September 22, 2014
Our first season at Fantasy Shore Amusement Park has been a fun and challenging one. It is hard to believe that in early summer we began building an amusement park and a few weeks later it was up and running. The transition from parkland to amusement parks in a matter of weeks was an amazing one. Fantasy Shore (www.fantasyshorenyc.com) is our third property in the New York City area and the second, small, family amusement park we run.
David P. Galst, Managing Director of Ride Operations Group, said, “Fantasy Shore has had a terrific inaugural season. The community has welcomed us with open arms and many guests tell us that they are thrilled that Staten Island has a family amusement park to call their own. On a side-note, as a lifelong fan of the amusement park industry, I am proud to say we operate the Verrazano Viper, Staten Island’s only roller coaster!”
Chris Mercaldo, who joined the company in late winter of this year, was handed the task of getting the property up and running. He noted, “Building Fantasy Shore for the great community here on Staten Island was an incredible experience. Day after day we had people coming up to the gate around our under construction amusement park telling us how excited they were for us to open and what a great addition we would be to their community. To bring an amusement park back to the people of Staten Island was very special, and it was great on opening day to see all of the smiles on everyone’s faces and hear their laughter in the air.”
We are extremely proud of the opening of the only amusement park on Staten Island. While there are lots of exciting amusement venues across New York City, we gave the families of Staten Island a “hometown amusement park.” Everyone on the Fantasy Shore team did an amazing job of getting the park up and running, we are proud to have them as team members.
-AFS