My Family is thinking of opening a 4wheeling park...suggestions?

[Paul_S]

I think you should try and model a park like Durahamtown. If you build it they will come. You have to have cabins or rv camping i think to be successful. Durahamtown has something for everyone that is why so many people will pass the motoplex and drive that far. You have to appeal to everyone. If it was cheap you would see parks everywhere. It will take alot of acreage to get people to travel far distances. But the ameneties will keep them coming back. Even Croom has power in there campsites. I think the only thing that would be a added plus would be a nice swimming hole or pool for the whole family.  Havent been to the motplex yet. Seems to be for the mudder type.

We are definitely not just for the mudder type, for sport bikes and dirt bikes we have tons of one way trails all with jumps and big bermed corners, we groom these trails often to keep down the whoops. We have a BIG national caliber mx track, plus 3 other mx tracks, we have a drag strip.

Don't get me wrong...I love Durhamtown, been there many times prior to opening the plex, it has nice tracks and trails too, but we have things that they don't have too. This weekend, there will be 200~300 people who will all get together and have tons of kids and adult events, an xc race, 2 different mx races, drag races, a trophy ceremony (which all the winners and ALL the kids get trophies) then a group BBQ where everyone eats together. The trails are open all night, so a nice cool evening ride (which you can't do at many places) followed by some beverages with the new friends you made is awesome. Most of the guys here know each other and you will quickly become part of a big riding family.

Like I said, this build it and they will come statement is not exactly true...it takes a lot of work to get people to come and even more to get them to come back. Plus of course, this economy sucks, so while it might not seem the best time to do anything..it may be a good time to acquire property and start getting your feet wet. Just make sure you don't rely financially on the people saying they will be there all the time, many people intend too, but sell their bikes, start boating instead, move out of the area...there are a million reasons why the customer base is decreasing, and with the economy like it is, very few newbies are starting out. Like I said though, if you can financially stand low attendance, it's not a bad time to get things started.

Best part of all is like I said earlier, you meet some cool people, Brian, Keith, Matt & Matt, Pete  and many who commented are all good friends of the motoplex and pretty cool to hang out with. 

[bseckel]

The Motoplex is so much more than a mud park. It also has great trails and 4 MX tracks. there is something for every rider. Also I will be up there for the weekend coming this fri after work. cant wait.!!!

what time you headed up 

I get off of work at 5:00 so my wife and I should be heading up there by 6:00-6:30

[crom A zone]

build a big ol mudhole with minimal rules and u will fill the place   look at the semi annule mudfest before they went under they had people driving from all over the states   and it was amzing party and some crazy trucks running around

[Johnny Rotten]

Rules are #1...

Enforcing those rules should be #2...

Nobody wants to bring their family someplace where people just run amuck.  Nobody wants to fell like they are in danger.  The biggest complaints you hear is speeding and wreckless driving, underage kids on bikes to big for them, and people with too much to drink.  These are all things that make people fill unsafe, and if they fell unsafe they will not return.

Make rules and enforce them.  Upsetting one or two people that can't cope with these rules is better then keeping families of responsible people from coming back.

[crom A zone]

see thats where i am wrong i guess i dont have kids, nor do i want them. thats y i love the 18 and up events because i dont wanna be rude drinkin and cussin and stuff wit kids around its just not good role modle to set for kids and thats my biggest thing with a place like ryc they have evrything same weekend and some like me that dont like kids akmost feels bad when kids are seeing what i do not that i do it on purpose i just am who i am and cant change that

so i guess another idea would make few event adult type events to so us older crowed can get rowdy and have alot of fun too

[Johnny Rotten]

Nobody wants to fell like they are in danger. The biggest complaints you hear is speeding and wreckless driving, underage kids on bikes to big for them, and people with too much to drink.  These are all things that make people fill unsafe, and if they fell unsafe they will not return.

I wasn't just talking about kids.  A lot of adults feel the same way.  When some people's fun threatens other people's well being then something needs to be done.  It's too late after someone gets hurt.

I'm not pointing fingers, I never met you, you're probably a very nice guy.  But if the above represents you or anyone else on here then I would have a problem feeling safe around them. 

The main thing is; Have rules.  Most times if someone breaks the rules then a warning is sufficient, if that doesn't work then maybe a suspension from the property ( a time out ).  One or two things will happen.  The offenders will conform to the rules or the offenders will get fed up and not come back.  Overall everyone will be happier that the rules are in place.  If mellowing down for one event is too hard for someone so that everyone else can have a good time then maybe a place with rules is just not their place..?

Chaos will never work to keep a place where people will feel safe and come back again and again. 

Sorry if I hurt any feelings, that is not what this post was meant for.

[Palmettobay_recon]

I agree that there should be adult type weekends and there should also be family weekends. I would like this place to be open every weekend for general riding. But there will also be specialized events such as a Mudfest, adult weekends, concerts, childrens scavenger hunts and events. Hopefully there will be something for everyone because I see both sides.

[Johnny Rotten]

Oh yeah... Acres of trails that allow UTVs.  I would love to ride croom.  The only legal riding areas around here are mudholes.  Us land lovers need a park too...

[greenmachine]

build a big ol mudhole with minimal rules and u will fill the place   look at the semi annule mudfest before they went under they had people driving from all over the states   and it was amzing party and some crazy trucks running around

that is one reason you dont want to have drunkfest weekends. If you want to make a go of it, you have to be responsible. People who want to have a place to be reckless and wasted will mean it is just a matter of time before you get sued and shut down.
they can always go to Lcross and the underhills

[greenmachine]

Rules are #1...

Enforcing those rules should be #2...

Nobody wants to bring their family someplace where people just run amuck.  Nobody wants to fell like they are in danger.  The biggest complaints you hear is speeding and wreckless driving, underage kids on bikes to big for them, and people with too much to drink.  These are all things that make people fill unsafe, and if they fell unsafe they will not return.

Make rules and enforce them.  Upsetting one or two people that can't cope with these rules is better then keeping families of responsible people from coming back.

well said

[IXIswamperIXI]

Going into business for yourself is a big investment. (you may already know) You will miss the days of just going to work doing a good job and going home knowing you did a good job.  (at least I do)  Looking at it strictly from a business standpoint I don't think I would do it.  Seems to me a big liability with everyone being "sue" happy.  I know some places make you sign stuff to get in but from what I understand it wouldn't matter what you sign to get in.  The right attorney would still find the business liable.

With that said if you still want to try to do it.  I would go one extreme or the other, offer bare minimum or make it an hotel experience LOL

Good Luck what ever you decide to do!

[JECKELS]

Paul,
    The TBRD weekend was the first time I had been to the plex and I will be back often. To get back to the subject. My son has been riding for years, but never on tracks or long trails. The TT tracks are nice and close to the main parking. The trails are ONE way, Unlike Ocala were you have to worry about somebody coming around the corner at you. My family liked the trails and I liked multiple tracks. And paul just made me feel relaxed as did all of the riders and assistants. I had been debating were to take my family to go ridding since ocala got so overwhelmed. Key points multiple level MX tracks, one way trails, and family focused.

[HondaATC]

Paul wrapped it up nicely. AmpXtreme was on my family's property, I was a 1/4 interest owner in the business, and I dealt with the vast majority of all the BS personally that came from local municipalities, pissed off neighbors, nosy newspaper people, water management, etc.



There is money to be made in doing it, but there is A LOT to be lost from it as well. If you don't have hundreds of thousands in liquid assets sitting in the bank, don't even bother. Someone else with more friends in the right places and more money will squash you like a bug. And they wont even think twice about it. It was a very rewarding experience, and I met a lot of people that I never would have had the opportunity of doing before.

[Paul_S]

Paul,
    The TBRD weekend was the first time I had been to the plex and I will be back often. To get back to the subject. My son has been riding for years, but never on tracks or long trails. The TT tracks are nice and close to the main parking. The trails are ONE way, Unlike Ocala were you have to worry about somebody coming around the corner at you. My family liked the trails and I liked multiple tracks. And paul just made me feel relaxed as did all of the riders and assistants. I had been debating were to take my family to go ridding since ocala got so overwhelmed. Key points multiple level MX tracks, one way trails, and family focused.

Thank you sir, it was good to meet you.

Paul wrapped it up nicely. AmpXtreme was on my family's property, I was a 1/4 interest owner in the business, and I dealt with the vast majority of all the BS personally that came from local municipalities, pissed off neighbors, nosy newspaper people, water management, etc.

There is money to be made in doing it, but there is A LOT to be lost from it as well. If you don't have hundreds of thousands in liquid assets sitting in the bank, don't even bother. Someone else with more friends in the right places and more money will squash you like a bug. And they wont even think twice about it. It was a very rewarding experience, and I met a lot of people that I never would have had the opportunity of doing before.

Hey Billy...how are you?

Billy is right, maybe someone somewhere is making money..but it is not as lucrative as you might think. We are lucky, we have hundreds of acres of pine trees we are growing, but if we viewed it strictly as an ATV park...I would have shut it down a long time ago. Right now, I have my trees growing, a really cool place to ride for myself and my friends and a small income to help offset some of the bills. If that is the way you are viewing it, then I say go for it.

[HondaATC]

Hey Paul,

I'm surviving. I do want to come over and ride sometime, I just never seem to get the time and have stuff running good enough at once. I'll get over there sometime. I miss riding on a real track a lot.


I loved having my track open. Its a very special and personal part of my life, but it also has made me a bitter @$$hole too. I grew up as a young teenager reading DirtWheels and all the other magazines and seeing names like John Natalie, Doug Gust, Joe Byrd,  Jason Dunkleberger, and then later on seeing names like Josh Creamer, Chad Wienen, Jeremy Lawson...I got to meet all of those guys. All of those guys rode at MY track. Want to talk about surreal? Grow up dreaming of having your own track and riding park and then take a stroll around the pits of a 170+ entry SSQSA race on YOUR property where you've grown up riding. Ground you've been across yourself a thousand times, I still get goose bumps thinking about it.

 I was just barely 19 years old when I got the permit for my track and I had just turned 23 when it was pretty much all finished up and "done". I learned a lot about having business partners, responsibilities that I didn't particularly want but HAD to deal with, how naive I was, how "business" is done in the real world (aka, grease my pocket, I'll make stuff happen for ya, wink wink wink, nudge nudge). I've been written about in the newspaper over a dozen times (Not nicely, either, I can assure you), had my name ran through the mud, watched people get hauled out in a meat wagon wondering if they were OK, Seen riders hit the dirt and get knocked out cold and my heart sinking wondering if they were alive or dead, had people stand up at a meeting of 200+ people and talk about how bad and "evil" my family is, that we ruined an entire corner of a county, compared to the trojan horse of troy. I've hired attorney's that quit because they knew they couldn't win, I've had county officials lie to me and the results cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've had 3 Foreclosures in the past 8 months.  My parents will be paying for it financially the rest of their lives and I will more than likely too.

Bad business decision? Probably. Not having the right friends in the right places? Probably. Made me an un-trusting not a very nice person of a person for the rest of my life? Probably.

Worth the pain and suffering? Wouldn't have it any other way.

[duroc825]

"Build it and they will come" is a dream unless you have won the lottery or something. I may be wrong but Durhamtown was first a farm/plantation and successful high dollar hunt club. Their property, and this is a guess, was probably mostly already owned prior to the off road park. Sure it would be great for Paul to just throw up some nice cabins and have all kinds of amenities with a snap of a finger. But i don't think he has pile of $$$$ laying around (well he used to until he got addicted to sausage). I agree with the idea of LOTS of land to keep things interesting. I also agree with the further south you go the more the environmental aspect comes in to play and we all know how expensive that can be, heck get a price for a simple well or septic tank. Unfortunately one key to a successful park in Florida is to build it as far from people as possible, which in turn makes it harder to make it successful. Damned if ya do damned if ya don't.