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Wild Escape
Wheeling, WV
New Park - (1/28/08) While things were sounding a bit better for Wild Escape during the last news update, it looks like that couldn’t be further from the truth as they are still no closer to getting their permits than before.
(1/17/08) Finally there is some good news for the Wild Escape project. According to the local news those permits they’ve been waiting for could arrive as early as February which would allow construction to finally begin.
(10/18/07) Things are sounding to sound very bleak for Wild Escape according to the details uncovered in the new Highlands Gazette news blog. It’s complicated and not really fair to Wild Escape, but it seems that the project is being held up due to complications and shortcuts taken by the earlier development of the Highlands project where things were just built without the proper permits and approval by the Army Corp of Engineers. If everything posted holds water, then there could be an endless series of lawsuits and in-fighting over the property that could take years.
(10/10/07) According to the latest news article, the Army Corp of Engineers says it’s still too soon to make a final decision that will allow for construction to begin on Wild Escape.
(9/14/07) If the permit delays from the Army Corp of Engineers weren’t enough to give the Wild Escape people a migraine, they are now entering the “public notice” period before giving approval where local residents and business owners have the chance to comment on it before final approval will be given.
(8/31/07) Wild Escape still hopes to break ground soon, but they’re still waiting for the final permits to be issued… something they started back in September of 200 and thought would only take 4 months has now taken 12 months. Read more here.
(7/30/07) In a weird bit of news, last week we had linked to a news report on Wild Escape (complete with video footage) showing that ground work was under way. This week a local news website reports that they have yet to even break ground… so it appears that the earlier report may have been misleading. Even more interesting is a few comments made by Steve Minard who claims that he is working on developing FIVE different Wild Escape parks right now. We knew about the first one pitched for Omaha, Nebraska but he says that there are three other sites they have yet to announce. There is also some very odd talk about how if the permit process doesn’t speed up he may be forced to send the rides he has already ordered to another location so he can start making revenue on them, and then he’ll have to order new rides for Wild Escape later. I’m just not sure where he thinks he is going to send them… it’s not like he just ordered a fleet of cars or something and it’s not like he has another park running to send them to either. As usual when dealing with news from a Wild Escape project, I end up scratching my head a bit over some of the odd things they do and say.
(7/26/07) It seems that ground clearing has begun for the Wild Escape project at last according to this local news report. It also mentions that $10 million has been spent so far, including the purchase of rides which have been placed into storage.
(7/12/07) According to this news article, progress on the Wild Escape theme park is being delayed while they sit and wait for permits from the Army Corp of Engineers needed to deal with leftover acid mining drainage ponds left over from when the site was mined. Right now they’re still looking at opening the first phases in 2008, but those dates are always in flux until all the permits are in and they are approved to start work.
(5/14/07) Plans to move forward on the planned Wild Escape theme park development have hit some snags in the form of permit issues and land ownership disputes. The local Ohio Country Development Authority is in the middle of a dispute to buy 20 acres of property where the current owner is holding out for more than they are willing to pay. Meanwhile the park is waiting on the Army Corps of Enginees to approve the current development plans before they can proceed with plans to fill in a retaining pond and the valley around it. So far they have confirmed that the first phase of the park will not be ready to open until at least 2008 and that they are looking at a ticket price of about $50 for the park which seems rather pricy for a “modest size” park of this scale. By comparison here are a few ticket prices to other parks in the region: Cedar Point is $41.95, Geauga Lake is $26.95, Kennywood is $31.
(12/14/06) Wild Escape has announced ShockTower, a new Mauher-Sohne X-Coaster that will have the world’s tallest inversion when it opens with Phase I sometime in 2007. No exact height was given for the inversion itself however. You can see artwork of the new coaster here.
(9/26/06) Things are moving forward again on the new Wild Escape park it seems as the final site layout for the park has been approved. In the news article they also mention a few rides that are apparently on order: a roller coaster from Germany, a steam powered train from the UK, and a launch coaster and tea cups from Italy. I’m going to guess that the launched coaster from Italy could be from Zamperla who have been showing off a new motorcycle themed coaster. You can see a video and photos of the prototype at Theme Park Review.
(8/12/06) The head of Wild Escape, Steve Minard, discussed the park project in greater detail the other day, describing it as the centerpiece of a greater “entertainment campus” complex that will include a hotel, spa and shopping. Hmmm... I never thought a hotel or shopping mall would be considered forms of entertainment myself. The entire name for the overall complex will be the “Crystal Mountain West Virginia Entertainment Campus”. What a mouthful. From here he describes the park itself as being the world’s first, “all-year, all-age, all-inclusive destination.” The park will have four sections.
Junior’s Back Yard will be for the younger children will look like some giant child left his giant sized toys lying around all over the place. A giant skateboard ride was mentioned along with radio controlled cars and a 3-story oven with 6 foot long pizzas.
Alpine Fantasy Park will be the “adult area” featuring entertainment & restaurants.
Classic Park will be is where the midway games will be along with a wooden roller coaster, Ferris wheel and other classic midway rides.
Last up is the indoor section of the park that will feature it’s share of smaller rides and a three level carousel. It is where the park will be connected to the hotel and shopping part of the “entertainment campus”.
Without more artwork or a list of many more major attractions to by, if this project sounds a little small in size then I’d have to agree. I guess maybe people will expect a little more “Wild” and not so much “Escape”. Of course when you find out that they are thinking of charging $50 to do everything then you’ll be even more unimpressed, though they are trying one thing I find very interesting. They claim that unlike any other theme park, food will be included with the price of admission. The project will open in phases instead of all at once and they claim that the first small phase (indoor section with shops and a restaurant) to open in late 2007. They wont lock down an exact timeline for future expansion phases just yet, but we’ve heard it could be 3-5 years before they are finished.
(8/1/06) A reader has told us a bit of new information about the park that they heard during a radio interview with a Steve Minard from Wild Escape. It was mentioned that the park would have 11 outdoor acres and 40 indoor. I’m not sure if this is what they consider Phase 1 or if this is really all that is planned for now. Judging from the artwork we’ve see so far, they are showing off a mostly outdoor park with a large building in the front for indoor attractions, so I guess most of the big stuff planned for the outdoor sections may be considered future expansions only. They also confirmed that another press conference about the park is planned for August 10th.
(7/31/06) Much as I did, it seems one of the local news stations did a little research into Wild Escape and their previous park attempt in Nebraska. You can read the explanation of why nothing has been built at the Nebraska site yet and why this time things will be different. We’ve also heard that the Wild Escape people are planning some kind of meeting on August 10th where they will show off more detailed plans of the park.
(7/28/06) The official Wild Escape website now redirects you to the new Crystal Mountain West Virgina page instead of to the former Port Nebraska page. As you can see, the concept artwork they are showing off is just a slightly modified version of the artwork they had for the Nebraska project. A few less flower looking buildings, the indoor attraction area is now blue instead of white and looks like they may have replaced a wild mouse looking ride in the background with some kind of water attraction.
(7/27/06) The local news is reporting that a new theme park project called Wild Escape is to be built at “The Highlands”, an area where they have seen a lot of retail store growth lately. The only detail given is that the park will be around 100 acres in size, along with a separate waterpark project nearby and new hotel projects. The odd thing is that they claim the park will cost around $200 million and that “phase 1” will be complete by next summer. I’ve got to say that they are dreaming big time if they think they can open a park in less than one year, but I’ve also got serious reservations about the park name. Wild Escape... that is a name we’ve heard before quite a few times over the last few years. It started out as Papa Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, then evolved into Wild Escape at a new site in Omaha, Nebraska... then after hearing noting about it for some time it came up again as part of the Port Nebraska project. And now... the name is used again for a proposed park in West Virgina? At this point I don’t know if it is the same people again or just a bad coincidence. If so, you may here another small peep or two about it and then poof, the next time you hear the name “Wild Escape” it could be in a different sate once again. Anyone know for sure if the same people are involved in this project?
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