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GALVESTON ISLAND
HISTORIC PLEASURE PIER
Galveston, Texas
 2012 - New Park - Under Construction -
(4/10/12) A new picture of the Iron Shark at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier can be found on Facebook.
(2/13/12) The LA Times has posted a nice update on the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier project, including a look at the make and models for each of their new rides.
(2/9/12) Gerstlauer has released a few new details about the Iron Shark coaster going into the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. Based on the design of the new lap-bar only restraint system introduced last year on Dare Devil Dive Coaster (Six Flags over Georgia), the new cars for Iron Shark will feature the same restraint system, but in 8 passenger cars seating two rows of 4. (More like the traditional EuroFighter car layout).
Iron Shark will stand 100 feet tall and feature four inversions, all in a very compact footprint. “Instead of using traditional concrete foundations a majority of the ride will rest upon a steel base frame designed and delivered by Gerstlauer. This frame was created to handle hurricane-force winds, but required no penetration into the pier deck, which saved Landry’s considerable construction costs.”
(2/8/12) Gerstlauer has sent over a couple of nice sh
ots showing off the track for the new EuroFighter going onto the Galveston Historic Pleasure Pier being fabricated.
(1/31/12) More details from the unveiling of the Galveston Pleasure Pier project can be found here. The list of rides includes everything mentioned previously plus a double-decker carousel and from the aerial footage you can see a swing ship as well as a Ride of Fire style ride. There will also be the Gulf Glider (wave swinger), Big Wheelin (kiddie car ride), Texas Tea (tea cups), bumper cars, a Fireball style ride, Pirate’s Plunge (log flume). From the look of the coaster animation clip I’ve seen, it will be a Eurofighter design with a beyond vertical first drop. There are some good on-site pictures of the rides already set up on the pier on the official Facebook page.
(1/30/12) Construction on the Galveston Historic Pleasure Pier is well under way and you can catch a nice news video report on the park at the local ABC News. You can catch a few more bits of information and photos in this news report with the developer who hopes to have it ready to open by late May.
They mention a few details about some of the rides as well including the Iron Shark (steel coaster) (which I believe will be from Gerstlauer) that will stand 100 feet tall and feature four inversions and a finale section of track over the water. Then there is the Texas Star Flyer which will swing riders out over the gulf at 230 feet in the air. There will also be a 100 foot tall ferris wheel called the Galaxy Wheel. On the official Facebook page they have also mentioned another ride called Sky Shooter, which will be an SBF Visa Airborn Shot ride like this one. There will be an admission fee to get into the amusement park section, but anyone can come down to eat at the Bubba Gump restaurant. Look for more details from a impending press announcement this week.
(1/16/12) An interesting picture taken at the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier site has been posted to Facebook showing off a huge pile of blue supports for an unknown attraction. If I had to guess, I’d say they do look a bit like the kind of supports used for a tower attraction, like for a Star Flyer perhaps.
(11/23/11) If you look at the official Facebook page for the new Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier you will find construction pictures of the work taking place, as well as a nice shot of coaster track sitting in a building. From the look of the track, I’d say it looks quite a bit like Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter style track to me. Compare it to this twisted piece of Gerstlauer track on Takabisha installed earlier this year.
(11/15/11) Another source has also confirmed hearing that a log flume is going into the Galveston Pleasure Pier. According to what I’ve been told the first rides may actually start to be installed starting in December, and they will start to install the rides in order starting at the back of the pier and moving towards the front. This means we will likely see a Ferris Wheel, a “swing ride” and the log ride installed in the first wave.
(11/11/11) A press release from Interlink mentions that the company has been hired to install a new two-lift log flume ride “at a pier in the southern United States at the end of 2011” which will see it open “in the spring of 2012”. The log flume will be 280 meters long and feature a 6m and 12m drop and use a total of seven five-seat logs. As for the location… while the press release did not list it, I can only think of one amusement pier likely to add such a staple attraction… the new Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier.
(10/27/11) The official website for the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier is now live at Pleasure-Pier.com. Unfortunately they don’t have any details on just what rides will be built for the pier when it opens in Summer 2012, it only says “16 Rides!” for now.
(10/18/11) A job posting found at the IAAPA website posted by Landry’s last week mentions that they are seeking a Maintenance Director for the Galveston Pleasure Pier and even goes so far as to mention the opening timeline:
“Landry's Restaurants is excited to announce the May 2012 opening of the new Galveston Pleasure Pier! Located on the Galveston seawall at the site of the former Flagship Hotel, the Galveston Pleasure Pier will offer great dining, thrilling theme park rides, exciting amusement games and attractions, retail shops, and tons of fun for the whole family!”
Landry’s also applied for the trademark for the name, “Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier” back in July.
(4/23/11) Some early concept artwork renderings of the new Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier project can be found here. In the overhead shot you can see many of the proposed rides, such as the EuroFighter, a flume ride, Yo-Yo, Chance Uni-Coaster, drop tower, a large ferris wheel out at the end and even a Sally Corp “Den of Lost Thieves” dark ride.
(3/8/11) According to Screamscape sources, Landry’s plans for their new amusement park pier on the site of the former Flagship hotel in Galveston will include a Gerstlauer EuroFighter style coaster. Previous rumors pointed to an S&S El Loco style ride, but it looks like the EuroFighter proposal won out. More on this as I find out.
(2/25/11) According to this article, Landry’s now has a company working to tear down the Flagship Hotel, one floor at a time, and expect to have their new redevelopment plans for an amusement attraction pier on the site up and running by Summer 2012. The old hotel itself should be nothing more than a memory by May 1st if all goes well.
(10/8/10) Looks like the local planning commission gave their full approval of Landry’s plans to create “Pleasure Pier” in Galveston. As part of the application, they are asking to build a 225 ft tall ride on the site. While this could make an awesome coaster, I don’t see a coaster that size happening on the pier (rumor was for an S&S El Loco) so I’m guessing it’s for a drop tower ride instead. Maybe they bought Disney’s old Maliboomer towers. The full proposal for Pleasure Pier will go before the city council on October 28th.
(10/7/10) The local news reports that Landry’s has submitted new plans to simply demolish the hurricane battered Flagship Hotel. If the new plan is approved by the city, Landry’s new plan will be to remove the old hotel and instead build an amusement park out on the pier instead. The new park will feature a double-decker carousel, ferris wheel and will cost about $30 million and take 18 months to build. If all goes as planned, demolition on the property could begin by the end of the year.
(9/25/10) A reader uncovered a couple of older articles that seem to confirm Landry’s plans for a new amusement pier in Galveston as part of their plan to restore the hurricane damaged Flagship Hotel. In June some demolition work to remove damaged sections of the property began and the rides to be added were mentioned once again.
(9/23/10) I’m not sure how solid this news is, but I’ve been told that Landry’s is currently planning a new amusement pier attraction for the Galveston area that could open as early as 2012. Of the attractions already planned for this amusement park, the list includes a Chance Revolution, Chance Unicoaster, an S&S Drop Tower and an S&S El Loco coaster that may take the new record for steepest drop at 113º. On top of this an assortment of water and kiddie ride attractions are also planned. Anyone know more about this rumored new attraction?
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