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Before plans could be approved for construction to began, Hapstall needed to find a location. He knew that he wanted an area that captured natural beauty, i.e., an area that had a dense tree line and nice lake to adequately represent the overall theme of the complex which would be that of an "Enchanted Forest". In 1978, construction began on the first of the complex, the zoo. Originally, Hapstall wanted the zoo to be the main focus of the complex, occupying nearly half of the 80 acre site. Over the next year and a half, the complex took form and after 20 months of construction, Westland Point was complete.
The public wasn't too thrilled with lengthy construction of Westland Point but, on July 1, 1980, the complex held a grand opening ceremony and received rave reviews from the general public. The 80 acre complex included a 38 acre zoo and wildlife park, 15 acre amusement park, 17 acres of campgrounds situated near West Point Lake and a 10 acre entertainment venue, which included various shops, restaurants and a theatre. In 1988, the Westland Point decided to close the campground in favor of an expansion to the zoo/wildlife and amusement park areas of the complex.
In 1990, Westland Point opened Rolling Thunder, a dueling wooden coaster, as well as an assortment of other attractions and two new wildlife exhibits. Although Hapstall's main focus was the promotion of nature and wildlife, the crowds took an exceptional liking to Rolling Thunder which brought attendance and annual revenue to an all time, record high. In 1993, Westland Points nearby competitor, Busch Gardens, opened their newest thrill ride, Kumba. Hapstall quickly realized that in order to keep guests at Westland, he had to do his best to one-up Busch Gardens newest addition. Upon this realization, Hapstall contacted the manufacturer of Kumba, Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), in search of something that would have crowds raving once again. The following year, ThunderHawk opened and sent attendance through the roof once more. ThunderHawk, now to be known as Goblin's Revenge, was a 180 foot inverted coaster that featured six inversions and flew at speeds of over 60mph.
In 1995, the fate of Westland Point became unknown after William Hapstall suddenly passed away. With no one in place to take over ownership, Hapstall's business partner, Warner LeRoy, assumed the role has President and CEO for a brief period of time before selling Westland Point to Six Flags in 1998. By this time, Six Flags had ownership of LeRoy's Great Adventure after it was sold to them by Penn Central in 1992. No changes were made to Westland Point for the first year as a Six Flags property.
In 1999, Six Flags announced that Westland Point would re-open as "Six Flags Westland Point" for the 2000 season, they also announced that the wildlife section of the park would be removed as guests in that area were more interested in the rides section of the complex. This year also brought the addition of Deja Vu, a Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang, as well as a full park rebrand. In 2002, plans were submitted for a large, new thrill ride but, before plans could be approved, Six Flags had to sign a newly enforced 10 year property lease; having no doubt about the success of Westland Point, they signed and over the next 10 years the park doubled in size.
Despite the success of this park, Six Flags decided not to renew their 10 year lease and announced that the park would close at the end of the 2012 season. The public, as well as city officials, were shocked to hear this news as Six Flags did not announce their reasoning for no longer wanting to continue with this park. For next 4 years, Westland Point stood silent; city officials opted not to demolish the remainder of the park in hopes of finding a new owner.
On May 7, 2016, it was announced that Westland Point had been purchased by Dechlave Theme Park Entertainment. The deal included, 180 acres, 4 coasters and other smaller rides and every remaining structure in the park. Dechlave stated they plan to invest 50million dollars to renovate, refurbish and re-open Westland Point.
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