EasyLand! Amusement park construction to begin this Spring

There’s a brand new entertainment option coming to the South Coast. Well-known area developer Chester “Big Mac” MacDonald is still looking for a location for his latest venture, but hopes to begin construction some time this spring.

The new facility will be called EasyLand, and with it, MacDonald hopes to redefine leisure activity – or at least the “activity” part. Catering to tourists and anyone who wants a good time without breaking a sweat, EasyLand will feature several familiar amusements and pastimes, but without the effort so often required at existing facilities.

Plans include miniature golf, bowling and shopping. While we’ve all seen that before, EasyLand aims to make these staples of the leisure industry, well, easier.

For example, at a traditional miniature golf course, players walk from hole to hole. MacDonald thinks there is a better way. The EasyLand course (to be called EasyGolf) is designed so that each hole comes to the players.

“The entire mini-golf course will be set on three giant turntables,” said MacDonald. Golfers will be able to play a hole, step back onto a platform, sit on a provided couch and simply wait for the next hole to arrive right in front of them.

“There’s very little walking that way,” says MacDonald. “You’re pretty much standing still all the time you’re playing. We thought about golf carts, but decided that the turntable actually required less effort. You’d still have to get in and out of carts. We wanted to make it easier than that.”

Another feature of EasyLand will be a sit-down bowling alley, outfitted with special spring-loaded chairs that will allow bowlers to get all the english they want on the ball with almost none of the effort they’d need at traditional bowling venues. The chairs are designed to hold up to four hundred pounds, which will, according to MacDonald “open up the sport to many Americans who have been excluded due to poor bowling alley design.”

“A lot more people would get out there and bowl if it were a little less physically taxing. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, seated bowling is just plain more fun,” says MacDonald.

“And you won’t even have to walk to the snack bar – we’ll have waitress service. We’ve designed it so all you have to do is sit there and bowl. Which is what people want.”

But it doesn’t stop there.

MacDonald wanted to include batting cages at his new facility, but realized that typical cages wouldn’t quite fit his concept.

“Those bats are kind of heavy, and it takes a lot of ‘oompf’ to hit a ball.” The solution? Wiffle ball batting cages.

“We tried it out,” says MacDonald, “and found that you can even hit a wiffle ball while sitting down, which will be an option – and a popular one at that, I’d bet. Being able to sit while you play is an important part of the overall concept of EasyLand. I think it will be a hit.”

There will also be a drive-thru gift shop for souvenir hunters and three drive-thru restaurants – an ice cream stand, a burger and fried-foods eatery and EasyLand’s signature dining facility, EasyBaconLand.

“We tried to make everything drive-thru – it just wasn’t possible,” said MacDonald. “But we’ll come pretty close.”

Plans do include a free shuttle from the parking lot to the entrance, however.

EasyLand will have an educational aspect as well, which MacDonald felt was “important” – The EasyMuseum, which will feature exhibits such as Recliners Through the Years, The History of the Remote Control and 101 Things You Can Do While Lying Down.

“It’ll be very much an interactive experience for visitors,” said MacDonald. “They’ll travel through the exhibits on a people-mover, but they can get off anywhere they like and rest. Visitors will be able to sit in the recliners, for instance, or use the remote controls – but I think the 101 Things exhibit will draw the most interest.“

“There really are more activities than you might think that you can do while lying down. We’ll bring that all to light with such displays as The Internet: Supine Surfing, Recumbent Recycling and Prone Word Processing,” said MacDonald. “This exhibit will open up a whole new world to those who have been just plain working too hard at daily life – and they’ll be having fun while they learn.”

“Easyland will be a truly unique recreational facility, designed to fit into the modern lifestyle.”

MacDonald hopes to find a suitable property soon, but admits, “I haven’t been working very hard at it.”

Guess that goes with the territory.