Magic Mountain expansion to bring more rides and games year round

Magic Mountain in Moncton is growing, adding more amusement park rides next to its existing water park at Magnetic Hill.

The park hopes the new attractions will bring more visitors to the area.

"Moncton has appealed to families for years. We were sad to see Crystal Palace go and that was really why we were interested in acquiring these rides and then adding them back into the marketplace," said Mark Jelley, the director of finance and marketing for Magic Mountain.

Magic Mountain acquired many of the rides from nearby Crystal Palace Amusement Park in Dieppe which shut down last September.

The first phase of the multi-year expansion at Magic Mountain has already begun and is expected to open in mid-July.

It will include several new rides including a carousel, bumper cars, a train, a treehouse play park and carnival games.

All rides in this first phase are geared toward younger visitors said Jelley.

"The crowd that I've heard the most noise from over the winter are the younger kids, age four to 10 where they're saying, where did Crystal Palace go? We're going to be adding the rides that they're most excited about," he said.

Phase two is scheduled to open in July of 2016 and includes another three or four larger carnival rides.

Phase three will include the addition of indoor attractions such as laser tag and blacklight mini-golf.

The third phase, set to open in 2017, aims to extend Magic Mountain's operating season and owners The Maritime Fun Group, expect the expansion will add about 30 employees to their team of seasonal staff.