Hanna-Barbera Land

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The Hanna-Barbera Land theme park in Houston-suburb Spring, Texas was only open in the 1984 and 1985 seasons.

The park was built under the guise of Taft Broadcasting, which became the Kings Entertainment Company as of opening. Kings also owned the Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland theme parks. Despite increased attendance in 1985, a bad regional economy and minimal spending in the park on concessions, gift shop purchases, and souvenirs meant a death knell for the attraction.

The first season General Manager was Al Weber.

Hanna-Barbera Land was sold to private investors and SplashTown USA was built in its place, then again to Bryant Morris, then to Six Flags who purchased the park in 1999. After initially not wanting to brand the park and calling it "a member of the Six Flags family," Six Flags eventually decided to re-brand the park as Six Flags SplashTown. In 2007 the park was sold to PARC managment who continues to operate the site.

[edit] Attractions

The park featured:

• a carousel
• Scooby's Ghoster Coaster, a Scooby-Doo roller coaster
• Silly Stix, an enormous jungle gym of sorts that looked like it was constructed out of giant Tinker Toys
• The Funsonium, a building which housed interactive and educational hands-on games and experiences such as Your Name in Lights and You Are the Star.
• bumper boats
• water body slides
• Puppet Shows
• Papa Smurf's Forest restaurant
• A live Keystone Cop brass band that performed Hanna Barbera theme songs, whose members included Riely Francis, Jason Werchan, Mike Davis, Scott Lemond, and Ken _____.

Former employees, many of whom were in high school when the park was open, have gone on to creative careers:

• Steph DeWaegeneer - Performer, and Director of Creative Sales for ComedySportz
• Tasha Walker - Puppeteer, Muppets in Space & Muppets Take Manhattan
• Ron Hines - Studio Director, Nickelodeon Recreation
• Jude' (Judith) Leak - professional film editor