Shavethewhales

I've got another batch of photos on my site here - http://www.superstevessupersite.com/park_galleries/bells/bells5_9_07/bells5_9_07.html all are courtesy of a reader of my site. It looks as if more has been done than I thought. The log flume's trough is completely gone, and only a few slender supports remain of the flume's structure. It's amazing to think that the 50ft drop was taken down completely over the course of one day. As far as Zingo goes, it looks like the entire back run is gone - structure and all. More importantly though, the big stuff is starting to come down as most of the turnaround is already gone. I thought they had been slacking before, but the cranes have arrived and they are getting the job done. Looks like the May 15th deadline won't be a problem. I expect the announcement of the park's relocation will come anytime around then. Still desolate, the grass is making a comeback. It's all gone, only a couple of supports and the mountain tunnel remain. I hope they have a new mountain on the rebuilt flume. Check out how much of the turnaround is missing.

I don't live in Wichita itself, but I am (or would be) a Joyland patron, so yeah, this will affect me directly - but not as directly as it will the citizens of Wichita, whom are being silently wronged by the city of Wichita's actions with this park. Look, to settle things out, no one is trying to be a fanatic who just wants to stir up trouble for a dying park. That fact of the matter is that the publicly-elected officials of Wichita are doing things that they aren't supposed to, and it's the citizens that are paying the price. One of the main reasons Joyland is in the trouble it's currently in is because of the actions of the city; if it hadn't been for those actions, the park would have worked its way out of the rest of its troubles by now and would likely be in the middle of that $40 million dollar expansion. So, yeah, no one should be an idiot about all this - including the Wichita officials and citizens.

^^For Pete's sake, how many posts like this do we need to see? Go back over this topic and you'll see we've already covered this. Citizens deserve a right to speak out when their government screws up, it's called democracy. And no, the park is not a lost cause. Remember how the new owners want to put $40 million into the place? That expansion alone would make the place twice the size of WWW. So everyone please stop giving us that, "Oh no, the park's in trouble: ABANDON SHIP!" crap, cause it doesn't always need to be that way. The park might make it and it might not, but obviously it's worth it to many people to give it a good fight.

^^^ Dude... Well, at least they are putting up a strong fight, that's about the most we can hope for. I don't understand why it was always in their plans to build a strip mall on the property, it seems to deviate from their plans for a $40 million dollar upgrade to the park and the building of a water park. How big a chunk of Joyland was needed for the strip mall, and how critical was it to the park's expansion?

Ah, if I see one more DW photo TR, I might go nuts with jealousy... Someday, someway, I'll get there eventually. You thought MM was only mediocre? What does that make rides like Thunderhead and TT then? I wondered how well the dark ride stuff would work, but I thought it would still be an outstanding ride overall.

Bummer about the photos, I really want to see this place. So your friend would take this place over MM, or SFDK? Wow, it must be good then. Did you get on that powersurge type ride? If so, was it any good?

I'm in for a DVD and a shirt, question is though, which DVD? I noticed one DVD had footage of Celebration City, but do you have any of Silver Dollar City?

So they crowds would have been pretty bad without Q-bots? What day did you go on? How bad do you think it would be in the middle of the week? I ask because I myself am planning a trip up there soon. If it's anything like everyone says, I'll have to shoot for a couple of days there, is that what's 'needed'?

Dude, great shots. Were those rock-o-planes recently renovated? They look fantastic, but are they much fun? I never knew the park was quite this big, it looks like it has several high-quality rides.

Check it out!!! -> http://www.bellsfamilyfun.com/ On Bell's website it says that they will be announcing their new location and future plans soon! This means that the 'Bell's 2.0' plans will indeed become a reality! I'm... so... happy... right now.

^Apparently they've been talking to communities right up next to the MO border and even into other surrounding states. I think his heart is set on south Tulsa though. I'll bet at this point that Robbie does in fact have a plan and a location picked out for the park's future, but he just won't tell yet.

Well, it's been forever since I gave an update here. The current status of the park is great - well, per the situation at hand anyway. Bell's had extended to them a massive helping hand today. The Tulsa Steel Services Company came to Robbie Bell and offered a full day of services, equipment, and tools for absolutely no cost. In one day, a massive portion of the famous White Lightnin log flume was taken down, enabling Bell's to come very close to the May 15 deadline of having half of both the log flume and Zingo taken down. If this next deadline is reached, they will have an extra month. Needless to say, this isn't very much time at all, and Robbie admits these deadline would never be met without help like this. Let's all give TSS a big hand, you just don't see incredible acts of kindness coming from many corporations these days. As far as Bell's overall future goes, it remains somewhat uncertain, but Robbie Bell has been scouring northeastern OK for a new location, and he's bound to pick one soon, if he doesn't die from all this hard work. Read the full report here - http://www.kotv.com/news/topstory/?id=126201

Awesome, so now we get two of them. I don't see why Carolina Crossroads wants a replica of that particular ride though. If they aren't going to use the original, they should build something completely new. I don't remember hearing that ZP was that great of a ride, was it?

Ah, so they have that at DW too I see. Yeah, I make sure I pick some of that stuff before doing anything else at SDC; there's usually a good wait out the bakery door for it. Have you used the fast-queue system they have there? How much does it cost, and how well does it work?

So now the Nelsons own the park fully again? What next? I assume the rides were only leased to the partners, so they shouldn't be able to sell them off. Aug, this point, finding a quality buyer will be hard, with one strike, mounting competition, and piling debts, I'd be surprised if the Nelsons don't sell out to a condo developer within the next few weeks. But still, I have faith - or rather, unreasonable optimism, in this park.

What? So it's over? Just like that? Damn, I actually thought there was a glimmer of hope left for the place... damn. I guess you have to take the good with the bad though; we've lost this place, but WWW is opening right across town, and several other new parks could be coming to the U.S. soon as well. It just pains me that this is really one of the last of the classics, that just could never be replaced...

Other than being way off one your perception of CC and Branson (have you even been there?), This is what I was saying. The West MO. area would require several years or more before it adjusted to fit this type of resort, and by the time traveling to that area became practical for the average 2-state away person, they would already have lost too much. Besides, I still don't think this could fit in with all the Branson attractions an hour away plus everything to the north. This is the type of resort you would spend almost all your vacation at, I doubt many will try to hit this, SDC and CC, plus everything else. I wonder though, if Disney's declining to comment on these matters mean anything? Surely, if they didn't have anything to do with this, they would say it? Or maybe they're just toeing the waters for far-fetched future plans?

^I'm skeptical of it all as well; I just don't see them wanting to barge into this already over-crowded market. Besides, the area isn't all that popular, and it's just not set up for this kind of resort. Even if this project was toned down, it would still be run over by the competition, and if it was pushed farther, it might fail harder. I don't think it'll get past the risk-analysis stage, but we'll see.

Sad, but read the last line - "Barnard says he and his partner still want to buy and renovate Joyland, even if they can't open it this year." That means there's hope yet. We just have to hope the community wakes up to how the government is hurting them and honest, private businesses like Joyland.

Still amazed at how good this turned out. In the end, did they ever have to move some of the train tracks? I still can't imagine how all this fit in there; from what I saw last year it looked like they would have trouble just fitting in the swing, but I guess there's obviously more land there than I ever thought.

Dude, wow... That's some serious remodeling work! I wonder how much it cost them, they might have been better off just buying the ride new in the first place. But anyway, I am seriously relieved. I don't know why I doubted the Hershends in building this particular ride, but it shows just how far they can and will go to ensure all their rides look great, no matter what they were like originally.

Very nice, I'm glad to see this project finally pull through. It's funny though how much new wood they are using; I still can't figure out why it's more worthwhile to resurrect an old woodie than to build a new one.

Eh? Right, anyway, I just noticed how massive this thing is. Does it still only take up an acre?

Good grief, where does everyone get the idea that this is all about being a fanboy? When your government skrews you over, you let them know you're pissed, that's how democracy works (or should work). Now once again, we're out for a purpose and aren't just wanting to cry about being picked on, but we should do something. After all, what other business would let a city treat them like this? Honestly, there's a big difference between fanboism and standing up for what's right. Look at the facts.

Like I've said before, we all know that pestering is not an option, but if your city wants to plop a massive highway right through the middle of your neighborhood, over several local landmarks, what do you do? While we don't want to piss anyone off, the citizens of Wichita have a right and an obligation to make sure the government they pay to support is working for them as it should.