If you visit Six Flags White Water you’ll notice a large building sharing the parking lot that appears largely vacant. This building was actually part of American Adventures, something akin to a large family entertainment center or small amusement park that operated until 2010. This park has a really interesting history, having been owned by more than one theme park brand. The property is now used for training, HR, storage and the employee cafeteria, but at one time there were numerous rides here and even a small roller coaster. White Water is very much a “water park in the woods” and American Adventure was similar as in the forest between that building and the water park once sat a pretty amazing little amusement park called American Adventures.

White Water Atlanta (actually in Marrietta, GA) was originally constructed by Herschend Family Entertainment (named after it’s founding family) as a sister park White Water parks in Branson, Missouri and Oklahoma City (now a Hurricane Harbor). Herschend was known then as the Silver Dollar City, Inc. during that time and is a major theme park operator with parks such as Dollywood and its original park, Silver Dollar City. White Water first opened in 1984 and the company opened the American Adventures family entertainment center next door in 1990, sharing the same parking lot. American Adventures had a small roller coaster, several flat rides, mini-golf, go-carts, arcade games and a restaurant. The park was free to enter and used tickets for attractions. The park had 17 rides at time of closing including a Ferris wheel, pirate ship, teacups and a Zamperla powered coaster, so calling this just a family entertainment center undersells it quite a bit.

Six Flags acquired White Water in 1999 and American Adventures was included in the purchase. American Adventures was never officially branded a Six Flags park, but there was some co-branding and marketing with the neighboring White Water water park. In June 2008 American Adventures was leased to a new operator, Zuma Holding. This incarnation was to be short lived as in 2010 American Adventures closed its doors for good and never operated again. Six Flags regained ownership of the property, but it has sat largely unused since that time. One of the rides was relocated by Six Flags with the Scrambler being removed and taken to Six Flags Great Adventure in 2012 where it still operates today. The rest of the rides were removed in 2017 with most being lost (probably scrapped or used for parts), although the powered coaster is still said to be in storage at Kirby Family Farm in Williston, Florida. The website Abandoned Southeast visited the former American Adventures site in 2015-2016 and took the stunning pictures below before the rides were removed. They show this was really more of an amusement Park than a family entertainment center and that it was quite beautiful with all the trees in the area.

It’s funny that the internet is forever in that if you you can still find a 2009 Groupon offer online for rides and arcade tokens for just $14! You’ll also find a quite funny blog review of Six Flags White Water by Robb & Elissa Alvey of Theme Park Review that also shows some American Adventures. Perhaps my favorite historic internet gem is from Nick Nafpliotis about his summer working at American Adventures. It sounds like something right out of a young adult summer movie or TV show with a cast of crazy coworkers complete with stories of practical jokes, summer love, partying and crazy times (perhaps bordering unsafe) on the go-kart track.

American Adventures is essentially lost to history now, but small pieces of it remain. If you go to Six Flags Great Adventure you can still ride its Scrambler. The primary building still remains, although it is not open to the public. There are also some remnants of the pathways through the woods that once connected American Adventures to the White Water entrance. There’s also website mentions on Groupon and blogs from a different era of the internet. Most importantly though, it remains in the memories of people like Nick Nafpliotis and the people who worked at and visited this park over the years. If you visit Six Flags White Water be sure to take a second look at the building across the parking lot where an amusement park once operated that was owned by both Six Flags and Herschend.