By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Weekend Editor

You've probably seen some new things at DixieLand Amusement Park if you've driven past it this summer.

They recently built two new miniature golf courses with a mining theme, “The Dahlonega Challenge,” to make their park bigger and better. Of course, all of your old favorites are still there; the go-kart tracks, the batting cages, the arcade, the bumper boats and the lazer tag room. Watch out for the gigantic speed bumps when you pull in, though. They are almost like a ride themselves.

The Dahlonega Challenge consists of two 18-hole miniature golf courses. Most of the holes are par two and the obstacles are built into the green instead of the props plunked down in the middle kind. The scenery for the two courses is that of a mining town, complete with the colors and vegetation of the Southwest — a waterfall, a pond and a shanty.

The pond may have been key in attracting as many mosquitoes as there were on a recent visit to the park. Standing water has a tendency to do that.

The course felt very easy and the game this reporter played for the review went by very quickly. All of the golfers seemed to enjoy the course, though, each golfing very relaxed and with relative ease. The original miniature golf course is still open and looks refurbished. The cost of playing one of the new courses is $5; the old course fee is $4. After the quick game of golf, we headed to the arcade.

The arcade was jammed with racing games. It seems that with all of the advances in technology, computerized auto racing has benefitted the most. Many of the old favorites still had space in the arcade, including Ms. Pac-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Operation Wolf, and NBA Jam.

A big factor in any arcade now are games that produce tickets and DixieLand's arcade is no exception. Skee ball, basketball shooting games, and Whac-a-Mole all spit out tickets for certain numbers of points.

Also in the arcade building is the lazer tag game. The waiting area and arena are covered in science fiction/fantasy type pictures painted in glow-in-the-dark paint. The room is illuminated with a black light to give off a spooky glow. For $5, you get eight minutes in the arena with a chest plate and a lazer gun. Participants are split into two teams and the object is to get to the other team's base, while shooting members of the opposing team as much as you can.

The arena is a maze of sorts, looking very much like a sci-fi set. As you stalk the hallways of the darkened gaming room, a soundtrack of alternative rock plays loudly, possibly to mask the sounds of the person behind you. When the game is over, each player receives a computer readout of the standings, including hits, misses and team score.

A little beyond the lazer arena, there is a kiddy playland area, filled with obstacles and a ball pit. The snack bar also is in that wing of the building.

Back outside, the bumper boats and the go karts race wildly. There are two tracks for the go-karts, a slick track and a road track. The slick track is shaped like an oval and sprayed in two spots with a hose. When the cars hit the wet patches, mayhem ensues. It is quite common for a go-kart to get stuck against the railing, requiring a DixieLand employee to take to the slick track and dislodge the kart.

The road track is full of hairpin turns and sloping straightaways and is more enjoyable when there are numerous other competitors.

One thing that was missing when I went the other night was the bungee jump/skycoaster area. During the last few years, the area to the left of the tracks has been lit up by a bungee jump platform. The platform is still there but it was not lit up and it looked as though the skycoaster was gone. I have only ridden the skycoaster once, but part of the amusement at DixieLand always came from watching terrified people bungee jump or coast the sky.

It had been awhile since I had been to DixieLand and I can honestly say I'll be back sooner than later. Sure, there's more to do at say, Six Flags, but you'll drop a lot less money at DixieLand and it's a lot closer to home.

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