Roger Wayland/1986 interview

Transcript

 * INTERVIEWER: So Roger, how did you feel when Memphisworld became popular after it opened?
 * ROGER: I feel great that my company's first built amusement park opened after two years of construction. It cost about 30 million dollars to build. We still building on the wooden coaster that was relocated from the State Fair of Texas named, Memphis Comet when the park opened, so it will be opened next year.
 * INTERVIEWER: When Memphis Comet was originally built in Texas?
 * ROGER: It was 1947 when it was built.
 * INTERVIEWER: Really?, That's a very old ride. So, Roger, Do you have any plans for the future?
 * ROGER: Yes, in the future, when Memphisworld keeps getting successful, we had the plan to build the first out-of-state theme park.
 * INTERVIEWER: So how long when been an amusement park business?
 * ROGER: I have been in an amusement park business for eight years.
 * INTERVIEWER: Eight years?
 * ROGER: Yes.
 * INTERVIEWER: Why is that?
 * ROGER: Because I was a former employee of Anderson Amusements in Missouri which was founded by Richard Anderson, George Johnson's older brother. I was an employee of this company from 1978 to 1982. I left the company and Missouri and moved to Memphis in 1982, where I started my own amusement park company Memphis Entertainment Company which was founded 3 years ago.
 * INTERVIEWER: Oh that's interesting to know that.
 * ROGER: Yeah, Eight years before I became an amusement park businessman, When I was 25, my parents took me to Land of Oz park which was located at Beech Mountain in North Carolina, And I have great memories of going to this park. So sad that the park was now gone forever.