Nascar Speedpark Coming To Pittsburgh

Opening at the new Pittsburgh Mills

No idea exactly what this will include, but it mentions rides, attractions and racetracks. The one near Dollywood has a ton of Go Kart tracks of all sizes, a mini-golf, a small collection of kiddie rides including a kiddie coaster. (doesn't look like the other locatrions have the kiddie coaster though)

Might just be another stop for credit whores when passing through to visit Kennywood if they include a kiddie coaster. :) (in addition to Fun Fore All)

Something of minor interest that I thought I'd pass along.

Ironic. My girlfriend who frequents Myrtle Beach every year was telling me about the Nascar speedpark out there. Turns out they have a few of them including one somewhat near me in St. Louis. I had never heard of these parks before until yesterday.

Might have to check one of these parks out soon.

I have never been to one but I will have to check out the one near Dollywood soon. I am surprised they don't have one here in Charleston. It would go over VERY well here. :-)

I didn't realize there was one near Canada's Wonderland!

-Tina

*** Edited 10/21/2005 10:00:00 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

The one in St. Louis is located at St. Louis Mills mall on I-370. It includes both indoor and outdoor tracks, which is interesting. It does not have the kiddie coaster, but it has two whips and a frog hopper among other things.

I was at the one near Wonderland at the new Vaughn Mills mall that opened up last year (Called NASCAR SpeedPark).

It's pretty big inside and I could have spent a whole lot more time there, but the mall was closing in less than 15 minutes when I arrived

Basically, they got two levels.
Located on the upper level, the feature attraction the have is a full sized Go-Kart track that almost appears suspended from the ceiling just because of the layout & how some parts of the track seem to just go over without anything on either side of you excep the track. It's a fairly simple layout I think resembling a figure 8, but still impressive looking.

On the bottom level, there's a ton of video games & ticket redemption games. Of course, a large percentage of games are racing games. There's also a place for the NASCAR Simulator games. There are some kiddie rides there as well.

Towards the front there's a lot of merchandise all NASCAR related and there are a couple somewhat hidden rooms used for parties.

I was actually quite impressed because I thought the mall's big attraction was Bass Pro, but this was really impressive especially with the full sized go-kart track on the 2nd level.

There's probably more to it, but time was short & it was February since I was there.

I've been to the one by DW. The arcade is nice.
The go-cart tracks seemed slow compared to the other ones in Pigeon Forge. They have a cute kid coaster.

There is also one at the Concord Mills Mall in NC, about 20 min or so from PCar.

NASCAR Speed Parks are owned and operated by B&C, the company that owns (and operates) the Myrtle Beach Pavilion, as well as just about every other major attraction in Myrtle Beach. They've been branching out the last few years.

I didn't realize that the one in Pittsburg hadn't really been announced locally yet, I thought it was already under construction, opening next year, right?

In fact, IIRC, a couple years ago, when NASCAR was talking to Premier about developing coasters themed to NASCAR, it was for the Speed Parks, as B&C hold the major franchise, I believe. Perhaps eventually, B&C will develop these into more than just a small NASCAR arcade with gocarts and small rides...

It has been in construction since tha mall opened, or maybe they were just holding the spot for them as the name has been plastered all over the windows. It sits on a pretty big chunk of the mall both inside and out. The outside section is as deep as the parking lot is, if that makes any sense. Its near the H&M... :)

I doubt the Premier/Nascar contract is for the Speedparks. Im betting it's for more like Nascar USA and other venues.

Cincinati Mills has a Miler Jr steel. It's gotta great first drop but the rest is Holidogish.

Chuck

Unless they did some major construction during the past two months, my guess is that the go kart and rides portion of the facility won't be opening until next summer, given that it was just a giant lot of mud when I visited Pittsburgh Mills in early August. Since I go past the place every day to get to Penn State, I'll have to stop to see how things are progressing.

I doubt the Premier/Nascar contract is for the Speedparks.

But thats the thing, from what I've read, B&C is the only company that can have licensed NASCAR attractions outside of the NASCAR Cafe, which is a franchise, which, coincidentally, B&C owns at least one or 2 franchises of the Cafe.

One thing I noted that was interesting was that Speed: The Ride has no NASCAR themeing whatsoever, even though it is by a Cafe'. So, though Speed: The Ride alludes to NASCAR, you don't see anything that says NASCAR in the station, or on the train :).

The SpeedPark in Pigeon Forge is huge and was a great diversion on a night when Dollywood closed at 7PM. I loved the simulators which along with the go-carts was why we went. Funny thing was I never got on a go cart, the simulator stole my attention for hours! No I didn't go in search of the kiddie coaster to credit whore.

The kiddie coaster at the Pigeon Forge Nascar Speedpark is $5 a ride.

We just stopped by real quick to check the place out and so I could get some photos. Sadly, I didn't credit whore the kiddie coaster either.

Ok the $8.50 per race for the simulator was probably a better idea.

Yes, definitely. :)

OK you two, turn in your CWA cards....Credit Whores of America(TM) doesn't take kindly to skipping a kiddie coaster in favor of a simulator...;)

LOL! You know, I like to think of myself as a credit whore, but I'm so far from it that it's crazy.

My count is 249 and if I do a quick run-through in my head of all the coasters I could've ridden but didn't in lieu of time, photos or other things, I'd easily be over 300.

Sigh. The CWA membership fees were killing me anyway...

Guess Im a closet Cre-ho. I spent the five bucks.

What else to do when you get there four hours before Dollywood opens?

Chuck

^Bill will disown you if you pass up a kiddy coaster.

He will disown the park if he is turned down for the credit. It's not pretty. I have seen it many times. ;-)

Otherwise he harrasses grandmas and usues scare tactics (or makes people feel sorry for him) to get his credits. ;-)

He called me at Wonderpark in Cinci one time to make sure I rode the Boa Squeeze. I didn't have the heart to tell him I did it years ago and was only interested in playing DDR. :-)

I visited Lakmont for the first time last year and rode Little Leaper in the cold, nasty rain JUST for him, because I knew he would never talk to me if I passed it up.

Actually, I rode it again at Ridefest a few weeks ago and got a NASTY bruise.

All kidding aside, he actually ENJOYS kiddy coasters, not just getting the credit. He enjoyes them more than the smaller kids. ;-) His behavior has been wearing off on me, otherwise I wouldn't of drove a little out of my way to go to Fun Fore All. :-P

-Tina

*** Edited 10/22/2005 12:32:00 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

I just remember laughing like crazy the whole time @ Scandia because of the group of 20-some adults taking over the Li'l Screamer.

(And for the record, yes - I rode too. :) )