Funtown Splashtown USA

Funtown Splashtown USA

Previously known as Marvel Drive-In  (1960‑67) Funtown USA  (1967‑82) Cascade Water and Amusements  (1982‑96)
Funtown as viewed from above US Route 1
Location	Saco, Maine, U.S.
Coordinates	43.52725°N 70.42764°W / 43.52725; -70.42764
Status	Operating
Opened	1960
Owner	Violet Cormier
Slogan	"Where the Great American Family Comes to Play"; "Create memories that will last a lifetime!"
Area	25 acres (10 ha)
Attractions
Total	25 amusement park rides
Roller coasters	2
Water rides	20 water slides and 2 pools
Website	http://www.funtownsplashtownusa.com

Funtown Splashtown USA (commonly referred to as "Funtown") is a family-owned amusement park located in Saco, Maine, in the United States.

History

In 1960, Ken Cormier (October 8, 1932 – January 8, 2013) and his wife Violet Cormier opened Marvel Drive-In, a drive-in restaurant. Ken’s brother-in-law, Andre Dallaire had opened a mini-golf course next to Marvel Drive-In the previous year. In 1963, Andre opened a go-kart track behind his mini golf course, and in 1964 Ken added batting cages and an archery range in 1967 behind Marvel Drive-In. Over the next few years, Cormier and Dallaire added several kiddie and carnival-style rides including SkySlides and Swinging Gyms. A gift shop was also opened.

In 1967, Cormier and Dallaire formed a partnership and established Funtown USA Over the next few years, Funtown added a Zipper, outdoor bumper cars, and a Bayern Kurve named “Luv Machine.”

In 1996, Cormier bought out the remaining Dallaire interest at the park and renamed it to Funtown Splashtown USA with the addition of a waterpark.

Featured attractions

The park features Northern New England’s tallest and longest wooden roller coaster, Excalibur, as well as New England's longest and tallest log flume, Thunder Falls. It also has a 220-foot-tall (67 m) Drop Tower called Dragon's Descent.

One of the park's most popular rides is the Astrosphere, an indoor Scrambler which features a state-of-the-art laser and light show while playing ELO's "Fire on High."

The Splashtown area features Pirate's Paradise, a large interactive waterpark playground which dumps hundreds of gallons of water onto its guests every few minutes. For the 2007 season, an expansion was built that doubled the size of the waterpark and added two new thrill slides, Tornado and Mammoth. An additional expansion in 2012 added another 6 thrill slides to Splashtown.

Current attractions

Funtown USA Rides

Height Requirements	Ride Name	Ride Type	Manufacturer	Year Opened	Notes
	Antique Cars	Antique Taxi Cars	Arrow Dynamics	1982	Rail-tracked vintage Tin Lizzys chug along a center-railed paved track.
	Astrosphere	Scrambler	Eli Bridge	1976	The Astrosphere is an indoor dark Scrambler ride (inside a dome) with a choreographed music and lights show; theme song is Fire On High (The Astrosphere Mix) by ELO. In 2019, the Astrosphere attraction was outfitted with a new dome made out of concrete. The light and sound show was also upgraded to include new video projectors that brought back many of the original photo slides.
	Balloon Race	8-arm single axle family Ferris Wheel	Zamperla	1994	A small-fry family sized Ferris wheel with 8 balloon seats gently goes around up-and-down.
	Barney Oldfield Roadsters	Rail-tracked vintage Sportscars		1993	Vintage roadsters ride along on a railed paved track through the section.
48-in to ride alone*⁵	Adult Bumper Boats	Adult size bumper boats		1993	Families rock and bump along on full sized bumper ring boats in a pool inside a pavilion.
	Casino	Trabant	Chance Morgan	1987	This Trabant ride looks like a roulette wheel, taking its riders on a wild spinning, rising, and dipping journey.
Less than 48-inches	Cactus Canyon Canoes	Junior canoe water tracked ride		1982	Cactus Canyon takes riders in mini canoes along a water-filled trough track, and through a teepee.
	Classic Carousel	Fairground model carousel	Chance Rides	1982
	Dragon's Descent	Turbo Drop tower ride	S&S	2001	A drop tower ride that stands 220 feet (67 m) tall. Following a brief freefall, the ride uses hydraulics to bounce riders back up and down until the carriage eventually returns to ground level.
	Excalibur Roller Coaster	Wooden tracked roller coaster	CCI	1998	The Excalibur is Maine's first wooden roller coaster since 1948. Named for King Arthur's sword.
	Flying Trapeze	Yo-Yo flying swings ride	Chance Rides	1988	The Flying Trapeze takes riders up high and around.
Between 36-inches and 48-inches tall*¹	Frog Hopper	Junior Tower Drop	S&S	2001	This junior-sized version of a drop tower ride.
	Grand Prix Racers	Individually driven go-karts	Johnson	1993	The Grand Prix Racers are gas-powered go-karts that race along a winding paved track. An enforced limit of 2 trips per rider on this attraction is in place.
	Haunted Hotel	Dark Ride	Sally Dark Rides	2023
Less than 48-in*⁴	Helicopters	Junior flying helicopter roundabout		1972	These mini copters go up-and-down by controlling the handlebars.
Less than 48-inches tall*²	Kiddie Boats	Junior sized motorboat roundabout		1976	This ride takes junior riders in small motorboats slowly around within a water-filled ring trough, with a mini lighthouse as its centerpiece.
Less than 42-in	Kiddie Bumper Boats	Junior sized bumper ring boats		1993	A junior sized bumper boats ride for younger junior riders.
Less than 48-in	Kiddie Cars	Auto Umbrella junior roundabout	Hampton	1972	A kiddy ride consisting of mini cars, trucks, buses and bikes.
Less than 48-in*³	Kiddie Swings	Junior flying swings ride		1972
Less than 48-inches	Kiddie Train	Junior tracked mini train ride		1987	This junior train ride goes through a mini town.
	Merry-Go-Round	Fairground model carousel		1967	The original Merry-Go-Round had its place near the Auto Umbrella and Sock-It-To-'Em bumper cars for many years, and was enjoyed by its many fans, who were sad to see it leave after the 2012 season (as part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides expansion); the Auto Umbrella was then moved closer to the Kiddie Swings and Kiddie Copters.
Less than 48-in	Red Baron Planes	Junior biplane roundabout		1976	These biplanes look like mini replicas of warplanes, and go up-and-down by controlling the handlebars.
	Sea Dragon	Pendulum swinging pirate ship	Chance Morgan	1987	The Sea Dragon pirate ship ride swings its riders fore and aft.
	Sock-It-To-'Em Bumper Cars	Traditional style bumper cars	Soli	1975	This is the ride that replaced the original outdoors Hydrobumpers ride (see below—Former Attractions). Familiar bumper cars inside a steel floored building with a central bumper median strip often bump-and-sock into each other.
	Tempest In The Tea Cups	Spinning tea cups platform ride	Zamperla	1987	Large tea cup cars (3 on each bull plate roundel) spin riders around inside a gazebo tea house.
	Thunderbolt	Flying Bobs	Chance Morgan	1988	This ride has swinging shuttle podkarts that race forwards—then backwards while pop music is playing.
	Thunder Falls	Log Flume water tracked ride	Hopkins	1984	Thunder Falls is Maine's first log flume ride—race through Snake Canyon and Hopkins Rapids on the longest and tallest log flume ride in Maine.
	Tilt-A-Whirl	Tilt-A-Whirl	Sellner Manufacturing	1976	A ride where its riders are inside domed tipkarts that are spinning very fast, while the platform races along an invisible inner track.
	Wild Mouse Roller Coaster	Wild Mouse steel compact family roller coaster	Maurer Söhne	2009	The Wild Mouse is a steel compact coaster that winds its riders up-and-down through hairpin turns and fast drops. (Replaced the Galaxi Coaster which is now in Ecuador according to some staff at the park.)

Splashtown USA Water Slides and Pools

Attraction Name	Attraction Type	Manufacturer	Year Opened	Notes
Poseidon's Plunge	AquaDrop	WhiteWater West	2012	Part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides
Triton's Twist	FlatLine Loop	WhiteWater West	2012	Part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides; only installation in the Western Hemisphere
Amphitrite's Challenge	Whizzard	WhiteWater West	2012	Part of the Mount Olympus Water Slides
Mammoth	Dark Mammoth	ProSlide	2007
Tornado	Tornado 45	ProSlide	2007	First and only Tornado slide in Northern New England
Pirate's Paradise	Rain Fortress		2003	Branded "Portland Pirate's Paradise" from 2007-2013 through a partnership with the Portland Pirates, the local AHL affiliate
Splish tube slide (Green)	Inner Tube	WhiteWater West	1999	Replaced the Thunderbolt Water Slides
Splash tube slide (Black)	Inner Tube	WhiteWater West	1999	Replaced the Thunderbolt Water Slides
Liquid Lightning tube slide	Inner Tube	WhiteWater West	1999
Fun Lagoon	Lagoon-style pool		1999
Swimming Pool	Wading pool		1982	Expanded in 2012
Corkscrew	Mat slide		1982

Former Attractions

A car from the park's Galaxi Roller Coaster returning from the unload platform to be reloaded

Photo	Ride Name	Ride Type	Year Opened	Year Closed	Notes
	Balloon Flight	Flying balloons roundabout	1984	1986	The Balloon Flight took its riders flying up-and-down for 3 years. Removed after the 1986 season to make room for the Casino Wheel (Trabant).
	Captain Isaiah Cutler's Haunted House	Indoor walk-through haunted fun house with mechanical props and tricks	1967	1995	This famous haunted fun house was a long-time fixture at the old MainePlay Amusements area (now the Splashtown water park section) for its first 30 years. It featured 3 to 6 live actors in costume, various mechanical props (ghosts, witches, and monsters), and mechanical tricks (moving shuffle bridge, spinning dizzy tunnel, amongst others) in a mainly darkened house building. This house was closed—and removed—after the 1995 season due to high operational costs.
	Ferris Wheel	#8 Ferris Wheel (Big Eli)	1975	2000	This 8-seater classic Ferris wheel was removed after the 2002 season in favor of the Frog Hopper.
	Galaxi Roller Coaster	Family compact steel figure-8 roller coaster (S.D.C.)	1978	2008	The Galaxi was Maine's first-ever roller coaster in an amusement park. It had 7 autocar style coaster cars that went through an undulating figure-8 steel compact track. This mainstay ride lasted for 31 years, and was removed after the 2008 season to make room for the Wild Mouse.
	Giant Slide	Fiberglass grooved amusement slide ride	1972	1986	Riders walked up the long stairway to the top station of the Giant Slide, then—slid down in burlap bags. Another mainstay during Funtown's earlier years.
	Hydrobumpers	Flying saucer bumper ring cars	1967	1974	This was the original outdoors hydro bumper ring cars ride with the headlight post at its center, and pennant streamers emanating from it. It was at Funtown USA for 8 seasons, after which the Hydrobumpers—along with the Zipper—were removed. The area is now occupied by the building which houses the Sock-It-To-'Em traditional bumper cars.
	Hydrofighter	Water gun fight tower ride	1988	2000	Riders climbed aboard bibbed seats, and rose high, then—squirted each other with on-board water guns. It got removed after the 2000 season to make room for Dragon's Descent.
	Kartland Go-Karts	Individually driven gas-powered go-karts (Johnson)	1967	2000	Kartland was MainePlay's original go-kart track that served Funtown USA for 36 years. During the earlier years, this attraction was a pay-per-ride owned by MainePlay; in 1993—after the merger with Funtown USA proper—the ticket booth closed down, and operated on a 2-trips-per-rider policy. The Kartland Track was enjoyed by its fans for so long, until it retired at the close of the 2002 season. The area then became a picnic area for 9 years. It's now the home for the new Apollo's Water Slides Area, which opened in 2012.
	Noah Zark	Ark themed junior play area	1982	2000	Noah Zark (a corruption of Noah's Ark) was a kiddy play area that looked like an ark boat.
	Paratrooper	Rise-and-fall seated roundabout	1982	1987	Another classic spinning ride that was enjoyed by fans for 6 seasons; got removed at the close of the 1987 season.
	The Luv Machine	Bayern Kurve	1975	1981	The Luv Machine was a groovy psychedelic themed Bayern Kurve bobsled tracked platform ride that speeded its riders up-and-down along its grooved inner track; got removed after the 1981 season to make room for the Antique Cars.
	UFO	Rise-and-fall spinning platform ride	1972	1981	The UFO Ride was a one-of-a-kind spinning platform ride; part Round-Up, and part Enterprise! UFO was removed from Funtown USA after the 1981 season to make room for eventual expansions.
	Water Bugs Bumper Boats	Family sized bumper ring boats	1984	1992	This was a bumper boats attraction housed in a pavilion behind the Sock-It-To-'Em bumper cars. After 1995, the boats were removed, the water was drained, and the pool was filled in with white gravel. It's now part of a picnic area.
	Zipper	Zipper	1967	1974	The classic Zipper ride was at Funtown USA for only the first 8 seasons, and was—afterwards—removed. It stood where the Cash Cube game does now.

See also

• List of amusement parks in New England
• Amusement ride
• Palace Playland

External links

• Funtown Splashtown USA at the Roller Coaster DataBase

Notes

1. Riders over 48-inches can sit in the center seat when accompanying a guest less than 48-inches.
2. Guests over 48-inches can ride when accompanying a guest less than 48-inches tall.
3. In order to ride your feet cannot. touch the floor while sitting.
4. Guests over 48-inches tall can ride when accompanying a guest less than 48-inches tall.