New WNY Company Plans To Reopen Fantasy Island By 2021 And Get New Rides
Over the past few weeks, there's been promising news that Fantasy Island would return, even as early as next summer.
The park was closed by former owners Apex in February of 2020.
But the park is not dead yet.
Empire Adventures is a Western New York company that was founded this year, with the intention of saving the Grand Island landmark and attraction.
The plan for Empire Adventures is to lease the site from property owners STORE Capital. It would be a 15-year lease, according to WNY Papers.com.
Leading the Empire company are Bill Baldwin (Chief Executive Officer), Jay Wilcox (Chief Operating Officer) and George Marenna Jr. (Lease Operations Manager).
According to their website, the plan is to finalize getting ownership of the park's property, so they can clean the park (which has suffered a great deal of vandalism in the last few months) and getting the grounds ready for the rest of 2020.
Empire Adventures' plan is to open in time for the summer of 2021.
Marenna has been in the amusement park business for 40 years in Connecticut and was so impressed with Baldwin and Wilcox's plans and determination, he became part of the team as a rides consultant.
Marenna offered them 14 new rides, including a vintage carousel. According to their Facebook page comment on this post, they plan on bringing in a new ferris wheel, too!
The goal is to introduce new rides on an annual basis after 2021 and bring the park back to its former glory, when Martin DiPierto owned the amusement park.
You can also help out a GoFundMe started. Visit their website here and their Facebook page here.
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