe mornings?



'welcome'



the chief



ever wanted a phone box in your garden?



lots of signs for sale





i suddenly got told to leave this area and was pointed out it was out of bounds........



glad i went, didnt stop for the bidding so dont ask what anything made

Jeez, that's changed a lot since i last went (when it was open lol). Used to like the Mall, used to have little shops all along both sides. Spent a forture in the glass blowing shop, and the candle one, and even more in the cadbury shop Can't believe how little of it is left. I'm the same as you, and wanted to go to the auction so i could have a last nosey around.

Used to be brilliant when it had the big rides, then then changed it to make it more family friendly, with much smaller rides, which suited families with small children. The wild west show used to be good, liked to watch that (can i admit that lol?)

One of the former stunt guys in the wild west show is a presenter on my local radio station, mansfield 103.2. rang him in the studio to ask him if the rumours about it closing were true, but the staff said they didn't know anything about it till it happened.

Like all the pics you've got.

Was first built as Brittania Park, went bankrupt, then Derbyshire County Council took it over. Everyone in Derbyshire had a free ticket to go there, then we had large discounted tickets after you'd used the free ones. Then was put up for sale and it was bought and the name changed to American Adventure. Sad to see it go really, the kids used to love it, plus it was our local theme park.

Cheers for the pics,

Sal

I remember there used to be a few ads for it around the late 1980s early 1990s with a bear mascot.

Yep, and you could have your pic taken with the bear lol.

There used to be a huge indoor softplay area where the kids could let off steam, with a cafe attached. and also there used to be a small farm type place where they had animals you could feed. My teen used to love feeding them when she was little lol.

They had a few cafes and take away places, and also a bar where they had dancing girls (like in the movies when they had the saloons with the dancing girls on stage).

Wonder if it will be given back to the Shipley Country Park as it used to be part of it before it was made into Britannia Park. Looks like we'll have to have another visit to the country park and have a talk with the rangers who are there and see if they can shed some light on whats going to happen to the place now.

i never got to go as a kid

id allways collect leaflets on the place but parents would never take me

Was good. Used to love the wild west show with all the stunt riding etc, was great till it was wet, and you got covered in mud from the horses hooves. Used to go a lot when the teen was little, sadly the toddler never got to see it.

The local infants and junior schools used to take the kids there as well, as it was local, plus they got a hefty discount for entry as they were also in derbyshire.

Ah good to see some more pics of this Mr Sam. I went a few times on school trips.

Enjoyed seeing your pics of this Mr S. Shame it's gone now and a real pity much was fenced off when you went. Good pics, btw. Rather a scary-looking welcome guy, though!

So that's where I lost my wallet! Hey wheres the twenty quid that was in it Excellent pics, I alway's feel a wee bit of sadness in the air at these closed down holiday camps, Probably just the thought of all the fun that had been had and now just a quiet abandoned forgoten about place. Stop am gonna shed a tear, no seriously it is a bit sad.

Simon-G

Great place this! I did it a few times at night for a good few hours with the fun of hiding from security included.

I guess theres not to much left there now, Any one know?

I like the auction pictures, I haven't seen these before.

I had a drive down the other weekeend and got caught by one of the site owners. He was very reasonable and I managed to have a chat with him about the sites past and proposed future.
There has been a spate of vandalism and some heavy cable has recently been taken from the site which has lead to a bit of a security increase since my early spring visits. On this occasion I was hoping to access the rapids ride pump room which was locked up when I visited before and I am keen to see plant rooms.

When I saw this new barrier I was optomistic that security may have stood down since the site returned to Derbyshire Council ownership;



Evidence of recent cable theft;



Transformer;



Building appearing to have been vandalised;



That's all I got this time.

wow its such a shame to see old theme parks closed down

Hi, It is so sad about this place. I revisited the site a few days ago and it looks even more demolished then since janurary. my report with plenty of pics is avalible here:
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?p=43742#post43742