VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University students will get passes to Wild Adventures Theme Park.

The collaboration, which was announced at a press conference earlier in the week, includes providing all on-campus students with free annual passes to the theme park, excluding Saturdays — which will cost $15 — and parking fees, through May 31, 2019.

Off-campus students can receive the same passes for $49, according to university officials.

Wild Adventures will also sell VSU merchandise at its gift shops, and the sponsorship will be noted throughout the park and its website.

Also announced during the press conference was the rebranding of the Firecracker as the Blazer Blastoff, a nod to the university mascot. The change will be introduced spring 2019. 

“We have a gem in Wild Adventures that attracts so many people to the region,” said Dr. Richard Carvajal, VSU president. “We just thought it made a lot of sense to expand the relationship that we have long enjoyed.”

The value of the advertising for VSU is $50,000, said Vince Miller, VSU vice president for student engagement.

With that, the university administration hopes it pays off in terms of attracting prospective students to VSU.

“For us, it was a great opportunity to look at how we’re recruiting students now,” Miller said. “This opportunity exists right here in our backyard, and we could take advantage of that to broaden our reach to those guests who come from all over the Southeast.”

Miller said he is confident the advertising will increase website traffic and overall interest in VSU.

The season passes should attract students, particularly to live and stay on campus, Carvajal said.

“We now believe we’re in a position that with this agreement along with everything else we have, why would anyone choose to go anywhere else?” Carvajal said.

Wild Adventures sees the agreement as an opportunity to gain more foot traffic into the park, said Patrick Pearson, Wild Adventures director of marketing.

The theme park welcomes about 650,000 guests a year, usually from the South Georgia and North Florida area.

Pearson said out-of-town prospective or current students will now have the opportunity to learn about and visit Wild Adventures.

“This really formalizes the relationship and really enables us to introduce our park to out-of-town students who may have never heard of Wild Adventures,” Pearson said.

Students can collect their season passes now, and they have the option to purchase plus passes for $29 for residents and $69 for non-residents. This price includes Saturday visits and parking through December 31, 2019. 

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.