Why do you think Santa's Village closed down?

[Ilovthevu']

Besides the park being in huge debt (according to a small park), what are your reasons? I have my own reasons. I will leave out Racing Rapids. Racing Rapids is a waterpark next door, and I doubt that this park was the cause of it.

These are my reasons, and you can add your own reasons.

1. The addition of Typhoon (steel roller coaster) never helped the park. Compared to the Galaxi, the lines for this ride went way down. This ride wasn't open as much as it should be. Of course, this ride costs a lot of money for such a small park probably being a $1 million. I'm not positive, but for what they are selling it for, it seems right. So, they added a huge expense that never paid off.

2. They had a Fire truck. Part of the problem in which people were mad at was that you could never hit the house anymore. You were sprinkling water for what seemed like hours, and you never actually got the fire out because they moved the house back so you can't hit it.

3. New improvements never really helped the rides. Instead of just simple maintenance, they bought brand new rides. They bought a new Zamperla dragon that was almost the same exact thing of what they had. The bumper cars had some work down to them because they had to gut out the middle of the ride. I'm not sure, but I think they did get a new Frog Hopper, or it was repaired. I do believe the planes near the Frog Hopper were also refurbished. What about the Reverchon? They cutted that thing out, and put new floorboards along with playing with the roof. They bought a new train that looks like Amtrack. People wouldn't have cared. These things never really helped the park, or they couldn't maintain the rides to begin with.

4. One ride I would like to complain about being in bad shape was the Yo-Yo. The paint was just coming off it bad, and the lights weren't right, and some other things. This was sad.

5. More new rides that didn't pay off. During the last year of operation, they had bought new rides. They include the Crazy Bus, and the Parachute Drop ride. These weren't getting the people as they had hoped. They had a Spider ride, and got rid of it for a Wipeout. They then sold that, and got the Parachute Drop ride. The Spider was just fine, and they should have left it. They sold there Eli 12, and bought a new Ferris Wheel. What was the point of this? I don't really know. Kiddieland has an Eli that is just fine. Why do you need a new one? On the other side of the park, they got rid of the tree ride with ornaments that would go up and down. They got rid of this, and it didn't pay off too. They bought the balloons, and trucks that go around in a circle. This wasn't worth the money as the previous ride was good enough.

6. The park had an accident which might have caused a lawsuit. This ride that carried people by two horses, or something like that. The horses went off the track, and something happened to people. I can imagine that they got sued because of this, and those people probably won. Anyway, they never replaced this attraction with anything. It's just a picnic area. There are already enough picnic areas in this park. So, this is just stupid leaving it empty. I believe they have some deers roaming on the other side. Half of the park (this side) turned into the more dumpy side while the other side was more normal.

Of course, compared to Kiddieland they also raised prices around $20 mark, and they didn't really advertise enough. I'm sure people would've went there if they wouldn't have done all these things to it. Instead, they chose Kiddieland over it, and the park is now closed for good.

Basically, in the end (what killed them) was spending way too much money that never paid off. That's why when you go Kiddieland, they have rides that are quite old, but they do keep them in good shape. They don't have the cash flow that a big amusement park has.

And no, I don't agree with people that say that most of the park wasn't taken care of. I only agree in one area, or two areas. This is not the reason why I think the park has gone. I have just listed why.

[Chitown]

When a judge orders the park operators to vacate the park immediately, you know they were doing things wrong.

Yes, I agree replacing the Galaxi with Typhoon was a mistake but that was done like 7 years ago.

When you are in debt and have no backing like the big amusement parks to secure loans, your park turns into a rundown, not well maintained, mess. Even 4-5 years ago when I used to take my daughter there, I noticed the lack of upkeep in the park. It was actually quite sad to see.

Attendance has slowly declined in the park for well over a decade. Bills piled up and push finally came to shove. Harris Bank which previously owned the land the park sits on sold it to a developer. The developer made it clear that money was owed to the village of Dundee and to other interests.

The village turned off the water to the park and Comed cut electric to the park because of lack of payment. If you can't even pay your utility bills, you can't run a business.

While I am sad to see Santa's Village go, the writing has been on the wall for this park for some years. The park is just dirty and families arent going to spend their money there and it showed with dismal attendance.

Unfortunately, Kiddieland's future isn't looking good either.

[Galvan]

^ Which is exactly why Six Flags is hell bent on getting families back to thier parks.

[RBull4life]

^ Summed up perfectly in 16 words.

Does anybody know what they plan to do with the land?

[[jonrev]]

My guess is a Walmart or Condos. They always replace something with a Walmart or Condos.

[Chitown]

Walmart is out. They have one exactly right across the street from the park.