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We are currently adding historical dates, images will be added at a later time.
Page last updated: 7/25/09
1840
- Riverside Park opens.
1888
- Geauga Lake Park opens.
1907
- Hershey Park opens as a leisure spot for company employees.
1930's
- Riverside Park closes during the Great Depression.
1932
- Ole Kirk Christiansen began making toys in his small workshop in Billund, Denmark.
1934
- Mr. Christiansen came up with a name for his toys and workshop: LEGO.
1937
- Busch Gardens (Pasadena, CA) closes.
1940
- Riverside Park is purchased and reopened.
1947
- LEGO bought it's first plastics injection molding machine.
1949
- The first LEGO brick is introduced under the name "Automatic Binding Bricks."
1950
- Herschend Family acquires long term lease on Marvel Cave near Branson, MO.
1958
- Inner Tubes on the bricks were introduced which increased the amount of possible building configurations.
1959
- Busch Family Entertainment founded to run Anheuser Busch's them park operations.
1959
- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay opens.
1960
- Silver Dollar City opens at Marvel Cave.
1961
- Great Southwest Corporation opens Six Flags Over Texas.
1965
- Penn Central Railroad acquires Great Southwest Corporation.
1967
- Six Flags Over Georgia opens.
- DUPLO bricks for pre school children introduced.
1968
- LEGOLAND Billund opens on a 9 acre site. All buildings, landscapes and vehicles were built using standard LEGO bricks.
- Marine World opens in Redwood City, CA.
- Astroworld opens.
1969
- Penn Central Railroad creates a new company; Six Flags Theme Parks to manage it's theme park operations.
- Geauga Lake Park acquired by Funtime, Inc.
- Coney Island (OH) acquired by Taft Broadcasting.
- Construction begins on Magic Mountain with an estimated cost of $20 million.
1970
- Taft Broadcasting acquires 1600 acres in Kings Mill, OH to build new park.
++1971
- Taft Broadcasting's new park named King's Island. Many rides were moved from Taft's Coney Island park.
- Six Flags Over Mid America opens.
- Hershey Park begins transition to a regional amusement park.
- Magic Mountain opens.
1972
- King's Island opens
- Busch Gardens (Houston, TX) closes.
1973
- Taft Broadcasting and Top Value Enterprises team up to construct King's Dominion in Doswell, VA. This park is one third smaller than King's Island.
1974
- King's Dominion opens Lion Country Safari as a preview to the new park.
1975
- King's Dominion opens.
- Taft Broadcasting acquires Carowinds near Charlotte, NC.
- Six Flags buys Astroworld and changes the name to Six Flags Astroworld.
1976
- The Herschend Family acquires Gold Rush Junction Park in Pigeon Forge, TN. Rebrands park as Silver Dollar City, TN.
- Mariotts Great America opens.
1977
- Six Flags acquires Great Adventure in New Jersey.
- LEGO TECHNIC for older children debuts.
1978
- Cedar Point and Valleyfair form partnership named Cedar Fair.
1979
- A gasoline shortage affects the entire tourism industry. Peter Herschend of Silver Dollar City Corp. organizes local business owners to get together and purchase gas, then resell it below cost. This is advertised to potential visitors of Branson, CO. Other vacation destinations saw up to a 25% drop in business, but Silver Dollar City's attendance dropped only 2%.
- Taft Broadcasting begins construction of Canada's Wonderland in Toronto.
- Busch Gardens (Van Nuys, CA) closes.
- Six Flags buys Magic Mountain and renames it Six Flags Magic Mountain.
1980
- Family Leisure Centers (Top Value Enterprises) is dissolved. Taft Broadcasting gains 100% ownership of King's Dominion.
- LEGO DACTA now know as The Educational Division is set up.
1981
- Canada's Wonderland opens.
1982
- Wild World opens
- Penn Railroad Corporation sells Six Flags to Bally Manufacturing for $140 million.
- Adventure Kingdom opens in Mexico
1983
- Boardwalk Shore opens adjacent to Geauga Lake Park.
- Waterworld opens adjacent to Astroworld.
1984
- Taft Broadcasting opens Hanna-Barbera Land near Houston, Texas.
- Executives and park managers of Taft Broadcasting buy Taft Broadcasting's theme park division and form Kings Entertainment Company (KECO).
- Six Flags acquires Mariott's Great America.
- Six Flags acquires Atlantis, The Water Kingdom in Florida; rebrands as Six Flags Atlantis.
- Six Flags AutoWorld opens in Flint Michigan.
- Six Flags signs licensing deal with Time Warner to use Looney Tunes theme and characters in it's parks.
1985
- Six Flags Power Plant opens in Maryland.
- Mariott's Great America renamed Six Flags Great America.
- KECO brought in to manage Great America in Santa Clara, CA.
- Australia Wonderland opens.
- Six Flags AutoWorld closes.
- Marine World closes it's Redwood City, CA location.
1986
- Marine World reopens at it's new location in Vallejo, CA.
- Dolly Parton invests in Silver Dollar City, TN. Park is renamed Dollywood.
1987
- Kentucky Kingdom opens
- Kentucky Kingdom files for bankruptcy within a year of opening.
- Wesray Capital along with park managers buys Six Flags from Bally Manufacturing for $610 million. Wesray Capital owns 80%, Managers own 20%.
1988
- Kentucky Kingdom remains closed for the 1988 and 1989 seasons.
- The Dollywood Company opens it's first Dixie stampede dinner attraction in Pigeon Forge, TN.
- Silver Dollar City and several other local attractions stay open later into the year for the first Ozark Mountain Christmas.
1989
- KECO purchases Great America with a 50 year lease on the land the park sits on.
- Parnership formed to reopen Kentucky Kingdom.
- Busch Family Entertainment acquires theme park unit of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Properties include all SeaWorld Parks, Boardwalk & Baseball and Cypress Gardens, both in central Florida.
- Six Flags sells Six Flags Atlantis in Hollywood, Fl. The park is immediately renamed Atlantis, The Water World. The park is destroyed by hurricane Andrew in 1992.
- Six Flags Power Plant closed in Baltimore, MD.
- Boardwalk & Baseball closed.
- Cypress Gardens sold to the parks management team.
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