Eight months after the Crystal Palace Amusement Park in Dieppe, N.B. closed its doors, many of its rides have now found a new home.
Four acres of land are being cleared at Moncton’s Magic Mountain Water Park to house a yet-to-be-named expansion where the rides will be installed.
Finding new digs for popular rides like The Red Baron, The Convoy and The Jumping Star has been in the works since they were purchased from Crystal Palace last September, says Mark Jelley.
His family is part of a group that owns Magic Mountain, as well as two properties in P.E.I.
Jelley says at least one of the rides from Crystal Palace will be heading to Cavendish, P.E.I., while others will be set up at the Magic Mountain site, across the street from the Magnetic Hill Zoo.
The zoo couldn’t be happier.
“It will bring more people out here, and when more people are out here there's more activity and more people are going to be visiting both of our properties,” said zoo manager Bruce Dougan.
It’s also good news for local workers. The new park is expected to create a number of full-time jobs, as well as about 30 seasonal positions.
The park is scheduled to open in three phases.
Rides for young children will open this July, while rides for older kids will be ready the following year. A venue for the arcade games is scheduled to open in 2017.
Visiting Moncton with his family from Amherst, N.S., Preston Burns remembers playing at the Crystal Palace as a boy.
He says news of the park’s closure took him by surprise.
“I was kind of disappointed really because I was excited for when (my son) got older to bring him there — now it's the first I hear that they're bringing the rides here so that's a good thing,” Burns said.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis
