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24 Oct 2023
Morgan’s Wonderland reveals plans for largest expansion in its history
By Tom Walker
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the wheelchair-accessible Jette’s Wonder Bikes will have six, hang-glider-style cars
Photo: Morgan's Wonderland
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Morgan’s Wonderland – a Texas-based theme park which caters specifically to people with disabilities – has revealed plans to add attractions worth US$6 million in 2024.
The major additions will include a 4D cinema giving, a passenger boat ride across the park’s eight-acre fishing lake, a zipline soaring above the lake and a wheelchair-accessible "bike ride".
The 4D theatre, located at the park's Sensory Village, gives guests the sensation of riding a thrilling roller coaster.
Designed to accommodate guests in wheelchairs – and to give them the same roller-coaster-type experience as "typical" riders – the cinema will feature electric actuators that deliver smooth and accurate motion effects.
It also has a custom video screen size for guests of all abilities and a motion-disengage option for those who do not wish to experience coaster-like sensations.
Elsewhere, the zipline – called Rocket’s Sky Flight Adventure – is a first-of-its-kind, four-seater ride that can accommodate people with disabilities and special needs.
The carriage will have room for respiratory equipment or other gear required by the rider with special needs, plus additional restraints for riders with poor head and upper body control.
Meanwhile, the wheelchair-accessible Jette’s Wonder Bikes will have six, hang-glider-style cars that gently fly in a circular pattern.
Each is equipped with pedals that riders can use to make the cars swoop up and down. Guests unable to access the pedals can use hand cranks instead.
Gordon Hartman, who co-founded the park with his wife Maggie – and named it after their daughter Morgan – said: "Thus far, Morgan’s Wonderland has welcomed 2.7 million guests from all 50 states and more than 120 other countries.
"t’s now time to refresh and add new elements that will constitute our largest expansion since we opened in 2010.”
Morgan’s Wonderland was designed to be accessible free by all special needs individuals and to be enjoyed by everyone.
It was seeing his daughter Morgan, who has cognitive delay, struggling to interact with other children on a family holiday that gave Hartman the determination to create an attraction everyone could enjoy together.
To read an interview with Hartman from 2014, click here for Attractions Management, issue 1/2014. |
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