GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay summertime favorite is preparing to open for another year.
Bay Beach Amusement Park begins its 2017 season on May 6.
Since the park closed last fall, Manager Jason Arnoldi says crews have worked to refurbish a new ride that debuts this summer.
According to Arnoldi, the Falling Star “is a flat ride that takes you up about 60-65 feet in the air, takes you in a circle, and gives you that weightlessness feeling.”
Arnoldi says the Falling Star took roughly two years to prepare and brings the park’s ride total to 22.
With this newest debut, Arnoldi notes five rides will have been added to Bay Beach in a five-year span.
Mechanics have also spent recent weeks checking all of the existing rides to ensure they are all in working condition and make any necessary repairs.
Arnoldi is also excited that 2017 is the park’s 125th year in operation.
Commemorative events will run throughout the summer and include a birthday party on June 10 and throwback pricing on various Tuesday nights.
While the park’s oldest rides, the train and ferris wheel, are from the 1950’s, Arnoldi notes one of the pavilions was built just 17 years after the park’s 1892 opening.
Arnoldi hopes to build on Bay Beach’s recent success.
For a second straight year, he notes the park provided more than 3,000,000 rides.
Once again, Arnoldi says the Zippin Pippin roller coaster, slide, and train were the most popular rides last summer.
Despite recent additions, Bay Beach’s manager says they’re far from finished.
Arnoldi hopes construction on a westbound train that runs under the Zippin Pippin will begin this fall.
If all goes to plan, it could open in 2018.
According to Arnoldi “we also want to add a larger ferris wheel. It would be less of a thrill ride and more of a sightseeing ride. Maybe a 100-foot ferris wheel, so about double the size of the one we have now.”
Arnoldi notes tickets are $0.25 each, plus tax. Each ride requires 1-4 tickets per person.
Parking and admission are both free.
He says the park’s goal is to provide entertainment for all people in the Green Bay area, no matter their income level.
The park’s 2017 schedule is:
May 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, and 21: 10 am to 6 pm
May 23, 24, and 25: 10 am to 3 pm (for school groups)
May 26-29: 10 am to 9 pm
May 30-June 2: 10 am to 6 pm
June 3-4: 10 am to 9 pm
June 5-8: 10 am to 6 pm
June 9-August 20: 10 am to 9 pm
August 21-September 4: 10 am to 6 pm
Spetember 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, and 24: 10 am to 6 pm
The park closes for the year on September 25.
