I hope I get back to the states before the doors close. My family loves FOF and go at least once a month if not more. Your wonderful creation will be missed. I hope to see your future endeavors soon.
FOF educated and entertained all that passed under the arc and toured the many displays. I'm saddened to hear of it's closing. It was a great run and will be missed. t wish you the best in your future endeavors.
as a young aviation fan im gonna miss going to see your wonderful collection i see u all the time flying around my house.what are you planning on doing with fof since your closing to the public
Every time we come to Floride, the trip isn't worth it without a visit to FoF... I pains me to see you closing it tobthe public, but to persue a dream doesn't compare... So, if you see a couple of sad Dutch puppies staring through the gates, please give us a wave... Thanks for what has been done so far, and more thanks for what you are about to accomplish... because if you have shown us anything, it is that you will...
Kermit. You are a very fortunate individual! My wife and I visited last year, and were absolutely blown away buy Fantasy of Flight. I wish you well in your future adventures, and hope it's not too long before there's news of what's on the horizon? And possibly a little more information on how we are still going to be able to benefit from your little piece of Orlampa?
In Auckland as a kid on a Saturday I used to go to the aviation section at MOTAT ( Museum of Transport and Technology ) and clean up old birds. Big ones and little ones. They had a club kids could join for 10.00$ a month. Sometimes I would climb up a big rickety metal scaffold two stories high and wash the wings of the Solent S45 with a long mop. It was really big and I was really little. The hangar was always open and the scaffold would sway a bit in the wind while I was busy scrubbing. The wings would move a little to. I stopped being scared with the height after awhile. I'd look in the windows at the wood panelling and the luxurious cushions. I am not sure my tiny mind quite comprehended that this was an aeroplane it seemed so gigantic. Afterwards I would be covered in a combination of bird droppings dust and soap suds. You would think once of that would be enough for anyone but I kept going back and they kept giving me a mop. I don't know if I even really appreciated at the time what it was I was doing or the historical value of these things. I'd walk past the burned out wreck of a Mosquito. Or go over and sit in the cockpit of the P-40. For years Motat struggled to get funding. For long periods of time it just seemed like a bunch of junk all piled up. I think at one point it was even deemed a fire hazard and shut down. Local people complained about rats. The hangar was filled with holes. Birds would come in and nest in everything. Priceless aircraft like the Lancaster were parked outside weathering the elements. People just didn't understand why any of this old stuff mattered. But then gradually people began to realize the value of what had been stashed away. They took the kids to see the things they had seen as kids themselves. Now that big pile of junk is instead a priceless cultural heritage and that old hangar now has a world class collection on display. Further they didn't just collect planes. Anything at all that might be interesting was stashed somewhere. Old phone exchanges. Trains. Bits of old rockets. Old tractors. Old clothing. It had an old open sided tram that did a loop around the outside. You could go 3 times in a week and find some new strange artefact. One day a Red Stone rocket engine appeared. Who knows quite what New Zealand needed that for! But scrounged up it was and on display. But none of that came easily. It took a lot of time and effort by dedicated people who mostly worked for free. It took years for people to recognize what they had achieved. But I am glad they did. Good memories. I hope you have a similar success Mr Kermit. It is a wonderful thing to create places where others can marvel and dream .. .
:( Bummed, would like to make a mad dash weekend trip, but that'll be over a grand that I can't front right now.... Hopefully the new edition is up sooner than 3-5 years...
Went to FoF the next to final weekend before Kermit shuts it down. Talked with some of the older guides who unfortunately will be laid off. What Kermit wants to do is expand the facility and make it much larger. He has a lot of unused property there. Yes he will be adding rides, no doubt aviation related as well as facilities for those that may not be quite as interested in airplanes as their spouse. He will also build new facilities including several new hangers and in doing so have more aircraft on display and have an expanded restoration capability which will all be open for people to watch the restorations going on. I think he has a lot of stuff he would like to get going on and this is the only way to be able to accomplish that. More power to him. I had no idea he was wanting to do this for a while. I hope he can get it done as quickly as he can. I heard he is in partnership with a person that was involved with Universal's theme parks to help with the design. Kermit, get the Mosquito back to Florida!
Kermit... like you say ..your not getting any younger.... please look for a younger version of yourself to leave this wonderful dream to...so that even after your gone..it continues on the path you have chosen for it...... ;-)
Please don't tell us it's going to be another $100/day attraction! Disney, Universal, etc. are enough. It is a sad sad day that FoF will close. While you must make sound business decisions, we will no longer have an opportunity to enjoy an incredible facility glorifying flight...at a reasonable price.
Can't wait to see what's next! But seriously, I wish you could have found a way to keep the doors open! I'm a big fan of fantasy of flight and now that it's closed down I'm saddened:( I just hope what ever is next happens fairly quickly and near by;)
