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Six Flags Nebraska is a theme park & zoo located in Springfield, Nebraska, near Omaha. It is owned and operated by Six Flags. The park was opened in 1977 by The Coca-Cola Company as Ak-Sar-Ben Safari Park, and was re-named as Columbia Movie Park & Zoo in 1983 after Coca-Cola's purchase of Columbia Pictures. The park was sold to Sony in 1989 along with Columbia Pictures and TriStar, who sold it to Premier Parks in 1998, who rebranded it as Six Flags Nebraska.
Six Flags Nebraska features several themed areas along with the Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Nebraska water park, which is the largest Hurricane Harbor in the Six Flags chain. 2 million guests visited Six Flags Nebraska in 2018. Six Flags Nebraska has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1981.
History[]
Coca-Cola era (1977-1989)[]
In May 1975, the Coca-Cola Company in cooperation with the local bottler Chesterman Company purchased several acres of disused farmland in Springfield, Nebraska off Platteview Road, causing the Omaha World-Herald to speculate that either a theme park or bottling plant was being planned for the site. The then-Ak-Sar-Ben Safari Park was announced on June 6, 1975, in a press conference at the Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum. Groundbreaking occurred on November 2, 1975, and the park opened on July 4, 1977 (the Fourth of July of that year). For the years that the park was called the Ak-Sar-Ben Safari Park, Coca-Cola paid royalties to the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben.
In 1983, Omaha Safari Park was re-named to and expanded as Columbia Movie Park & Zoo to capitalize on Coca-Cola's purchase of Columbia Pictures. The park's new slogan was "Hollywood in the Great Plains".
Sony era (1989-1998)[]
Coca-Cola sold off Columbia Movie Park & Zoo along with Columbia Pictures and TriStar to Sony, and they started adding more movie-based rides.
Six Flags era (1998-present)[]
In 1998, Columbia Movie Park & Zoo was sold by Sony to Premier Parks for US$52 million. On June 2, 1998, the park opened for the 1998 season under its new name of Six Flags Nebraska. In 2018, Six Flags announced that after the elephants (which the park anyway only had two left of, which is below the AZA limit) die, it will not take in any other elephants to replace them, instead opting to demolish the old elephant enclosure for further theme park expansion.
Areas[]
- DC Superhero City
- Looney Tunes Jungleland
- Planet Cartoon Network
- Six Flags Thrills
- Whistlestop Park (formerly known as "Thomas Town" [2008-2010])
Current rides & attractions[]
Roller coasters[]
- Batman: The Ride (2000; a B&M Batman Clone, originally planned as FACE/OFF for Paramount's Great America) [DC Superhero City]
- The Joker (2005; a TOGO Stand up Coaster, relocated from Six Flags Taiwan where it was formerly known as Robot Coaster from 1997-2004, retracked by S&S Sansei in 2010) [DC Superhero City]
- La Vibora (2005; a Mack Bobsled coaster, relocated from Six Flags Taiwan where it was formerly known as Bobsleigh from 1994-2004) [Six Flags Thrills]
- Roadrunner Railway (1998; a SED kiddie coaster) [Looney Tunes Jungleland]
- Scooby-Doo Ghoster Coaster (1991; a Schwarzkopf sit-down family coaster, formerly known as "Ghostbusters Chase" [1991-1997], given new trains by SED-Hopkins in 2021) [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Superman: Ultimate Flight (2012; A B&M Flying Coaster "Manta" clone) [DC Superhero City]
- Ultra Twister (2007; A Gerstlauer 420/2 spinning coaster, formerly known as "Tony Hawk's Big Spin" [2007-2010], this was the only Tony Hawk's Big Spin roller coaster to not be renamed "Big Spin", "Pandemonium", or to have a DC Comics name) [Six Flags Thrills]
Flat rides[]
- Adventure Time: Jake's Water Guns (2015; A Mack Twist 'n' Splash ride) [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Dexter's Laboratory Mobiles (2002; A Sally Corporation Dark Ride) [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Flintstone Flyers (1998; A Zamperla Telecombat ride, based on the first episode of the Flintstones, "The Flintstone Flyer") [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Halfpipe (2008; A Zamperla Disk'O ride, formerly known as "Tony Hawk's Big Spin Halfpipe" [2008-2010]) [Six Flags Thrills]
- Sea Storm (1983; A Mack Sea Storm ride) [Six Flags Thrills]
- SkyScreamer (2013; A Funtime Star Flyer) [Six Flags Thrills]
- Spider (1985; An Eyerly Spider ride) [Six Flags Thrills]
- Vertical Velocity (2000; An Intamin Gyro Drop tower ride) [Six Flags Thrills]
- Whirligig (1977; A Zierer Wave Swinger ride) [Six Flags Thrills]
Kiddie rides[]
- Bugs Bunny's Road Rally (1998; A Zamperla Convoy ride with 4x4 monster trucks) [Looney Tunes Jungleland]
- Daffy's Diver (1998; A Zamperla Crazy Bus ride that is themed to a submarine) [Looney Tunes Jungleland]
- George Jetson's Rocket Ride (1998; A Zamperla Aerial Ride) [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Pepe LePew’s Rafts of Romance (1998; A Zamperla Mini Jet ride themed to wooden rafts) [Looney Tunes Jungleland]
- Powerpuff Express (2011; A Zamperla Rio Grande Train ride) [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Regular Show: Benson's Bumper Balls (2011; A Zamperla Mini Bumper Cars Ride) [Planet Cartoon Network]
- Taz's Tornado (1998; A Sartori Kiddie Wave Swinger ride) [Looney Tunes Jungleland]
Zoo attractions[]
Animals[]
- American Pine Martens
- Bears
- Bobcats
- European Polecats
- Elephants
- Giraffes
- Goats
- Flamingos
- Lions
- Minks
- Okapi
- Otters
- Penguins
- Panthers
- Possums
- Rhinoceroses
- Sea Lions
- Sea Otters
- Tigers
- Zebras
Other zoo attractions[]
Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Nebraska[]
Opened in 2004.
- Adventure River (2004; a 1,000-foot (300 m) long lazy river)
- Big Kahuna (2004; four-slide intertube complex)
- Dive Bomber (2004; a five-story slide where the floor drops out from under you, originally had no trapdoor until 2014, and also known as "New Dive Bomber" for the 2014 season)
- Hook's Lagoon (2004; a family water playground)
- Hurricane Bay (2004; a 500,000 gallon wave pool)
- Hurricane Mountain (2004, a set of ProSlide Technology Inc. Pipeline slides)
- Tornado (2004; a ProSlide Technology Inc. Tornado "Rattler" slide)
Trivia[]
- The current location of Hurricane Harbor used to be a fully-functional faux-movie back lot. However, no major motion pictures were filmed there, although a few independent films, television shows and music videos were filmed there.