Chico Fun World, also known also known as “Fun World USA”, closed in 1995 after only 11 years in business. Chico Fun World was a small amusement park that contained water slides, an arcade, bumper boats, and pretty much everything any other amusement park has except for roller coasters.   It’s funny to try and imagine Chico currently having an amusement park, especially since the only thing here currently resembling one is “Funland”, which consists of a skating rink and a mini-golf course. It’s about time that Chico gets another shot at an actual amusement park. Chico’s population has risen by an estimated 40,000 since our old amusement park closed. There is enough demand to keep a small amusement park around, especially since an amusement park would attract visitors from all over. Vallejo’s Marine World (now known as Discovery Kingdom) is the only real amusement park in Northern California. That is a three hour drive away.

    I suggest we take a grassroots approach to getting a second shot at Chico Fun World 2.0. I have compiled a list of things we need to do to set this in motion.

-Put an extremely long slip-and-slide down the top of one of the steepest hills in California Park.

-Race down previously mentioned hills in Radio Flyer wagons.

-Play bumper cars with your parents’ cars.

-To simulate the V-2 ride at Marine World, get a bunch of friends to pile into the back of a pickup truck and drive up and down a hill at high speeds.

-Turn the Chico Mall into a very large and exotic mini-golf course, filled with interesting and difficult obstacles.

-Buy a ticket for an unpopular movie, such as 17 Again. Nobody else will be in the theater, so you are free to use the movie theater as a laser tag arena.

-Use PV as a go-kart racetrack. There are tricky twists and turns all over the place.

-Tie up wild mustangs to a tetherball pole and use them as a merry-go-round for the younger crowd.

-Rent a bounce house. Tow it with a large truck and drive it around town while people are still inside it.

-Make everything at an elementary school playground ten times more fun by spraying everything and everyone in it with a high power hose, including the swings and the monkey bars.

-Convert your little sister’s lemonade stand into a bona fide snack bar.