My 07' Project

My grandparents own 45 acres of pretty much unused land. I am always thinkning to myself what I can do to make use of that land. I am thinking a theme park or waterpark. But the one thing that gets me confused....how much money would this cost. I am asking you to name a ride you think would make a begining theme park a success and how much it would cost. Thanks!

A dark ride is always nice. A boat ride inside a building with theming of some sort. Then maybe a wood coaster. Id guess youll need well over a million, even if the wood coaster is small and you do it yourself.

How much do you have/make? Same case with your grandparents?

I'd say you'd need about 20-30 million dollars maybe even more, but I can't be too sure. It all depends on what you're going to do. Before you start any plans to do anything, you will need to do some sort of research to see how many people would come to such a place, you'd need to find out how much money everything would cost, and then find people to work there. It would be a long project, and would probably take about a few years.

For rides, you'd really need some good flat rides, a wild mouse (just for starters), and maybe a cheap steel looping coaster.

A go-kart track/small woodie instead of a cheap steel looper is a good idea too...

All of the above and Id also check here:
http://www.italintl.com/
The best would be some good solid flats first then see what goes from there. You COULD get a small coaster and some decent flats there for 5/10 mill or so (I just did a very quick search and added the cost of a small coaster, some flats, and a log flume), but then theres shipping, building, and maintaining it all. Theres also the electric bill as well. Alot to think about, but if youre serious, good luck. *** Edited 6/7/2006 1:51:49 AM UTC by P18***

Are you talking about one just for your family or an actual for-profit business?

If it is for a business, the zoning has to be right (as in commercial and not residential).

And yeah, either option will take many, many millions of dollars to get started (consider staff, maintainence, landscaping, electricity, water etc.)

I think a waterpark or a kiddie park would be the way to go.

Also consider if the plot of land is in a place where people can easily get to. Is it convenient to a decent population of potential customers?

You could totally! build a park there. Just grab some wood and a hammer and start nailing!

Get investors!

What I think you should do is start out by building a water park. Each year add some new attractions and make sure you leave room for "expansions". After building up and getting plenty of money introduce a woodie and a few other flat rides in a section to themselves. Each year make some improvements and add rides/slides everyother year and this place could become the next knoebels or holiday world. Also this place could be kind of like Wild Waves and Enchanted Villiage up in Washington. It's a fun place and they have a neat water park but make sure you get in better coasters cough cough ThunderHead cough. Good luck with your park. Now I gotta get back to drawing up plans for my hopeful dream park.

I had an art history class at 9am on a Saturday and there was this chubby kid who was always falling asleep, we called him chubs, sir chubs, chubalicious...

Anyway, I think your dreaming. It costs a lot.

I've thought about this before. I don't have any land but I thought if I had enough money from the lottery or something I could start off as small as it would take.

Perhaps if I just started with mini golf, an arcade and go carts. Maybe eventually ad some paddle boats if I had a pond and working my way up to a ferris wheel, merry go round, and log flume.

A water park would be a good idea too. There is a municipal aquatic center with a lazy river and tube slides at Kokomo. The place gets packed. They must be making a lot of money. There is a similar place in Laffayette at Columbian Park.

For the record, apostrophes go on the left when abbreviating a year.

My '07 Project

That is unless you are planning a 7 foot project of some sort.

http://urel.binghamton.edu/Publications/SG/punctuation.html

Most people here have had this fantasy. My latest version of building my own park is to actually go back in timeand build an old style picnic/trolley park

. Charlotte NC is building a light rail system now from uptown to near Pineville NC. If the line is extended into Pineville there is an abundant amount of land where the old Cone Mills plant is located. My vision is an old style trolley park where families can ride the train to Pineville. Bring a picnic lunch or buy from any nearby food outlet, enjoy some rides on a pay per ride ticket system and simply enjoy the day together. It would mostly be Kiddie/family rides not found at Carowinds(about 10 miles away) and maybe a wooden coaster of average size. The park would be built around a manmade lake.

Now all I need is to win the lottery,get Pineville to approve extending the Light Rail into town which they have already turned down,learn how to manage this type of business, start collecting rides,ect......

In other words it's a nice fantasy but it aint happening

My advice to you sirchubs is that if you think coming here and asking us what it takes to build a park you're in way over your head. Asking a small group of rollercoaster web site enthusiasts how to get started does not qualify as research.

Probably your best bet would be to start as some sort of a FEC, if your area has enough people to support it or tourist traffic.

Mini Golf, a small ferris wheel, a scrambler and a small wooden roller coaster (20-30 feet tall, about 800 feet long, somewhere between a kiddie coaster and a junior coaster in intensity) plus a few games, a couple inflatables, a couple food options and ice cream would be how I'd approach it. Possibly a pool and a couple little water slides, depending on location and what's already there.

That could all be done for about 2-3 million including salaries for the dozen employees for two years.

yes..... all these opinions are great. What I also forgot to mention that might be helpful in some way is that we have a creek also. About 1 foot deep, could I make a ride or two on or coming from that source. Keep hitting me with ideas but I definently do not want to spend more than 5 million dollars on this project. And to eliminate the reason of employees, I have a large family who all support this idea. They'll be of assistance. Keep hitting me wiht suggestions. Thanks!

If someone who gets excited about a 1 ft deep creek has 5 million dollars to spare I've got some swamp land in Florida to sell ya.
On the odd chance that you're serious and go through with this, here's my 2 cents.
Don't be afraid to take adivce from those who have been there. Find some well-run small amusement parks and ask to speak with an owner sometime if it's possible. There will be things you'll never think of unless you hear it from someone who's already made the mistake.
If you do start it off, host some non-for-profit events. This will allow you to advirtise for free on local media, and broaden awareness that you exsist.

But as far as the creek, I don't think that would be enough water to be a source of any kind of ride... except maybe a drinking source for your guests' pets, and a natural enhancement to the park's visuals. Even if it had alot of water, it woud still have to be filtered. The water in commercial water rides you see isn't just pumped up from a nearby lake, it has to be a certain quality... unless you're Cedar Point, of course ;)

Does that creek flood?

yes

Hey Sirchubs, what do you do for a living now?