Rising from the Ashes

Have you ever stopped to think how much your local theme park is a big part of your life?

For me, I grew up going to Kings Dominion. I used to look forward to summers because it meant field trips to KD with my local church and trips to the park with my family. I have years and years of priceless memories there.

As I grew older and could drive, I brought dates to Kings Dominion (including the future Mrs. Collins). I even took her there after our prom in 1993! It was a big part of our early relationship.

Now imagine if a damn hurricane blew through your town and took out EVERYTHING. Imagine it took out your home, your school, your church, your supermarket and yes, even your theme park.

Nothing would be close to normal for a long, long time.

That's why I was happy to read over on ScreamScape that Southern Star Amusements wants to take control of the former Six Flags New Orleans and open it again. They're aiming to open it in 2009 with new rides and a new waterpark.

Life has not been very kind to the residents of New Orleans since Katrina hit. And while I'm not here to say that a theme park should be at the top of the city's priorities, I do believe that people need a place to take a break and have fun while they are trying to rebuild.

Getting their theme park back would also make a huge statement that things are getting back to normal.

I hope Southern Star is successful. If they are, I'll be one of the first to head to New Orleans to buy a ticket at the new park. (Maybe we'll even produce a CR Podcast there too!)

Talk about it in the CR Forums.