| Amusement Park: | American Adventure Theme Park (2003 to present)
American Adventure (2000 to 2002)
American Adventure World (1998 to 1999)
American Adventure (1987 to 1997)
Britannia Park (1985 to 1986) |
| Location: | Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, UK |
| Postal Code: | DE7 5SX |
| 1979 | Derbyshire County Council earmarks the site surrounding Shipley Lake for "private sector leisure development". In moves the Kent-based KLF Group, headed by Peter Kellard, with the dream of having a theme park based around the best of all things British. A 100 year lease is later negotiated. |
| 1985 | "Britannia Park" is opened by Henry Cooper (former British Heavy-weight champion). Twelve weeks later, the park goes into administration, and subsequently closes. |
| 1986 | The administrator sells out to "Park Hall Leisure (Derbyshire) Ltd.", with interest from Granada and John Rigby (owner of Camelot in Chorley). The lease is renegotiated to allow more expansive development. |
| 1987 | The American Adventure opens, after £8,000,000 of investment. |
| 1992 | Granada buys out Park Hall Leisure, and becomes the sole owner of Camelot and the American Adventure, alongside its long running Studio Tours. |
| 1997 | Granada focuses its interest on Television. The American Adventure is stripped of its brand names (at the time "Sooty", "Krypton Factor" and "Gladiators" where in use). The park is sold to a new consortium, "Ventureworld Ltd.", lead by John Broome. |
| 1998 | The park is renamed American Adventure World, with the word "American" in small type. Over time, the American theme was to be almost completely phased out, with areas based on Plans are drawn up for 'groundbreaking' rides, most notably a Bolliger and Mabillard Inverted Rollercoaster, and a Custom Coasters International Wooden Rollercoaster. Few plans made it to fruition |
| 2000 | John Broome leaves and park name reverts to "The American Adventure". |
| 2005 | The park changes its focus to be a younger more family orientated park. In the process several of the more extreme ride are closed including the Missile roller coaster, the Nightmare Niagara log flume and the rapids rides. |
