The Lost American Adventure Theme Park - Part 1

I've noticed a pattern with Trevor Hemmings, the billionaire guy who took over this park. It happened here, it happened at Pontins Hemsby, Pontins Wall Park, Pontins Tower Beach, Pontins Middleton Tower. Pontins Blackpool. He runs something into the ground then applies for planning permission to cover it with housing. The planning is rejected so he closes the park and leaves it sitting there forlorn and abandoned for a few years until the local council get fed up and eventually agree to his planning application. The only time it failed was at Pontins Jersey.

My dad used to take me and my brother here in the early 90s. They are some of my fondest childhood memories. I visited the site about 10 years ago and it was a strange feeling to walk around the empty park.

Fab Sunday night viewing as always Darren - who needs a TV licence when we have your fantastic videos - love them! ❤

It is so sad, quite emotional looking at the before and now. All that excitement and fun, just vanished like it never existed. Thank you for restoring, long lost memories

its sad really how many of our theme parks we have lost. I went to American adventure on a school trip and loved it. thats gone, frontier land in morecombe gone and lightwater valley as we knew it gone.

Fantastic video, we are pretty local and have so many memories of the place. It's really sad to see it becoming such a sterile suburban nothingness.

Ace video Darren. Absolutely breaks my heart seeing the housing estate there instead. I loved that place, so many great memories.

Love these nostalgia resort videos. Thank you and keep up the good work!

I used to love this place. They sold The Missile ride to Pleasurewood Hills In Norfolk. It’s still there now.

The collioery was always the bit that confirmed to the excited childhood me that we were there, I was lucky enough to have gone 4 times during the 90's, some of the best memories of my childhood, life even, are based there. I remember it incredibly well, may as well have been yesterday so it's scary to know it's been 19 years since it shut. So many memories. It was good that at least urban explorers got to see a fair bit before it was lost for good so it's demise is well chartered. Quite an emotional watch to be fair!

Fantastic video Darren! Really loved this, its made my sunday, I'm really excited for next weeks episode and the week after! Your lost theme park content is some of the best work I've seen on YouTube!

Great video as usual. I love how much effort goes into your videos - especially matching the historic photos with present day, and the hours of research that clearly go into finding the facts. I went to the American Adventure in the early 90s and remember looking at their website in 2006 but being underwhelmed by the list of attractions by that point, so never revisited before it closed.

Still got the picture that was taken of me aged 19 on the Missile ride,i'm 52 now!

Thanks for making this video, it brought back many happy memories from my late teens and early 20's. We used to visit a couple of times a year so it was good to see the archive footage. I now cycle around the park once or twice a month and still mumble to myself at the loss.

Very enjoyable and interesting exploration of what was and what might have been with more investment and imagination. It seems. as so often in the UK, that a mixture of short-terminism, greedy asset-stripping (and possibly, inflexible local planning regulations) sealed its fate. From the video footage, the concept and the original attractions looked very impressive and popular. But, when things begin to look run-down and uncared for, then interest fades and people look for alternatives. Thank you. Look forward to the next instalment.

O how wonderful. Just happened on this. I visited the park in July 2000. It was my hubbies surprise 50th birthday outing. We had already done the "Driving a Steam Train" bit & this was the continuation of the day of childhood dreams - "Cowboys & Indians"!!!We lived near Castle Donington airport & took our 2 grown dayghters & 1 future son in law for the day out- Hubby had no idea what was planned! We managed to get hubby on that big swinging drop! We had a fab time. Some sections were not quite like Alton Towers but we still remember a fab day. Dont even know where the photos have gone. 23 yrs gone since then & still a fab memory Thank you so much. I shall have to save this & get hubbg & the family to watch. Good job!!! Xx Would love to have all those clips of the rides together on one access point.

Superb...also sad remembering the times i visited the park

I did visit the park once in 2004 for my sister's birthday. From about 2020, I contemplated coming to the site to see what became of it. So, I briefly came here at the beginning of last year and yeah, it was pretty fascinating to see some remnants of the park and I could recognise some areas. Still, in a way, it's good to see this area having new development but still kind of sad in another way.

Great video! Mr Broome owned Trentham Gardens for a period, a short distance from Alton Towers. He had grandiose plans for the site, and put forward proposals in 1982 which would see it transformed into an 'American style' park based on 'Wet'N'Wild' in Florida. The plans never materialised, and he sold the site to the NCB. Mining subsidence was in part blamed for the collapse of his vision.

Smashed it again Darren brilliant watch can’t wait for part two I never got to visit it