When Will Arizona Get a Decent Theme Park? (Phoenix, Mesa: how much, hotels)

[dbrooks411]

Have you been to Texas lately especially Houston and Dallas hot and sticky no matter what tree you are under. Houston in spring sticky, hot and rain never mind Dallas rains everyday so imagine sticky yicky.

[hart4july]

Originally Posted by slackjaw

Yeah the "too hot" argument is hard to support given Cedar Point in Ohio closes from end of October to mid-May, Phoenix easily has a longer nice weather span than their 5 1/2 month open season.

I have been to Cedar Pt many times, and it's wonderful-keep in mind it's summer season is when all the kids are out of school and other than King's Island there is no other competition in that part of the Midwest. Our good (Phoenix)season occurs when kids are in school. That means traffic cut in the summer AND weekdays in season. It also means families out of area can't drive in for the weekend easily.

We did themeparks in the Midwest for Summer- here we go to waterparks, Western theme areas when the temps are -100, and resorts like AZ Grand offer a weekend of fun for a 1 night stay. Or we drive to CA.

I would love a Knott's Berry Farm type venue here, but I am not sure if one is sustainable for reasons listed. I think it would be in keeping with the region to be Western, but I cannot picture a day at the park in 110 weather.

[Sealtite]

After reading through this thread, I decided to take it upon myself to design what I think would be a pretty damn cool water park for the state of Arizona. Call it late night boredom, or an ingenious idea....You decide:

[CodyW]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

I think it actually opened!....don't know if it is as originally envisioned, but here it is....

Bearizona - Drive-Thru Wildlife Park - Williams, Arizona - Home

Made my first trip there, recently. I was really, really disappointing. Only a handful of wildlife exhibits, and most of them were more sad than interesting. It's like a zoo that doesn't seem to care so much about the habitats of its animals.

That said, I've always been a fan of Metrocenter giving up some of its land to Castles n Coasters so they can do a real expansion.

[AZJ0SH]

Originally Posted by LocoAZnative

Legend City was not closed in the 60's I was born in 74 and went there as a kid. They had Wallace and Ladmo shows we would goto.

That's all I could find online that it went bankrupt in the 60's and was sold in the 80's to SRP.

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Kids are in school in the nicer weather, unfortunately. There is tremendous competition for your and your kids time on school weekends. Also, in AZ most schools have a very short summer vacation - 8 weeks at the most. During that time, many of us have to make the annual trek back to families we left behind.

Kids are only in school for half the day, nothing wrong with going there after school or on the weekends.

What do you mean most schools have a short summer vacation? I lived here my whole life, and it was always 3 months of summer just like everywhere else. I know a few smaller schools do the year-round program, but it's a very small amount.

[Stokes172]

Originally Posted by AZJ0SH

What do you mean most schools have a short summer vacation? I lived here my whole life, and it was always 3 months of summer just like everywhere else. I know a few smaller schools do the year-round program, but it's a very small amount.

I was surprised to find that AZ kids had such a LONG summer vacation.

they go back early but they're also out much earlier than other places.

[AZJ0SH]

Originally Posted by Stokes172

I was surprised to find that AZ kids had such a LONG summer vacation.

they go back early but they're also out much earlier than other places.

Probably due to the lack of snow days. When I was in Michigan it wasn't rare that we wouldn't get out of school until June. Here in Arizona it's always been May to August.

[ReadyFreddy]

Mesa schools are out less than 3 months in summer. Roughly May 25-Aug 11 or so. So about 2.5 months.

I've been to Disney World in early May and found it unbearably hot. I think the only reason Orlando works is because it became a world-wide tourist destination, where people go year-round. There are a lot of really impressive water parks for summer there, too.

I've been to the Phoenix Zoo in summer and that's bad enough. I'd much rather go to CA, even given hotel costs. I think we've only gone to Castles and Coasters 2-3 times in the 11 years I've had a kid in this city, and that was because someone invited us on their life insurance company's cheap day for years.

[Stokes172]

Originally Posted by AZJ0SH

Probably due to the lack of snow days. When I was in Michigan it wasn't rare that we wouldn't get out of school until June. Here in Arizona it's always been May to August.

What's a "snow day"?

Up here on the Canadian Prairies kids don't get out till the end of June and return the week before Labour Day.

Doesn't snow here

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Stokes172

I was surprised to find that AZ kids had such a LONG summer vacation.

they go back early but they're also out much earlier than other places.

That is simply not the case. In PHX almost all schools get out just before Memorial Day and go back the first or second week of August. They may get out one or two days earlier than some locales but it is not "much" earlier. In many other places they get out at the same time but do not return until after Labor Day (Wisconsin law). The Back-to-school shopping here is in July whereas it is in August in the east. People moving here are often surprised by how early they start back. The vacation season for families with kids is over in early Aug for PHX area families and at it's peak for people in the east. The trade off for the abbreviated summer is that the kids have longer in session breaks, typically 2 weeks at Christmas and another week or two in spring plus days here and there. And, yes, there is no need to build snow days into the schedule. Overall the school year is 180 days by law as in most places.