Adventures of a Theme Park Designer

My personal story of creating
memorable theme park rides & attractions

Rick Bastrup

This is the story of discovery and adventure about two guys who wanted to design theme parks, but didn't work at any of the major design companies. So, they just went ahead and did it, teaching themselves from the ground up!

Rick Bastrup and Richard Ferrin—R & R Creative Amusement Designs—have been designing iconic and award-winning parks, rides, and attractions since 1982. This book chronicles over thirty of these projects and how they were designed and built. From Yosemite Sam at Six Flags Over Texas and Grand Canyon Rapids at MGM Grand Adventures to Phantom Theater and Adventure Express at Kings Island, their work has been enjoyed and beloved by millions across the country and beyond.

Follow their journey as Rick shares his stories, revealing tricks of the trade, behind-the-scenes secrets, and the occasional mistakes made along the way. It's a tale of learning as they went, encountering challenging, humorous, and even dangerous situations along the road of a career that's spanned four decades...and still counting!

“It’s a breath of fresh air that Rick has taken the time to tell those stories today. This is a historian’s best wish come true. These outstanding achieve- ments—as told in his own words—are now forever archived thanks to this book that chronicles more than twenty-five major projects that made it from paper concept to reality, and in those rare cases, the ones that didn’t get the green light. Fans of these attractions now get another perspective that will surely add to their enjoyment.”
Gary Slade, Amusement Today