well the story is basicaly "Martin" used to own "Martins Show" a portble show that traveled and was a WNY area show for years ...in 1990 the park fell opon hard times, Then Charlie woods focused his outlook on The Great escape- Fantasy islands sister park. Fantasy Island was renamed "Two flags over niagara" for its final seasons leading to its sale in 1994...the park had a black cloud over it because of accidents that caused deaths newsworthy. the gate attendance was so bad that he put it on the block. now the managing partners of Two flags were intrested in buying the park, the funtime company then former owners of whats now SixFlags Darien lake, and Marty were all in contention to buy the place.
well I believe its been said that if Charlie dident sell to marty, that the place would end up like crystal beach and bulldosed and sold off for what it was worth. Charlie sold the place for less then he could have gotten and kept the place alive. Marty sold his road show to Gene Chaffee and took the equipment he kept (not in the deal) with him into the park the deal included rides that were allready in the park that marty wanted to remove.
well needless to say that you don't get anything cheap... little did somepeople know that the verry famous crystal beach comet coaster sat in storage at fantasy island. there was intentions of rebuilding and restoring it here... well when the place was sold they took all the good equipment to Great Escape and thats were some of the old fantasy island rides and the comet sit today. and under SFI management because charlie retired and sold it off.
So theres park versions of a few rides that stay up year round but i'd say a good 80% of the equipment is portable and is taken apart and put away in a warehouse for the winter keeping it in tip top shape and it gives them an oppertunity to refurbish the peices inhouse over the winter...they repaint 2-6 rides a year keeping them looken neat and clean. while this park may never get rid of its haunting past its sure regained its popularity with the general public...attendance has gone up every year the family has owned it in 1994 and now the family has invested into its second major coaster to replace the 41 year old wild cat that was in dire need to go and rest. a brand new spinning wild mouse from zamperla will start to arrive later this month and open in june.
heres some intresting facts...
ONLY 4 original rides remain from the purchase in 1994
those rides have been attended to refurbished atleast 2-3 times sence
only 5 originals remain from the road show
You'll miss us when were gone....