America's Fun Park

Hey.  Remember that new amusement park that opened in Branson last year and was open for less than a month before it closed for good?  Well it's an empty lot now.

Other than the main building and some random shade structures and power boxes.  There's nothing there.

This would be where Windstorm and the swings were located.

The crazy thing is that there are still some random rides in pieces in the parking lot.  I'll admit that I had fun the one time I was able to visit and its a shame that the owners were not forward thinking enough to make it work.  It'll be interesting to see how long the lot remains vacant.

CLOSED - America's Fun Park

Sorry folks.  The park's closed, moose out front should have told you.

In an extremely abrupt announcement, AFP has announced that it is closing the doors.  They are blaming the weather for keeping people away and claim they cannot pay the bills in order to keep the park open.  They have already sold off one roller coaster (Groovy Train) and I imagine other rides will start disappearing soon.  

Our take on this is that those in charge did not have a forward thinking vision for this park.  You have to be able to weather the "storms" and in order to do that, you must have money reserves that you can rely on.  It appears that the park expected to be able to pay the bills right away through money coming in front guests.  That is rarely how things play out in year one.  It's sad that they could not learn from the mistakes of other failed parks that we've seen come and go here recently.

AFP claims that they are going to regroup and try something different this Fall.  We honestly will believe it when we see it.  Honestly if this place ever reopens (even in a different format) we will be surprised.  So to AFP we say goodbye, adieu, aufwiedershen, gesundheit, farewell.

America's Fun Park

The park might be officially open now, but they are not done adding attractions.

The Scrambler will be a great addition the park

Airborne Shot is another new ride coming.

Using hydraulics, the ride will shoot out its arms periodically as it swings around in a circle.

This will also be a popular ride once it opens.

Finally, the Super Flip is already being set up in the park near Windstorm.

Not on site yet, but coming, is a Tilt-a-Whirl which should arrive later this month.

NOW OPEN! - America's Fun Park

Welcome to America's Fun Park.  Let's start off our tour with the roller coasters.  The "queen of the midway" is definitely Windstorm.

Windstorm is the largest traveling roller coaster in the United States.  Though, I'm not sure how much traveling it is going to do for the foreseeable future.

The coaster has this "hidden" drop turn half way through the course that can really catch you off guard if you are not expecting it.

The ride finishes with some very tight curves that hug the ground.  It's a great ride and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to get several laps in today.

The next roller coaster at the park is the Groovy Train.

While not as extreme as the Windstorm, it still has some fun drops and a lot of curves.

Here you can see it navigating one of the longer sets of helices.

You definitely get some airtime in the back cart going down the big drop.

The final roller coaster at the park is the Wacky Worm.

This fun course is navigated several times.  They just keep sending you around.

However I don't think they meant to send us around 7 times like they did when I rode it.

The train kept over shooting the station, but they finally got us stopped.  Let's just say my limit on laps around the Wacky Worm is probably less than seven in a row.

Flying high above the east side of the park is the Oktoberfest Wave Swinger.

They give you a nice long ride on these swings.  It is a lot of fun swinging above the midway and the Branson Strip.

Tornado will get you plenty dizzy if you are into things like that.

The park also has a nice 3 lane slide.

You can get some air going over those humps.

This nice full sized carousel has some interesting animals, like the dragon you can see here.

Scooter is the park's bumper cars.

If you can build up enough speed, you can definitely put some decent sized bumps on your fellow riders.

The Dark Ride (Ghost House) never opened while I was at the park, but I have to say that it has a very impressive looking facade.

The park has several kiddie rides, which I assume will be consolidated together when the additional big rides come and get set up at the park.  This is Duck Boats.

Motorcycle Jumper

Lil Scrambler.

Jet Planes

Beetle Bumps

Convoy, which was not open yet.

The park also has several Midway Games scattered around the park.  I can see these being consolidated in the future and maybe even have permanent structures built.

The Food Court is made up of several food trucks.  I do like that they put in permanent shade structures for the dining area.

They have most of your normal carnival food selections here.

Finally, the main permanent structure for the park houses the restrooms, administrative offices and ticketing.  I would imagine eventually there might even be a souvenir shop.

We had a great time at the park and look forward to seeing where they take it in the future.  They have said that they plan to cycle in and out rides to keep it fresh so we will definitely keep an eye on this wonderful new addition to the Branson area.

Grand Opening Ceremony - America's Fun Park

It's been a long time coming, but the official Grand Opening for America's Fun Park is today!

There was already a line an hour before the ribbon cutting.

It stretched all the way back to the road.  AFP employees provided those waiting with Krispy Kreme Donuts and bottles of water.

Local news stations were busy interviewing people in line while we all waited for the ribbon cutting.

At 9:45am, it was officially time.  Members of the Branson Chamber of Commerce and the administrative staff of America's Fun Park did the honors of cutting the ceremonial ribbon to officially open AFP.

Now it's official!  America's Fun Park is open for business.

The marquee for the park proudly proclaims that the park is open for business.

Festive balloons lined the fences of the park letting passersby know that AFP was having a special event.  Thank you to AFP for inviting MiG to celebrate in your special day.  We look forward to numerous return visits this season.