Calaway Park
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| Slogan | Just for Fun / Your Playcation Destination / Your Smile is Our Mission |
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| Location | Springbank, Alberta, Canada |
| Coordinates | 51°05′11″N 114°21′28″W / 51.08639°N 114.35778°WCoordinates: 51°05′11″N 114°21′28″W / 51.08639°N 114.35778°W |
| Owner | Gordon Franklin Dixon, QC |
| General Manager | Bev Berenson (2011) |
| Opened | 1982 |
| Previous names | Flintstone Fun Park (pre-opening) |
| Operating season | May (Victoria Day weekend) to mid-October weekends, July and August daily |
| Area | 160 acres (100 operating) |
| Rides | |
| Total | 32 |
| Roller coasters | 2 |
| Water rides | 3 |
| Website | http://www.calawaypark.com |
Calaway Park is Western Canada's largest outdoor family amusement park. The park is located in Springbank, Alberta, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the city of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway.
The park features a variety of rides including a large log flume, the rides "Chaos" and "Storm", and the park's two biggest attractions: "The Vortex", its corkscrew roller coaster, and the "Dream Machine", a 56-passenger swing ride. There are many other rides that are unique to the park.
Calaway Park currently has 33 rides, 22 food stalls, 27 games, and covers 90 acres (0.36 km2). The park has been in continuous operation since 1982.
Calaway Park's attractions are geared to a wide range of ages, with variety ranging from soft playgrounds to thrill rides. The park is considered amongst North America's safest amusement parks according to 2005 statistics. Calaway Park offers several mandatory training sessions, safety briefings and ride-employee certifications that take place prior or during the employee's first shift. Calaway Park ride employees are trained to enforce height restrictions very carefully, being accurate to the inch specified by the ride manufacturers.
In 2008, the ride SuperJet allegedly started before all children had boarded, an incident which did not result in injuries. There have also been multiple reports of young children receiving second degree burns in the Theodore the Tugboat play area due to a combination of the temperature of black rubber mats sitting in direct sunlight and Calaway Park's policy that children not wear shoes on the play structure. Theodore Tugboat is no longer an attraction at Calaway Park.
In 2005, park management expressed interest in additional roller coasters.
The park was created by John McAfee, a former Red Deer lawyer, and 15 other investors from British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Around 1979, the group paid $500,000 to Hanna-Barbera Productions for the licensing rights to the characters and locations in The Flintstones. While the original TV show ended in 1966, various Saturday morning series continued the basic plot lines, including The New Fred and Barney Show (1979) and The Flintstone Comedy Show. In addition to the Flintstones theme, a Victorian motif was planned for the park; similar to the Grande World Exposition of 1890 in Canada's Wonderland, which opened in 1981. It was presumed by park founders that parents' entrance fees, along with food and gift purchases, would pay operating costs.
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