Hopkins Rides
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| Industry | Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | O.D. Hopkins Associates, Inc. |
| Successor | Hopkins Rides, Inc. |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Founder | O.D. Hopkins |
| Headquarters | Palm City, Florida, United States |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Products | Amusement rides, roller coasters |
| Parent | WhiteWater West |
| Website | www |
Hopkins Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in Palm City, Florida. The company has had experience in amusement rides for over 45 years and currently specializes in water rides.
In 1962 O.D. Hopkins incorporated Hopkins Engineering and started installing ski lifts for J.A. Roebling & Sons of Trenton, New Jersey. In 1965 Hopkins purchased the ski lift division and all the related assets from Roebling & Sons. Soon afterwards a competitor, Universal Design Ltd., discontinued manufacturing Sky Rides, and their customers turned to Hopkins Engineering for parts. Hopkins' first customer in the amusement business was Charles Wood of Storytown USA.
In 1971, the name of the company was changed to O.D. Hopkins Associates Inc. In 1979, Hopkins was approached by Paul Roads, owner of Wonderland Park (Texas), to build a reasonably-priced log flume for his park. The success of that project started Hopkins in the water ride manufacturing business.
In November, 2001, O.D. Hopkins and Associates Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection. The aerial ropeway/sky ride division was spun off to Skyfair, Inc. on January 1, 1986. The company reorganized and emerged as Hopkins Rides, LLC in May 2002, and was for a brief time in partnership with Reverchon Industries of France.
In August 2012, Hopkins Rides, LLC was acquired by water slide manufacturer WhiteWater West. The company will continue to operate as Hopkins Rides under the WhiteWater Attractions banner.
The company originally manufactured Sky Rides, but in the 1980s, with the increase in popularity of their water-based attractions, those rides became the company's primary product. In addition to the water-based attractions, Hopkins built seven roller coasters from 1985 to 1996. They also dabbled in other amusement ride types such as a SkyGlider, tube slides and water jet ride known as an Aqua Drag. Santa's Village still operates its SkyGlider, and Wonderland Park still operates its Aqua Drag and SkyGlider in addition to its other Hopkins rides.
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Wikipedia