The Legend
Arnold's Park is one of those success stories of an old lakeside park that went out of business but came back to life. It's much smaller than I expected, not even ten acres, but still pleasant. It is just one of many attractions around Lake Okoboji.
It has one rollercoaster, several spinning rides, and a log ride that fits right in the small space. There is also a small train that pulls what looks like rollercoaster cars. It has a mirrror maze and a few other low key rides like the haunted swing, which they call the Bug House. I took the opportunity to ride a Rock-o-Plane for the first time. Ok, boring stuff aside, there used to be a small coaster, but now a playground sits on that site. Behind the park is Pirate mini-golf and go karts, where they actually turn the karts off in the station.
The go-karts take up a lot of space, and I'm sure they could make better use of the space, since Arnold's park is so small. There is a gift shop in the middle of the store, the owner knows everything about everything he is selling. He sold some kids little puppets, and took them all outside to give them a puppet class. You can see the video. They were selling dolls that sit on swings, some had wings, for about $40 each, so I bought one for my mom. The only souvenir I bought for someone else on the entire trip. There were seven different dolls, all for about $40. A month later in Solvang Ca, I saw the same dolls in a gift shop selling for $150! So, if you are interested in those types of dolls, go to the gift shop in Arnold's Park instead. At the sub sandwich shop I was talking to the girl who worked there. It turned out she was Russian. She asked me if I liked 'eye-va'. Judging by the accent, there were several other Russian girls working there, I guess the Iowa plains attract Russian immigrants.
http://www.arnoldspark.com/
