Castle Park - Palace Entertainment - really bad years of ride closings - any other palace parks?

[SoCalJasonland]

So Castle Park got rid of their two kiddie coasters before this year.  The Screamin Demon - spinning coaster was just recently removed and Merlin's Revenge is up for sale; so all four coasters will be, or are already gone.  The Sally dark ride was closed and drywalled over without any warning earlier this year.   The spider and crazy plane rides were removed this year.  They only had one show, Anthony the Magic, and it was canceled and replaced with a dance party.  

I can't find any of their other rides listed for sale besides the coaster so I am not sure that the ride park is closing unless they plan to move the usable flat rides elsewhere. 

Either way, if you live nearby, you might want to visit just in case they decided to tear down what is left of the park before you know it.  The golf course still looks nice if you don't look at all of the empty broken fountains.

Are other Palace parks liquidating assets?  Is Palace in financial trouble?  

[SoCalJasonland]

I figure I should share some good photos since the heat and fires somehow went away for a little while. So, here we go.

This is the park

This is the Merlin coaster up for sale in my previous post and the last of the four coasters at the park

This was the Dragon spinning coaster

This was the Spider rider and the one I am upset the most about because I think it is the last in Cali unless a fair has one.  We did get a new picnik area though.

The wate flume was fixed and is running 3 logs.  One of the better themed carnival water slides with 2 drops.

From the observation ride

The Sally dark ride Ghost Blasters was either a great FEC dark ride or a decent amusement park dark ride and can be found on Youtube but I don't think there was a TPR video so I didn't link to one.  The park employees and guests were told it was closed for an extensive rehab one day and a tarp went up.  About two weeks later, a stud wall, drywall , electrical outlets, and paint were installed over the ripped out queue line.  I asked about the ride rehab and they said, no we rehabed the arcarde.  I think the ride it dead.

This was the entrance to the ride and all queue work was torn out.  I was told much of the ride was there but no one wanted to spend the money to remove it.  They thought about a walk throu haunted house but that idea was also kind of posssibly ditched.

This is a small amount of left over paint from the ride entrance to the right side of the candy factory machine with the fake collum.

They still have a tilt-o-whirl, scrambler, flying swings, gravitron, kyte flyer, pirate ship, fireball, and a couple of other rides the make it worth a visit and the lines and not long.

The golf course would look better with water but I heard that a lot of the couse would need to be demolished to access all of the resturn and drain lines.  Plus, all of the concrete pools are approx 40 - 50 years old and would need to be replaced. I guess they could put some lava rocks or something in there so it doesn't look so empty to disguise the bare concrete pools.

This was a nice fountain that you walked under.

I guess if you don't have paint or wood working money, you don't have money to replace the concrete pools or return lines.

Overview

Hole 4 looks nicer because they filled the pools with rocks a couple of decades ago.

A small amount of Bud's Knott's Berry Farm influence from his Log Ride and Mine Train Attractions.

[thrillseeker4552]

Thanks for sharing. Growing up in SoCal this was "technically" my home park along with Knott's. My best friend and I would go often in the late 2000s/early 2010s when it felt like the park was in its prime. I remember getting the courage to finally ride Dragon's Tower and Fireball and, at one point, Screamin' Demon ran INSANE and was brutal in the most fun way possible. Also good memories of the Falling Star ride before that got removed. The flume has always been great as well.

Sad to see the park in this dire state. I feel like it always had some good potential being in such a heavily populated area and to be offered as a cheaper/lower stress option (kinda like the Fun Spots in Florida) for Inland Empire folks versus fighting traffic into Orange County or down to San Diego for the other parks - but I guess that ship seems to have sailed under its current ownership.

[SoCalJasonland]

On 9/22/2024 at 3:40 PM, thrillseeker4552 said:

Thanks for sharing. Growing up in SoCal this was "technically" my home park along with Knott's. My best friend and I would go often in the late 2000s/early 2010s when it felt like the park was in its prime. I remember getting the courage to finally ride Dragon's Tower and Fireball and, at one point, Screamin' Demon ran INSANE and was brutal in the most fun way possible. Also good memories of the Falling Star ride before that got removed. The flume has always been great as well.

Sad to see the park in this dire state. I feel like it always had some good potential being in such a heavily populated area and to be offered as a cheaper/lower stress option (kinda like the Fun Spots in Florida) for Inland Empire folks versus fighting traffic into Orange County or down to San Diego for the other parks - but I guess that ship seems to have sailed under its current ownership.

The problem is that it is seen as low-class and anyone that can afford Knott's, SFMM, Universal or Disney doesn't stop there so it is limited to very broke locals or the one person like me that has several passes because they are addicted to rides.  I speak to a lot of passholders at the park since they have the same color wrist band as I do and many have never been to another amusement park and just go to Castle Park a couple of times per month.  Some haven't left the inland empire.  People buy a $70 annual pass or a $20 to $30 discounted daily ticket and don't spend much in the park.  The gift shops and game employees look lonely.  Only the refillable drink mug locations, fry shop and Pizza Hut Express appear busy.