Land of Oz — Local services in Beech Mountain

I have been to the events at the Park for the past few years and it is a lovely place. Contrary to popular belief, the park is NOT abandoned and the owners live close by along with a caretaker. Now for a few things, you will need to know about the park before visiting for one of their events. Firstly, expect a line for the restrooms. I know that when they have you park at the ski resort the restrooms are downstairs of the restaurant/bar. If you park in the field next to/behind the pizzeria in town they have port-a-potties. Once on top of the mountain (where the park is), they may have more port-a-potty (not as many as where you park) along with two others near a patio area off to the side of the "Fountain of Youth" (note: the patio area restrooms may or may not be available due to another event held by the ski resort). As for strollers and wheelchairs, I believe they will let them in though it is not recommended due to the terrain and the stairs in and out of the Gale farmhouse. There are two events that are open to the public they try to perform every year. The prices vary depending upon the event. If I am remembering correctly, it is around $25 for Journey With Dorothy and a little over $50 for Autumn at Oz. I feel that it is a fair price for the experience and interaction with the characters. Below I will describe the differences between the two events. Journey With Dorothy is a guided tour through the park with Dorothy as your guide. Before arriving at the Gale farm, a member of the Oz team will randomly select five in your group to portray the other people in Oz (With this event the only acting cast members are Miss Gulch, Dorothy, and the Wizard of Oz. They ask for the other characters be played by adults or teens only so the whole group can hear). They do give you a script with your lines so dont worry about forgetting what to say or the words to the songs. Once at the farm, you run into Miss Gulch looking for Auntie Me and Uncle Henry to take Toto (Toto does not make an appearance at this event because he's hiding from Miss Gulch). Once she goes behind the barn, Dorothy arrives and asks about her uncle and aunt and Toto. She sings Over the Rainbow and ushers your group into the house to get to the cellar. Inside you can see the bedrooms, living room, and kitchen before going down to the cellar. In the cellar is the tornado with a projection of things flying through the storm, wind and sound effects, and blacklight paintings of other things in the storm. After a winding walk through the tornado, you come back out of the cellar to the ruins of the house after it landed (A word of warning the house is now at a slight angle and can be disorienting when you first step in). Outside you can see the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East as you make your way to the Yellow Brick Road. It's here that your group's Glinda will act her part to help to tell the story. As you work your way down the road the others who were picked will do their parts to act out the story until you reach the gates of Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz himself. While I am on the subject of the Emerald City, I can say that there is no longer a standing Emerald City. When the park had been build and ran during the 70s there was an Emerald City area with a few shops and a stage for each of the characters to get their wishes from the Wizard. This area sadly burned down in the late 70s and was not rebuilt. Now that there are houses built closer to the park than there were back then they haven't built another Emerald City like it was then. Autumn at Oz is a much bigger event and you can go through the park at your own pace. The major differences for this event are the characters and Emerald City area. For this event ALL Oz characters are present (Toto too) and will take pictures with you and your children! There are shows both in Kansas and Emerald City that are shortened versions of those sequences in the film. I believe they have started doing the songs for Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion intermittently as well. This is a wonderful park...

First and foremost this place is not up to ADA guidelines. Pasted below are some obvious things they should take into consideration to include more accessibility to their location, which then would incur more visitors.

As discussed with respect to Sec. 36.304, the Department believes that this safe harbor strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring that individuals with disabilities are provided access to buildings and facilities and mitigating potential financial burdens on existing places of public accommodation that are undertaking alterations subject to the 2010 Standards.

The NPRM proposed at Sec. 36.406(f)(1) to require wheelchair spaces and companion seat￾ing locations to be dispersed to all levels of the facility that are served by an acces￾sible route.

For example, if other patrons reach their seats on the field by an inac￾cessible route (e.g., by stairs), but there is an accessible route that complies with section 206.3 of the 2004 ADAAG that could be connected to seats on the field, wheel￾chair spaces and companion seats must be placed on the field even if that route is not generally available to the public

The path of travel requirement provides that when a primary function area of an existing facility is altered, the path of travel to that area (including restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the area) must also be made accessible, but only to the extent that the cost of doing so does not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the cost of the alterations to the primary function area.

Slope. The 2010 Standards provide, at section 403.3, that the cross slope of walking surfaces not be steeper than 1:48. The 1991 Standards’ cross slope requirement was that it not exceed 1:50. A commenter recommended increasing the cross slope requirement to allow a maximum of ½ inch per foot (1:24) to prevent imperfections in concrete surfaces from ponding water. The Department continues to believe that the requirement that a cross slope not be steeperthan 1:48 adequately provides for water drainage in most situations. The suggested changes would double the allowable cross slope and create a significant impediment for many wheelchair users and others with a mobility disability

Accessible Routes from Site Arrival Points and Within Sites. The 1991 Standards, at sections 4.1.2(1) and (2), and the 2010 Standards, at sections 206.2.1 and 206.2.2, require that at least one accessible route be provided within the site from site arrival points to an accessible building entrance and that at least one accessible route connect accessible facilities on the same site. The 2010 Standards also add two exceptions that exempt site arrival points and accessible facilities within a site from the accessible route requirements where the only means of access between them is a vehicular way that does not provide pedestrian access.

Location of Accessible Routes. Section 4.3.2(1) of the 1991 Standards requires accessible routes connecting site arrival points and accessible building entrances to coincide with general circulation paths, to the maximum extent feasible. The 2010 Standards require all accessible routes to coincide with or be located in the same general area as general circulation paths. Additionally, a new provision specifies that where a circulation path is interior, the required accessible route must also be located in the interior of the facility

In existing facilities, where floor levels are connected by an accessible route, only the handrail requirement will apply when the stairs are altered. Exception 2 to section 210.1 of the 2010 Standards permits altered stairs to not comply with the requirements for accessible treads and risers where there is an accessible route between floors served by stairs.

Where toilet facilities and bathing facilities are provided, they must comply with section 213 of the 2010 Standards. It was incredibly hard to get from place to place with a walker/wheelchair user. Some people were helpful when we asked for accommodations and others were rude. Not worth the money!...

All elderly, limited mobility, handicapped, or those who must use a stroller for kids.....do NOT bother coming

I came with my family, my dad barely made it to the top before the tour started, but the walking uphill on gravel in the parking lot, the trails walking to the rendezvous point are best described as a "trail". There were large tree roots, off canter rocks protruding up with little or markings. I am a hobby photographer, so hiking is a norm when I set off for wildlife photography. But for my 70+ year old parents, they were not expecting anything close to that type of terrain to conquer for a theme park. My mother toughed it out, only because of her two grandkids. My dad gave up before the tour started, there is no way he would have made it through. And that's amazing considering the tour is only 25 minutes. There were ZERO accomodations present for those with limited mobility.

This was the most disorganized park of any kind I've ever been to. There was no real direction inside of the parking area, you are pointed to a parking lot and that is it. Honestly, the best part from start to finish of this park was the bus driver. We had Garrett on both trips, he was nice and entertaining, it made the 14 min bus ride each way much better. He is an all-star. I wish I could rate him 5 stars and t he park 1 star!

The "tour", aka what you came for. Staff does good checking wrist bands for the proper time group, only at the first meeting point. We should have had around 15-20 people, but instead we had about 35. There were wrist bands that were completely different colors, clearly not the same tour time....in our group. The worst part about that? Each one of those who weren't supposed to be in our group were the pains of our tour. One family of 8ish wanted pictures with everything, everyone, everywhere. The other group of misfits were a bridal party, who snuck backwards at the end of our tour to surely invade another tour.

There were no clearly designated smoking areas. The bar area, which had one men's toilet and one women's toilet.....had people smoking everywhere. There was no where to escape it. Awful!

Let's talk about the biggest pain to me. After helping my mother several times in navigating the many stairs, uneven surfaces, railroad timbers, and very steep walking hills, we reached the end of the tour. We were 25 yards from the bus, and we started walking towards it. There was a lady there who let myself and my brother walk by her, but she raised her voice and made my mother walk back up the gravel trail. Why you ask? Just to walk by the "flea market" of $25 shirts and hats. She was purposely pointing people to make them walk by their shirt stand. I had enough of her smart mouth and walked up behind her and informed people they were getting FORCED to walk by their vending area to try and push their high dollar, high profit clothing on you. Really, really classless.

If you have small kids, you will be fighting with ADULTS who are morbidly fascinated with this movie, who are oblivious to anyone else who also paid for the tour. We had adults cutting off my nieces to get to the front of the tour. By the way, if you aren't at the front of the tour or if people are talking loudly in your group, you will easily miss 50% or more of Dorothys lines as she leads your tour.

And by the way, if you've rated this 4-5 stars, you are clearly...