THEME PARK JACKSONVILLE

[duvaldude08]

     Before anyone drops millions into more downtown entertainment venues, shouldn't we try to get rid of the aggressive bums and Midnight Massers? Isn't the useless Skyway enough of a carnival ride. Especially when there is the possibility of random assault? Can't wait to see how much the COJ would gouge people for parking at a theme park for god's sake...

Who said we were dropping millions? And you have been assualted Downtown? Just asking 

[cayohueso]

No one's dropping millions. Just from my experience of having worked downtown for 12 years, so yeah...I've been downtown quite a bit. Lived in West Riverside and actually rode a bike downtown to work. Got mugged once riding to work back in the early 1990's so yeah...assaulted. I do enjoy the assests we have there, seen quite a few Suns games all the way back to when Randy Johnson was here so I frequent the area. A theme park downtown though? Please. Try Cecil Field.

[Ocklawaha]

     Before anyone drops millions into more downtown entertainment venues, shouldn't we try to get rid of the aggressive bums and Midnight Massers? Isn't the useless Skyway enough of a carnival ride. Especially when there is the possibility of random assault? Can't wait to see how much the COJ would gouge people for parking at a theme park for god's sake...

It's always a pleasant experience to hear from the optimist in our community... BTW, parked at Disney lately?


OCKLAWAHA

[Noone]

     Before anyone drops millions into more downtown entertainment venues, shouldn't we try to get rid of the aggressive bums and Midnight Massers? Isn't the useless Skyway enough of a carnival ride. Especially when there is the possibility of random assault? Can't wait to see how much the COJ would gouge people for parking at a theme park for god's sake...

Who said we were dropping millions? And you have been assualted Downtown? Just asking 

Millions? check out 2010-675. Legislation on the USS Adams. One Finance amendment.

My concern and I hope that legislation is immediately forthcoming that if the Theme Park flex space plan is persued with the creation of a total govt. takeover by a DIA,DDA,DEA that the Promised 680' Downtown Public Pier 2010-604 is separate and outside the control of this yet to be created and voted on Independent Authority.

Ock you Rock. Lets paddle Hogans Creek. I've got some awesome news on rail that I'd like to share with you and get your input. Lets Make it Happen.

[cayohueso]

     Before anyone drops millions into more downtown entertainment venues, shouldn't we try to get rid of the aggressive bums and Midnight Massers? Isn't the useless Skyway enough of a carnival ride. Especially when there is the possibility of random assault? Can't wait to see how much the COJ would gouge people for parking at a theme park for god's sake...

It's always a pleasant experience to hear from the optimist in our community... BTW, parked at Disney lately?


OCKLAWAHA

Yawn...boondoggle.

[Ocklawaha]

You sound as though you equate 'theme park' with Disney proportions. Do you even know what a 'trolley park' was? To develop such a thing downtown would be about the equal to San Antonio's River Walk with a few carnival rides tossed into the mix. Not a place to spend hundreds of dollars and 3 days, but more like a nice little place where twenty bucks would get you a enjoyable afternoon. Gouge you for parking? By definition a trolley park is accessed by... TROLLEY. What a novel thought.  Think Boone Park on steroids.

Homelessness by the way is not the illness that holds back downtown, rather it is a symptom of a society of do nothing people who fear ideas and loathe changes.  Jacksonville, A diamond that wants to remain coal, with citizens more concerned with investing a nickle then earning a dollar.

OCKLAWAHA  

[danem]

There are some times where I want to post that "Be an optimist prime, not a negatron" pic in every post here!

I believe Jacksonville WANTS things like this, and there is a market for them.

[Timkin]

Agree. And for those of us who would love to see a concept like this be reality, there will always be the group who will be against it. 

Its sort of like the recent Mayoral race.  We have to get the numbers to win

[duvaldude08]

You sound as though you equate 'theme park' with Disney proportions. Do you even know what a 'trolley park' was? To develop such a thing downtown would be about the equal to San Antonio's River Walk with a few carnival rides tossed into the mix. Not a place to spend hundreds of dollars and 3 days, but more like a nice little place where twenty bucks would get you a enjoyable afternoon. Gouge you for parking? By definition a trolley park is accessed by... TROLLEY. What a novel thought.  Think Boone Park on steroids.

Homelessness by the way is not the illness that holds back downtown, rather it is a symptom of a society of do nothing people who fear ideas and loathe changes.  Jacksonville, A diamond that wants to remain coal, with citizens more concerned with investing a nickle then earning a dollar.

OCKLAWAHA  

Agreed

[Noone]

You sound as though you equate 'theme park' with Disney proportions. Do you even know what a 'trolley park' was? To develop such a thing downtown would be about the equal to San Antonio's River Walk with a few carnival rides tossed into the mix. Not a place to spend hundreds of dollars and 3 days, but more like a nice little place where twenty bucks would get you a enjoyable afternoon. Gouge you for parking? By definition a trolley park is accessed by... TROLLEY. What a novel thought.  Think Boone Park on steroids.

Homelessness by the way is not the illness that holds back downtown, rather it is a symptom of a society of do nothing people who fear ideas and loathe changes.  Jacksonville, A diamond that wants to remain coal, with citizens more concerned with investing a nickle then earning a dollar.

OCKLAWAHA  

Agreed

Agreed +1.

Ock, Can anyone confirm or deny that a trolley pole is right there next to Hogans Creek behind the old St. Lukes hospital. Anybody? The railroad ties that are there too. Dr. Wayne Wood, Emily Lisska, Anybody from Springfield? Where did the audio tour thread go? Dr. Wayne Wood was on it. Did anyone hear what he had to say about Jacksonville?   

[Ocklawaha]

Train or Trolley? Trolley or Train? Same track...

Agreed +1.

Ock, Can anyone confirm or deny that a trolley pole is right there next to Hogans Creek behind the old St. Lukes hospital. Anybody? The railroad ties that are there too. Dr. Wayne Wood, Emily Lisska, Anybody from Springfield? Where did the audio tour thread go? Dr. Wayne Wood was on it. Did anyone hear what he had to say about Jacksonville?   

Noone, it could be, but it's doubtful as Duval was completely rebuilt with a new viaduct/bridge over Hogans Creek which widened the road and took out the old trolley line poles. The tracks that once ran under that same viaduct in a north-south alignment to Maxwell House and Jax Shipyards belonged to two freight railroads and no trolley line poles would have been along their right-of-ways. I do know about the tracks and ties that are in the bushes there, in fact one of the old switch stands sat on my back porch until I finally figured out that a 300 pound chunk of round metal couldn't exactly be used for anything else. LOL. I didn't bring it to WGV and God help the poor guy that decided to move it from the old place!

The amazing thing and the point we need to keep pounding home is that streetcars ARE TRAINS, and they operate on TRAIN TRACK, meaning that they could operate on CSX except for safety rules. Seems the Federal Railroad Administration has some trouble with a 59,000 pound/40 mph  streetcar running on the same track as a 400,000 pound/90 mph  Amtrak Locomotive... no sense of humor?  But the principal remains the same and for that reason, any old trackage that we obtain, CAN BE USED for streetcar if we want it to. Also streetcar can often run on the same right-of-way just on a separated track from the freight railroads. Thus the old line that shoots north of Maxwell House all the way to Gateway Mall is a golden opportunity for a 100% private right of way streetcar/interurban type line.


OCKLAWAHA

[duvaldude08]

Maybe I just missed this article, but a theme park is actually being considered. This is a article from February.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=532919

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

DD, your call for the shipyards is starting to sound like Noone's call for the waterways. 

[duvaldude08]

DD, your call for the shipyards is starting to sound like Noone's call for the waterways.  

WHHHATTEEVVERR! lol No but really I just stumble across the article and never knew it exsisted. I just found it stranger weve been on here going around and around about it, and its actually being dicussed in reality. That's all. Im not to sure if Im fond of the idea. Not exactly picturing how it would fit its surroundings. I have noticed that most Theme parks are built in the middle of no where. Wild Aventures, Lego Land Florida and heck Orlando was quite remote and country when Disney came to town. It just seems a " entertainment park" Just wouldnt look right at the Shipyards.

[danem]

WHHHATTEEVVERR! lol No but really I just stumble across the article and never knew it exsisted. I just found it stranger weve been on here going around and around about it, and its actually being dicussed in reality. That's all. Im not to sure if Im fond of the idea. Not exactly picturing how it would fit its surroundings. I have noticed that most Theme parks are built in the middle of no where. Wild Aventures, Lego Land Florida and heck Orlando was quite remote and country when Disney came to town. It just seems a " entertainment park" Just wouldnt look right at the Shipyards.

Sounds like the themepark plan is for something on the small side. If there was a large theme park in Jacksonville, it would need to go somewhere else for sure, and like I said further up, such a large theme park should have a very distinct theme for it, not coming across as an attempted copy of Disney or Universal.

He referred to the Wave Waterpark near San Diego and the Celebrations restaurant and club center in Myrtle Beach, S.C., as examples of what might work.

“They are little mini amusement parks with retail and restaurants. It’s really pretty cool,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be more than $20 million, but you get a lot of bang for your buck.”

http://www.thewavewaterpark.com/

http://www.celebrationsnitelife.com/