SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City
General Category => Other Parks => Topic started by: Swoosh on May 27, 2013, 11:00:07 PM
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The park looks amazing. EVERYTHING has been redone. New slide tower is awesome too.
http://midwestinfoguide.com/oceans/2013/05.25/
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Great pics as usual.
Looks like competition was good for the park, It was WAY past due for upgrades..
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I think now that OOF is combined with WOF we will see more frequent additions to the park. When the parks were separate, it was very hard to justify spending money on that park as it really did not make any money. Now ROI will be a lot easier to get on additions. The PTB mentioned several times that they will be closely monitoring traffic between the two parks and will not hesitate to add additional capacity to OOF if it is needed.
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Thanks for the report, Swoosh. Interesting to see what some of the other regional parks are doing. This was a big redo for them. Have you had a chance to do Magic Springs in Hot Springs this year? I understand things are perhaps a bit shaky there financially.
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Nah. I haven't been to Magic Springs since they added the wave simulator.
There is nothing to draw me there, TBQH and since I have no sentimental connection, it is doubtful I'll ever visit again unless something MAJOR is added.
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Great review! I have only been to Oceans of Fun once, and I think that was about 8 years ago. I may have to talk my family into a visit soon.
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The two parks are combined now into one low price so it is definitely a good value - WOF/OOF
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The two parks are combined now into one low price so it is definitely a good value - WOF/OOF
Do you think that Schitterbahn forced their hand or were they just following St. Flags lead?
Plus two hotels in KC with indoor waterparks. The Holiday Inn and Great Wolf.
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OOF really needed a lot of work and the PTB had a hard time justifying the cost without quick ROI.
I would say Schlitterbahn didn't help, but there are also a lot of pop up city pools adding major slides anymore that were killing attendance as well.
This year OOF has been packed everyday I've been there and so far I've been there 4 times
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OOF really needed a lot of work and the PTB had a hard time justifying the cost without quick ROI.
I would say Schlitterbahn didn't help, but there are also a lot of pop up city pools adding major slides anymore that were killing attendance as well.
This year OOF has been packed everyday I've been there and so far I've been there 4 times
You are right about the evolution of municipal facilities. Rogers just opened theirs, little ol Alma has quite a nice one for a small town
(http://cityofalma.org/images/pages/N266/DSCF3975.JPG)
Along with the new one in Rogers and the one coming in Ft. Smith. Some in Fayetteville safe now wanting to explore one in a new large park in the south end of town.
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My question is, are they (the municipal pools) making enough money to warrant the additional liability insurance premium costs?
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swoosh, thats what i have been wondering also..
these small towns build these "Aquatic Parks"..
i dont see how they are being supported, the city fathers are more interested in keeping up with the "Jones'", than running the pool like a business.
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swoosh, thats what i have been wondering also..
these small towns build these "Aquatic Parks"..
i dont see how they are being supported, the city fathers are more interested in keeping up with the "Jones'", than running the pool like a business.
Well, the one in Rogers seems to operating with the notion of paying for itself. They are offering half off 10 visit punch card for the next couple of days which gives a family and friends 10 admissions for 5 bucks. It is a lot harder to sue govt in Arkansas and most other states. It can be done but they have more protections than a person or business has.
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Pools are the money pit of any city, but they are needed to keep people in the community. Many of these pools that are putting in water park type things are buying them from parks that are remodeling or rt hey are getting grants for them in addition to adding from their own pot.
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That may be true Diana and Chittlins..
LOL.. I have a different look at that. I live in a small town in eastern kansas. 1,000 peopl (maybe). the county seat is 8 miles away, (2,000 people)...
Anyway 8 minutes south of me is a nice little federal park that has 4 swimming areas with nice clean sandy beaches... NE of me is another federal lake, 3 nice swimmng areas.. LOL. i was raised swimming in ponds and lakes, I dont understand the pool thing here at home, with the lakes and ponds so close by..
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Pools are the money pit of any city, but they are needed to keep people in the community. Many of these pools that are putting in water park type things are buying them from parks that are remodeling or rt hey are getting grants for them in addition to adding from their own pot.
The ones in our area have been backed by tax votes. So that is a funding mechanism. There has been nothing used in the ones in this area, it all new. The Rogers one even put some effort into the visual appearance of it. Check it out on Facebook it's Rogers aquatic center. I know they are close to pulling the trigger on a wave pool next year, a 15 to 20, thousand square ft one.
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Pools are the money pit of any city, but they are needed to keep people in the community.
Replacing the city pool in Texarkana TX would have cost over a million dollars. It had been closed for years because they couldn't afford the needed maintenance.
Instead, the local Rotary Club held a fundraiser and built a big splash pad on the same site (with the city fronting part of the money, to be repaid by private donations), for about a quarter million. It's hugely popular, and serves the same purpose without the huge maintenance and liability headaches.
Across town, the Arkansas side still has a pool, and a local hotel owner is building a full water park next to his hotel, which is in a city business development park.
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Holiday Springs in Texarkana and it seems to be running late:
http://www.holidayspringswaterpark.com/
I've thought that was the way to go in NWA and there were several proposed, with one being at the Lowell exit on 540. But the land didn't have sewer yet and it got delayed and then the 08 collapse happened. The other one was an actual artificial whitewater course in Fayetteville. It's interesting that some of the older proposals are starting to breathe again behind the scenes. These muni facilities make investment in larger private facilities harder to justify and that's a downside but cities got impatient and want to increase their quality of life and marketability.
NWA is also getting a Children's Museum adjacent to Crystal Bridges, another project that rose from the financial crisis ashes. Thanks, former Walmart CEO H. Lee Scott.
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Saw the promo stuff for the Children's Museum recently in Bentonville. Walked through the 21C Hotel there and saw the galleries. Some pretty far out there modern "art" that even Crystal Bridges has not embraced. A good complement to Crystal Bridges, though. Rogers recently opened a water park, and the Rogers Museum has a kids section, too. Was sorry years ago to see the water park for Lowell fade out, it would have been nice. I wonder if NW AR can support a private theme or water park of some kind? The Bentonville concerts in the park series had Kenny Loggins recently, and the AMP will have ZZ Top soon, and some other big names. This area of the state is really doing well with stuff like this. Strongest economic area of the state. Glad that's the case, cause I live here. Just rambling. Back to our regularly scheduled thread... :)
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Saw the promo stuff for the Children's Museum recently in Bentonville. Walked through the 21C Hotel there and saw the galleries. Some pretty far out there modern "art" that even Crystal Bridges has not embraced. A good complement to Crystal Bridges, though. Rogers recently opened a water park, and the Rogers Museum has a kids section, too. Was sorry years ago to see the water park for Lowell fade out, it would have been nice. I wonder if NW AR can support a private theme or water park of some kind? The Bentonville concerts in the park series had Kenny Loggins recently, and the AMP will have ZZ Top soon, and some other big names. This area of the state is really doing well with stuff like this. Strongest economic area of the state. Glad that's the case, cause I live here. Just rambling. Back to our regularly scheduled thread... :)
Cr
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I wonder if NW AR can support a private theme or water park of some kind?
NWA has so much natural water that's so easily accessible, that it probably limits the market.
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I wonder if NW AR can support a private theme or water park of some kind?
NWA has so much natural water that's so easily accessible, that it probably limits the market.
Two different things. One as little to do with the other.
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I wonder if NW AR can support a private theme or water park of some kind?
NWA has so much natural water that's so easily accessible, that it probably limits the market.
Two different things. One as little to do with the other.
"Let's go get wet and cool off" is pretty much the goal of both.
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I wonder if NW AR can support a private theme or water park of some kind?
NWA has so much natural water that's so easily accessible, that it probably limits the market.
Two different things. One as little to do with the other.
"Let's go get wet and cool off" is pretty much the goal of both.
State managed hauled in sand beaches in swim areas in green water that gets fishy come Mid July vs. water slides and wave pools that doesn't have turds floating in the coves or drunk folks bent over the rail of the pontoon dry heaving from copious amounts of Keystone. Lake was murky and trashy most of May to mid June from the high water and snaky too. Most folks out on the lake aren't going to a water park unless they have kids and they will if they do. Lake is fantastic for boating and fishing but that gets expensive as well. A ten mile run in a 22ft. Crownline runs twenty bucks in fuel.
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Water parks and boating? We agree there, one has little to do with the other.
When I said NWA has plenty of natural water, I wasn't thinking man-made lakes.
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Problem with a lot of these things is there is just too dang many people. I need to find a secret spot that is out of the way that not too many people know about. Any recomendations?
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White Water Branson. yuck yuck yuck. :P
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Now, Swoosh, be nice (Yeah, I get the joke.) :)
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Water parks and boating? We agree there, one has little to do with the other.
When I said NWA has plenty of natural water, I wasn't thinking man-made lakes.
You mean the White River, I'm less than a 5 minute walk from my front door to that one. The Mulberry? Buffalo? Kings? It really is two different kinda activities that usually appeal to mostly to different folks. I'll tell you what would do well in IMO, is a manmade Whitewater course like I've posted about before. The water is getting low again with this two week break in rain. All streams around here is dependent on timely rain to remain floatable. The last two years have been miserable for that.
Swoosh, you say Whitewater, yeah maybe, but that's just out range to be a place to visit in the afternoons and be home at supper time. I'm shocked that Sclitterban hasn't hit this area up on marketing. It's less than 4 hrs to the gate and with Arkansas finally doing their part of the Bella Vista bypass, it'll be all interstate to KC and I-49 will run down to Ft. Smith. The name change has been approved already and old 71 is now signed 49 to Pineville. This area is growing, it's not letting up and housing is taking off again.