Bell's Amusement Park Rebuild

My name is Jason Bell. My family ran an Amusement Park in Tulsa, OK for 56 years. We were leasing land from the County Fair Grounds. During our last year, we fought a lengthy and expensive legal battle over putting in a new roller coaster; a case which we won. During that same season, we lost our Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel due to a micro-burst storm event. In addition, we had major damage and loss of revenue for weeks.

Despite all of that, we still managed to finish with our best year ever! We had great plans for the next season; everything seemed to be coming together.

For reasons that I believe were political, our lease was not renewed. We were informed of this on the last day of our season, and we were given 6 months to vacate. Imagine the loss of money in infrastructure, foundation, electrical, etc. A link to the story is here: http://www.batesline.com/archives/2006/11/for-bells-the-b.html.

Well, we are undeterred. We have a small 5 kiddie ride operation running right now, and we are planning on adding back our Tilt-A-Whirl, another Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel, a miniature golf course, concessions, Scrambler, Spider, 2 Merry Go Rounds, and some games + redemption. We are seeking some assistance through social media and crowd funding. (We own nearly all of the rides from our previous location, so we are just seeking the funds to put them back up)

We have had GREAT success with Facebook. We grew to 20,000 fans in a weekend! We have also launched a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo. We are 10 days in, and we have raised $5,000. We are shooting for $60,000; this will allow us to put up the rides I mentioned above. The best part is .. every dollar gets you a ride ticket. There are other great perks as well!

We would so appreciate your help in spreading the news, and if possible making a contribution.

We also plan on putting up our roller coaster named Zingo, our dark ride we called the Phantasmagoria, the Himalaya, the Log Ride, and many others in the years to come.

Please feel free to contact us via Facebook, and visit our website. I'll link everything below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bells-is-Back/227315583990587

Website: bellsisback.com/

Indiegogo Campaign: www.indiegogo.com/projects/let-s-help-bring-bell-s-back/x/4310708

We would love to have you be a part of our comeback!

Links to some pics of our previous location and rides:

Zingo Roller Coaster

Himalaya

Eli Bridge - Storm Damage

Dark Ride - Phantasmagoria

If you have any technical questions about our rides, please reach out to us. My brother, Robby Bell (President) will be happy to answer them.

(Sorry for the long post)

Looks good! Will Zingo be built by Gravity Group? or M&V?

At least we know it won't be very ghetto!

Geauga Lake's Big Dipper needs to go here.

Geauga Lake's Big Dipper needs to go here.

I disagree. Why would you want to curse a park that's trying to get back up and running with a woodie that hasn't operated in several years that has a questionable past as it is.

Doesn't the park still have Zingo in storage? I'd rather see them re-build a ride that their own community could embrace than one from Ohio that no one in the area would have any attachment to.

Sorry, but people really just need to "let go" of Big Dipper.

--Robb

What is that Eli Bridge - Storm Damage ride? It looks so messed up.

Contributed!

Good luck!

Geauga Lake's Big Dipper needs to go here.

I disagree. Why would you want to curse a park that's trying to get back up and running with a woodie that hasn't operated in several years that has a questionable past as it is.

 

Doesn't the park still have Zingo in storage? I'd rather see them re-build a ride that their own community could embrace than one from Ohio that no one in the area would have any attachment to.

 

Sorry, but people really just need to "let go" of Big Dipper.

 

--Robb

Post was tongue-in-cheek.

What is that Eli Bridge - Storm Damage ride? It looks so messed up.

LOL! At first I had to do a double take.

Hope that Bell finds a new location.

That battle with the fairgrounds lease sounds caustic.

I live in Tulsa and I am happy to see Jason finally getting the word out that Bells is coming back. What happen to them at the fair grounds was unfair in my opinion and took away a great place and history from Tulsa. The Zingo still sits in storage just waiting for the day it's able to be put back together and I hope he is successful in his attempt to get the funds needed. I put my money in towards it.

Geauga Lake's Big Dipper needs to go here.

I disagree. Why would you want to curse a park that's trying to get back up and running with a woodie that hasn't operated in several years that has a questionable past as it is.

 

Doesn't the park still have Zingo in storage? I'd rather see them re-build a ride that their own community could embrace than one from Ohio that no one in the area would have any attachment to.

 

Sorry, but people really just need to "let go" of Big Dipper.

 

--Robb

 

Post was tongue-in-cheek.

Oh. LOL. It probably warranted a or a or a to make that clear!

Anyone ever hear much from this Indiegogo campaign they did? I know they fell well short of their goal but it would be nice for people who contributed to get some sort of update.

After riding Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach, I bet it's safe to say that Gravity Group/M&V could built a long-term winner. Build the old Zingo (which was a great ride in it's own right) and add a little ... you know, that thing they do. That airtime thing.

What is that Eli Bridge - Storm Damage ride? It looks so messed up.

It's an Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel.

They seem a little messed up even when they're standing normally.

Anyone ever hear much from this Indiegogo campaign they did? I know they fell well short of their goal but it would be nice for people who contributed to get some sort of update.

If you follow their Facebook page, you can see that they are slowly chugging forward. They keep saying that they are working on the donator perks but don't really have a timeline. They've just got a lot on their plate with setting up the new rides for summer, managing what already exists of the new 'park', and of course the fact that Robby still has to work his other job to pay his personal bills (unless this has changed since then). There just isn't a lot of manpower behind this.

The good news is that there is some progress. The Tilt-a-whirl is almost done if not done already (haven't been by in a few months), and they just started putting up the kiddie coaster. They've also made a lot of progress on several other rides getting basic refurbishment done. I think there are some mechanical issues that have been slowing them down, judging by the looks of the Tilt-a-whirl last I saw it.

^Thanks. I'll check them out on FB.