You realize Phoenix is somewhat boring when guests come to town... (Tucson: salvaged, maintenance)

[LuvPhoenix]

Originally Posted by bgrn198

How about Rawhide? I used to love going there when I would visit Phoenix

An 1880's Western Town, Steakhouse, Saloon and Shops right in the heart of Wild Horse Pass. - Home

Rawhide was my favorite places to go when I was a newbie and I couldn't wait to take my visitors. I agree with what someone else said. This was interesting at first but after 26 years I'm over it. That doesn't mean your visitors won't enjoy these things.

Still love Phoenix and always will.

[qwertyasdf]

I live in Austin and only have driven thru Phoenix, and it was late at night and we were in a hurry to get to get to the beach in Santa Monica so we didn't stop and therefore I didn't get to see the town like I would have liked to. There was a time in my life I thought I'd move to either Phoenix or Tucson, but I went to Austin first and never left.

With all that said, I don't want to overstep my bounds, but,...I bet there's a ton of stuff to do in Phoenix that a tourist would like....What's the local music scene like there? If your friends are into music, maybe y'all could go out somewhere and hear some good music and hopefully it would be in an intimate setting.

On the weekends, I bet there's some kind of a festival going on somewhere in the Phoenix area that you could take your California friends to.

It could be fun to take your guests out and drive around the Phoenix area and into some of the more unique neighborhoods in the town.

It might be kinda fun to go for a walk in the University area (sorry, I'm not sure if it's ASU UA.) and check out some of their unique shops in that area.

My parents said there's a really big outlet mall in the Phoenix area and I'm thinking it's like the outlet mall in San Marcos. Your friends might enjoy doing something like that The one in San Marcos, the people come from all over Texas, the US and Mexico to shop there. I can't verify it, but I've heard it's 2nd most popular tourist destination in Texas after the Alamo.

How about a trip to the State Capitol building. That might be kinda interesting. Along that line, a museum that tells the history of Phoenix.

I bet Phoenix is a town that has something for everybody.

[AlohaFriday]

Read this thread and then found this thread comparing Phx with Denver for a vacation: Better vacation city/metro: Denver/Boulder or Phoenix/Scottsdale

Some highlights:

"I would much prefer Denver. First off, I don't go to Denver without a combined trip to the mountains, but even Denver alone has more to offer IMO. Catch a game at Coors, tour the brewery in Golden, Aquarium, Zoo, Six Flags, LoDo, 16th St Mall, Cherry Creek, Boulder etc. But really if you are going to be in the area for a few days, why wouldn't you at least go to something in the rockies like Estes Park, Rocky Mtn National Park, Vail, Pikes Peak etc."

So people do like to visit amusement parks on vacation! Guess industrial parks in Maryvale and IKEA aren't the best tourism attractions after all.

Phoenix boards crack me up. Who touts IKEA as a tourism attraction?!

[MattUNI2001]

Originally Posted by AlohaFriday

Phoenix boards crack me up. Who touts IKEA as a tourism attraction?!

I'm relocating from Orlando to Phoenix for my job, and I am incredibly disappointed that the 6th largest metro area in the nation has next to nothing as far as theme/amusement parks are concerned. My current sub-division is literally across the street from Universal Studios, and it pains me knowing I'll be giving that, Disney, SeaWorld, and a ton of other attractions up with little to no replacement in the Phoenix area.

[ronm97]

The big advantage Phoenix has over bigger cities like LA, NYC, SF Chicago etc is that it's easy to do a lot in one day because traffic and crowds are not an issue. In places like LA simple things like going to the beach is an all day event. You get stuck in traffic, takes forever to park etc. In Phx these issues are non existent.

[BlueCat1105]

Originally Posted by MattUNI2001

I'm relocating from Orlando to Phoenix for my job, and I am incredibly disappointed that the 6th largest metro area in the nation has next to nothing as far as theme/amusement parks are concerned. My current sub-division is literally across the street from Universal Studios, and it pains me knowing I'll be giving that, Disney, SeaWorld, and a ton of other attractions up with little to no replacement in the Phoenix area.

Unless you relocate to Pasadena, there the other Disney center sits, I don't think you're going to find another area with a Disney-like amusement park vibe, whether it's Phoenix or anywhere else. Chicago certainly doesn't have it. Northern IL has a Six Flags, but it's not exactly close to the city.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by MattUNI2001

I'm relocating from Orlando to Phoenix for my job, and I am incredibly disappointed that the 6th largest metro area in the nation has next to nothing as far as theme/amusement parks are concerned. My current sub-division is literally across the street from Universal Studios, and it pains me knowing I'll be giving that, Disney, SeaWorld, and a ton of other attractions up with little to no replacement in the Phoenix area.

Welcome to Phoenix and Arizona! I personally consider my theme/amusement to be Arizona's amazing outdoors, which is top notch, especially compared to the flat lands of central FL. Just my opinion though, as a visitor to both regions and only a resident of Phoenix, Utah and New England in my life. But if it's amusement parks you want, head to SoCal. There should be plenty to satisfy you out there.

On another note, Phoenix is not the 6th largest metro area in the country, more like 13th. It's the 6th largest city, BIG difference. But even if we were the 6th largest metro, which would mean something like doubling the current valley population, I still don't know that we would have a six flags or another theme park here. It would most likely need to be indoors and that adds a whole lot of investment in an already tough business model.

[Catavenger]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

I'll start off by saying I like Phoenix...I've lived here for 21 years and will continue to do so, it's a great place to live day-to-day life but as a city for visitors, not so much.

Am I wrong in feeling that way?

I have a cousin and her boyfriend (late 20s) visiting in about a week from Southern California and I'm trying to think of what I can recommend for them to to and not coming up with much other than restaurants, movies, and the mall. What else can I recommend?

For one thing visiting Phoenix in the summer isn't the best time. If it were cool you could visit places like Camelback Mtn. , South Mtn. park, Piestawa Peak, Papago park or the zoo. Right now perhaps they might like the Phoenix Art Museum or Heard museum.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by locolife

Welcome to Phoenix and Arizona! I personally consider my theme/amusement to be Arizona's amazing outdoors, which is top notch, especially compared to the flat lands of central FL. Just my opinion though, as a visitor to both regions and only a resident of Phoenix, Utah and New England in my life. But if it's amusement parks you want, head to SoCal. There should be plenty to satisfy you out there.

On another note, Phoenix is not the 6th largest metro area in the country, more like 13th. It's the 6th largest city, BIG difference. But even if we were the 6th largest metro, which would mean something like doubling the current valley population, I still don't know that we would have a six flags or another theme park here. It would most likely need to be indoors and that adds a whole lot of investment in an already tough business model.

(1) Despite us being the 13 largest metro, there are much smaller metros with amusement parks.

(2) No one is asking Phoenix to compete with Disney and other California amusement parks. Having a local amusement park has nothing to do with CA amusement parks. People will go to both. Having a local park will add a lot to the community.

(3) The heat and population has nothing to do with Phoenix lacking an amusement park. It comes down to economics. It's much more expensive to build an amusement park today than it was 40 years ago. Most of the amusement parks you see today were built in the 1970's or prior. If those cities didn't have pre-existing parks, they would not have ones built for them today. In fact, some cities have lost their amusement parks like Houston (Astro World) and New Orleans (Six Flags New Orleans).

(4) The other challenge is land. Where are you going to build a park? Land near the metropolitan area is fairly expensive. And you will need a lot of it.

(5) Phoenix will ultimately get an amusement park. As the population continues to grow, there will be investors recognizing this is an untapped opportunity and something will be built. But it will take time.

[Arizona Mike]

I just finished reading the new book that documents the history of Legend City, Phoenix's lamented theme park. The author notes that the combination of summer heat, overextended financial costs, unexpected maintenance costs (especially on the popular horseless carriage and minicar rides) and the lack of a large enough population base to support the park doomed it and caused multiple ownership changes and a lack of a clear direction.

With the growth in size of the Phoenix metro area, the population issues might not be true now. There are a lot of parents looking for places to take their kids. I could see using a spot south of Phoenix on the I-10, possibly on leased tribal land, to support a fair-sized theme park. (Someone actually tried to do that, but it never got off the starting blocks - you can still see the remnants of it, with the older-style round aerial cable car gondolas salvaged from Legend City up on big poles around the site, on the west side of the I-10 as you drive down to Tucson.)

We do have some smaller amusement parks aimed at younger children, like Kiddyland in Encanto Park, and Castles and Coasters.

Maybe the solution to the heat is to focus on the cooler months, and focus on nighttime hours during the hot months.