The sale of Wild West World was finalized during a hearing in federal bankruptcy court Thursday morning.
Jerry Murphy, president of Murphy Brothers Exposition, hopes to have more success than Thomas Etheredge did. Murphy has been in the amusement industry for more than 50 years and knows that the park has to be changed to make people forget about the bad experiences they had with Wild West World.
"It'll be a whole new name and a whole new park," Murphy said.
In addition to a new name, Murphy said we can expect to see a whole new format and new rides.
"All the rides are gone and we're going to have to come in with a whole new
set of rides," Murphy said.
The new rides will include roller coasters.
"Roller coasters, you definitely need in any park you need roller coasters.
We figure we'll put in two, maybe three roller coasters," Murphy said.
Murphy also said he wants to do something for Wild West World pass holders. One idea is to offer the pass holders next year free if they buy a pass for the following year.
Although a new name has yet to be decided, Murphy has an idea for that as well.
"We might even run a contest in Wichita with the public and do some sort of a
contest so everybody has an opportunity to pick a name," Murphy said.
The formal closing date for the theme park deal is May 30th.
The target date for reopening the entire park is Easter Sunday 2009.