Our Story

Fun, Friends, and Family

Back in 2012, our family acquired the land Waynesville Fall Fest sits on as a former 9-hole golf course and driving range. While the course remained closed to the public, our family wanted to bring something to Waynesville that the entire community would enjoy. Driven by a love of theme parks and the fall season from Ryan, the youngest in the family, was how the idea of fall fest came to fruition.

Fast forward to 2016, our family had the opportunity to purchase assets from 4 well-known theme parks and fun centers around the country and bring them back to Ohio. After visiting these parks and tearing down the attractions, over 65 semi trucks of repurposed materials came back to our property where reconstruction began.

Once the materials arrived, we began reconstruction, theming, painting, and all the small details for our opening year in 2019. After an amazing opening year, we had to close in 2020 due to COVID. However, it allowed us to take the time to rapidly expand, adding attractions like S.L. Expeditions which required thousands of tons of gravel through the woods. Ever since then we have been expanding each year, working diligently to improve the experience for our guests.

During your visit, be sure to look around at hidden details throughout the property. There's plenty of "easter eggs" scattered around that are references to the former parks, attractions, and stories that were all a part of bringing fall fest to life.

Our family is beyond blessed to have such an amazing group of friends and family constantly supporting us and helping each step along the way to make fall fest possible. We are also beyond thankful for our loyal guests who visit each season and our team members that create lasting memories for families.

Take a look at some of our construction photos and fun construction facts below:

Building Waynesville Fall Fest

Wildwater Mining Co. Playset

The star of the show and what makes us unique - a 3 story Waterpark attraction from an amusement park in northern Ohio. The attraction was disassembled and rebuilt to become what is now the Wildwater Mining Company Playset. Miners be on the lookout - you may notice references throughout the attraction giving nods to its history.

Jake's Mini Golf

Our minigolf course is 18 holes of fun. But did you know we removed it from a family center in the middle of winter in Chicago and rebuilt the course the following spring?

S.L. Expeditions

Our version of a hayride, the S.L. Expedition ride vehicles came from an amusement park in Colorado. The ride path took thousands of tons of gravel to construct and is themed to the town of Skeleville - home of the skelepeople.

Ghost Town Village

Our Ghost Town Village is an abandoned town where the Miners used to live. All the wood, including the decking, is completely repurposed from an amusement park in Northern Ohio.

Fun Fact: Countertops

Our countertops at Sugar Rush Junction and Fall Fest Fixins' are repurposed from old Shark Tank Exhibits

Fun Fact: Carnival Games

Our Carnival game tents are all reused changing buildings from a waterpark in northern Ohio. The wood boards are also from the same park.

Fun Fact: Wood Boards

You may notice there's a lot of wood around the property. Over 90% of the wood fencing, our pergolas, ropes around flowerbeds, are repurposed from an amusement park in Ohio. Once the boards were taken down, we de-nailed each one, shipped them back, and reused them throughout the property.