Hopkins Rides Explained

Hopkins Rides
Predecessor:	O.D. Hopkins Associates, Inc.
Successor:	Hopkins Rides, Inc.
Foundation:	1962
Founder:	O.D. Hopkins
Location City:	Palm City, Florida
Location Country:	United States
Area Served:	Worldwide
Industry:	Manufacturing
Products:	Amusement rides, roller coasters

Hopkins Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in Palm City, Florida.^[1] The company has produced amusement rides for over 45 years and currently focuses on water rides.

History

In 1962 O.D. Hopkins incorporated Hopkins Engineering and started installing ski lifts for J.A. Roebling & Sons of Trenton, New Jersey. In 1965 Hopkins purchased the ski lift division and all the related assets from Roebling & Sons. Soon afterwards a competitor, Universal Design Ltd., discontinued manufacturing Sky Rides, and their customers turned to Hopkins Engineering for parts. Hopkins' first customer in the amusement business was Charles Wood of Storytown USA.

In 1971, the name of the company was changed to O.D. Hopkins Associates Inc. In 1979, Hopkins was approached by Paul Roads, owner of Wonderland Park (Texas), to build a reasonably-priced log flume for his park. The success of that project started Hopkins in the water ride manufacturing business.

In November, 2001, O.D. Hopkins and Associates Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection. The aerial ropeway/sky ride division was spun off to Skyfair, Inc. on January 1, 1986. The company reorganized and emerged as Hopkins Rides, LLC in May 2002, and was for a brief time in partnership with Reverchon Industries of France.^[2]

In August 2012 water slide manufacturer WhiteWater West acquired assets and intellectual property from Hopkins Rides, LLC. Although WhiteWater Attractions has adopted the Hopkins Rides technology, it is not a parent company to Hopkins Rides, LLC and the companies operate independently. WhiteWater sells its products under the Water Rides brand.^{[3] [4]}

Manufacturing

The company originally manufactured Sky Rides, but in the 1980s, with the increase in popularity of their water-based attractions, those rides became the company's primary product. In addition to the water-based attractions, Hopkins built seven roller coasters from 1985 to 1996. They also occasionally made other amusement ride types such as a SkyGlider, tube slides, and a water jet ride known as an Aqua Drag. Santa's Village still operates its SkyGlider, and Wonderland Park still operates its Aqua Drag and SkyGlider in addition to its other Hopkins rides.

Hopkins also re-fabricated portions of track on two Arrow Dynamics-built coasters: Dahlonega Mine Train at Six Flags Over Georgia received 1,400 feet of new track and supports in 1986 and Canobie Corkscrew at Canobie Lake Park received new track and supports in 1990.

The company currently focuses only on water ride attractions:

• Shoot the Chute rides
• Flumes and larger capacity Super Flumes
• River Raft ride
• Water Transportation Systems

List of roller coasters

As of 2019, Hopkins Rides has built 7 roller coasters around the world.^[5]

Name	Model	Park	Country	Opened	Status	Ref
	Looping Coaster		United States	1985		^[6]
	Junior Coaster		United States	1987		^[7]
Cliff Hanger Formerly Red Devil	Looping Coaster		United States	1988		^[8]
	Looping Coaster		United States	1990		^[9]
	Looping Coaster		United States	1992		^[10]
	Junior Coaster		United States	1992		^[11]
	Wild Mouse		Japan	1996		^[12]

List of other attractions

Flumes

Unless otherwise specified, all flumes feature at least one lift and a drop into a splash pool.

Opened	Name	Park	Notes	Status
1980	Big Splash Log Flume		Elevated section	Operating	^[13]
1981	Log Flume			Defunct
1981	Log Flume		2 drops	Operating
1981	Sawmill River	Crystal Beach	2 drops, elevated section	Defunct
1982	Big Splash log flume		Elevated section	Defunct
1982	Policy Pond		2 drops	Operating
1983	Yule Log Flume			Operating
1983	Mystery River Log Flume			Operating
1984	Log Flume			Operating
1984	Log Flume	Myrtle Beach Pavilion	2 drops, elevated section	Defunct
1984	Frightful Falls			Operating
1984	Thunder Falls Log Flume			Operating
1985	Rocky Mountain Rapids		Elevated section	Operating
1985			2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1985	Log Jam			Defunct^[14]
1989			5 drops, elevated sections	Defunct
1989	Log Flume	Great Basin Adventure at Rancho San Rafael		Closed^[15]
1989	Log Ride		2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1990	Flume		2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1991			2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1992-08-11	August 11, 1992			2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1992	Canyon Falls Log Flume		Elevated section	Operating
1992	Log Jammer		Elevated section	Moved^[16]
1993	Splash	Bosque Magico		Operating
1993	Bamboo Chutes		Elevated section	Operating
1993	Log Flume		2 drops	Operating
1994	Timber Wolf Howling Log Ride	Timber Falls	2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1995	Jungle Log Jam		2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1995	Menhir Express		2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1995	Thunder River		2 drops, elevated section	Operating
1995	Log Flume	Wonderland Family Fun Park (Dubai)		Operating
1996		Bali Festival Park	2 drops	Closed^[17]
1998	Flume Ride	Qingdao International Beer City	2 drops	Defunct
1998	Monkey Falls	Ratanga Junction	3 drops, elevated section	Defunct
1999	Twin Mercury		3 drops, elevated section	Defunct
1999	Log Flume		2 drops	Operating
2000	Ozarka Splash		2 drops, elevated section	Closed^[18]
2000	Old No. 2 Logging Company		2 drops	Operating
2001	Legend of the Labyrinth	Lagunasia Park	2 drops	Operating
2001	Flume		2 drops, elevated section	Operating
2001	Race for Your Life Charlie Brown		Rebuild of 1968 Arrow flume	Operating

Shoot the Chute rides

Opening Date	Name	Park	Height	Status
1986	1986	Splashwater Falls		50'	Defunct	^[19]
1986	1986	Splashwater Falls		50'	Defunct
1987	1987	Aquaman		50'	Defunct
1987	1987	Splashwater Falls		50'	Defunct
1988-03	March 1988	Whitewater Falls		50'	Defunct
1989	1989	Timberwolf Falls		50'	Operating
1991-05	May 1991	Tidal Wave		50'	Defunct
1992	1992	Water Rollercoaster – Splash		50'	Operating
1992	1992	The Wave		50'	Operating
1992	1992	Tidal Wave		50'	Operating
1993	1993	Shipwreck Falls		50'	Operating
1993	1993	Pittsburg Plunge		50'	Operating
1993	1993	Splash	Mitsui Greenland	50'	Operating
1993	1993	Splash		50'	Operating
1994	1994	Tidal Force		100'	Operating
1994	1994	Mile High Falls		82.5'	Operating
1994	1994	Super Splash		50'	Operating
1994	1994	Adventure Falls		50'	Operating
1994	1994	Splash Boat		100'	Operating
1994	1994	Shoot the Chute		100'	Operating
1997	1997	Shipwreck Falls		50'	Operating	^[20]
1997	1997	Skloosh!		50'	Operating
1998	1998	Boston Tea Party		50'	Operating
1999-05-29	May 29, 1999	Flash Flood		50'	Operating
2000-04-07	April 7, 2000			85.8'	Operating
2000	Tsunami		50'	Operating
2000	2000	Shoot the Chute^[21]		50'	Operating
2000	2000	Shipwreck Falls		50'	Relocated to Celebration City
2001	2001	Airship Surfing	Guilin Merryland Theme Park	50'	Operating
2001	2001	Playland Plunge^[22]		50'	Operating
2005	2005	Spillway Splashout		50'	Closed
2007	2007	Niagara(2017 Eldorado falls)		100'	Operating
2008	2008	Roaring Falls		50'	Closed
2012-05-24	May 24, 2012			25'	Operating	^[23]
	Submarine Splash	Gyeongju World/Kyongju World		Operating

River Raft rides

Opened	Name	Park	Notes	Status
1988	Rattlesnake River Raft Ride		6-passenger rafts	Operating	^[24]
1989	Dr. Geyser's Remarkable Raft Ride		6-passenger rafts	Operating
1990	Grand Canyon		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1990	Raging Rapids		8-passenger rafts	Closed	^[25]
1990	Renegade Rapids		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1993	Arung Jeram		6-passenger rafts	Operating
1993	Hydro Surge		6-passenger rafts	Defunct
1994	Renegade Rapids		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1995	Disaster Canyon		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1995	Río Rápido	Bosque Magico	8-passenger rafts	Operating
1996	Rio Grande Rapids		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1996	Thunder River		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1997	Airship Surfing	Guilin Merryland Resort	8-passenger rafts	Operating
1998	River Rafting Ride	Wonderland (Dubai)	8-passenger rafts	Operating
1998	Rapids Raft Ride		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1998			8-passenger rafts	Operating
1999	Blizzard River		8-passenger rafts	Operating
1998	Wild River Canyon		8-passenger rafts	Operating
		Haikou Tropical Ocean World	8-passenger rafts	Operating
	Grand Canyon Adventure	Gyeongju World/Kyongju World	8-passenger rafts	Operating

Super Flumes

Opened	Name	Park	Notes	Status
1998	Log Flume	Hamanako Pal Pal, Japan		Operating	^[26]
1998-04	April 1998				Operating	^[27]
1998				Operating
1998-12-26	December 26, 1998				Operating
1999	Wild-Crazy Flume	Lihpao Land, Taiwan		Operating
2016	Thunder Falls	Everland, South Korea		Operating	^[28]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Contact Hopkins Rides. Hopkins Rides. June 20, 2013.
2. Web site: O. D. Hopkins Building on the Block . February 9, 2012.
3. Web site: WhiteWater Acquires Hopkins Rides. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121116171757/http://www.whitewaterwest.com/cgi/page.cgi/Industry_News/WhiteWater_Acquires_Hopkins_Rides?_id=45. 2012-11-16. WhiteWater West. August 24, 2012. August 23, 2012.
4. WhiteWater acquires Hopkins. Park World Magazine. September 2012. 6.
5. https://rcdb.com/6881.htm Hopkins Rides - rcdb.com
6. Texas Tornado. Wonderland Amusement Park. 254. July 4, 2011.
7. Polar Coaster. Story Land. 391. July 4, 2011.
8. Cliff Hanger. Ghost Town Village. 234. July 4, 2011.
9. Dragon. Adventureland. 213. July 4, 2011.
10. Desert Storm. Castles N' Coasters. 350. July 4, 2011.
11. Patriot. Castles N' Coasters. 351. July 4, 2011.
12. New Wild Mouse Coaster. Misaki Park. 2407. July 4, 2011.
13. Hopkins Rides, customer ride list-flumes
14. Park closed in 2006, site is currently abandoned.
15. Park is open to the public but the rides do not operate due to lack of funds.
16. Flume was purchased by Little Amerricka, currently in storage.
17. Park closed in 2000, site is currently abandoned.
18. Park closed in 2005, site is currently abandoned.
19. O.D. Hopkins 1994 Ride Catalog
20. Hopkins Rides, customer ride list-Shoot the Chute
21. Smaller ride with 12-passenger boats and narrower boat channel
22. Smaller ride with 12-passenger boats and narrower boat channel
23. News: MacDonald. Brady. Review: Pirate Reef ride guaranteed to get you wet at Legoland. September 23, 2012. Los Angeles Times. May 27, 2012.
24. Hopkins Rides, customer ride list-River Raft Rides
25. holidayworld . 1669001274283401218 . Tweet from Holiday World announcing closure.
26. Hopkins Rides, customer ride list – Super Flumes
27. Web site: Interesting Facts About Dollywood’s Daredevil Falls . https://web.archive.org/web/20100526200933/http://www.dollywood.com/upload/pdfs/factsddfalls.pdf . dead . May 26, 2010 . Dollywood . November 21, 2011 .
28. Web site: Thunder Falls Now Open at Everland Resort. PGAV Destinations. February 24, 2016.