About Theme Park Adventure

Theme Park Adventure is now celebrating its 11th year, making it one of the first - if not the first - fan sites online for theme park and themed entertainment enthusiasts around the globe.

TPA was founded in 1994 by Rick West in Irvine, California.  After serving as an industry writer for other fanzine publications, Rick branched out on his own to create the ultimate publication for enthusiasts.  In the early days, our newsletter, The Brake Zone, became a hit with both fans and industry leaders.  Each month, TPA took its readers on a ride through the past, present and the future by reviewing new attractions, reporting on new developments on the horizon and memorializing those older theme parks and rides no longer with us.  Our first slogan was a perfect fit and its remained part of the Theme Park Adventure experience for over a decade.

Our printed publications continued to grow in size and readership as we made the transition from BBS (old-school Bulletin Board System) to actual Internet site.  Several issues of The Brake Zone became cornerstones for our early years - in-depth coverage of the Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland Park, our farewell issue for Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade, the opening of Montu at Busch Gardens in Tampa and our early coverage of Knott's Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm.

If any one aspect of Theme Park Adventure stands out with our fans, it has to be our coverage of Halloween Haunt.  TPA founder Rick West began attending the annual Halloween event at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, at the beginning of the 1980s and has been a supporter of the Haunt and its monster family ever since both via TPA as well as behind the scenes.  Rick worked one year in Line Control for the event, has been a monster in Ghost Town and has even recorded voice tracks for the events main entertainment spectacle, The Hanging.  Coverage of Halloween Haunt has become a year-round event at TPA, with reviews, hundreds of images and video downloads of the event unequalled anywhere else.  Theme Park Adventure continues to work closely with Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Fair management to bring its readers the finest in Haunt coverage.

Larger publications have come from Theme Park Adventure, including the most in-depth book on the Disney attraction Pirates of the Caribbean ever published.  Printed in the mid-'90s, TPA's Pirates book remains the single most popular product we've ever created.  Copies of the now hard-to-find book have sold for more than $50.00 on eBay and in collector's shops around the country.

In the late '90s, TPA set its attention to creating a book on the transformation of the Swiss Family Treehouse at Disneyland into Tarzan's Treehouse.  The book was also very popular with Theme Park Adventure readers and continues to sell years later.

Through the years, Theme Park Adventure has blazed the trail for countless other fan publications and Web sites, breaking down the barriers between "news media" and enthusiast-based media.  Years of dedicated work have allowed Theme Park Adventure to become invited to the same events and work with themed entertainment companies on the same level as traditional news giants such as CNN and the Los Angeles Times.

Entering the digital age, Theme Park Adventure continues to forge forward via the Internet and soon, by the use of DVDs to further entertain our readers.

Theme Park Adventure is now based in Las Vegas, Nevada, just 10 minutes away from the world-famous Las Vegas Strip - arguably the most famous road anywhere.  Rick West works for MGM Mirage as a Casino Ambassador at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino and manages TPA in his spare time.

In addition to Rick's leadership, this is the team that makes up Theme Park Adventure:

Assistant Editor: Shea Foley

Finance & Archive Manager: Venus West

Technical Support: 666 Productions

Mid-West Correspondents: Scott & Carol Holmes

Las Vegas Correspondents: Aly & Trish

How To Reach Us:

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