Airtime&Gravity Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) By 2012, corn dogs and cotton candy could be year-round fare at Fair Park. Officials at the State Fair of Texas said Monday they want to convert the midway into an amusement park to compete with Six Flags Over Texas, though on a smaller scale and with a cheaper price. A roller coaster is planned, as is a ride called the Top of Texas Centennial Tower that will send thrill-seekers 500 feet into the air. The 20-acre midway would be transformed into a good-weather playground, with enormous flowerbeds covering acres of pavement, inflatable buildings and water features all around. A high-speed boat adventure ride tentatively is pegged to open in 2013, a year after doors open to what will be called Summer Place Park. Admission would be $30, compared with the $49.99 full price for Six Flags. But to pay for the expansion, estimated to cost more than $20 million, the State Fair of Texas will need to spin off some serious cash in the next several years. "We have to earn it and put it in the bank, so we've been saving up for this," said Errol McKoy, president of the State Fair of Texas, an independent agency that operates the annual extravaganza, the nation's largest state fair. "But over the next two or three years, we'll have to have some pretty good fairs in order to afford this." Still, several million is already in the bank – and a good State Fair this fall, said McKoy, could easily add another $5 million or more. If sales are strong this fall, the $11 million tower will be on order by winter, he said. It takes 18 months to assemble. During that time, McKoy said the State Fair will use profits from the 2010 and 2011 events to pay for the $8 million as-yet-unnamed roller coaster they've picked out. "We've found a coaster that does a lot of acrobatics but doesn't take a lot of land space up," McKoy said, adding that it can compete with larger coasters at Six Flags in terms of excitement, but won't match the size or distance of the others. Last year, the fair sold more than $29.5 million in food and ride coupons, but McKoy would not disclose total expenses. In 2008, about 3 million attended the State Fair. Eyes atop Texas The Top of Texas Centennial Tower is named for the 1936 Texas centennial, a pivotal event in the history of the State Fair that left as its legacy one of the nation's largest collections of buildings in the art deco style of architecture. It will be the largest tower of its kind ever built, McKoy said. "The Seattle Space Needle itself is taller, and Reunion Tower is 550 feet, but this will be the highest tower ever manufactured that will serve as a ride," he said. A cabin will take about 150 riders on a swiveling, snaking ride up 500 feet, before returning them to the ground. About 1,000 passengers an hour could ride. In addition to the big rides, the entire midway will have to be transformed each year to mirror the manicured look that is the hallmark of theme parks, but rarely associated with raucous annual events like a state fair. As many as 150 suites – similar in style, he said, to the corporate suites that will be featured at the HP Byron Nelson Championship – will be available for rent by families, he said. The $30 cost for tickets will also provide a pass for at least one other venue at Fair Park, which include an IMAX theater, the Hall of State and other historic structures. Besides the rides, the capital investments needed for the expansion will cost about $5 million, and would be complete by 2012–if all goes well with the sales between now and then. "The planning has been finished, all of our financial analysis has been done, and our feasibility study has been done," McKoy said of the park. A trump card There's plenty of optimism but any bet on big sales numbers these days faces long odds, given the down economy. The theme park industry has been especially hard-hit. But McKoy and others excited about the plans said the State Fair this year may have a trump card – the opening of the $1.8 billion DART Green Line, its art deco-inspired Fair Park station just steps from the park's front gate. Officials gathered there Monday, celebrating its on-schedule construction. DART opens four stations Sept. 14, and will open another 16 as the full 28-mile Green Line begins service by December 2010. "It is absolutely huge," said Craig Holcomb, president of Friends of Fair Park. "It takes you to the front gate of Fair Park, and with no need to walk a block or anything – it puts you right there. That is going to cause people to use it." Betty Artis, marketing manager for the Fair Park division of the city of Dallas parks and recreation department, said the arrival of the Green Line has pumped up the network of museums, arts venues and other sites – home to some 1,200 events each year – that call Fair Park home. "It's going to be convenient for people who don't want to go through the trouble of driving their cars and finding a place to park," she said. "They're just going to go to the park and ride, get on the train and go to downtown Dallas or Fair Park." McKoy said competing against Six Flags Over Texas won't be easy, but he believes a cheaper, quicker amusement-park option will resonate with cost-conscious families. "At the end of the day, people will enjoy riding out on the light rail, and enjoy an economical visit," he said. "And we'll have a lot of good food." Link Edited September 4, 2012 by jedimaster1227 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Wow a 500 ft rollercoaster? It's going to beat out Kingda Ka! So it will be the first terra-coaster right? And I wonder if the "coaster that does a lot of acrobatics but doesn't take a lot of land space up" is an Intamin ZacSpin. ~ Jess "Gives me another reason to go to Texas again in the future" Chan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 ^ actually the article mentions what sounds like a 500 ft tall intamin drop tower and a smaller roller coaster. I am skeptical that this will actually happen, but who knows. I doubt that this would ever be able to compete with SFoT for local attendance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 The 500ft tall ride is an observation tower, not a coaster or drop tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 ^ oh lol that makes more sense. I was thrown off by the 500ft spinning and the referring to the riders as "thrill riders" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Could the "acrobatic coaster" also be a Gerstlauer if not an Intamin ZacSpin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megamatt Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Looks like an intersting concept. I hope they follow through with it. It sounds like an X-Car or Zac Spin to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netdvn Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Judging by the article, the park seems to be a Stratosphere-style park with rides at the top of a large tower but will also have rides around the base as well. I’m very interested in what the “swiveling, snaking” ride that sends riders “500 feet in the air”. It seems like (everybody else mentioned) an X-Car, but I can really see a Eurofighter or an El Loco as well. It seems a bit ambitious, and I wish them the best of luck trying to get the off the ground... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Could the "acrobatic coaster" be Two-Face? Or is it common knowledge now that another park bought it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastuso Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 They presented a lot of this to Winterfest in Houston 2 years ago. They plan on putting chilled water in the fountains and renting game kiosks as cabanas. NO, really, that's the plan! The observation tower could be OK, if they air condition it. The Skyway they built is basically you paying $6 to ride in a sauna for about a minute. If the geniuses in charge can't figure out that a massive wood coaster would pay for itself in a year, like the crappy skyway, and choose to build some piece of shit compact coaster, like a Volare, they should all be fired. Remember, at one point a few years ago, this brain trust was going to build a Russian shuttle loop as the main attraction at the Fair. They basically print money at the Fair, yet still seem determined to install the shittiest coaster they can find. You know, because they already destroyed the nice classic woodie they had, plus a classic Pretzel. I can't imagine who would pay half of SFOT's entry fee to play in a cold fountain and ride a few medium thrill rides while it's 110 degrees outside. -R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netdvn Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 ^^ Not exactly common knowledge, but I've read that a park in Brazil bought Two Face. It will be Brazil's second inverted coaster in two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 http://www.fairpark.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=216&Itemid=28 Summer Adventures in Fair Park will be an amusement park complete with a log ride, boat swing, high-dive show, Gulf Scream speed boat ride, sky coaster, and a variety of favorite State Fair games and concessions. Think of it as a touch of State Fair ... all summer long. Soaring over Summer Adventures in Fair Park will be the new 500-foot-tall "Top of Texas Centennial Tower." The Tower will provide visitors with a 360-degree panorama of Dallas and will be open to the public and available for private meetings and receptions. (If all goes as planned, the Tower will be open by September, 2012 ... just in time for the 2012 State Fair of Texas!) Eventually, the base of the tower will be home to a new museum showcasing the most extensive collection of memorabilia of the State Fair and the Texas Centennial Exposition of 1936. Of course the Texas Star® Ferris wheel and the Texas Skyway will also "star" at Summer Adventures in Fair Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 ^I assume that is a typo and they mean the tower will be open by September of 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenA07 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I was at Fair Park about a month ago and unless they're building really really fast it has to be 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Epic fail on the tower, they had advertisements all over fair park for 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Makes me wonder if that was even an updated news story from the fair board. I know it says something about Summer Place Park being unveiled in May of 2013. Odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Now that I've clicked the link, I'm pretty sure I saw that release or at least something very similar to it back end of 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy* Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I do think that eventually this project will expand, and thats because it will be a big money maker. I would love to see them really do this and give SFoT some competition, I think SFoT would then step there game up with new attractions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenA07 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 The entire fair park area of Dallas is in a state of flux right now. Other then hosting the fair there they also have several major museums down there. The museums are all getting ready to move to a new location so suddenly there is going to be much less of a draw to fair park when the fair isn't underway. This project is an attempt to keep fair park relevant during the other 11 months of he year. I'm not at all surprised that this project has been pushed to basically start up right about the same time the museums shut down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastuso Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 WOW, losing the museums would be pretty big. As I posted on teh first page, they floated this out at Winterfest years ago, and it sounded pretty lame. I have little confidence in the state fair putting in a great ride. THey have the shortest log ride in the world, and charge like 8 bucks for it. They put in an un-air-conditioned fairly sealed sky ride to be ridden when it is in teh 80s and 90s. Any ride they build will be extremely low on thrills. As I said above, they have chosen some of the worst coasters in the world as possible ones for the park. They are probably looking at moving Son of Beast down there. -R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy* Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 There has been some movement in the State Fair area. I know there has been some new luxury apartments and condos built in the are in hopes of bringing new life to area. Im curious if they are going to charge the by tickets per a ride or just admision. I would think that this would affect actual State Fair in October. No one going to try to go in October when you can go year around. I think they are will have to add some new attractions other than the tower. I would love to see them upgrade to a new larger Texas Sized Ferris Wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chadster Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Looks like the tower, which should be open for the Summer Place Park, is on its way up with some incredible views! I'll try to get by there this weekend or next and acquire some porn. Linky Jason Hays, part of the State Fair of Texas’ public relations department, was all set to head to the top of the 500-foot-tall Top o’ Texas Tower yesterday to snap a panoramic look-see at the city. At which point he was told by construction crews that sorry, but the elevator’s not working yet. After all, the ride — the centerpiece of the Summer Adventures coming to Fair Park in May — is still under construction. But, ya know, he was free to climb the ladder to the top of the State Fair’s observation-tower ride … if he had the 40 minutes to spare. One way. “So I said, ‘Why don’t you have the guys who are up there anyway take some photos?’” Hays says. You can see some of the results above; others are available on the State Fair’s Fair Park Fun Facebook page. Says Hays, the Top o’ Texas Tower is scheduled to be finished by April 1. After that, he notes, “They will spend that month going through rigorous testing before the ride officially opens May 4.” Look out below, y’all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N0Noski Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Does anyone know when they started building this tower? I was in Fair Park on January 1 for the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and I didn't see a 500 foot tower then. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathbydinn Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 ^ You might just be crazy, since according to their facebook the tower was topped off December 21! https://www.facebook.com/fairparkfun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I'll have to check out the area when I head back down to Dallas in August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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