Blue Bayou and Dixie Landin'

Blue Bayou Waterpark and Dixie Landin' are adjacent amusement parks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[3] Blue Bayou is a water park and Dixie Landin' is a dry amusement park with thrill rides.

Blue Bayou Waterpark and Dixie Landin'

Location18142 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Coordinates30°20′39″N 91°01′35″W / 30.344116°N 91.026465°W / 30.344116; -91.026465
Opened1989
(c. 1960 as Fun Fair Park)[1]
OwnerSamuel B. Haynes, Jr.[2]
Operating seasonMay 5 through September 3
Attractions
TotalBlue Bayou- 20 total/ Dixie Landin'- 26
Roller coasters3
Websitehttp://www.bluebayou.com/ http://www.dixielandin.com/

Blue Bayou

edit

Blue Bayou has 20 attractions including a lazy river, a behemoth bowl, a quadruple aqualoop, a wave pool, a ProSlide Tornado, and many other slides. Over the years, it has been adding new attractions. The newest attraction is "Mambo", a quadruple aqualoop which opened in August 2012. For the 2012 season, it also updated its lazy river, bathhouses, food menus, and kids' section.[4] It is marketed as "The Land of the Giants", with the park advertising five of its water slides as the world's largest of their types.[citation needed]

Attractions

edit
  • Mambo (World's Largest Aqualoop)[citation needed]
  • Voodoo (World's Largest Dark Behemothbowl)[5]
  • Azuka (World's Largest Tornado Slide)[5]
  • Racers (World's Largest Water Racer)[5]
  • Conja' (World's Largest In-Line Water Slide)[5]
  • Mad Moccasins
  • Pirate's Cove (A Children's Play Area)
  • Flyin' Pirogue
  • High Water
  • Awesome Twosome
  • Hurricane Bay (Wave pool)
  • Lafitte's Plunge (A 90 Foot Free Fall Slide)
  • Atchafalaya Run (formerly Lazy River)

Dixie Landin'

edit

Dixie Landin' was built in 1999. Some of its rides came from the now defunct Fun Fair Park which was located at the intersection of Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway. It includes rides for all ages, including kiddie rides and thrill seeker rides. It currently has 27 attractions, including an S&S combo drop tower, a log flume, three roller coasters, and a variety of flat rides. The Drop Tower, Hot Shot, was originally the O2 Tower from Panama City Beach, Florida's now defunct Miracle Strip Amusement Park. In 2008, Hurricane Gustav destroyed the Coca-Cola concert stage, however, a new one was built in time for the 2009 season.

Roller coasters

edit
Name Year Opened Manufacturer Type Comments
Ragin' Cajun 2001 Vekoma Boomerang Previously operated at Hafan y Môr Holiday Park in Pwllheli, Wales, United Kingdom
Gilbeaux's Galaxi 2001 S.D.C. Galaxi Previously operated at Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. and the nearby defunct Fun Fair Park.
Loco-Loco 2001 E&F Miler Industries Family Coaster / 24ft Harvest Express Previously operated at Nut Tree Park in Vacaville, California.

Amusement rides

edit
Name Year Opened Manufacturer Type
Jambalaya 1999 Eli Bridge Company Scrambler
Flyin’ Tiger 1999 Schwarzkopf Enterprise
Over The Rainbow 1999 HUSS Rainbow
Side Winder 2019 Moser's Rides Sidewinder
The Splinter 1999 D.P.V. Rides Log Flume
Tilt-A-Whirl 1999 Sellner Manufacturing Tilt-A-Whirl
Zydeco Express 1999 S.D.C. Music Express
Barataria Pirate 1999 Morgan Swinging Ship
Cajun Collision 1999 WGH Transportation Engineering Bumper Cars
Fouchon Flyer 1999 Hrubetz Paratrooper
Frog Hopper 1999 S&S Power Frog Hopper
Gumbo Yo-Yo 1999 Chance Rides Yo-Yo
Space Odyssey 1999 Chance Rides Whip
Gasoline Alley 1999 Arrow Dynamics Track-car
Grand Carousel 1999 Chance Rides Carousel
Manchac Railroad 1999 Chance Rides Train ride
Merry-Go-Round 1999 Chance Rides Kiddie Carousel
Old 99’s 1999 Chance Rides Track Car ride
The Delta Crop Duster 1999 Allan Herschell Company Plane Ride
Around Town 1999 Zamperla Crazy Bus
Black Widow 1999 Eyerly Octopus
Boat Race 1999 Allan Herschell Company Boat Ride
Drums Of Fun 1999 Venture Manufacturing Drum-style tea cups

Incidents

edit

On June 9, 2006, a 2-year-old boy broke his arms and legs after falling at least 25 feet (7.6 m) from the “Over the Rainbow” ride. He was seated next to 3½-year-old sister but about 8 feet (2.4 m) from his mother at the time; his mother says she was told that the other adjacent seat was out of order.[6][7]

On July 11, 2010, around 4:00 p.m., a woman fell to her death from the now-defunct Xtreme roller coaster.[7]

On August 4, 2011, Blue Bayou and Dixie Landin' was fined $25,295 by the U.S. Department of Labor for numerous labor violations. The park was allowing minors to work more than eight hours a day. 49 minors in the 14- to 15-year-old category were found to be subject to child labor provision violations.[8][2]

Hurricane Gustav

edit

Hurricane Gustav caused moderate damage to both parks on September 1, 2008. Many trees were snapped, blown over, or uprooted. The Coca-Cola stage was destroyed, the awnings were blown off the Azuka, a portion of the Pirate's Cove roof was blown off, and a storage building alongside the Lazy River had its metal chimney knocked down onto the roof (it still remains lying on the roof, and was actually damaged again by Hurricane Isaac in 2012); the storage building contains the Lazy River's water flow pump. Multiple other attractions and buildings were affected. Luckily for Blue Bayou/Dixie Landin', the parks had just ended their season when the storm struck. They reopened in time for the 2009 season.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Gone but not forgotten - Some of Baton Rouge's most beloved icons have closed their doors in the past three decades". 17 September 2012.
  2. ^ a b Quillen, Kimberly (2011-08-04). "Blue Bayou, Dixie Landin' cited for alleged violations of child labor laws". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  3. ^ Chris Gautreau (June 4, 2009). "Blue Bayou plans camp site". 2theadvocate.com. Retrieved June 4, 2009.
  4. ^ "Blue Bayou Waterpark / Dixie Landin' Amusement Park". Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
  5. ^ a b c d "Blue=Blue Bayou / Dixie Landin'". Archived from the original on July 12, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  6. ^ WAFB (2006-06-28). "Dixie Landin' Sued for Boy's Accident". WAFB.
  7. ^ a b WAFB (2010-07-11). "Woman dies after falling from roller coaster ride". WAFB.
  8. ^ Calder, Chad. "Blue Bayou fined for labor violation". The Advocate. Retrieved 4 April 2012.

http://rcdb.com/4738.htm

http://theadvocate.com/news/410197-64/council-committee-discuss-bond-plan.html

edit