Amusement Park King Builds New Palace

Family amusement park pioneer William L. Rameson has formed a new company, Palace Entertainment, that will operate a chain of 15 miniature golf and arcade-based parks and be headquartered in Orange County.

Rameson, who started the Camelot and Castle amusement park chains and later sold his interest in them, has acquired seven Camelot parks and seven Huish Family Fun Centers--all in California--and the Grand Prix Race-O-Rama park in Dania, Fla.

Terms of the deals, which were completed late last month, were not released.

Palace spokeswoman Allwin Rameson said Tuesday that the 15 parks have gross annual revenue of more than $50 million and have more than 1,000 employees.

Santa Barbara-based Palace will move its headquarters and 11 employees to Irvine this month. The administrative offices of San Juan Capistrano-based Huish and Newport Beach-based Camelot Park Family Centers will be consolidated into the new Irvine offices, which ultimately will employ about 25 people.

Palace, formerly Entertainment Group International, carried out the acquisitions with financial backing from Windward Capital Partners, a New York-based private investment firm.

The parks, to be consolidated under the Palace Entertainment holding company, will continue operating under their existing names, Allwin Rameson said.

They include the Huish centers in Fountain Valley, Anaheim, Upland, Escondido, Vista, El Cajon and San Diego, and the Camelot parks in Cathedral City, Irvine, Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Livermore and Santa Maria. The Irvine center doesn’t use the Camelot name, operating instead as Palace Park.

The Camelot Golfland amusement park in Anaheim is separately owned and not involved in the transaction.

In a statement Tuesday, William Rameson said Palace Entertainment plans to acquire other entertainment facilities.