O.D. Hopkins closes doors

Although the industry may still be growing, I think that almost every park has a flume, STC, or river raft ride now. I can see why this happend, lack of business and competition.

It is a sad day to see ANY amusement business close.  However I would to thank O.D. Hopkins for their involvement in the amusement industry.  I pray and hope that the future endeavors of the owners of O.D. Hopkins whatever they may be will be successful.

However this is not on O.D. Hopkins website.
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Yes, I want my Deja Vu and eat it too! *** This post was edited by beast7369 on 10/1/2001. ***

Guess I'd better get to Castles&Coasters sometime soon if I want to ride a Hopkins' coaster.  They were THE water ride manufacturer for awhile, and this is sad news...
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rollergator - intent on improving the "guest experience" - coming soon to a park near you

Wonderland (Amarillo, TX) has a Hopkins coaster too, but it has a PTC train.

Also, Ghost Town in the Sky has a Hopkins coaster.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Don't forget Adventureland in Iowa... is it the Dragon?

gatorwoodie,

C-n-C also has a Hopkins flume, which has some nice airtime on the last drop.

Rob,

Yep, it's called the Dragon; and it has those nasty horsecollars :{

This is crazy, with in a month 2 manufactures have shut down, Vekoma now Hopkins !

Any chance of Hopkins reopening ever?
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G.Bush:We will find those who did it, smoke them out of their holes, get them running, and bring them to justice.
I pray that I will never see a Six Flags Conneaut Lake

That's pretty interesting that something like that would happen.

Vekoma is back. In the new issue of Amusement Today a steel construction company in the Netherlands has taken over Vekoma, owning 80%. The company Huisman-Itrec has paid off the 15 million euro debt of Vekoma.
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TITAN_FAN_13...Vekoma did NOT close down!  they filed for bankruptcy PROTECTION...Vekoma will never shut down.  there are about 25 new coasters by them this year!

Anyways, this really does suck!  O.D. Hopkins created the modern Shoot-The-Chutes.  It is all thanks to them for Tidal Force (with the waorlds largest tidal wave, 50 feet), Snake River Falls, White Water Landing, and also MANY River Raft rides!

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Bomb Squad Technician

If you see me running, try and keep up!

From what I have heard from us trying to get in touch with representatives from O.D. Hopkins, they are being merged/bought/absorbed by Reverchon of France. 

Those we deal with now want nothing to do with Hopkins warranties, modifications or rides.  They simply seem to be interested in future projects.

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"Let's go out and have some fun!" (New Order)

Uhm, actually Coaster131, a lot of what you posted is false. Cedar Point's Snake River Falls and Dorney Park's White Water Landing are flume ride products of Arrow Dynamics manufacturing. Arrow Dynamics was the pioneer engineer behind the modern day shoot-the-chute flume, not O.D. Hopkins, which just followed Arrow in the movement in that ride category. And another thing, Knott's Perilous Plunge holds the official record for the largest amusement park ride splash in the world at 45 FT. HersheyPark does not give any official statistics on how large the splash on their Tidal Force is. If Knott's knew Tidal Force still had a gain in that record area, they would not claim to that specific world record.

heh, my home park is castles n coasters, i hope that they can still get parts for it, but then again if they dont they might get a new coaster!! yeah!!! desert storm is horrible ride, its sad, patriot (the other OD hopkins coaster there) got a better rating and its a kiddy coaster (its in the book "the rollercoaster lovers companion" by Steven J Urbanowicz)

I'm going to have to make a 2 hour track west to Adventureland to pay my respects to Hopkins by riding the Dragon
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"Ooo. They have the Internet on computers now."
-Homer Simpson

O. D. Hopkins did NOT create the modern Shoot The Chutes.  Arrow re-introduced it at the New Orleans Worlds Fair in 1980 and Intamin sold the first one in a park with their Spillwater at Kings Dominion in 1985.

The deal with Reverchon fell through.

I don`t know if anyone knows this but the new Wild Thonberys River adventure at Paramount`s KIngs Island was refurbished by O. D. Hopkins for the 2001 season.  It was originally designed and built by arrow for Coney Island (Cincy) and later moved to PKI in 1972.
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www.geocities.com/coastersrz I`ve ridden Son of Beast 57 times!

I love log rides...this is truly sad..
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Best woodie: The Beast
Best steel: MF
Best park: IOA! Get to the point... cedar point!

I hate to see it when a smaller company goes out because of compition with bigger companys. But what can we do about it. Out with the old and in with the new I guess.

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Check out my all new coaster site!!
http://wcp.77th.com