J's Amusement Park......gone

I was just told from a couple of people that J's
Amusements in Guerneville, CA has permanently closed.

This is bad news for those that didn't get a chance to visit as it was a strange little park, out in the middle of nowhere, that had a very wicked Mad Mouse coaster.

I visited the park in August of 2001. For those that are interested, I wrote a trip report about my visit which can be found here :

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=TR:+The+WWW+Tour+group:rec.roller-coaster&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&group=rec.roller-coaster&selm=dxih7.32468%24Iq4.13815386%40typhoon.columbus.rr.com&rnum=5

-Sean

Im glad we made it there last year as well.

It's funny, I was just thinking about this park the other day and wondered how they were doing.

As was I! The guy I'm seeing suggested a trip to Napa and I immediately thought of a side trip to J's. Oh well....

mOOSH

It's actually more than an hour from Napa Moosh, but still, this was my home park. I'm really going to push to save this coaster.

I guess I should mention I did make a video just this last summer of the small park:

http://www.sfmwzone.com/Videos/Jsamusements.htm *** Edited 1/28/2004 2:00:54 AM UTC by GoliathKills***

Yep, NorCal looses yet another coaster, and arguably the best mouse on the West Coast. Glad I got to visit many times in the past, but sure will miss this quirky little park. RIP J's :o(

I think we'll see this coaster pop up in a new home in a year or so, perhaps even in the same state.

It's in pretty bad condition and also has only one car left operable. So I don't know really who would buy it...

I didn't even know that I had an amusement park, and now it is closed :(

I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist.

LMAO, you got one laugh from me at least. :)

Joe, loves corny humor (except when people try too hard! ;))

Keep me posted GoliathKills of any efforts to preserve Mad Mouse, I'd be very interested in helping out. I'm sure many NorCal ACE'rs would as well, like they did for Devil's Coach (supposibly sitting in an El Cerrito warehouse waiting to be reconstructed someday, thanks to all the NorCal ACE'rs who dismantled and numbered each piece by piece).

Devil's Coach is in a warehouse? I ask because I remember reading on RCDB that the ride was torn down with some of the pieces used to built a bridge with the rest shoved into a pile or something like that.

I hope RCDB is wrong.

I heard both of those rumors... I'm not sure which one holds any truth. I'd love to find out, though.

This is sad news... it sounded like a really nice park, even after the wooden wild mouse was removed.

Darn!!! Was planning to check out J's finally this summer.

Any word on why the park folded? Was it lack of attendance, or did they pull a "Coney Island" (Ohio) and close because they tired of the constant flooding of the river?

Because of California's new stringent OSHA laws which cost money to adhere to and a 100% jump in their insurance premium.

I'm bummed..I was thinking about finally making a trip up there this summer.

I recall reading an article in an old issue of ACE News that covered the dismantling of Devil's Coach, and showed pix of the ACE'rs that volunteered to help out, numbering the pieces, etc.

The guy mentioned on RCDB that bought DC holds the annual NorCal ACE Xmas party at his huge house in El Cerrito, which is a theme park in itself (he calls it "It Must Be Magic"). He stated he tried to get the City to allow him to reconstruct the coaster in his back yard, but the city refused to rezone his property for it. So Devil's Coach is still sitting in his warehouse as far as I know of.

Last I heard, he was planning on opening up a small park somewhere in the Bay Area where he would reconstruct Devil's Coach, but that was many years ago, not sure what his plans are now. I say he should consider donating it to Bonfante Gardens, they could sure use a new attraction like this to help with their current situation. *** Edited 1/29/2004 12:19:08 AM UTC by jomo***

There is a bridge made of Devil's Coach track that is across the go-kart track, it's not a very long bridge though. The track could probably still be used.