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Christmas Wonderland is an amusement park located in Albany, New York. It's the only amusement park in the world to be themed year round to Christmas.
History
The park opened in 1959 as a small winter themed attraction by William and Reyna Barnes, a couple who owned a miniature golf course nearby, as a way to make more revenue. Due to it's immense popularity, it returned in 1960 and the following years. In 1965, it was announced an official park would open. Construction started in 1966 and ended in mid 1967, with the official opening date being on Thanksgiving Day 1967. The park was as predicted a huge success.
However, in 1975, William died from a fatal heart attack he had in his sleep. As a result, Reyna found it increasingly unstable to manage the park herself and put it up for sale. It was sold to Group W (Westinghouse Amusement Division) in 1976, who renamed the park Holiday Mountain. In 1991, when Group W exited the amusement park business, the park was sold to Kennywood Entertainment, then again in 2008 to Parques Reunidos when Kennywood Entertainment went out of business. In 2012, Oscar Barnes, the grandson of William and Reyna Barnes, filed a lease for the park and managed to re-buy the whole property by 2013. It reopened on Memorial Day 2013 with it's old name.
Rides
Roller coasters
| Name | Year Opened | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arctic Screamer | 2005 | A B&M floorless roller coaster. | |||
| Frostbite | 1997 | A Vekoma SLC. | |||
| Frosty's North Pole Run | 1992 | A Zierer Tivoli family coaster. | |||
| Glacier Run | 2000 | A Custom Coasters International wooden coaster. | |||
| Mistletoe | 2000 | A Zamperla kiddie coaster. | |||
| Mr. Grinch | 1985 | A Schwarzkopf launched family coaster. It was the first of it's kind. | |||
| Polar Express | 1988 | A snow themed Arrow Dynamics mine train roller coaster. | |||
| Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer | 1973 | A Philadelphia Toboggan Company junior wooden coaster. | |||
| Santa Claus | 1969 | The oldest coaster in the park. A Philadelphia Toboggan Company wooden roller coaster. | |||
| Silent Night, Holy Night | 2002 | Dueling Morgan hypercoasters. | |||
| Silver Bell Express | 1980 | An Arrow Dynamics looping coaster. | |||
| Snow Angel | 2017 | A B&M wing coaster. | Snowball Junction | 2009 | A Gerstlauer 420/4 spinning roller coaster model. |
| Titanic' | 2014 | A Gerstlauer Eurofighter roller coaster themed to the Titanic. |
Flat rides
- Christmas Party Hop - An Orbiter thrill ride that opened in 1977.
- Frosty's Snow Whirl - A Christmas-themed tea cups ride that opened in 1990.
- Blizzard - An Eli Bridge scrambler that opened in 1967.
- North Pole Splashdown - An Arrow Dynamics log flume that opened in 1970.
- Reindeer's Flight - A Wave Swinger that opened in 1973.
- Snow Way Down - An S&S drop tower complex that opened in 1998.
- Abominable - A Huss Top Spin themed to the Abominable Snowman, opened in 2001.
- Candy Cane Spin - A Zamperla Disk'O that opened in 2010.
- Arctic Roll - A Larson Super Loop that opened in 2016.
- North Pole Skyway - A Von Roll chairlift ride that opened in 1967.
- North Star - A Funtime StarFlyer that opened in 2012.