shardian
New member
Some of you know this, but many probably don't. There is a Billy Bob's Wonderland local to me that STILL has their Rock-A-Fire Explosion band in operation. These are incredibly rare now as I understand it. As such, there are multiple vids on youtube from the one close to me. So...why film my own vids when I can piggyback on other's work! 
A little background info. I've been going to Billy Bob's for as long as I can remember. Around 2002 or so, they moved across the street to a brand new metal warehouse style building with tons more room, laser tag, an awesome putt putt course like you would play at the beach, and a really nice Go-Kart track. Their arcade kind of sucks now and is 90%+ redemption, but my favorite attraction is the RAF!
The old building was cramped and stuffed with games when I was a wee lad. In short, it was effing awesome. The RAF was located in a dinner-theater separate from the arcade. It had a great ambiance in there I remember.
In the new building, they built a nice stage for the RAF, but the lack of a dimly lit dinner theatre kills much of the awesomeness of it. The big problem now though is Maintenance. I had noticed the animatronics were getting worse and worse. Then one day they introduced the death knell - a big screen TV that would give the animatronics a break. Billy Bob would also give commentary on silly youtube style vids. The animatronics barely worked, the costumes and features of the bots were in tatters, and the whole setup was getting pretty scary by around 2007/08.
Here is a vid that summarizes just how bad it was getting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MWRsNGOfmw
I'm a grown man, and the Gorillia, Fatz, was starting to give ME nightmares the way his face was melting away!
Fast forward to last month. I hadn't been in there in a while, and was there with a bunch of family to play Laser Tag with my nephew. I did a good inspection of the RAF and noticed something amazing: They were being MAINTAINED! They are far from perfect, but all of them are back to at least partial functionality including looney bird, and their costumes/featured have been seeing some repair work. Here is a recent video that shows from afar the improvements:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaELdgbnaRo&NR=1
I would love to get involved in fixing/programming the band. That would be a great experience. Hell, I wouldn't even want pay other than a handful of tokens either! One of these days I will get around to talking to the owner about it.
In closing, even though they are worn out and broken down, it is pretty darn sweet to be able and stop by to see my old friends, the RAF, whenever I want to. It will be a very sad day when they get rid of them. When that day comes though, my wife has already instructed me to acquire at least one member of the band for our gameroom.
A little background info. I've been going to Billy Bob's for as long as I can remember. Around 2002 or so, they moved across the street to a brand new metal warehouse style building with tons more room, laser tag, an awesome putt putt course like you would play at the beach, and a really nice Go-Kart track. Their arcade kind of sucks now and is 90%+ redemption, but my favorite attraction is the RAF!
The old building was cramped and stuffed with games when I was a wee lad. In short, it was effing awesome. The RAF was located in a dinner-theater separate from the arcade. It had a great ambiance in there I remember.
In the new building, they built a nice stage for the RAF, but the lack of a dimly lit dinner theatre kills much of the awesomeness of it. The big problem now though is Maintenance. I had noticed the animatronics were getting worse and worse. Then one day they introduced the death knell - a big screen TV that would give the animatronics a break. Billy Bob would also give commentary on silly youtube style vids. The animatronics barely worked, the costumes and features of the bots were in tatters, and the whole setup was getting pretty scary by around 2007/08.
Here is a vid that summarizes just how bad it was getting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MWRsNGOfmw
I'm a grown man, and the Gorillia, Fatz, was starting to give ME nightmares the way his face was melting away!
Fast forward to last month. I hadn't been in there in a while, and was there with a bunch of family to play Laser Tag with my nephew. I did a good inspection of the RAF and noticed something amazing: They were being MAINTAINED! They are far from perfect, but all of them are back to at least partial functionality including looney bird, and their costumes/featured have been seeing some repair work. Here is a recent video that shows from afar the improvements:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaELdgbnaRo&NR=1
I would love to get involved in fixing/programming the band. That would be a great experience. Hell, I wouldn't even want pay other than a handful of tokens either! One of these days I will get around to talking to the owner about it.
In closing, even though they are worn out and broken down, it is pretty darn sweet to be able and stop by to see my old friends, the RAF, whenever I want to. It will be a very sad day when they get rid of them. When that day comes though, my wife has already instructed me to acquire at least one member of the band for our gameroom.