Creative Works, the world leader in creating themed laser tag environments, started with a blank slate and customized one of their Jungle Quest style arenas to fit within the area allocated as part of the new center.  “The height of the space allowed for us to design and build one of our steel play structures for the client to ensure their guests had a great multi-level playing experience,”

Overview

The standard rate of VAT in the UK is changing to 20% on the 4th of January 2011!

Drummond will be exhibiting at the Leisure International Week in Birmingham, UK in late September and along with 9 other finalist will display his PartyCenterSoftware.com product to be voted on by members of the PPA.  He hopes to bring home top prize for his newly released version of his online party booking and facility management software. “This will be our first year exhibiting at LIW so I am very excited to meet many of our customers in person and if we can bring home the award it will make for one great trip!  I’m just thankful for our customers and all they do to help us grow as a business”, said Drummond.

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PartyCenterSoftware.com is the world leader in online party booking and event management.  From an industry leading webPOS system to our online management tools, we help businesses in the fun industry improve their customer experience, increase revenue and decrease costs.  Some of the top franchises around the world rely on PartyCenterSoftware.com every day to run their facilities.

Scott Drummond started his first digital marketing business in 1998, owned and operated his own fun center for many years and has been a long-time member of the fun industry.   His experience in marketing and software, along with running and operating an FEC, give him a unique and cutting-edge perspective into the life and operations of the fun center world. Through the worldwide use of PartyCenterSoftware.com in almost every size and type of FEC, Drummond collects and analyzes industry data to make his company and software stronger.

NORMAN — Summer vacation has just started and Eric and Andrea Hanson’s three kids have already reached the ends of their rope.

Emily Hanson, 13, tries to keep her balance on the ropes course at Hey Day Family Fun Center in Norman. PHOTOS BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN

That’s OK, they’ll just turn and walk another portion of Hey Day Family Fun Center’s ropes course, which is laid out 12 feet above the facility’s floor. “It’s the whole reason we’re here,” Andrea Hanson, of south Oklahoma City, said of the suspended ropes. “It’s awesome because it’s physical activity; I like that it requires some exercise.” Brian Burks, Hey Day’s entertainment and program manager, said the course is the first in Oklahoma at a for-profit facility and is patterned after a larger one used by the Tulsa School District. All participants are tethered to harnesses and there are courses with varying levels of difficulty, all for safety.

“It is a lot of fun but after you do it, you’ll feel like you’ve been working out,” Burks said. The ropes course and other attractions at Hey Day, off Indian Hills Road and Interstate 35 near the Moore-Norman border, offer just a few ideas for summer fun.

While Hey Day has ropes, Andy Alligator’s Fun Park, across the street from Hey Day, has “The Rock,” which is a 32-foot climbing experience for kids and adults weighing from 40 to 250 pounds. Both facilities, along with Perfect Swing near State Highway 9 east of U.S. 77 in south Norman, provide an array of indoor and outdoor activities that, depending on the business, ranges from go-kart racing, and miniature golf to arcade games.

In addition, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History has a full schedule of workshops and activities for kids and teenagers, and low-cost swimming is available at Norman’s Westwood Park and Moore’s Fairmoore Park.

Norman and the south metro area also have many free activities available. The Norman Public Library’s Summer Reading Program includes visits from performing artists, and both University of Oklahoma museums have free days — every Tuesday at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and the first Monday of the month at the Sam Noble museum.

There also are splashpads galore, including 16 throughout Oklahoma City, two in Norman at Andrews Park near downtown and Colonial Estates Park at 1641 E Lindsey St., and one at Moore’s Apple Valley Park.

And for summer fun at home, Sonya Meier of the Cleveland County Extension Service has composed a lengthy list of ideas that range from planning neighborhood Olympics to creative craft ideas. For more information, call Meier at 321-4774.

BILOXI — Miniature golf is back on the Coast, nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the popular attraction.

Two 18-hole courses are open at Big Play Family Fun Center ahead of the May 20 grand opening. Live oak trees provide some shade and three water features add to the beach theme, along with a bridge, a smattering of fish sculptures, a pirate’s treasure chest and other tropical accessories.

Brandon Wooldridge operates the course for RW Development, his family’s business. He believes it is the first miniature golf attraction on the Coast since Katrina.

MARY PEREZ/SUN HERALD One of the two 18-hole miniature golf courses spreads out beyond the dining deck at the new Big Play Family Fun Center in Biloxi. The far wall will be painted with a sea mural.

A new restaurant will open in June along U.S. 90 and adjacent to the golf course. Wooldridge said Biloxi Breeze Beach Club and Restaurant will be decorated in Caribbean colors and have 4,000 square feet of decks facing both the beach and the golf course.

The Biloxi Beach Snowball Company, whose design mimics the Coast Transit Authority trollies, also opened for the season Friday on the beach.

To the east, the punch list of work is being completed at RW Development’s South Beach Hotel and Suites.

“It will be opening this summer,” said Wooldridge.

The developers originally planned a casino and other entertainment in the area around Beach Boulevard and Veterans on the Biloxi Strip.

“We’d love to make it the center of Biloxi again,” said Wooldridge.

Wooldridge said the investment in the golf course was $750,000 and combined with the new restaurant will total $1.3 million.

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