I was thinking about this place the other day, it was there in the early-mid 90s. they had a huge mcdonalds playplace type thing, and indoor roller coaster and laser tag. It was the shit when I was younger, anyone know when it closed?

5/19/2008 9:40:01 PM

It closed a long time ago. That was the place where I first played the N64 classic Cruisin USA. The Iowa course was my favorite. You could hit the deer that ran into the road and watch their heads go flying.

5/19/2008 9:41:58 PM

That shit was heaven when I was like 8

5/19/2008 9:42:19 PM

Yeah, I remember it

I remember going to it in 1993-94ish w/ my grandparents. I <3'd that place

I remember it was dinosaur based at one point

5/19/2008 9:42:33 PM

hell yes

indoor roller coaster
virtual reality (even if it sucked it was NEAT)
the carnival pinball machine
that game where you put the token in and if it falls on the stripe on the conveyor belt you WIN
mortal kombat

hell. yes.

5/19/2008 9:48:48 PM

i remember places like this but wasn't even on this coast then

5/19/2008 9:49:30 PM

where was this at crossroads?

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~howardlake/amusement11/prehistoric.html

[Edited on May 19, 2008 at 9:51 PM. Reason : d]

5/19/2008 9:49:55 PM

where total wine is now

GREATEST PLACE EVER

my mom won the jackpot on the game where you would flip a token onto a volcano, the machine ran out of tickets and they had to re-stock it so she could get all of her winnings

5/19/2008 9:51:36 PM

the section across from REI

I think it was where Tweeter is now

I believe

5/19/2008 9:52:08 PM

I think it's right around where Total Wine is now in that shopping center. It was in that block of commercial space somewhere.

I remember going there, I thought it was awesome, but I couldn't do much while I was there because my parents weren't willing to spend the money. I don't blame them, a lot of the shit there was expensive to do. That bomber simulator game I played was kind of neat though. That place had an awful business model though. It was nice and they had a lot of games, but it was mostly "high-end" games or rides that would make your $20 disappear in a flash. I didn't really wanna go back there cause the $1.50 it took to play some of those games didn't last very long.

It was cool though.

5/19/2008 9:53:36 PM

I think it opened right around the same time that Book Star opened (now its some Christian book store)

5/19/2008 9:55:07 PM

it was that entire building that total wine is currently in. went there a lot. enjoyed it quite a bit.

5/19/2008 9:55:30 PM

this was all before my time in Raleigh

5/19/2008 9:55:41 PM

hahah, hell yeah i remember that place. the laser tag sucked, but the indoor ride was the shit

5/19/2008 11:09:37 PM

Holy shit.

Flashback.

+1 to you, sir.

5/19/2008 11:15:18 PM

I remember it.

What was the name of the big laser tag place on Creedmoor?

5/19/2008 11:18:56 PM

Ultrazone.

5/19/2008 11:19:56 PM

Ah yeah. We would always take tennis balls in socks and melee people there.

5/19/2008 11:25:29 PM

i have now posted in this thread

5/19/2008 11:26:23 PM

YESSSSS. that "game" where the lights went around and you had to hit the button at the right time to get tickets, i won like 2349823894 tickets. it was the jackpot of tickets. and i don't remember what prize i got although i'm sure it was something really good like 10 chinese finger traps or something.

5/19/2008 11:50:50 PM

The Space Gym was the best indoor playground ever created, and the giant (possibly a cyclops?) made it all the more cool

5/19/2008 11:54:55 PM

greatest place ever. had a few birthday parties there. their laser tag was pretty sweet too.

who remembers Discovery Zone in Raleigh? i was too young to know where it actually was, but it had a sweet rainbow colored slide. and a "waterbed" room

5/20/2008 12:07:10 AM

^I liked Discovery Zone a lot back in the day, but when Exhilarama opened up, it put it to shame

5/20/2008 12:13:32 AM

shit was awesome.

5/20/2008 12:16:42 AM

I went to a friend's birthday party there in the 6th grade...13 yrs ago . I do remember the roller coaster though.

5/20/2008 1:12:30 AM

dz! discovery zone!
where i can let loose and be on my own!
dz! it's where kids wanna be!

blockbuster golf and games was probably better than this cary place you speak of.

[Edited on May 20, 2008 at 1:19 AM. Reason : miami activities.]

5/20/2008 1:18:43 AM

discovery zone was awesome as well

i believe discovery zone was off of atlantic ave.

i am one of the few to have had birthday parties at both DZ and exhilirama

5/20/2008 2:02:27 AM

haha, i used to LOVE that place. I was to old but they had a bad ass jungle gym kid ball thingy

Quote :

"What was the name of the big laser tag place on Creedmoor?"

ultra zone

5/20/2008 2:59:55 AM

I just remember the N&O hyping it up and saying that "mallrats" wouls be replaced by "exhiliramarats".

Weird old memory. I used to shop at TMT Models around the corner. That place was the shit.

5/20/2008 3:16:05 AM

is that the place where the waitresses wore scratch-sniff sticker pasties and could get the tassles to swing in opposite directions?

5/20/2008 3:36:06 AM

Quote :

"dinosaur based"

honestly, how do fuck that up. DINOSAURS? and it still crashed?

5/20/2008 3:38:22 AM

Quote :

"ultra zone"

Haha I had my 8th grade b-day there.

5/20/2008 1:22:35 PM

I need pictures of this place

5/20/2008 1:23:12 PM

I used to go to Exhilarama a lot

as well as Aladdin's Castle in Crabtree...changed name to something else afterwards.


This brings back such memories. I <3 Frankie's Fun Park over by Brier Creek now!

5/20/2008 2:06:08 PM

Their slick track is fun...

[Edited on May 20, 2008 at 2:15 PM. Reason : isuk2day]

5/20/2008 2:14:49 PM

damn yea, I remember going to that place, I was obsessed with the virtual reality but when I tried it the controls really didn't work, still a cool place

never went to discovery zone but there was an amazin castles place in durham that was kind of cool

5/20/2008 2:17:51 PM

That place was every kid's dream. I remembered having a little cloth sack with tokens in it. Sat in a drawer for years. Then there was Mortal Kombat with crowds of people around it watching that guy who would memorize everyone's moves and kick people's tail all day. Those were the days...

5/20/2008 2:26:10 PM

yes! this place was great everyone used to have birthday parties there

5/20/2008 2:26:33 PM

oooh...Aladdin's Castle was a fun place...that was when the food court looked completely different and was called "The Pavillion".

Remember when they used to call Chuck-e-Cheese...Showbiz? I always thought they had good pizza for a kiddie joint.

Anyone ever go to Celebration Station in Charlotte?

5/20/2008 2:36:17 PM

I was just thinking about this place the other day and couldn't remember the name. Thanks, Wolf Web.

Wasn't it where that FYE store is now?

5/20/2008 2:39:55 PM

Quote :

"amazin castles place in durham "

hahahaha

that place fucking sucked.

5/20/2008 2:40:43 PM

Quote :

"Cary, NC -- --an INDOOR PARK Operated from 7/10/1993 to 1997-2001 It was Originally called Exhilarama and owned by Edison Brothers of St. Louis. The park was purchased by Deborah and Pravin Patel of Cary, NC in 1996 approx. and renamed to Prehistoric Park. This was an indoor park located in the Crossroads Plaza shopping complex. It had a Hurlarama Roller Coaster---Zamperta/Dragon.... "

5/20/2008 2:45:03 PM

I had a birthday party there when I was in Elementary school. Shit was the bomb

5/20/2008 2:53:41 PM

I guess adventure landing on capital is pretty much the only choice now, I used to work there and the laser tag is still pretty awesome, maybe I should have stayed in there one night kind of buzzed and given it a shot with some of my friends

5/20/2008 5:29:26 PM

i was obsessed with going there when i was a kid

i got really competitive with laser tag - it would crush me if i didn't have the highest score

5/20/2008 5:41:35 PM

I remember it, I was just too poor to go there.

According to Wake county aerial photos, the crossroads movie theater didn't open until 1999. I was thinking it was older than that for some reason.

5/20/2008 7:31:14 PM

i remember them always yelling at me for running in the laser tag "arena"

5/20/2008 8:20:22 PM

i remember when crossroads movie theater opened...

before that we all went to the garner theater (one near the high school)

exhilirama was awesome... it was where total wine is now...

lazer tag, roller coaster, and the rocket ship thing that went up and down

showbiz pizza, where a kid can be a kid!
my cousin got scared of the animatronic animals (especially the big gorilla)

5/20/2008 8:51:34 PM

Quote :

"I guess adventure landing on capital is pretty much the only choice now, I used to work there and the laser tag is still pretty awesome, maybe I should have stayed in there one night kind of buzzed and given it a shot with some of my friends"

You can try Frankie's which is in Brier Creek. I don't know if they have laser tag though.

5/20/2008 8:52:55 PM

^they do!!!

if you go, lemme know and i'll come too

i live like 1/2 mile from frankie's

5/20/2008 9:01:49 PM