The Walk at Tulsa Hills

[TheArtist]

I have lived in Tulsa for eight years now. While I'm proud of the progress it's made with DT revitalization etc., it has always perplexed me that this area doesn't have a great water park ( no big splash jokes please . Let me scale it down a bit and ask the question: With all the hotels going up around town why can't Tulsa attract a Great Wolf Lodge type development? If not DT why not an area like The Walk? Right off the highway and close enough to I-44 (and DT)to allow easy access and visibility. Tulsa needs more options for family entertainmet IMO to keep progressing and maintain sustainability.

I am of course biased for downtown, but just want to say that when a downtown/urban type area is done well it can be your family entertainment option.  

When I was in London for a month last fall, I seriously had more fun on an average day walking around there than I ever did at Disney World. (and I am a big Disney fan)  Multiple museums from large ones "loved the Natural History Museum" to small like tiny "pocket museums", shows, attractions of all sorts, areas with food vendors that would blow your mind, small parks, kinetic art, incredible shopping, movie theaters, flea markets, festivals, plazas with interesting activities going on, incredible sculpture, even the occasional ride like a merry-go-round, and of course the huge ferris wheel, incredible architecture (we so need to preserve what we have left) etc. etc.  I remember this last Mayfest walking around downtown from the Deco District to the Blue Dome with all the activities and people out and thinking "this should be the way it is every day and in more areas of downtown".  Real, good, urban areas can be wonderful places to visit and take the family. Those "attractions" that we are used to in our suburban style landscapes pale in comparison.  

Think of all the things we could have in our downtown (Geosciences Museum, OK Pop Museum, Tulsa Art Deco Museum, etc. and the ones we already have recently gotten) music venues, more parks with more "programming" activities of all sorts, Movie Theaters, a flea market area or two, a real arts district with lots of galleries, a great kids toy-store, bookstores, more festivals, some amusement park type features, fountains and splash pads, etc. etc. and a trolley that made the loop around inside downtown and transit to other nearby areas like Brookside and Cherry Street and the new park by the river.  Lots of free stuff to do along with the things you might have to pay for.  And of course as Walt Disney himself once said while giving a reporter a tour of the Magic Kingdom before it was finished and opened, "And wait till the main attraction gets here" he said,,, the reporter asked "What is that?"  "All the people" said Walt, despite all the wonderful things he was building, including a classic little downtown main street, the main attraction,,, lots of people.  

[Stanley1]

Ground work is fully underway, The Walk has started.

Hey, you can't just show up 10 days later, and post exactly what I posted above you.   

[heironymouspasparagus]

I have lived in Tulsa for eight years now. While I'm proud of the progress it's made with DT revitalization etc., it has always perplexed me that this area doesn't have a great water park ( no big splash jokes please . Let me scale it down a bit and ask the question: With all the hotels going up around town why can't Tulsa attract a Great Wolf Lodge type development? If not DT why not an area like The Walk? Right off the highway and close enough to I-44 (and DT)to allow easy access and visibility. Tulsa needs more options for family entertainmet IMO to keep progressing and maintain sustainability.

One of those 'cycles' we go through.   We had a modest little amusement park (Bell's) that was run out of town a few  years ago by the County Commissioners and State Fair people.

There are a bunch of lodge opportunities within an hour or 1.5 of so...some better than others.  Might be tough to find a place with enough parking for that in downtown Tulsa....  oh, wait...

I am wondering why we don't have a fairly upscale RV park in town.  The only thing we even had out east was a KOA out at the casino world east of town and it got bulldozed for parking on the east side of the road, just north of I-44.  Go figure.  I don't really know of a location that I would consider ideal for that, but I bet the Tulsa area could support a place with at least a couple hundred spaces.   Probably more.   And before everyone jumps, yeah, I know we have a few....Warrior I think is one of the better ones - over to the west, except for no trees.  And small.  Not much out east or convenient to downtown - Mingo is trying, I think, but just can't quite get there.  Both have reasonable rates, but not exceptional facilities.

[swake]

Hey, you can't just show up 10 days later, and post exactly what I posted above you.   

It was a joke, about the name.

[bacjz00]

I am wondering why we don't have a fairly upscale RV park in town.

I think this kind of answers the question right?  I mean best case scenario, Tulsa isn't able to attract a bunch of people pulling their big donkey campers across the country (I mean my god, Dallas, OKC and Kansas City are known for their RV parks am I right?). /sarcasm

REAL case scenario, is that people in Tulsa think this is how we attract people here in the first place and grow our tax base.

GAG

[heironymouspasparagus]

I think this kind of answers the question right?  I mean best case scenario, Tulsa isn't able to attract a bunch of people pulling their big donkey campers across the country (I mean my god, Dallas, OKC and Kansas City are known for their RV parks am I right?). /sarcasm

REAL case scenario, is that people in Tulsa think this is how we attract people here in the first place and grow our tax base.

GAG

OKC has a couple of mid-scale parks that are very decent - and busy most the time.  It is on the route for Snowbirds from west (Montana) to east (Ohio and PA) down to south Texas, and back.  I think having about 6 casinos per square foot in the Tulsa area would be able to support a good mid-scale park or two.  And with the constant traffic at Cancer Treatment Centers, there could have been some ongoing business for someone.  Seasonal and temporary workers can also provide some steady business - month to month.  (Mingo park has a bunch of that business)

Not like south Texas, but something like Twin Fountains in OKC.  Biggest problem we have in missing out on that is there is no way to get in and out of Tulsa without an Oklahoma turnpike. 


Another thing that is at least mildly surprising is that no RV manufacturer exists here.  Tulsa is where the premium RV of the 40's and 50's was built (Spartan).  This was arguably one of the best travel trailers made for many years!  They got bit and put out of business by economic turmoil, but how did we miss out on that so completely?  There was a great trailer manufacturer a little north of here in Chanute, KS (NuWa) - they invented the slide out for travel trailers - but they got hammered here a few years ago.  Another is still in business in KS, Excel in Smith Center.  It is a brutal business, but if we had the expertise, technology, and workforce to do that then, why can't we do it now?  (Rhetorical question....)  It all went to Elkhart and Goshen, IN.  Go figure.....


We don't attract people (also known as companies now) from outside because of all the stupid stuff we do to actively discourage them from coming here...  Unless people move to a job at an existing company, they just aren't gonna get here.  And so many come for that job, then when retire or lose the job, or get another elsewhere - move away again.

[Conan71]

You forgot Newell which has been built in Miami, Ok. for years.

[heironymouspasparagus]

You forgot Newell which has been built in Miami, Ok. for years.

And then there was one in Pryor - was part of Newell, then got bought out by Featherlite and made Prevost - I think mostly did finish work there....have a friend that worked there.  Then moved that out, I guess back to VA....

From what I have seen, it is one of the toughest businesses to succeed in.  All the mfrs who made decent equipment are gone now, except for Excel.  It was a very short list to start, and now even shorter!  There were Teton Homes, NuWa, ....that's about it - what's left is big on glossy and short on substance!

And just to clarify/qualify, I am talking about RV trailers of all kinds, not the big mega mansion rolling home buses like Prevost.  They and Anderson are both pretty good, but way out of reach of real people.

[TheArtist]

And then there was one in Pryor - was part of Newell, then got bought out by Featherlite and made Prevost - I think mostly did finish work there....have a friend that worked there.  Then moved that out, I guess back to VA....

From what I have seen, it is one of the toughest businesses to succeed in.  All the mfrs who made decent equipment are gone now, except for Excel.  It was a very short list to start, and now even shorter!  There were Teton Homes, NuWa, ....that's about it - what's left is big on glossy and short on substance!

And just to clarify/qualify, I am talking about RV trailers of all kinds, not the big mega mansion rolling home buses like Prevost.  They and Anderson are both pretty good, but way out of reach of real people.

One of my clients had a huge garage for her RV trailer complete with wrought iron over the giant doorway and floor made to look like aged Tuscan tile work.  Inside the trailer itself had white marble floors and crystal chandeliers.  Pretty swanky digs for those cross country road trips when headed out to visit one of your other homes or yachts.   We never could quite settle on what kind of mural/artwork would look best on the walls and ceilings in that garage.

[heironymouspasparagus]

One of my clients had a huge garage for her RV trailer complete with wrought iron over the giant doorway and floor made to look like aged Tuscan tile work.  Inside the trailer itself had white marble floors and crystal chandeliers.  Pretty swanky digs for those cross country road trips when headed out to visit one of your other homes or yachts.   We never could quite settle on what kind of mural/artwork would look best on the walls and ceilings in that garage.

This is what J. Paul Getty started here in town....the company using the expertise they developed in building training planes in WWII.
https://www.google.com/search?q=spartan+trailer&client=firefox-a&hs=QT0&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=d2vNU-24DYSZyASwxoHIBQ&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1410&bih=707


This has always been one of my favorites...everything about the restoration just works well.
http://www.vintage-vacations.com/46_manor_frnt_kit.htm


This one got wet, and they dried it on 'high'....
http://repairingyesterdaystrailers.yuku.com/topic/148#.U81sO7Fgvuc

[Stone]

There is an article in TW today that a Main Event Entertainment is to be built at 81st and Santa Fe. 
Unable to post from my phone but according to the article, Main Event touts itself as "the fastest growing family entertainment chain in America". They offer bowling, multilevel laser tag, billiards, restaurants, arcades and a ropes obstacle course. Definitely a plus for that area and Tulsa. I thought a Dave & Busters ( larger model with billiards etc.) would have been a good fit as well.

[swake]

There is an article in TW today that a Main Event Entertainment is to be built at 81st and Santa Fe. 
Unable to post from my phone but according to the article, Main Event touts itself as "the fastest growing family entertainment chain in America". They offer bowling, multilevel laser tag, billiards, restaurants, arcades and a ropes obstacle course. Definitely a plus for that area and Tulsa. I thought a Dave & Busters ( larger model with billiards etc.) would have been a good fit as well.

The address they give is 7830 S Santa Fe. That has to be the dirt work that's going on west of 75 and north of 81st by the new apartment complexes. It's not in "The Walk".

[DowntownDan]

Not my scene but I bet it'll do well.  Always nice to see expanding franchises like this moving into Tulsa. 

[Townsend]

The address they give is 7830 S Santa Fe. That has to be the dirt work that's going on west of 75 and north of 81st by the new apartment complexes. It's not in "The Walk".

[heironymouspasparagus]

There is an article in TW today that a Main Event Entertainment is to be built at 81st and Santa Fe. 
Unable to post from my phone but according to the article, Main Event touts itself as "the fastest growing family entertainment chain in America". They offer bowling, multilevel laser tag, billiards, restaurants, arcades and a ropes obstacle course. Definitely a plus for that area and Tulsa. I thought a Dave & Busters ( larger model with billiards etc.) would have been a good fit as well.

There is some kind of kid's entertainment thing going in at about 121st and south Memorial...big building, behind a bank.