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Not sure how much difference it will make, but glad there'll be slightly less of a log jam there. It does kind of make me miss the years where exiting through the gift shop was kind of the transition back to "modern life" lol. Now it's just an awkward building to walk through on the way to the parking lot.

Still don't understand why they don't at least upgrade the tram drop off. It always feels... off. The trams don't quite fit the current setup. Not that it's not the highest priority or anything, but they did focus a lot on improving the parking lot over the past decade and haven't done much to improve the actual entrance other than clearing out a lot of the old planters and theming around the water clock. I guess if they don't consider it broke...

I still want improvements to Bluegrass and BBQ to bring it back to its hey-day. Unfortunately they cut it down a lot this year. Feels like they are about to get rid of it for some reason. At least we get Rhonda Vincent twice this year as well as some other neat festival things. I'd love to hear more bluegrass throughout the park and less "theme park" music that has been creeping in. In fact, I'd like to see less "theme park" influence throughout and see them go back to paying attention to visuals such as hiding modern appliances to at least a modest extent. I'd also like the see the old Percy's space used again, and perhaps the Mine restaurant to re-open for good.

That's interesting. Does that mean they are getting closer to re-opening it full time for next season? Or perhaps it is just due to needing space/logistics for thanksgiving specifically.

I'm still curious why the old Molly's/Percy's space is still closed after all these years. I guess it doesn't quite fit the new "clean/modern" standards.

There is a flying theater at Beyond the Lens on the strip.

Yeah... but that one seems to be the cheapest variation they could get. Wouldn't take much to blow that out of the water. I did that one a couple years ago and only remember it being a bit awkward and not very impressive.

There's been a few variations of those flying theatres over the years. I've always agreed that one would do well here. Anything indoors and weather protected is a plus!

The newly combined Six Flags company is now cutting costs right and left. There's basically no more competition for them, so they may as well shave the parks down to the bare bones I guess. Lots of old rides will get the axe soon unfortunately.

Frontier City is not one of their owned properties, but I don't think it's a great source of revenue for them, so there's a possibility they won't continue the operating agreement in the near future. The only reason they "need" FC is to keep competition out of the OKC market and help funnel people down to SFOT with the dual pass sales.

Supposedly the property has had foreclosure motions filed against it in court. The two companies that previously filed liens are now looking to force a sale to get payment. Mansion needs to figure this out yesterday. The lien apparently had a clause that charged interest DAILY.

I will have to look into that. It might have been a feature that got turned off during the upgrade. It looks like all the old attachments are throwing errors... Maybe they got rid of that functionality?

I will also look into adding more features such as the Like button.

Didn't get a chance yet to play with the theme - will try to get to that this week. Might end up changing the base theme again just so I can get something that I'm actually able to update.

Just made it back from the annual ACE Coaster Christmas event. Nothing major this year, but it was good to hear Brad talk about the resort and hint heavily to the group that the years following the resort opening will be packed with new additions. He seemed to hint at a new roller coaster in the next few years. He implied that the resort area and the park would become more connected over time.

Speaking of the resort, they are already moving quickly on the earth moving. You can see it as you drive past, but it's hard to get a photo unless you are quick and in a passenger seat. I stopped at the entrance (it was Sunday, so no one going in or out) and took a couple shots that I posted on our FB page, but you can't see much from that angle. Basically it's just a hill of dirt at this point, but you can tell it's a huge area and will take a lot of earth moving.

Inside the park, the new employee lounge looks great. I only saw it from peaking through the gate next to Brown's. Looks like they made it a lot more presentable from the outside - a possible indication that they intend on using the "second entrance" more often in the future.

Really noticed how much painting they've done around the park lately. Unfortunately, it was more noticeable to me because I started realizing how plain so much of the park looks now. They've gotten rid of so much of the old signage and the antique stuff that used to be scattered everywhere. I understand a lot of that stuff breaks down over time and finding replacements at this point is not easy. Still, the ambiance is certainly changing... The park is filling up with "employee signs" now, but the rest of the theming is quickly disappearing and not being replaced. Hopefully one of these years they'll have another initiative to add more theme items back again.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/business/2-5-billion-vinita-theme-park-to-be-delayed-years-but-developers-say-they-are/article_79447acc-8b47-11ef-899e-5bfe02a623f0.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR08SZc5vcchdefBVZ35JnaYXvKkWXqs7t4s6piynbSHe79PlXYTnD5p4Co_aem_xM4ODIjhO2GrN4MqyN55Tg

Just in case you guys didn't see: they have now formally stated that the park will indeed take a few years longer to bring to reality than originally stated. To the surprise of absolutely no one, lol.

Very little chance this project survives. They need the OK legislature to approve a stupidly specific bill that will help them pay for infrastructure and off-site utilities to support this development. That involves things like upsizing the Vinita sewage plant, upsizing their water distribution system, and presumably increasing HWY 60 to a 4-lane up to the park.

They apparently had no plan for any of this and assumed that as soon as they announced the project, the state would just do it all for them. Between that and apparently not understanding their own RV park plans before STARTING CONSTRUCTION, one has to assume that they are unqualified to get this done - to say the least.

The founder of Mansion is currently 92 years old and is still the driving force behind this apparently. I predict this project will die one of two ways: either the founder passes away first and the project team disbands due to the project being unsustainable without his money, or the OK legislature doesn't approve public funds for the infrastructure they need in Vinita.

I'll be messing around with the look of the forums on Friday most likely. I tried messing with it some tonight, but this current theme is a bit more complex than I am used to and I am out of practice. This theme actually generates style sheets on the fly rather than using a fixed css file, so that's kind of a pain.

I will eventually make this place look "rustic" again. You know we love our theming around here, lol.

I was just thinking about this project today. The website is still active, but nothing new since 2020. I sent them a message to see if the project is still alive. We'll see if I hear anything back. I check the county assessor maps and the land is still owned by an entity connected to Imagine Resorts.

WOW. Not just a resort, but a ten year building boom. They emphasized connecting the park and resort.

My initial reaction to the resort is that the architecture looks pretty bland. It doesn't evoke anything that reminds me of SDC in any way. Just a generic white resort building. Oh well, I'm sure it will be very nice, and it looks like they are going all out with the landscaping and park features behind it. It's seven stories tall, but only 260 rooms. You can tell they did indeed leave plenty of room for an expansion however. With 1200 acres, they can expand a few times, lol.

Glad this has FINALLY come to fruition after years of waiting.

Somehow I doubt there will be a resort entrance for the first few years. Seems like a long way to go to put in access back there. I'm sure they will eventually move that way though. The maintenance area will probably slowly shift north over the next decade or two so they can fit more in there in the small amount of flat space they have to work with.

^I don't think they'll be going that far. The train is pretty established, lol. Would be a hell of a job to build a new route at this point. That would be a major reconstruction of half the park. Will be interesting to see what they do next with it though. The rumor about the new train station was always a bit off, but it makes sense for them to do something in that regard because of the overcrowding at the current station. I know at one point they seemed to be looking at redeveloping the existing train station and the Flooded Mine area in one swoop. Could still happen someday I guess.


Anyway though, we are finally on the eve of the resort announcement. Any last minute guesses as to how many rooms and what else could be included? I am guessing this will be a first phase, especially considering how much work it will take to grade the site and bring in utilities. Probably just a "starter" resort with standard amenities and around 250 rooms. I'm expecting a smaller Dreammore, essentially. I think they will do it in a way that makes it easy to add onto though.