Valdosta State University announced a new deal with Wild Adventures Theme Park—free season passes—a little under three weeks ago on Aug. 10. According to Wild Adventures Public Relations Manager Adam Floyd, this deal was a year in the making.

“VSU and Wild Adventures have always had a relationship since Wild Adventures began,” Floyd said. “VSU and Wild Adventures have always been intertwined, so this was just one of those natural steps in our relationship.”

Last year, students were shocked to find out VSU’s traditional “Wild Adventures Night” wouldn’t be occurring fall 2017. Dr. Vincent Miller, Vice President of Student Affairs explained why this occurred.

“Last year this was not possible due to homecoming being later in the semester and Wild Adventures closing for their winter renovations,” Miller said. “VSU and Wild Adventures met last spring semester to revisit this one-night event and brainstorm ways we could offer more opportunities at Wild Adventures than just one night.”

Floyd said he and the Wild Adventures team are excited for this new collaboration.

“We’re really excited about the partnership and we are really excited about having VSU students coming to the park,” Floyd said.

Dr. Miller said this collaboration was done to expose VSU through new outlets.

“We believe this is a great way to promote the student experience at VSU and attract more students to enroll at our great University,” Miller said.

Besides free season passes, Wild Adventures also agreed to changing the name of the “Firecracker” to the “Blazer Blastoff,” implemented by the spring of 2019.

“This branding will expose Valdosta State University to more than 300,000 visitors that take in Wild Adventures each year,” Miller said.

Students can also look forward to multiple collaborations between VSU and Wild Adventures throughout the 2018-2019 school year.

So far, the partnership has a Terror in the Wild promo night and a “larger” artist concert that VSU “could not afford on its own.”

Right now, students who live on-campus get into the theme park with the passes for free—except Saturdays which will cost $15—while tickets for off-campus students are $49.

Dr. Miller also encourages all students to upgrade their tickets to Blazer Plus Pass.

“By upgrading to the Blazer Plus Pass students can get access to the park on Saturdays, free parking, and their pass will work during the summer concert series,” Miller said.

The plus passes are $29 for on-campus students and $69 for off-campus students. These passes run through December 31, 2019, while regular passes run through May 31, 2019.

Written by Kaitlyn Baich, Staff Writer. Photo by Bryce Ethridge, News Editor.

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