In September, 1994, Rick West created Theme Park Adventure.  "TPA" as it would become known by its readers as quickly, has gone through several "lives" - from print publication to its current form, a digital entity on the Internet.

TPA was created before there was such a thing as the Internet as we know it today - our first online incarnation was as part of a BBS (online Bulletin Board System) we called Black Rainbow way back in the day.  When the first scanners were available to the public, we would often include downloadable images for our readers of various things from Halloween Haunt monsters to roller coasters.  Those were introduced to the TPA audience by the way of Amiga computers, as very large (for then) JPEG and GIF files!  Cutting edge!

Theme Park Adventure then moved as well into printed media.  With aspirations of publishing very large "book-like" publications on attractions from the past, we set out on our first project, which unfortunately for various reasons, still has not seen the light of day.  It was to be a book titled, Lion Country: The Lost Safari, chronicling the powerful rise of the incredibly popular Lion Country Safari company in the late '60s into the '70s and its heartbreaking collapse in the '80s at the hands of its short-sighted CEO, Harry Shuster.  The Lost Safari is something that we do want to complete one of these days - and with the largest archival collection of documents and photos from LCS, Inc. in its possession, there is no reason for Theme Park Adventure not to.  But for now, The Lost Safari remains our ever-elusive first stepping stone.

To keep our new "subscribers" happy and occupied, we began publishing a monthly newsletter, which we dubbed The Brake Zone.  That newsletter lasted several years and was crucial to our survival and gained us the respect and support we needed to grow from within the themed entertainment community.

In March of 1995, Theme Park Adventure was the first ever "fan publication" to be invited to a major Disneyland Resort press event - the opening of the Indiana Jones Adventure.  TPA commemorated this event by dedicating an entire, "extended-pages" version of The Brake Zone to the attraction and event, which proved to be a highly-successful move, both with our readers as well as the powers-that-be at Walt Disney Imagineering.  That Indiana Jones issue of The Brake Zone paved the way for many more projects with Disney, including the opening of the new Tomorrowland at Disneyland, final farewell coverage to the Disneyland Skyway and the opening of Disney's California Adventure.

At the same time, Theme Park Adventure had also made a name for itself as the first media outlet to take serious interest in Knott's Halloween Haunt; not just the event itself, but the people behind the Scary Farm - the monsters, the designers and the fans.  With regular articles about Haunt since the beginning, TPA is proud to say that we have been the longest-running online and print supporter of Haunt since 1994, and we have no plans of slowing down any time soon.  Our coverage of the Scary Farm includes some of the best photo work ever capturing the essence of Halloween Haunt, flow-through attraction video that is second to none anywhere and we pride ourselves on being the first fan site to get our readers in on the action by way of our annual Halloween Haunt contests, which have let readers and fans become Haunt monsters for a night, meet Knott's executives for a question and answer session and enjoy many other aspects of the world's biggest Halloween event in Buena Park, California.

Theme Park Adventure was soon recognized by most major theme park/thrill park operators as a credible, respected media organization and as a result, TPA has been invited to attend the openings of many major attractions including: Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa), Superman (Six Flags Magic Mountain), Goliath (Six Flags Magic Mountain), Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Orlando and Hollywood), Halloween Horror Nights (Universal Orlando and Hollywood), Monsters, Inc. (Disney's California Adventure), Scream (Six Flags Magic Mountain), Silver Bullet (Knott's Berry Farm), and many, many more.

In later years, Theme Park Adventure produced two books - the most acclaimed project was our 170-page historical look at Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, which was three years in the making, in partnership with Walt Disney Imagineers, The Disney Company itself and Disney Imagineering Legends Marc and Alice Davis.  The book featured exclusive interviews and hundreds of images never before seen by fans and most definitely was a highlight in the Theme Park Adventure timeline.

The second book was a detailed look at the transformation of the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse into Tarzan's Treehouse at Disneyland.  This was also widely-acclaimed by fans and was possible through our long-running friendship with Disney Imagineering Legend Tony Baxter and industry powerhouse Bob Baranick.  Again, this 70-page book included behind-the-scenes interviews and pictures never available anywhere else and was immediately another notch in TPA's publishing belt.

Time moved on and it became cost-prohibitive to continue printing The Brake Zone and these various book projects.  Digital media was all the rage, and everyone had shifted to the Internet.  So did Theme Park Adventure.  We were the first theme park fan site on the Net and to this day, remain one of the largest and most in-depth online entities for theme park fans around the world.

With printed material a thing of the past, Theme Park Adventure has seriously considered several directions over the past several years - from interactive CD/DVD formats to individual DVD "issues".  The world of digital media remains so volatile and liquid at the moment, we have reserved making any major decisions for the time being, because the minute we decide what the next move is - something newer and better comes along and opens our eyes to a whole new level of possibilities!

TPA has moved into the digital realm of MySpace.com with our own page located at: www.myspace.com/themeparkadventure and has also established a popular "channel" on the streaming video site YouTube.com.  The address for "TPA TV" is: www.youtube.com/user/ThemeParkAdventure.

As new technologies emerge and Theme Park Adventure plots its course for the coming years, know that we aren't going anywhere.  In fact, with 2009 here, we feel refreshed and ready to head into the unknown stronger and more capable than ever before.  And as our slogan says, we are very excited about taking you all on a ride through the past, present and the future with us.

Theme Park Adventure doesn't run itself.  It takes dedicated and enthusiastic individuals to run this company and keep our content fresh and exciting for our readers.  The folks currently behind TPA are:

Rick West

Founder/Writer/Photo/Video

Johanna Atilano

Admin/Writer/Photo/Video

Shea Foley

Video/Photo/Writer

Kevin Horton

Writer/Photo

Bill Coleman

Photo/Writer

Jim Taber

Photo/Audio/Writer

Steve Bliss

Tech Support/IT Guru

Amy Lucas

Photo/Writer

Once you've decided that you know how to use that digital camera of yours and feel comfortable writing about your experiences, anyone and everyone is invited to contact TPA and simply inquire about joining the team.  We cannot say yes to everyone - but serious offers will be considered and discussed.  Anyone interested should know that TPA is a non-paying gig; we do it for the love and the fun of sharing this kooky industry with other fans around the world.  Contributors will be recognized and your byline will make for a nice addition to your professional portfolio of published material, should you need it as a reference down the road.

ALL of us at Theme Park Adventure look forward to a great 2009 and thank you all for joining us for one heck of a fun ride!