Ride Designers Announce Plan for Theme Park

A group of theme park ride designers announced plans Monday to build a 1,000-acre theme park with movie-based attractions in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Studio Park Hollywood, the first venture of Orlando, Fla.-based Studio Park Partners Inc., would feature rides, hotels, golf, sound stages and a rodeo arena, said Bob Winford, president of Studio Park Partners.

Winford and his partners have worked as ride designers for Universal Studios and other companies and recently teamed up with Highbury Capital Inc. of Rochester, N.Y., in an effort to raise $2.1 billion to build the attraction.

Among the top sites Studio Partners is considering is the old Whitaker Corp. explosive testing lab, five miles east of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, Winford said. (The partnership has no connection to that park).

The 996-acre site has not been used for about a decade.