More about the abandoned park.

Well, I am happy to see there are others who are interested in this abandoned park other than me. Apparently, there are several TV & newspapers who are going to be doing several stories about the park in the next few weeks, so stay tuned to KVIA 7, KDBC 4 and El Paso Times for several stories, and if you can't see them, I will provide as many links, or scan articles as they become available.

I have researched the park for something close to 10 years, most information given to me in the last 8 months. From what I have been able to gather is this.

Magic Landing opened on July 4th 1984, with most of its rides not yet built. There are several reports of the park not having the required insurance policies on all of its rides at the time it opened, but managed to open without these policies to make the scheduled open. For the first few months, the park was moderately successful, spawning some small concerts (local bands) and fireworks festivities every Friday. As we know now, fireworks have always been banned inside the city limits, so when the park offered fireworks every week, it was an added incentive.

I do not have an accurate timeline of events that caused the park to close, but I do know of each accident and incident at the park that caused lawsuits and its eventual demise. I don't know which one was first, but most noted was the accident on the rollercoaster. The Wildcat was a steel rollercoaster that was bought from Six Flags Magic Mountain after that park decided to get rid of it. Rebuilt in El Paso, the death on the ride happened when the ride operator was trying to retrieve a baseball cap blown off of a park patron. The operator's arm was cut off as he forgot where some of the active parts of the ride were and an oncoming car cut it off. He subsequently bled to death en route to the hospital.

An interesting side note, after the park was shut down permanently in 1989, the rollercoaster along with most other rides were taken down and placed in storage, or set up for sale. The Wildcat was bought and has been in operation in Durango Mexico at one of their major amusement parks since 1993.

The second fatality (unknown when this one happened) occurred on the YoYo ride. This ride wasn't modified to ensure rider safety. The ride currently at Western Playland (to use as an example) has two security fasteners, across the lap and between the legs. The ride that operated at Magic Landing only had the across the lap fastener. A young girl went on the ride and wile it was in motion, slid underneath the lap restraint and was thrown from the ride onto the main platform. She died instantly.

A third accident (one of the non-fatal ones) happened on the Ferris wheel. The one at Magic Landing was the largest free standing Ferris wheel in the state of Texas, but unknown if it was also the largest one in the 48 contingent United States. The park had at one point been able to sell alcohol to park patrons, and its unclear whether or not this woman's unstable mental capacities had anything to do with it, freaked out while on the Ferris wheel. With no restraints, and an open gondola design, she stood up and tried to jump off the ride. She ended up falling to the car below her, and was seriously injured.

Also involving alcohol, there was an instance where during a concert, there was several park patrons who got too drunk and started fighting. There are conflicting reports (found in several newspaper clippings) what misc. weapons were used in this altercation, but most accounts have them as either an axe, ice pick or baseball bat.

Now with this said, we can see that there are several lawsuits spurring up from this. There are some other bits of insight that were told to the El Paso Inc. by the owner of Western Playland, Pat Thompson.

E.P.I.-Why does Western Playland succeed where Magic Landing failed?

P.T.-Magic Landing was trying to be a theme park. El Paso wasn't really ready for one. It doesn't have the population or the family income levels to support a theme park. When people go on vacation, they're willing to spend extra money on theme parks. But, see, you wouldn't do it here (or) even in California. Disneyland can't get the locals to come out. They have to give big discounts to draw them out. Western Playland isn't here for the tourists. It can't be. There's not enough tourist traffic in El Paso.

When you look back at all of this, you see that Magic Landing was doomed. I tried to get access to the park on Saturday but got my car stuck in soft sand. I have plans to get close enough to the park to take some pictures, so I will let you know what happens when I do that.