The American Adventure failed twice: once in ten weeks, once in twenty years

The site failed on its first try. Britannia Park opened in 1985 near Heanor, Derbyshire, with boxer Henry Cooper cutting the ribbon and a 'showcase of Britain' theme; it was insolvent within ten weeks. Derbyshire County Council bought it in 1986, and in June 1987 Granada reopened it as The American Adventure — a Wild West retheme with rollercoasters, log flumes and live cowboy stunt shows.

The park changed hands twice more — to John Broome's Ventureworld in 1997 and to Trevor Hemmings' leisure group in 1999 — while attendance slowly slid. In 2005 came the decisive repositioning: the American Adventure became a family park for under-14s, and three of its biggest rides — Nightmare Niagara, The Missile and Rocky Mountain Rapids — were closed in the transition.

It bought no recovery. On 4 January 2007 the owners announced the park would not reopen after years of falling visitor numbers, and the rides were sold off. Redevelopment was approved in July 2012; the site is now the Shipley Lakeside housing estate and a 66-bed care home, with the park's lake kept.