Another new ride is coming.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQqbUzzfKhI&feature=youtu.be

What a lot of people don't understand is that, most of these rides stay the same, but just are named differently. This ride is the exact same ride going at Six Flags, but in Texas it will be called The Joker, lol....Remember Frontier City is owned by Six Flags.

Frontier City was my very first job almost exactly a decade ago. Probably the most fun job I ever had, even though it paid horribly & I had to work long hot hours. Supposedly Walt Disney had a law passed that prevented people in entertainment from being paid overtime. What a great guy.

Either way, almost all of the rides at the park were in horrible condition. Most of them broke down multiple times a day & almost all of the rides are still in service today. Very scary. I'll never pay full price to go back there again. Partly because I wore myself out of the place, but mostly because its just not very fun. It just doesn't compete with parks around the country & single day passes are ridiculously overpriced. The season ticket package is a great deal though, and I'd recommend it to any parents of 14-17 year olds.

Also, Frontier City purchased a very large used roller coaster at one time but when it was dismantled it was unable to be repaired. You could see the skeleton from a few of the rides to the west of the park.

For those posters that continually bitch about how bad and 2nd rate EVERYTHING is in OKC, compared to where they came from, go on back and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Same posters over and over. You know who you are, be gone.

Frontier City was my very first job almost exactly a decade ago. Probably the most fun job I ever had, even though it paid horribly & I had to work long hot hours. Supposedly Walt Disney had a law passed that prevented people in entertainment from being paid overtime. What a great guy.

Either way, almost all of the rides at the park were in horrible condition. Most of them broke down multiple times a day & almost all of the rides are still in service today. Very scary. I'll never pay full price to go back there again. Partly because I wore myself out of the place, but mostly because its just not very fun. It just doesn't compete with parks around the country & single day passes are ridiculously overpriced. The season ticket package is a great deal though, and I'd recommend it to any parents of 14-17 year olds.

Also, Frontier City purchased a very large used roller coaster at one time but when it was dismantled it was unable to be repaired. You could see the skeleton from a few of the rides to the west of the park.

You're close on that story. Actually, they almost bought the old Tornado roller coaster (originally at Wedgewood) in 1988 from a park in Panama City, FL and were planning to make a big promotion out of "The Tornado Returns To Oklahoma City!" . As they were closing on the deal, they were hit with a logistical-financial nightmare - the cost to dismantle and transport the coaster to Oklahoma City was actually more than the amusement park was asking for the roller coaster itself.

They continued the search for a wooden coaster and found one not far away, the old Wildcat coaster from Fairyland Park in Kansas City. It was already partially dismantled and the Santa Fe railroad could transport it at a reasonable cost. The Wildcat is still at Frontier City today - a great ride too!

You're close on that story. Actually, they almost bought the old Tornado roller coaster (originally at Wedgewood) in 1988 from a park in Panama City, FL and were planning to make a big promotion out of "The Tornado Returns To Oklahoma City!" . As they were closing on the deal, they were hit with a logistical-financial nightmare - the cost to dismantle and transport the coaster to Oklahoma City was actually more than the amusement park was asking for the roller coaster itself.

They continued the look for a wooden coaster and found one not far away, the old Wildcat coaster from Fairyland Park in Kansas City. It was already partially dismantled and the Santa Fe railroad could transport it at a reasonable cost. The Wildcat is still at Frontier City today - a great ride too!

I think that might be another story. The coaster I'm talking about was steel, and you could actually see it laying in pieces. It might still be there, if you ever ride the diamondback look out to the west. I heard they cut it in to pieces and it couldn't safely be welded back together.

I think that might be another story. The coaster I'm talking about was steel, and you could actually see it laying in pieces. It might still be there, if you ever ride the diamondback look out to the west. I heard they cut it in to pieces and it couldn't safely be welded back together.

Ahh......of course.....you said you worked there a decade ago, which is 2005 or so. There probably was another similar incident. The Tornado story from '88 is a fun one to tell, because so many people (over 50 now - in their 20's then) would have remembered it and it would have been a promotional coup.

I looked it up, it was called the Excalibur from Houston

I looked it up, it was called the Excalibur from Houston

Interesting...R.I.P. AstroWorld in Houston. Nothing left of that park. You would never have known it was there. Sad.

What a lot of people don't understand is that, most of these rides stay the same, but just are named differently. This ride is the exact same ride going at Six Flags, but in Texas it will be called The Joker, lol....Remember Frontier City is owned by Six Flags.
No, it's not owned by Six Flags. The original owners, Premier Parks bought out Six Flags at one time, however. Premier Parks sold it to CNL.

I think that Frontier City should recycle the caged Wild Mouse ride from inside the enclosure that made it semi-spooky and entertaining and, by recycling, improve that really cool ride next to the Parking Lot that you had to walk up a lot of stairs to get to that was fun for about ten seconds and then went nowhere. It was touted as "sort of like the launch of a fighter from an aircraft carrier" . . . but not really. In other words, after the thrill of the launch, the ride went nowhere except backwards. Sort of like The Grand State Fair Park of Oklahoma City. Or Whatever.

One thing FOR SURE: Frontier City can't hold a candle to that POS "Amusement Park" just off I-435 (northbound) on the outskirts of Kansas City. And that's a good thing. (imho)

Sorry . . . I was raised on The Original Elitch Gardens and Lakeside Amusement Park
Never even thought about stopping by that deal in Kansas City. Next to the Interstate.
Been there, done that. Survived. 'nough sed. OK? =)

Sorry . . . I was raised on The Original Elitch Gardens and Lakeside Amusement Park
Me too!

I grew up in soCal with the local flavor being Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) which back in the 70's was more advanced than frontier City is now. Worked there two summers in HS which was way better than the theater jobs.
With Disney adding California Adventure, Universal studios becoming a general amusement park and Magic Mountain (a Six Flags park) all within an hour of each other, any single park anywhere pales in comparison.

What a lot of people don't understand is that, most of these rides stay the same, but just are named differently. This ride is the exact same ride going at Six Flags, but in Texas it will be called The Joker, lol....Remember Frontier City is owned by Six Flags.

From reading this thread it would seem Frontier is not owned by Six Flags.

Premier parks, HQ in okc, Owned frontier city and then purchased six flags. Six flags never owned frontier city, they were just owned by the same company. Much closer to frontier city owning six flags than the other way around .

The history of Frontier City is a little tangled and interesting, and it doesn't help that the Premier Parks name has been used twice.

Frontier City, after it's move from the fairgrounds to the current location, was owned by a company called Premier Parks. In 1998 they bought the Six Flags chain from Time Warner. Six Flags became the name of the combined company. Even though some of the parks in the chain were never completely branded as Six Flags parks, they often had lots of Six Flags stuff and were publicly tied to the brand. Six Flags' headquarters remained in OKC until 2006 when they sold FC and moved the HQ to NYC.

CNL Lifestyles, a real estate investment/holding company purchased the park from Six Flags and still owns the park, but they contract out the actual management of the park. A company called PARC was originally hired to manage the park, but they defaulted for various reasons in 2010. The management contract was then taken up by a new partnership formed between two of the old Premier Parks head honchos from back in the day. This new partnership is called... Premier Parks.

So essentially Frontier City is currently owned by a holding company, but managed by a new partnership made up of people from the company that used to own the park originally. Make sense?

Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags#History_of_Premier_Parks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_City#History

Not sure where to put this, but this seems to be the active Frontier City thread.

FC announced today that they are adding a new thrill ride - a Zamperla Power Surge. You've probably seen them before at fairs, but they are solid thrill rides. There's a picture on FC's facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontiercitythemepark/photos/a.357564804906.153951.62458794906/10153877182204907/?type=3&theater

It's yet another new ride addition under the new management. It's now the norm for FC to add a new ride or attraction every year, in stark contrast to the dark days of Six Flags ownership. While some may not be overly impressed with this style of ride due to it's prevalence at fairs, it is a pretty big deal for this park. It feels like a big step for them, even bigger than adding that superloop last year. With the new parking lot expansion slowly moving forward, they're moving towards bigger and better things.

Haven't heard any updates about Premier buying the park outright yet. CNL was supposed to liquidate their properties by now, but I think they are trying to sell their theme parks as a package to another holding company instead of selling them off individually.

Btw, if this thread is going to be the OKCtalk wiki page for FC, we really need to update the original post. 2004 was a whole different era for this park, so that old complaint rant hasn't been relevant for awhile.

..

Not sure where to put this, but this seems to be the active Frontier City thread.

FC announced today that they are adding a new thrill ride - a Zamperla Power Surge. You've probably seen them before at fairs, but they are solid thrill rides. There's a picture on FC's facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontiercitythemepark/photos/a.357564804906.153951.62458794906/10153877182204907/?type=3&theater

It's yet another new ride addition under the new management. It's now the norm for FC to add a new ride or attraction every year, in stark contrast to the dark days of Six Flags ownership. While some may not be overly impressed with this style of ride due to it's prevalence at fairs, it is a pretty big deal for this park. It feels like a big step for them, even bigger than adding that superloop last year. With the new parking lot expansion slowly moving forward, they're moving towards bigger and better things.

Haven't heard any updates about Premier buying the park outright yet. CNL was supposed to liquidate their properties by now, but I think they are trying to sell their theme parks as a package to another holding company instead of selling them off individually.

Btw, if this thread is going to be the OKCtalk wiki page for FC, we really need to update the original post. 2004 was a whole different era for this park, so that old complaint rant hasn't been relevant for awhile.

Frontier City needs one or two real rollercoasters. These smaller rides are great, but without a few big ones, I am not going to pay to go to Frontier City, not with Six Flags Over Texas three hours away. Hopefully eventually Frontier City adds one or two rollercoasters. I think if they did, the park would hold its own pretty well against parks like Worlds of Fun in Kansas City and would become much more popular.

Frontier City needs one or two real rollercoasters. These smaller rides are great, but without a few big ones, I am not going to pay to go to Frontier City, not with Six Flags Over Texas three hours away. Hopefully eventually Frontier City adds one or two rollercoasters. I think if they did, the park would hold its own pretty well against parks like Worlds of Fun in Kansas City and would become much more popular.

Frontier City vs. Six Flags:

Frontier City seems to add something new every year: Frontier City adds new thrill ride for 2016 season | KFOR.com (http://kfor.com/2016/01/21/frontier-city-adds-new-thrill-ride-for-2016-season/)

Taken my boys when they were small to FC & Six Flags. It took them an average 30-40 minutes (in line) to board the more popular rides; they preferred Frontier City because of proximity and more money to spend. They had season passes to FC & White Water Bay. Those passes were inexpensive if you spent a lot of time @ FC & White Water than paying the daily rate.

If you're already in the Arlington area, Six Flags is a great family park--be prepared to spend a lot of time in long lines. However, I wouldn't drive 3 1/2 hours to go to Arlington--for the little ride time spent on those mega rides at Six Flags (Texas) considering the wait time.

It's good to see investment in Frontier City once again. It made a huge leap into the modern days with their 1980's, early 90's upgrades. Then it was in limbo for awhile and now there is real investment again. Good to see!

I am a huge fan of Frontier City and very thankful we have this park in our own backyard. I'm happy for today's announcement . Myself and my GF we get a season pass and make to the park regularly throughout the season. The past few year this park has done so much to its property and infrastructure. I know it doesn't have major thrill rides but you have to keep in mind it is owned by a investment company. So there is so much capitol to spend on Major attraction. I know what they do have it quite a bit for a small park. What they have done to the park has been pretty impressive. They have been pretty consistent on adding a new attraction every year since 2012 when Wild West Water works was added that watering hole was needed for those blazing hot summer days. The park actually has some significant historic rides like Silver Bullet which was built by one of the greatest coaster manufacturers in the World. Anton Shwartzkopf . You look at Silver Bullet and how smooth it for it age. People from all over the Word actually make trips to OKC to ride this coaster at Frontier City. The Diamond back was once part of a famous Roller Coaster from Six Flags Great Adventure called Lightning Loops! Myself I'm happy with the managment at the park it is extremely clean the staff is amazing and super friendly. The landscaping alone around the park. Me and my Girlfriend actually use the park for exercise going up and down the hills. If you haven't been to the park I highly recommend returning the past 4 years they have really turned the park around. It even has a local following fan base called Central Plains Coaster Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/868308479918048/ and Also Frontier City Thrills https://www.facebook.com/FrontierCityThrills/?fref=ts

I love Frontier City! Good to see a new ride and more investment, regardless of what people think.

Frontier City vs. Six Flags:

Frontier City seems to add something new every year: Frontier City adds new thrill ride for 2016 season | KFOR.com (http://kfor.com/2016/01/21/frontier-city-adds-new-thrill-ride-for-2016-season/)

Taken my boys when they were small to FC & Six Flags. It took them an average 30-40 minutes (in line) to board the more popular rides; they preferred Frontier City because of proximity and more money to spend. They had season passes to FC & White Water Bay. Those passes were inexpensive if you spent a lot of time @ FC & White Water than paying the daily rate.

If you're already in the Arlington area, Six Flags is a great family park--be prepared to spend a lot of time in long lines. However, I wouldn't drive 3 1/2 hours to go to Arlington--for the little ride time spent on those mega rides at Six Flags (Texas) considering the wait time.

I tend to lean toward bchris' side on this one - it's really hard for me to justify going to FC with Six Flags just a 3-hour drive south. Nothing really *against* FC, but the expense/value just isn't there - and we're not likely to make more than one visit in a summer to either place. I've been out there a few times, but long ago, so I probably owe the place a fresh look. I don't know what a day's ticket costs, but I guess if I had kids that wanted to go there several times a summer, yeah, FC makes more sense, but I think notionally it will always be a "junior" compared to SFOT.

IN fairness, my family has taken back-to-back "mini-vacations" to the Arlington area the last two years, and the lines at SFoT weren't quite that bad. In fact, we got in to ride the Judge Roy Scream with almost no wait at all - I think the owners have really neglected that ride. At a minimum, the thing needs a fresh coat of paint. It's still a fun ride - and this was on a seasonal weekend. Did the log flume, the toboggan, the mine trains - lines were moderate at best and nothing I thought was a waste of time or led me to turn away and try again later. Crowds were there, but nothing oppressive.

SFoT is implementing their own version of Disney's "FastPASS" system where you can "buy your way" into a shorter line by getting a "temporary ticket" to a designated attraction, then return at a particular time to go through a "shortcut" line. SFOT's error, however, was making it an extra purchase. Value wasn't there for us at all...

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get my family back to Disney once more before everyone's out on their own and graduated. All it takes is money, right...?

A person can also do Six Flags with relatively little waiting in lines if you go at the right time. Me and a friend went last spring and pretty much walked on every ride.

A person can also do Six Flags with relatively little waiting in lines if you go at the right time. Me and a friend went last spring and pretty much walked on every ride.

Sunday morning. Great time at Six Flags.

We don't have to always compare everything. Six Flags is Six Flags. Frontier City is investing in Frontier City - which doesn't aspire to be a regional attraction. For locals with kids, the FC/WWB Season Pass is one of the best entertainment deals around.

We don't have to always compare everything. Six Flags is Six Flags. Frontier City is investing in Frontier City - which doesn't aspire to be a regional attraction. For locals with kids, the FC/WWB Season Pass is one of the best entertainment deals around.

True, but there isn't anything wrong with wanting better for OKC. "Go to Dallas" shouldn't always be the answer for everything. OKC is at the crossroads of three major interstates and has a large enough population to support a real park. Frontier City will never be Six Flags, but it could be Worlds of Fun.

True, but there isn't anything wrong with wanting better for OKC. "Go to Dallas" shouldn't always be the answer for everything. OKC is at the crossroads of three major interstates and has a large enough population to support a real park. Frontier City will never be Six Flags, but it could be Worlds of Fun.

Certainly, but people are rarely going to travel to OKC for an amusement park, no matter how nice. At best parks in OKC, for at least the near future, will be an ancillary attraction, for residents, or folks who are here for another reason. While FC can always improve, comparing it to the biggest theme park draw in the largest metro in the south (and the 4th largest in the US) is unrealistic.

At the end of the day, at least it's not Dog Patch USA. :wink:

Took our son to Six Flags twice. He never wanted to go back. Very much preferred Frontier City. Smaller park, shorter lines and you didn't have to spend 6-7 hours coming/going.

No kids at home any longer but we still go occasionally. I like that a family can get a season pass and go on a whim and only stay an hour or so and its no big deal. There are tons of times you can go to FC and its basically dead. I pass it daily and I'm often shocked at the contrast in days/times and the lines. Its also much cleaner than it was when I was a kid.

True, but there isn't anything wrong with wanting better for OKC. "Go to Dallas" shouldn't always be the answer for everything. OKC is at the crossroads of three major interstates and has a large enough population to support a real park. Frontier City will never be Six Flags, but it could be Worlds of Fun.

I think FC wastes way too much money and space with the Theme. Although, I've always preferred true Amusement parks to Theme Parks, and the only Theme Parks that are even worth mentioning on theming are Disney and Herschend parks (and maybe Universal, I haven't been). I just don't believe that anyone is going to FC to check out the Frontier Theme, and they'd get a lot more people if they had more rides, especially if one or two of them were major permanent by design capital rides.

After living in Ohio, I have a really hard time enjoying any of the amusement park scene here. They had parks in the middle of no where up there that I would take of SFOT any day (Knoebels FTW).

I am glad the FC is investing in new rides the last couple of years. I do really enjoy WWB, until it gets crazy busy.

Frontier City has been posting exclusive pictures of ride rehabs and work that is going on in the park during off season even work where the new ride will be located to a local Roller Coaster Club I follow on FB. I think it is neat a park would interact with themepark fan pages. https://www.facebook.com/groups/868308479918048/

Frontier City sucks lol

Frontier City sucks lol

Well I'm sorry you feel that way Plutonic Panda The park wont get any better if it is not supported by local like you who want SFOT, Magic Mountain, Disneyland type park. Small parks don't grow over night. It is Oklahoma's only themepark I'm happy for what it is a small park. It is a decent nice park for it's size. I will support it as much as I can its a real clean park the staff is super friendly and the people they hire enjoy what they do I been to those larger parks YOU don't get that service you don't see a clean well maintained park. You have better rides yes but when I go to a theme park amusment park I go for the whole package. For me to get away and play for afternoon after work during the summer I go to Frontier City or White Water Bay.

After living in Ohio, I have a really hard time enjoying any of the amusement park scene here. They had parks in the middle of no where up there that I would take of SFOT any day (Knoebels FTW).


I can relate. Even Six Flags Over Texas is rather "meh" compared to Carowinds in Charlotte. Carowinds is owned by the same company as Cedar Point in Ohio and has many of the same type of rides.

Frontier City is a great place to take the kids, but when you've lived near a real amusement park its kind of hard to get excited about it.

Well I'm sorry you feel that way Plutonic Panda The park wont get any better if it is not supported by local like you who want SFOT, Magic Mountain, Disneyland type park. Small parks don't grow over night.

I will support Frontier City whenever it's worth the cost to me to buy a ticket or a season pass.

And nobody is asking for Frontier City to be a Disneyland-level park. It is not that and will never be that. However, take a look at parks like Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, Magic Springs (Hot Springs AR), and other medium sized parks that are great regional attractions. That's what Frontier City could and should strive to be.

I will support Frontier City whenever it's worth the cost to me to buy a ticket or a season pass.

And nobody is asking for Frontier City to be a Disneyland-level park. It is not that and will never be that. However, take a look at parks like Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, Magic Springs (Hot Springs AR), and other medium sized parks that are great regional attractions. That's what Frontier City could and should strive to be.

Very-well stated bchris02,

Frontier City has continued (last 5 years) to add some nice ride attractions to make it a more viable park. FC doesn't have Wedgewood & Springlake amusements parks to compete against; they have this market all to themselves. Their geographic proximity could make it a great regional attraction.

Look for some future big ride to be unveiled before 2020; FC is getting there.

I will support Frontier City whenever it's worth the cost to me to buy a ticket or a season pass.

And nobody is asking for Frontier City to be a Disneyland-level park. It is not that and will never be that. However, take a look at parks like Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, Magic Springs (Hot Springs AR), and other medium sized parks that are great regional attractions. That's what Frontier City could and should strive to be.

No idea how anyone can think $70 is too much for a season pass to both Frontier City and White Water Bay is not a good value. Especially since they also offer a bring-a-friend for free. Sure, you can compare it to the cost of a pass at Six Flags if you want. But to me I've never understood why anyone would compare FC to 6F. They are both amusement parks but that's where the similarity to me ends. To me FC is a local entertainment amenity that it not going to be a big draw for tourists. I actually personally prefer that and that's where I'd spend my dollars. Would I welcome a huge amusement park to draw in out of state dollars? Sure. But, like Bricktown, I'd support it, but I'd probably almost never patronize it.

Like I said before, I can't imagine visiting a park like 6F multiple times within a season, and certainly not for just an hour or two at a time. However, that's exactly how I treat FC and I think that's a great feature.

I think FC wastes way too much money and space with the Theme. Although, I've always preferred true Amusement parks to Theme Parks, and the only Theme Parks that are even worth mentioning on theming are Disney and Herschend parks (and maybe Universal, I haven't been). I just don't believe that anyone is going to FC to check out the Frontier Theme, and they'd get a lot more people if they had more rides, especially if one or two of them were major permanent by design capital rides.

After living in Ohio, I have a really hard time enjoying any of the amusement park scene here. They had parks in the middle of no where up there that I would take of SFOT any day (Knoebels FTW).

I am glad the FC is investing in new rides the last couple of years. I do really enjoy WWB, until it gets crazy busy.

Yeah, but the wholesale translation of some theme parks into amusement ride parks has ruined them. My wife and I went to Silver Dollar City up near Branson the spring after we married, and it was wonderful. It was a *theme* park, and they upheld that theme beautifully and in a very entertaining manner. Fast forward about fifteen years, and when we went back with our teenage kids, and the place was now an "amusement park," and almost entirely worthless. None of the things that we had hoped to enjoy were still there, nothing of the things that made it such an attractive destination "theme" park. It was homogenized into a ride-stuffed place like every other "amusement" park, and had nothing special to offer any more.

I think themed parks still very much have their place, if done correctly. Not everything has to have a killer roller coaster.

Well I'm sorry you feel that way Plutonic Panda The park wont get any better if it is not supported by local like you who want SFOT, Magic Mountain, Disneyland type park. Small parks don't grow over night. It is Oklahoma's only themepark I'm happy for what it is a small park. It is a decent nice park for it's size.

Well, not to speak for PluPlan, but it isn't his obligation to support it.


I will support it as much as I can its a real clean park the staff is super friendly and the people they hire enjoy what they do I been to those larger parks YOU don't get that service you don't see a clean well maintained park. You have better rides yes but when I go to a theme park amusment park I go for the whole package. For me to get away and play for afternoon after work during the summer I go to Frontier City or White Water Bay.

That's a risky generalization. Disneyworld is one of the most amazingly maintained group of parks of any variety you'll find anywhere. I am amazed at how they keep the place clean and manicured given the sheer volume of people that pass through. SeaWorld in San Antonio, while not a Disney-sized park, is still a pretty large park, and when my family went there just a few years ago it was also and extremely neat, clean park. My experience at the *smaller* parks like FC that the issue of cleanliness and maintenance is typically a harder issue to master.

I guess my point here is that while I'm surely not going to bash FC, if that's what floats someone's boat, great, to each their own, but I also don't see a problem with hoping/aspiring for more. Stretching that goal line a bit is what got us where we are, and I don't blame anyone for dreaming (however unrealistically) for a bigger-scale park in OK. Heck, I'm old enough to remember the circulating legends that Disney once sought to open a mid-America park in the vein of DW right here in OK due to its central location and intersection between I-35 and I-40. Likely just urban legend, but it sure was tantalizing to think about.

No idea how anyone can think $70 is too much for a season pass to both Frontier City and White Water Bay is not a good value. Especially since they also offer a bring-a-friend for free. Sure, you can compare it to the cost of a pass at Six Flags if you want. But to me I've never understood why anyone would compare FC to 6F. They are both amusement parks but that's where the similarity to me ends. To me FC is a local entertainment amenity that it not going to be a big draw for tourists. I actually personally prefer that and that's where I'd spend my dollars. Would I welcome a huge amusement park to draw in out of state dollars? Sure. But, like Bricktown, I'd support it, but I'd probably almost never patronize it.

Like I said before, I can't imagine visiting a park like 6F multiple times within a season, and certainly not for just an hour or two at a time. However, that's exactly how I treat FC and I think that's a great feature.

I agree its another entertainment attraction like Bricktown, The Adventure River District,WhiteWater Bay, even Andy Alligators, Main Event, OKC Zoo and even Top Golf. It's nice to have that option even though it's a small park its nice to have that option to ride a coaster and other amusement rides or watch a outdoor concert at the park. Alot of cities across the nation don't have such a variety of entertainment. So we are lucky to have what we have in this Metro area. I'm thankful for it being there and I will support all the entertainment options we have all that it will do in return is make things that much more better in time. I like this city and proud to call OKC home.

Let's appreciate what we have. Some want to see progress; we're not a Dallas and for me that's fine.

FC is slightly above modest growth for an amusement park.

Recall (70-80s) that a multi-million dollar 7 Continents Amusement Park was planned between OKC-TUL:


...Stroud, boasts of a multimillion-dollar theme park built on a piece of land the size of New Jersey have also proved untrue. When unveiled, promoters said there was no question the $100 million Seven Continents Amusement Park would be built. It never happened and the land was auctioned off two years ago.

Is it really a biggie? | News OK (http://newsok.com/article/2036346)


a major horse track, domed stadium and massive airport to serve the state's two largest cities.

None was bigger, grander and got further along in planning than Seven Continents.

The land where planners hoped to build a massive amusement park, Seven Continents, stands virtually vacant these days on the northwest side of Stroud.

Economic Merry-Go-Round Killed Dreams for Stroud Theme Park - Tulsa World: Archives (http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/economic-merry-go-round-killed-dreams-for-stroud-theme-park/article_62619608-e2a5-5e60-8655-a8fe05b78b97.html)

Our weather has a lot to do with a major theme park tourist attraction ever taking root. These parks need to operate year round, attract tourists who would come to the area for other things besides a theme park.

Count our blessings, FC & the soon-to-be Riversport Rapids facility I-34/I-40 exchange has potential to be a great tourist attraction.

Are we on the verge or on the fringe; what do we want?

Yeah, but the wholesale translation of some theme parks into amusement ride parks has ruined them. My wife and I went to Silver Dollar City up near Branson the spring after we married, and it was wonderful. It was a *theme* park, and they upheld that theme beautifully and in a very entertaining manner. Fast forward about fifteen years, and when we went back with our teenage kids, and the place was now an "amusement park," and almost entirely worthless. None of the things that we had hoped to enjoy were still there, nothing of the things that made it such an attractive destination "theme" park. It was homogenized into a ride-stuffed place like every other "amusement" park, and had nothing special to offer any more.

I think themed parks still very much have their place, if done correctly. Not everything has to have a killer roller coaster.

I completely agree. I just think very few parks nail the theming well enough to hang their hat on it and if you aren't going to nail it, you'd probably be better off not trying. Now I think the Cedar Fair Parks pull it off quite well, especially the former Paramount parks like Kings Island and Carowinds. They are straight up amusement parks, the CEO is very insistent that they are not theme parks, but they are still very nice beautiful parks.

I also think you can be a great amusement park without the killer roller coaster, but you have to have good operation and bring good solid flat rides to the table that are operated well. Knoebel's is king is this realm. They only have two coasters, both fairly small woodies, but very highly ranked. But they are one of the top parks in the world.

I can relate. Even Six Flags Over Texas is rather "meh" compared to Carowinds in Charlotte. Carowinds is owned by the same company as Cedar Point in Ohio and has many of the same type of rides.

Frontier City is a great place to take the kids, but when you've lived near a real amusement park its kind of hard to get excited about it.

I haven't made it to Carowinds yet, but from what I've read it is pretty similar to Kings Island in Cincinnati, except more metal vs wood. When I lived in Cincinnati I would go to Kings Island twice a week, every week. Cedar Fair operates their parks 10 times better than Six Flags, and unless the park is just slammed there are almost no lines.

In fact, I rode Diamond Back at KI the day it opened. The line was all the way out of the queue, then wrapped 3/4 of the way around the large pond there, plus a lot of temporary switch backs. They were estimating the line was 3 times longer than the rather large queue. I thought the line would be 4 hours, it was actually a little less than 90 minutes. Why? They designed it to absolutely eat people, ran three trains at all times, and were very fast at load/unload. They could do over 1500 people an hour, true average. Meanwhile, at SFOT you'll wait in 90+ minute queues for rides open 20 years because they purposely operate them inefficiently (this may have changed recently, but it used to be their playbook to manufacture at least an hour queue).

Well I'm sorry you feel that way Plutonic Panda The park wont get any better if it is not supported by local like you who want SFOT, Magic Mountain, Disneyland type park. Small parks don't grow over night. It is Oklahoma's only themepark I'm happy for what it is a small park. It is a decent nice park for it's size. I will support it as much as I can its a real clean park the staff is super friendly and the people they hire enjoy what they do I been to those larger parks YOU don't get that service you don't see a clean well maintained park. You have better rides yes but when I go to a theme park amusment park I go for the whole package. For me to get away and play for afternoon after work during the summer I go to Frontier City or White Water Bay.

Thanks for the moderate response. I should have added more than "the place just sucks."

I want to see the parks do better.

One thing I though that would be cool is to have admission free and charge by the ride and host events and concerts there(I know they already do) and focus more on it being an shopping, eating, theme type destination rather than an all day theme park thing.

You could develop the current parking lot and turn it into an urban old western village with shopping, bars, things like that. I'd also like to see an arcade similar to the one in Downtown Disney in Orlando.

As for White Water Bay, the park should be almost completely remodeled(have they done much besides add a couple new rides since 2004?) and expand it into the parking lot and build structured AND and additional expansion across the highway into the Hodges trucking business and build a giant skybridge across I-40. You'd removed that blighted trucking thing and attract more people at the same time.

Something like this

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t31.0-8/12622123_10207173835936770_5068334970666884350_o.j pg

The owners of 'that blighted trucking thing' might disagree with your description of their business, not to mention the availability of their property for the amusement of others.

The owners of 'that blighted trucking thing' might disagree with your description of their business, not to mention the availability of their property for the amusement of others.
I'm sure they would disagree with my description.

I'm sure they would disagree with my description.

nm

The issue I have with Frontier City is the fact that it doesn't expand but rather replaces rides with 'new' ones. I would love it if FC went on a 10-15 year binge where it added rides every year (maybe one or two, whatever they can afford) but EXPAND the park at the same time. Maybe expand the shows a little bit so there's more going on. Add in more restaurant and OKC themed retail. Expand the operating hours, train the staff to be customer oriented and well versed (and pride) in the park and its offerings. Bring in a few attractions for adults, maybe make an entire section of the park for those over 21 (maybe with an ampitheatre). Perhaps renovate the existing/old areas and partner with someone to add hotel rooms onsite to make it more of a destination. FC can't and shouldn't compete with Six Flags but FC should be much better than it is and a few, simple ideas could make the park great for a mid-sized market.

Wild Adventures - Valdosta, GA.
Wild Adventures Theme Park | Valdosta, GA (http://www.wildadventures.com/)

2 hours from Jacksonville in the middle of a field in rural southern Georgia. If FC was just half the park this place is it would be amazing.

The issue I have with Frontier City is the fact that it doesn't expand but rather replaces rides with 'new' ones. I would love it if FC went on a 10-15 year binge where it added rides every year (maybe one or two, whatever they can afford) but EXPAND the park at the same time. Maybe expand the shows a little bit so there's more going on. Add in more restaurant and OKC themed retail. Expand the operating hours, train the staff to be customer oriented and well versed (and pride) in the park and its offerings. Bring in a few attractions for adults, maybe make an entire section of the park for those over 21 (maybe with an ampitheatre). Perhaps renovate the existing/old areas and partner with someone to add hotel rooms onsite to make it more of a destination. FC can't and shouldn't compete with Six Flags but FC should be much better than it is and a few, simple ideas could make the park great for a mid-sized market.

This very concept was the notion behind the "Downtown Disney" area of Disneyworld that was created, oh, about twenty years ago (or so)? While it had a somewhat successful time, it never caught on the way Disney had projected/hoped - more grown up theming/entertainment options, clubbish atmosphere, etc amid the much more pervasive family atmosphere throughout DW. The region of the park, which wasn't/isn't a ticketed area and contains extensive retail and restaurant space, foundered for several years with multiple plans to retheme it considered and rejected until about two years (?) ago. Disney is in the midst of turning it into "Disney Springs" and abandoning the "over-21" entertainment as the underlying theme of the area.

I think the lesson there was you either have a family environment, or you don't, and no matter how hard you try to add the other, it's at best an unsuited appendage.

I think your idea to expand the park is reasonable, but the idea of adding hotels ala Disney is a very risky proposition. You've *got* to make it a destination stop at that point - you can't just rely on Oklahoma visitors alone if you want to make it a resort, and that's a *big* jump from what FC is right now. Not saying it can't work, but its certainly a high risk/uncertain reward option.

Wild Adventures - Valdosta, GA.
Wild Adventures Theme Park | Valdosta, GA (http://www.wildadventures.com/)

2 hours from Jacksonville in the middle of a field in rural southern Georgia. If FC was just half the park this place is it would be amazing.

I think we brought this up before (probably earlier in this very thread), and as I pointed out then, Wild Adventures was widely considered a ****-hole by it's locals until a few years ago when HFEC bought it out. It went out of business a couple of times before HFEC and was heavily criticized for it's animal pen conditions, among other things. HFEC has done a lot to turn it around recently, but they are a pretty massive company these days with a lot of resources and power - far greater than FC's Premier/CNL situation. It's still a very random park/zoo out in the middle of nowhere and isn't exactly a beacon of success yet.

I'm also of the sentiment that I badly want to see FC truly expand for once, but I still stress that we should be very happy with what we have seen recently. The park has had to do a lot of refurbishment and even replacement of it's old rides that were falling apart, and that took time and money. I think we are very near to seeing something large added like a new coaster.

The CNL sale is the big lynch pin that we need to be watching for. They are extremely cheap and don't want to spend hardly any money on capital investments (IE: new coasters) because they are simply a holding company, and they were supposed to liquidate their amusement properties by now. It sounds like they want to sell their amusement properties as a package rather than selling them off piecemeal. That means Premier is less likely to be able to get FC outright since I doubt they have the capital to buy 4-5 theme parks at once. I don't think any of the other major chains like Six Flags are looking to expand right now, so the park may be passed off to some other holding company later this year.

Edit: Just FYI: the new ride is actually an old ride from the Magic Springs theme park outside of Hot Springs, AR. That park is also owned by CNL and managed by Premier. It seems CNL is going to cannibalize that park to add rides to it's other parks until they are able to sell them off.

I'm sure CNL will sell their parks individually, Prime example just this last year Elitch Gardens was sold to a local Denver owner last year. So the possiblity of them selling their parks is pretty good. I know Premier park owns only two parks. A water park in Nashville and a really small themepark Clementon Park in New Jersey. They do manage alot of parks for CNL. I saw today White Water Bay a Premier managed park posted on FB that they are redoing the Kids Kove area and changing the area and it will be called "Barefoot'in Bay"

The owners of 'that blighted trucking thing' might disagree with your description of their business, not to mention the availability of their property for the amusement of others.

Actually the property just sold to the people who own Western Flyer Express. WFE is the trucking company next door to the Sam's just west of this location. I am guessing they are moving operations but just speculating. I should probably walk next door and ask my neighbor as he owns WFE.

Not only do deaths come in three's. Apparently so do roller coasters!

Not only do deaths come in three's. Apparently so do roller coasters!


:ot:

Heard that saying before about death coming in three's. It's ole so true. Since 2003; I've lost 3 relatives or friends every year leading up to this year where there has been two deaths so far.

Most recent relative died in Dallas two weeks ago; his brother had him cremated and flown to Kansas City for burial.

My brother wants to be cremated and have is ashes spread throughout the various places that he scuba dives. As for myself, I haven't decided about cremation. Would hate to think that might be a prelude to my everlasting eternal life.

This could be great news for both Frontier City and White Water Bay. I looked into the new company EPR they are part financial backers for Schlitterbahn Resorts, Top Golf Entertainment and AMC Movie Theaters Chain U.S. . So will they be willing to put more money into the parks then their former investment company CNL who limited the spending on the parks. Hopefully we will see new changes coming soon to the park. http://newsok.com/article/5525634

My not-quite-exact analysis of why they cannot expand the park footprint.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5658/30718761592_8a3e31805b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NNvFAy)

The yellow outline is the current footprint of the "active" park. I know they also own most, if not all, of the area immediately to the west (blue dashed line). However, they are very limited in what they can do with it due to the very rich people to the west and north. Their "boneyard" can be clearly seen in the middle. That alone generates a ton of neighborhood complaints.

One proposal they have on their books is to take over the existing parking for park expansion and move the parking to west of Coltrane. Not sure if they are serious about that.

OKC could so benefit from a much larger version of Frontier City built on a few hundred acres on the outskirts of the city. I used to go to Cedar Point when I lived in Ohio and they got 3.5 million visitors per year. That's a HUGE tax base. It would be nice if the owners of Frontier City would buy up a few hundred acres and more or less move the park somewhere where they're free to expand it without NIMBYs getting in the way. Doubt it would happen, but it would be awesome.

Hopefully this will mean a cleaner White Water.

13240
A view of Frontier City looking north.

I was just thinking about this yesterday. White Water Bay is outdated, the problem is that the area they are in has no room for expansion. I say they purchase land in a new area & build a brand new park.