I may be going to Castles and Coasters next week..

Anyone been there before? My family is going to Arizona for a week and will be around Phoenix. My questions are,

1. Is it easy to get to the park from outside the city?

2. Which way is best to buy ride tickets? I saw on the website that rides are sort of independently priced. We probably will only be there for a few hours.

3. If Im 6'1" can I ride the kiddie coasters?? ;) What if Im with a child?

Any other info about the park would be nice, I dont know anything about it. Thanks

I have never been but if you bring a kid to any kiddie coaster one of two things will happen:

A- The ride op will be nice and let you ride too.

B- Our he will say no to you and still let the kid on.

Don't forget to ride their looping coaster, it looked pretty cool while staring at it in school on my science book cover...

Ok i got some info to help ya out. I was at last at Castles and Coasters back in August 2001...

1.) The park is located at the Metrocenter Mall in Peoria, AZ. This is a gigantic suburban mall complex with lots of stores, theatres, etc. It sits off of I-17 at the Dunlap exit. Beware it gets really busy in the summer especially with the mall crowds. You can't miss it just look for Desert Storm's large green and white lift.

2.) The first time I went we got just a basic plan that lets you ride 4 major attractions. This last visit I was with a big group and we shared one of the larger plans (even tho they discourage it).

Basically the park works on a points system with these card things. They have separate cards for the arcade and the rides. They have unlimited access cards at certain times as well as timed cards (like Gameworks). These things change often so I suggest calling the park once you get to Arizona.

3.) The Patriot is what most consider the kiddie coaster, but anybody can ride it. They give you two laps and the trains are rather small but have t-bars similar to all those Intamin Rides.

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"ok everyone go ahead and pull down on your shoulder restraint so you feel nice and stuck!"

I was at Castles and coasters a month ago..

Coasters and rides are independently priced but you get a pass card to ride. You buy "credits"and each ride is a certain number of credits. The video games work the same way. Similar to a Dave and Buster's or Game Works.

I got a near concussion from Desert Storm: Do Not Sit in the Middle.

Patroit was alright for a Junior coaster, they let anybody ride.

Other then that they have a lot of mini golf and and great arcade with lots of classic games and Pinball. I only spent a couple hours there and had a decent time.

The park itself is very small. Keep in mind it basically sits in a parking lot of a mall. All the rides are intertwined and the pathways are kind of confusing..

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CoasterBuzzCon - not just an event, more like an adventure...

I thought Castles n' Coasters was a pretty crappy park from my visit last summer. I believe both roller coasters, and the log flume are Hopkins rides. Desert Storm is a very bad roller coaster. It is in pretty bad shape and was poorly designed. Also, if you have a few friends with you, you can actually valley the Patriot.

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Adam Black | adam@mouseinfo.com
www.americacoasters.com | www.mouseinfo.com

LOL, valley it? What do you do, reach out and grab a support and stop the train!?

I was there last summer (nice hot end of July) with my family, and we had a really good time. A lot of it depends on what you are expecting.

C&C is a very small park. Don't expect Six Flags/ Cedar Fair quality, cause you're not going to get it. If you go in with that in mind, you'll have a lot of fun.

They did have a pay one price offer in effect when we were there. Ask for it, and they may have one for you.

Patriot is a fun family coaster, as previously mentioned. We had a kick and a half on it.

Desert Storm is good in the front (don't know what it's like in the middle or back). It's biggest problem is that they only let it go when the train is full or every 10 minutes I think it is. So you might sit on the train for a few waiting for it to fill up.

But there are reasons why these, along with only a couple of others, are the only coasters that Hopkins built. They're not bad coasters, but they aren't in the "great" range either.

The log flume however was very wet (nice on a hot day), and the bumper boats had a couple of nice waterfalls, making it easy to get wet on them to. And there are several flat rides and an incredible arcade, so I'm sure you'll have fun.

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Sometimes it's up. Sometimes it's down.
But with God, life is one thrill ride that you'll never regret being on.

Splashdown....the park's Hopkins log ride is funner than it looks. That last drop seems a lot steeper than most and sometimes you can get really wet.

In addition to Desert Storm and Patriot there's a carousel, Himalaya Ride called Aladdin, bumper cars called Ram Rods, Sea Dragon as well as go carts and bumper boats.

Reguardless if it is great park or not, its the only attraction of its kind in Arizona besides Waterworld (water park) so expect it to be rather busy.

Cool, thanks a lot for the help guys! Ill try not to catch on fire.