Codonas Amusement Park

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.^[1]

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).^[2]

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.^[1]

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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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^[1]

List of current rides and attractions

Amusement park

Roller coasters

Other rides^[5]

Codona's Ferris wheel, Aberdeen

• Vertigo Aerial Assault Course
• The Grampian Eye (Ferris wheel, opened in 2005)
• White Water Log Flume (Standard Reverchon model)
• The Galleon (Swinging Ship)
• Dead Man's Drop Tower (manufactured by SBF)
• Waltzers
• Giant Slide
• Circuit 2000
• Super Trucks
• Animal Barn Pet Centre
• Spinning Cups and Saucers
• Carousel
• Skydeck Super Dodgems

Notable Past Rides

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.^[6]

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. ^[7]

Sunset Boulevard

Smugglers Cove adventure play and role play street

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.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.^[8]

Restaurants

Sunset Boulevard has 4 restaurants. 'The Carsoal Cafe' can be found in the theme park and serves fast food. It opened in March 2015 to replace fast food restaurant Wimpy, which had shut down. The second restaurant is the 'Congo Bar & Diner', located above 'Congo Adventure Golf' and sells various types of food and drink. The third restaurant is 'Sunset Diner & Bar', located next to the bowling alley and sells similar types of food to the 'Congo Bar & Diner'. The fourth restaurant opened early 2013 in the 'Smuggler's Cove' soft play area. In early 2015 the restaurant got an extension occupying the area Wimpy was situated at.

Other attractions

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

^[5]

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.^[9]

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.^[10] Later on they added a new mascot Candyfloss the dog.

References

External links

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