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The Canadian company WhiteWater West Industries, the world’s largest manufacturer of waterpark products, announced last week that it has acquired the U.S. manufacturer Hopkins Rides.
Established in 1979, Hopkins Rides is specialized in water rides for amusement parks, including Log Flume, Super Flume, Shoot the Chute, River Raft and water transportation systems. Its founder, OD Hopkins, began with the production of Log Flume rides (about twenty installations delivered the first 10 years) before redeveloping the concept of Shoot the Chute rides for Six Flags in the mid 80s.
They later launched the production of River Raft rides in 1988 and Super Flume (a Log Flume with high-capacity boats) in 1998. The company also produced some rollercoasters, worked on rehabilitation projects and has developed other rides such as slides or sky gliders.
After experiencing a challenging time for its business and the passing away of OD Hopkins in the 2000s, the manufacturer was back in the saddle a few months ago in winning new contracts, including a Shoot the Chute for the theme park LEGOLAND California, which opened earlier this season.
Teri Ruffley, Managing Director of WhiteWater's amusement ride section says, "Having Hopkins Rides on board advances our mission to bring to market the most exciting and diverse aquatic amusement park attractions portfolio in the world. We are positioned for and looking forward to a strong year ahead in this segment of the industry."
"We're ecstatic to be part of WhiteWater," says Jim Glover, who continues as the Director of Sales for Hopkins Rides. "We also believe Hopkins' rides will offer high capacity additions to world-class waterparks."
"Our vision is to bring in originals like Hopkins Rides to reinforce what WhiteWater does best — top-notch attractions", says Geoff Chutter, WhiteWater President & CEO. "And stay tuned...because we have many more originals coming down the line."
With this acquisition, WhiteWater becomes one of the most important groups of companies of the attractions industry. In addition to the design, production and installation of amusement rides for waterparks, the group also owns Prime Play, the world leader in the design and manufacturing of active family play attractions, and FormaShape, specializing in composite materials. The group has 30 years of experience and completed more than 4,000 installations worldwide.
Hopkins Rides' headquarters will remain located in Haines City, FL and is now considerated as WhiteWater's 19th international sales office. The company will keep its name as well as its slogan "The Waterflow experts."
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