SAM Magazine-- Hancock, MA, October 8th, 2009--In our fourth video edition of "SAM on the Road," we visited Jiminy Peak's Adventure Park. Installation of the park began in 2006 with Wiegand's Mountain Coaster and the replacement of the old 1973 cement Alpine slide with Alpine Product's Super Slide non-abrasive fiberglass track. After that, they added The Giant Swing, Euro-Bungy Trampoline, and most recently, the Kid's Zone, which includes the Spider Web, rock climbing wall, Rope Adventures, mini golf, Bouncy Bounce, and a timber playground.

Tickets are sold as all-day tickets-$39 for midweek and $45 weekend. Juniors are $29 and $33 respectively. Ages three and four are $19. Single ride tickets are also available as are ticket booklets and evening tickets.

Currently, Jiminy's summer operations make up 10 percent of their gross revenue (not including overnight business), and this was their best summer on record. The change over of families in their 300 timeshare units ensures that there is almost the same amount of traffic on a weekday as a weekend (Saturday being the best day).

The Mountain Coaster sees the most ridership (by a big margin) out of all of their rides, but a big reason for that is because it can operate in rain whereas the Alpine Super Slide can not.

Another recent improvement to the park came with addition of the Kid's Zone. When Brian Fairbank, president of Jiminy Peak, surveyed his guests a couple years back, they requested more offerings for little kids. Currently, about 1/6th of his ridership goes through the Kid's Zone so he is pleased with his investment.

The big surprise for Fairbank when they began the process of installing the Adventure Park was their instant elevation to amusement park status with the installation of the Mountain Coaster. He has had to train and license six staffers to do daily inspections and comply with the state's strict ASTM standards. It's been worthwhile due to the popularity of the rides and because it can run year-round.

The following video is part of a series of resort profiles featuring summer attractions across the country. These profiles will also be covered more in-depth in our Summer Operations issue this winter. Please stay tuned for more! Check out the Heavenly Flyer, Catamount Ropes Course and Bretton woods Canopy Tour videos in our news archives. \

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