by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Jacksonville’s theme parks are getting a makeover. A three-year renovation project at both Adventure Landing locations (1944 Beach Blvd. and 4825 Blanding Blvd.) will leave the parks bigger, with a modern look.
“Right now, we’re going through a rebranding of the whole facility. Logo designs and a new color palette really sets the tone for change,” said Gerry Schaefer, general manager of Adventure Landing at Beach Boulevard, adding that the park is in the early stages of its renovation project. “The original concept was pirates and a Caribbean feel. It was deliberately themed to look old. There was painted on rust and dirt. It was fun, but it was hard for the place to look really clean.”
One of the most visible changes is the new Adventure Landing logo. It’s now cleaner and brighter than the original, which featured letters against a brown background designed to look as if it had been hit with a cannonball.
“One of the problems with the original theme is that it was hard to carry through with all the attractions,” said Schaefer. “For go-carts and laser tag, for instance, the pirate theme was a little bit of a stretch. We’re trying to give the individual attractions a little more identity.”
Now the go-carts speedway theme comes across more clearly, especially with the addition of a timing system.The laser tag arena will take on a more futuristic concept.
The rest of the changes will help make the park look bigger and better. One new slide was added this year and another will be added to the same tower and opened by next season. A few new video games had been added and Schaefer said they’ll pay more attention to the trends in video games. A rock climbing wall will be added in the near future. The kitchen was also redone, expanded to almost three times its previous size and done with bright colors and neon lights.
The Beach Boulevard waterpark features 14 slides, a wave pool, and a “river.”
There are also batting cages, go-carts, a miniature golf course, an arcade and a laser tag facility.
The Blanding Boulevard location, with its two miniature golf courses, Adventure Speedway (go-cart) course and 3,000 square-foot, two-story laser tag arena, is also getting updated. The pirate theme is gradually being phased out there and minor changes and detail work is being done.
Besides the two Jacksonville locations, there are Adventure Landings in Dallas and Raleigh. The general managers of all four parks convene on a monthly basis to share ideas and success stories.
“We’re a pretty tight knit group,” said Schaefer.
Most visitors to the park come in groups of four to six people, and about 80 percent are local, a fact that Schaefer said only adds to the need for a renovation process within the facilities.
“Since our park is primarily residents-based, we sensed that maybe it was getting a little tired for our customers,” said Schaefer. “We haven’t done any major changes since we opened [in 1995], and the park was beginning to show its age. We wanted to clean up our image, and brighten the place.
Schaefer also said the organization has set a goal to get back to being known as the premier spot for family entertainment.
“The manager of the park when it first opened [who was with the park until 1999] was very community-oriented,” said Schaefer. “Everyone knew him, and he ran the business like it was a family business, which I think always makes it better received. For a while, we may have lost track of creating that great family experience, but we’ve completely renewed our commitment to making sure we take care of the people who are coming in.”
For Schaefer, who has been with the company for over 20 years and served as the manager of the Beach Boulevard location for about nine months, making Adventure Landing feel like a family business again shouldn’t be a problem.
His 17-year-old daughter is one of his employees.