I was going to take my son and a few of his buddies (all high school kids) to Kings Dominion for a day later this Summer, but he mentioned this new place in Fredericksburg:
I have two questions:
1. Do I remember correctly that someone here on TKP is running that place? If so, some insight on what days of the week might be the best for a small group of high school kids to go have some fun.
2. I have read some unfavorable reviews online and have received the same feedback from people here in Harrisonburg who have gone. Most of that has to do with not actually being able to ride some of the main attractions because of the large crowds, so it wasn't an indictment on the park itself. Does anyone have any insight on this? Maybe answering my question above would solve this.
Looks like a great place! I'm looking forward to going!
Comments
Paging Wasknick.
Wasknick!!!!
edit:
Grew up in Fredericksburg. Can't speak to the status of Fun Land today, but I definitely went to a few birthday parties there when I was <10 years old. I never once thought of going there when I was in middle school or high school. I would 100% steer you towards Kings Dominion, especially for high school boys.
I was thinking this same thing, but he wants to spend the day driving Go Karts.
I was in Destin over the summer and drove a go kart track with my Nephew that is almost identical to the one above. I guess it was ok, but kind of more of a gimmick than anything else. The karts were not fast like the ones at many of the indoor tracks these days. Still fun though, would go back.
Fredericksburg resident here, happy to add my two cents.
Compared to KD, it's a pretty small operation so I don't know if that would make a difference for your older crowd. I took my 3 year old there a few weekends ago for a birthday party and he had a good time, but it's essentially a souped-up carnival/arcade with batting cages and go-karts. We were there on a Sunday and the crowds were definitely manageable. I would steer clear of Saturdays for sure. When I was there, I did not get the sense that there were huge lines to use anything. They have laser tag and a small VR-type set-up as well. Let me know if I can answer anything else.
Well HI there! The name is Nick, and I should be able to answer just about any question you could possibly come up with for Funland of Fredericksburg and Kings Dominion. I am currently the Director of Maintenance for Funland, but I have a long history at Kings Dominion as well. I'll be happy to do this AMA style but I doubt there will be too many people having questions about it. Feel free though to ask and I will give you as honest of an answer as possible.
To address some that have already come up:
- Kings Dominion is a full blown amusement park. Funland is a Family Fun Center. The main difference being the size and scope of the operation. Kings Dominion is designed to keep you entertained for the whole day. You can split time between a water park and the regular park. Funland is more designed to keep you entertained for an afternoon. It is also very easy for a parent to drop their kids off while they head around Central Park doing other things. Much easier to get in and out of and make some quick visits. We usually see spikes after dinner, where people will stop by after taking the family out to eat.
- High School kids definitely visit Funland, especially in groups. We have become quite popular for afterproms with several of the local high schools. We are really trying to spread the demographic out so people of all ages can find something they like to do. Overall, though if you are planning on coming to this area, you may want to count Funland as a side quest to Kings Dominion. The go kart track at Kings Dominion is quite laughable compared to what we have built at Funland, and will probably not even be something you want to bother with.
- Thunder Speedway! There is no denying that we have put in a winner. This track is fun and extremely popular at the moment. Avoid Saturdays at all costs, though. We have the "Nobody goes there it's too crowded" thing going on during the weekends right now. Wait time for Thunder Speedway on Saturdays is averaging 3-3.5 hours right now. We are handling that as best we can with a virtual que at the moment so you are not actually waiting in line for that long, but that is what everyone there is looking to do. If you show up during the week, there should be no issue. Right now at 1:15pm on a Monday it is basically a walk on.
- Future of Funland. I have heard from people near and far about their thoughts of "Central Park Funland", now Funland of Fredericksburg. It depends on who you talk to, but in the past the reviews were not so amazing. That is what I am here to help change. We are sinking some major money into this place (see Thunder Speedway), and plan to keep it on the up and up. You will be seeing many of the older style rides get phased out and newer and bigger amusement park style rides going in. We will never be a major competitor to Kings Dominion, because that is not the point of an operation our size. Our goal is to target mainly the people in Fredericksburg to keep them coming back and make us a regular stop, but also to have enough of a draw and word of mouth to get people already traveling down 95 to think about stopping in for a bit.
I would love to hear about any experiences that people have while visiting, good or bad. Any ideas or concerns you may have. This is what makes us better, and over time I think we will really raise peoples opinions of what we have here. See Funspot in Florida if you want an idea of the type of thing we are shooting for here.
If nothing else, please have better TV commercials than FunSpot. I endured those for 4 years while living in central Florida.
Press play if you like shoving hot nails through your ear drums.
Hahaha cannot say I have ever seen their Ads. Actually can't say that I have ever seen any of our Ads except for radio spots. The GM is a marketing wizard, though so I do not think he would approve of anything quite this bad.
Do the ride and play passes truly cover everything or are there other costs? What height can a child ride without adult? My boy is 10 and around 56". I know at the beach last summer he was not allowed to ride solo on the fastest track.
So there are two wristbands: Ride and Play and then Ride an Play Plus. The plus gets you on all rides and games except for the payout games.
As for the height: 60" to drive the adult carts but only 40" to ride. At 56" he can drive the Rookie Carts on the oval track.
Heights for this class of go kart are fairly standard so they probably match several tracks at the beach.