Codonas Amusement Park

Codona's Amusement Park

File:Codonas Amusement Park.png Most recent logo
Location	Aberdeen, Scotland
Coordinates	57°9′4″N 2°4′39″W
Opened	1969
Owner	Andrea, John & Alfred Codona
General manager	John Codona
Slogan	"It's Scotland's Favourite!"
Attractions
Total	11
Roller coasters	2
Website	http://www.codonas.com/

Codona's Amusement Park is an amusement park based in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was established by the Codona Family in 1969 and is currently managed by the third generation of the family. It is situated adjacent to the Aberdeen Beach and Queens Links on the coast of the North Sea.

History

The first known records of the Codona family begin with Francesco Cardoni when he moved to the United Kingdom in the 1800s. Very little is known of him other than he was likely to have arrived from Italy and that he was of Italian gypsy descent. Cardoni's descendants inherited his circus genes working in circuses throughout Europe, but the majority remained in Scotland.

Throughout the 19th century the circus family toured Scotland entertaining towns and cities with various acts. In the latter half of the 1800s, some of the Codona family emigrated to the US leading to the formation of the world-famous trapeze act "The Flying Codonas". The act went on to become International Stars and featured in various films, including Varieté (1925).

Once the industrial revolution hit in the 1860s, the Scotland-based Codonas were able to purchase steam powered fairground rides which they toured the country with. Gradually expanding their business and receiving criticism by religious groups for their "cheap theatre" and "Low travelling caravans". The first recorded visit by the Codona family to Aberdeen was in 1877 by John Codona to see his son marry.

Another member of the Codona family, from the emigrated side made headline news when Alfredo Codona, a trapeze artist from the family, killed himself and his ex-wife Vera Bruce after the tragic death of his second wife in 1937. This did not seem to impact upon the rest of the family whom continued with their work in Scotland, and his brother Lalo who took his place with the flyers abroad until he was forced to retire from damaged muscles in his legs.

Alfred and Gordon took over their father John Codona's Pleasure Fairs business which they ran until 1960. Alfred took over the beachfront amusement park which became the Codona's Amusement Park of today. By the 1970s the number of visitors began to decline, but has remained viable because of the combination of relatively low unemployment in the area, the beach itself, locals of Aberdeen, and contribution from UK holidaymakers

List of current rides and attractions

Amusement park

Roller coasters

Name	Manufacturer	Opened	Description
Apple Coaster	Pinfari	2003	A small, sit-down coaster designed for children, it has 1 train with 6 cars which makes it a 24 riders per train. It was opened in 2003 and lasts for 2:50 minutes. This ride is a Pinfari. It has the standard Big Apple figure-eight layout which is used on over 200 roller coasters around the world.
Lopping Star	Pinfari	2000	A Large, sit-down coaster designed for thrill seekers, it has 3 train with 3 cars which makes it a 12 riders per train. It was opened in 2000 and lasts for 2:50 minutes. The Looping Star Rollercoaster includes two giant drops,corkscrew bends and of course our 360º loop.Its a must for all white knuckle enthusiasts out there.

Other rides

Codona's Ferris wheel, Aberdeen

• Vertigo Aerial Assault Course
• The Grampian Eye (Ferris wheel)
• White Water Log Flume (Standard Reverchon model)
• The Galleon (Swinging Ship)
• Dead Man's Drop Tower
• Disco Waltzers
• Giant Slide
• Circuit 2000
• Jolly Rogers Mini Bikes
• Super Trucks
• Animal Barn Pet Centre
• Spinning Cups and Saucers
• Carousel
• Skydeck Super Dodgems

Past rides

The Galaxy Coaster was a sit-down coaster that closed in 1999 and was relocated to Loudoun Castle in 2002.

The Wild Mouse was the park's only coaster in 1977.

The Shockwave was a spinning swing ride that was in the park until 2009 when it was replaced by the galleon swinging pirate ship ride.

The Crazy Train was a Pinfari steel sit-down coaster that is designed to look like a mine-cart. The ride opened for the 2003 season and was sponsored by restaurant chain Wimpy, the ride was removed from the park during 2015 and was temporarily replaced with a bouncy castle. In March 2016 the bouncy castle was removed and the Dead Man's Drop Tower was opened on its spot. The rest of the area formally occupied by The Crazy Train remains empty as of now.

Jolly Rogers Mini Bikes was a children's ride where a child would ride an electric mini bike around a track. This ride was removed in early 2015. To make way for an indoor bouncy castle in the parks Smugglers Cove soft play area.

Looping Star was a steel roller coaster located at Codonas Amusement Park in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was built by Pinfari and was the only ride at the park with an inversion. It was built on top of the mini-golf and restaurant and it cost 5 tokens (£2.50) to ride. It replaced the Galaxi roller coaster, which was moved to Loudoun Castle amusement park (now defunct). The ride had three trains, however only two were used (the other was sitting on the transfer track). It used the newer Pinfari trains, which could be seen on rides built from around 1999.

Adventure Golf

Pirate Island Adventure Golf

Opening in March 2007 this outdoor attraction accommodates 18-holes. Throughout this exhibition the theme of pirates is extremely evident with the highly technical special effects that are in use. As well as this the 25 ft volcano and pirate ship are in keeping with the genre. The exhibition is known as one of Aberdeen’s must do attractions.

The Congo Indoor Adventure Golf

Opening in the March of 2008, this attraction which is located indoors was the first of its kind within the North East of Scotland.

Sunset Boulevard

Smugglers Cove adventure play and role play street

The adventure play, which was the first in Aberdeen, consists of two sections, one for children under the age of three and one for older children. as well as providing a three storey play structure, featuring a spiral slide from the top to the bottom, and also the 'free fall' a near vertical drop slide. on top of this, there is a role play street, where children can dress up and pretend to work as members of staff in various industries including a supermarket and pizzeria.

XD Theatre (Dino Safri)

The simulator, which originated from Canada, sits eight people on the ride at once and takes the riders on an exciting expedition. The theatre used run The Haunted Mine, Cosmic Coaster and Underwater Adventure. Since early 2015 the only run the theatre only runs one show Dino Safri. The outsides of it has also been decorated to this Dino theme.

Caesars Games Emporium

The games emporium is split into four different areas, three of which are for people ages eighteen and over. Within the three areas they are many different fruit machines, some of which give the user to collect winnings of anything up to and including £500. The other area consists of fruit machines that don’t offer as much money as winnings and ones for the whole family to use.

Smugglers Cove

Smugglers Cove opened in 2013 and replaced Ramboland. It consists of an adventure play area similar to Ramboland but has the addition of a restaurant bringing the amount of restaurants to 4. When the Wimpy restaurant closed Smugglers Cove was expanded and a Kids disco room and fire station were added as well as a new, larger under 3s area featuring a bouncy castle.

Restaurants

Sunset Boulevard has 4 restaurants the first is The Carsoal Cafe it can be found in the them park and severs fast food the opend March 2015 to replace fast food restaurant wimpy which shut down. The second restaurant is the Congo Bar & Diner which is located above Congo Adventure Golf and sells various types of food and Drink. The third restaurant is Sunset Diner & Bar which is located next to the bowling and sells similar types of Food to the Congo Bar & Diner. The fourth restaurant opend early 2013 in the sumglers cove soft play area. In early 2015 the restaurant got an extension occupying the area Wimpy was situated at. Edit By Lewis Beattie

Other attractions

• 10-Pin Bowling
• American Pool
• Video Games Deck
• Cuba Pool Suites
• Play'N'Win

Other facilities

One of the amenities located on site is a small conference room, which has the ability cater for up to and including twenty people. In addition to this, all of the services the park has to offer are available for exclusive hire day or night for over two thousand people.

Mascot

In 2006, the park introduced Dodgem the Dog as the mascot for the park. It was the winning creation of a Primary School competition - by Amy Cardno, Scotland - to design a mascot for the park. Dodgem the Dog is seen walking around the park as well as on rides. Later on they added a new mascot Candyfloss the dog.

External links

• Official Site
• About Aberdeen - Codonas
• Codonas Amusement Park at the Roller Coaster DataBase