Hopkins Rides is an

amusement ride Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This could be due to ...

manufacturer based in

Palm City, Florida Palm City is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 25,883 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Palm City i ...

. 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 lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a Lift ticket, paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, ...

s for J.A. Roebling & Sons of

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

. 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 A log flume or lumber flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Loggi ...

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. In August 2012 water slide manufacturer

WhiteWater West WhiteWater is a manufacturing company based in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1980 and manufactures a variety of products for water parks including water slides and water play areas. The company also owns FlowRider, wh ...

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.

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 A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usually designed to produce a thrilling experience, though some r ...

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 Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (19 ...

-built coasters: Dahlonega Mine Train at

Six Flags Over Georgia Six Flags Over Georgia is a amusement park in Austell, Georgia, United States. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain following the original Six Flags Over Texas, which opened in 1961. Six Flags Over Georgia is one of t ...

received 1,400 feet of new track and supports in 1986 and Canobie Corkscrew at

Canobie Lake Park Canobie Lake Park is an amusement park in Salem, New Hampshire, located about north of Boston. It was founded as a trolley park on the shore of Canobie Lake in 1902. Three local families currently run the park, which draws visitors from thro ...

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 coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

s around the world.Hopkins Rides - rcdb.com
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List of other attractions

Flumes

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

Shoot the Chute rides

River Raft rides

Super Flumes

Notes

References

External links

* {{Amusement rides Amusement ride manufacturers Roller coaster manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Florida Entertainment companies established in 1962 Manufacturing companies established in 1962