PTR: Sandy Lake Amusement Park and Frontier City! (pg2)

[Jakizle]

I don't think I have ever seen a PTR of this place on TPR so I decided I wanted to post it even though I went last September. I also went to Frontier City but I won't post that unless anyone really wants to see it. Anyways I think Sandy Lake isn't on the park Index either, so I will post pictures for that. Basically me and a friend did the ultimate credit whore trip around Texas Labor Day weekend and this was one of our (quick) stops. Enjoy?

Driving south on 1-35E from Oklahoma City, this is when you know you are close to Sandy Lake!

There is actually a sign for this little known park on the highway! We actually found it

Also, as you are exiting there is a pretty cool retro sign. I was surprised this little park had all the signage.

The park was luckily open, and it was Fiesta Days!!! However, I didn't see any sign of such Fiesta Day

The park/parking lot entrance off of Sandy Lake road

The parking lot was located near this building and a swimming pool, but to get to the rides...

...you had to walk a little bit down this strange path or road, whatever it is!

Looks like we have arrived at the ride section! It appears to be pretty busy today!

The only people in line for the ticket booth appeared to be park employees

After getting some tickets (enough for 4 rides or so) we made a loop around the park. First thing we found was the Rock-O-Plane

Scrambler! It had too long of a line though so we skipped it

The park did have a classic carousel

I spy a credit!

And here is the station. Luckily we bought flash passes so we could skip the queue!

For some reason they built one side of the ride next to the tree instead of around the tree...AWESOME!

Lift hill shot HAS to be included.

One last look at the station and the cool paint scheme on the cars. Even though there really wasn't a wait we only got like...2 cycles.

One last look at the awesome tree head chopper element thing.

As for some other rides, they had a spider...

...a Yo-Yo

What the hell does this name mean?? Can I get some insight people?

At Sandy Lake you can just drive your car from ride to ride if you wish!

Kidding aside, here is another look at the scrambler

The park is also home to a Parachute ride. Still never been on one of these!

What park is complete without a swinging ship?

Forgot to include the sign for Spider...so here it is!

Bumper Cars were also included here!

The last major flat ride was the park's mini train...which does not stop for pedestrians!

Here is a better look at the ticket booth if you are interested in prices and stuff like that

Next up we decided to collect the other credit, which was powered

However, there wasn't an op at the ride, so instead we went over to the...

The Pretzel! You have to love these classic dark rides (well all dark rides kick ass!)

Luckily these two cars had just crashed and the ride was evacuated so we didn't have to wait in a long line!

Here is a shot of the dark ride building. It really wasnt anything special but that does not make the ride uncool!

Luckily an op returned to the powered coaster so I got the opportunity to SQUEEZE into this little car...dang kids!

Speaking of kids, apparently three to a seat is totally okay

Action shot?! I am now wondering if that water below is the sandy lake the park's name mentions?

Last but not least I want to mention that the park had a pretty good section of little kid rides and stuff...KT would probably love it!

This ride is so cool as it uses real animals instead of fake ones!

Anyways, I've been saving the best for last, my first ever experience on a Rock-O-Plane!

A look inside the death cage

This is a view from one of the moments where I was actually right side up! This thing is seriously fudged up and scared the crap out of me

I also managed to give you an idea of what the park looks like from the air...neato?

Unfortunately it was time to head out of Sandy lake. I am wondering where the hell the train goes though, should have rode it.

Shout out to Lake Winnie which also carries this same, awesome drinking fountain

On the way back I noticed the mini-golf course featured some insanely dumb looking holes...but awesome at the same time.

Last picture I took was of the actually nice looking pool area. Sandy Lake was an interesting place!

For the rest of the night we went to a park down the road with slightly bigger rides...but that's another story. Thanks for reading!

Edited June 28, 2010 by Jakizle

[Canobie Coaster]

Cool trip report. I haven't seen much of Sandy Lake other than a segment on an old travel channel show that showed their classic Pretzel dark ride.

[DBru]

Thanks for sharing this. It was really interesting and hilarious.

 

The color scheme on the Little Dipper's trains reminded me of Son of Beast's Premier's...

[davisal771]

The Rock-O-Plane looks awesome. That place has about every ride in the same style and era as Santa's workshop here in colorado... literally! It has the same scrambler, the same swinging ship, the same coaster, and the same parachute swinging ride. And I'm positive they have the same kiddie boat ride. Crazy...

[Jakizle]

Thanks for the comments...it really was sorta a fun place. I'd like to go back and maybe experience some of the other rides as we were in a rush that day. Only rode the 2 coasters, Pretzel, and the rock-o-plane.

[Midgetman82]

This place looks like it was situated in a state park, maybe they'll grow and expand just like Beech Bend. Its a neat little park, I like it and your TR.

[iheartrevolution]

Oh, Sandy Lake. This is what you do for fun in Carrollton if you can't get to Six Flags. And no it's not in a state park, it's in the middle of suburbia, surrounded by highway and sports fields, maybe a mile or two from the Dallas city line.

 

I need to get back out there, haven't been in a few years. Next time TPR comes to SFoT, come out to Sandy Lake!!! It's 20-30 minutes away and it's a blast! Haha

[Philrad71]

Great report...thanks for sharing!

 

That place has about every ride in the same style and era as Santa's workshop here in colorado... literally!

 

I was thinking the same thing about my "home" park - Midway Park, which is now state owned and operated. I went there earlier this year (forgot the camera though) and was disappointed in the upkeep (or lack thereof). Guess it's probably due to the fact that we ummm...basically have no state budget now? They have a very similar roller coaster, Tilt-A-Whirl and Dragon Coaster, but they took out the Paratrooper and swings years ago. I will have to go there and take some pics for a trip report...Big Mike's was the only TR I have ever seen for it!

 

Phil

 

PS - I haven't ridden a Rock-O-Plane since I was a kid at the county fair - I used to loved that thing! I didn't find it half as intimidating as the Skydiver or Zipper.

[Electerik]

I certainly don't want to create more work for you if you don't want to do it, but I'd like to see your Frontier City TR.

 

Either way, thanks for this one!

[Six Flags Enthuseast]

Nice TR. You should definitely try a Paratrooper ride, I've always enjoyed them. What exactly does Rock-O-Plane do? I don't really understand it.

[davisal771]

^ I think it's like a Zipper/Chaos mix. The wheel spins while your individual car flips.

[haiderodes]

^almost.

 

At basic function, its a Ferris Wheel, however the car/cage is mounted in such a way that it allows you to rock back and forth to cause it to flip. The biggest difference between a normal wheel and a Zipper is there is a hand-operated brake in each car. This is useful in allowing you remain in an upside down position, or provide a nice face first dive toward the ground OR when used with the correct timing to unlease a number of quick-fire flips (think Top Spin).

 

The best part is that the ride is up to you. If you dont want to flip, you dont have to...assuming the operator doesnt accidentally leave the load brake in postion.

[Jakizle]

^almost.

 

At basic function, its a Ferris Wheel, however the car/cage is mounted in such a way that it allows you to rock back and forth to cause it to flip. The biggest difference between a normal wheel and a Zipper is there is a hand-operated brake in each car. This is useful in allowing you remain in an upside down position, or provide a nice face first dive toward the ground OR when used with the correct timing to unlease a number of quick-fire flips (think Top Spin).

 

The best part is that the ride is up to you. If you dont want to flip, you dont have to...assuming the operator doesnt accidentally leave the load brake in postion.

 

LOL! That would be crazy if the car was locked in position and you just did loops around the wheel...until it stops on the bottom to load/unload and you're stuck at the top! But yeah, all of these ___-o-plane rides I have done are pretty much the craziest flat rides ever.

 

And I will do the Frontier City TR in this thread also...plus every coaster at SFOT in 3 hours afterwords. They all go together I guess since it was all in the same day!

[Jakizle]

Frontier City time! On Saturday morning we woke up from our hotel bright and early in Fairfield, Texas after going to Kemah the prior evening. We needed to make it up to Frontier City for their 12 noon opening time if we wanted to be able to come back to Dallas Saturday night. I guess the rest is up to the pictures.

About an hour after we left we approached Big D, but had lots of driving left to do so we could return today.

North of Dallas this is this cool looking extreme park of sorts...and yes that is a SCAD tower (1 of 2 in the USA?)

Don't remember where I took this picture, but still a good drive to OKC.

You know the Red River Rivalry? Well this is where the name comes from! Exciting right?

Now that we were in Oklahoma, there was a GIANT casino that was themed to all of the different continents.

Eventually we reached our destination, Oklahoma City. On the way we did stop by the OK welcome center and pick up 19.99 tickets to Frontier City. I think it was 40 bucks at the gate?

Speaking of Frontier City, it looks like we found it!

Pulling into the parking lot...and we were worried it might be pretty busy today (Saturday of Labor Day Weekend)

Well it ended up the only painful wait of the day was to receive our discounted tickets...not many ticket booths (atleast open ones)

You enter the park inside a gift shop sort of like Elitch Gardens. Inside is the entrance to Diamond Back, so why not ride it first?

As the park just opened there wasn't any wait at all

However Diamondback broke down as we approached the station. Off to explore the rest of the park...

After leaving the gift shop this is what the main midway looks like

The next coaster we came up to was Steel Lasso, the parks newest ride

In a pretty dumb move, we though the line looked long (starts off to the right) so we kept walking to the next coaster

Next up was the classic Schwarzkopf, Silver Bullet.

Ride sign.

There wasn't a line here, however! And this is what the train looked like...and it's actually silver (hi Knotts)

The ride was quick and fun and reminded me of Viper which used to reside at Astroworld. RIP

However I would like to shout out to the random killer airtime hill thing in the middle of the ride. Ouch!

Right next door to Silver Bullet was Wildcat, the park's little known wooden coaster.

No line here. We rode in the back once and were decently surprised, but we decided we would try the front because it felt like it would be better up front.

Because this ride isn't very well known and the park didn't care, I took some pictures from the front row.

After the 2nd hill here, the ride plunges into the trees and doesn't come out until the final brake run. Good smooth and really floaty ride! I rank it right up there with Cannonball @ Lake Winnie

It did have some crazy wild moments, such as the turn around!

Lastly I thought this picture showed how much tree coverage this ride gets...it was awesome!

After Wildcat we spotted the Ferris Wheel and thought it would be a good picture opportunity.

Silver Bullet.

Diamond back WAYYY over there, and still closed.

This is pretty much all you can see of Wildcat and why it seems so mysterious on say RCDB.

See what I mean? Awesome location though!

One last look from the sky at Steel Lasso. I think it's time to give it a spin!

Unfortunately at this point the line stretched all the way back to the ride entrance.

A look at the station.

After about a quick 20 minutes, we made it inside the station.

Kudos for the design of these cars, they rock. It was a smooth, fun little ride (really short) and a good fit for the park.

After riding Steel Lasso we did some more exploring around the park. However we found that most of the other side of the park was full of closed attractions.

The rapids ride did look VERY neat, but I didn't feel like getting wet at all.

Hmm, I wonder what could be inside the building?

A peek inside reveals that the old coaster is still standing, however it was covered with stuff as the building was full of random crap!

Moving on, we also found the drop tower Hangman, but passed up riding for the sake of time.

Back around towards the front of the park we found the cool looking station for the log flume. Once again time would not allow for us to wait in the long line.

A shot of the finale.

However, there was no way we could pass up on the dark ride with a short line.

The ride was a typical shooter, but had 2 seat cars instead of 4 like the Scooby Doos

We finally went back to see what was going on with Diamondback. However...

...mechanics were still working on the ride. Wasn't looking good since we really wanted to drive back to Dallas and get some time at SFOT. 0-2

However, the mechanics told us it was almost ready so we took a quick side trip to Wild Kitty, the park's kiddie coaster.

This isn't a good sign.

Even with practically nobody in the kid's area, we weren't allowed to ride. Oh well!

All was good however when we found that Diamondback was open. Yay!

We could have sat anywhere, but opted for the back because of the crazy airtime down the first drop.

From Diamondback's station you could see that the parking lot was actually filling up.

With the 4 rideable coasters ridden, we decided it was time to check out around 2-3 PM.

Diamondback running from the parking lot. Can you tell which direction it is heading in

The exit of the parking lot takes you behind this strange road behind the park, but we eventually made it to I-35.

Frontier City lingered behind us as we had to get gas to head back to Dallas. Sandy Lake followed, then we headed to SFOT for the evening and ended up conquering the park in 3 hours. Should I post that too?

[chadster]

Thanks for sharing Sandy Lake, I've seen the sign plenty, but never stopped in, next time, I might take a trip through. I see you had a similar experience with Frontier City. I went on Father's day, no one was there, but several rides and attractions were closed and it didn't look all that busy. I guess that's the norm for them now.

 

Oh, and don't forget about Malibu Speedzone next door to the extreme park! Cool Intamin top eliminator dragsters and a super looper!

[DBru]

Awesome shots from the Ferris Wheel and onride Wildcat!

 

Frontier City looks like a really fun place with some nice, medium-sized coasters. I have relatives in Oklahoma City, so I might plan a trip over there sometime soon. Would you recommend the park?

[cal1br3tto]

I think I'd visit Sandy Lake if I had the chance, and not just for the credits, but for the Rock-o-Plane as well.

Frontier City looks like a decent park as well. I wouldn't mind trying out those coasters.

Thanks for sharing!

[Jakizle]

^Thanks! Rock-O-Planes are indeed awesome and I will ride any I come across. Now I really want to go back to CLiffs for the threesome of New Mexico Rattler, the mini outside frisbee, and the rock-o-plane!

 

^^Why not? It's a good family park and if your in the area might as well go ride the coasters...all 4 are fun and pretty unique.

[Mastersax68]

Rock O' Planes: You sit in a car with a handle. The frame rotates like any other Ferris Wheel, but each of the cars spin upside-down independently. The handle controls whether you spin or stop spinning. They are completely spontaneous, and my favorite carnival rides! I've ridden 2...

Edited June 29, 2010 by Mastersax68

[Six Flags Enthuseast]

Sandy Lake followed, then we headed to SFOT for the evening and ended up conquering the park in 3 hours. Should I post that too?

Yes you should!

 

I can't believe you missed out on the two shot towers they have at those parks! I'm a big fan of them, so naturally they'd be up there on my list of attractions to do. (Plus I'm an S&S junkie, so I would've gone crazy over a Sky Sling that's free to ride. )

[IBtacoDave]

You've got me stumped about the name Zumur, but if I had to guess it would be a slackjawed yokel way of spelling "Zoomer". It seemed like those guys were a little too old/heavy for the pony ride. Great TR.

[cal1br3tto]

At the risk of sounding way too geeky, I did some google searching, and the most I can tell you is that Zumur is the official name from the manufacturer. Basically, it's a Chance Zumur, brought to you by the makers of the more famous Yo-Yo. There are at least a couple more out there, apparently.

 

^As for why, I'd have to agree with your theory.

[Jakizle]

^Yeah, shortly after I posted someone told me it wasn't actually a Yo-Yo, but Zumur is the manufacturer name. I couldn't tell a difference!

 

And I will post our night at SFOT shortly!

[chadster]

At the risk of sounding way too geeky

 

Being a geek/nerd is a pre-req for being on this site

[gameplayer951]

that entire park reminds me of a level on Left 4 Dead 2.