Polk City, FL — A scaled-down version of Fantasy of Flight is now open to the public.
The aviation-themed attraction originally opened in 1995 but closed its doors April 6. One year earlier, Fantasy of Flight had announced it was scaling back operations from seven days a week to four, opening to the public from Thursday to Sunday.
The latest iteration of the museum returned Friday and will be open Fridays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a seasonal schedule, including now through April 26, June 19 through Aug. 2, and Nov. 20 through April 10, 2016. (The museum will be closed April 11 for a private event.)
Clyde and Patty Gaffney of Polk City took in the new version of Fantasy of Flight on Friday.
“We’ve been there more times than we can count,” said Patty Gaffney, who previously worked at Fantasy of Flight teaching visitors how to use the simulator.
“We kept up with it on the computer, and when we saw it’d be opening today, we said, ‘We’re there.’?”
Clyde Gaffney, who served in the Air Force for 20 years, said he appreciated the more compact presentation.
“It was interesting seeing all the planes from the same era together,” he said, referring to the day’s World World I exhibit. “Before, you’d go from World War I to World War II and planes from the 1800s.”
The attractions — which also will include the 1944 B-24J Liberator, 1945 North American P-51D Mustang and 1945 Grumman Duck — will be housed in what had been Fantasy of Flight’s maintenance hangar. There also will be biplane rides available, courtesy of Waldo Wright’s Flying Service.
“While there won’t be a restaurant, restoration tours, aircraft-of-the-day, ropes course, or immersion environments, for the plane enthusiast there will be as many planes as we can comfortably put on display,” Kermit Weeks, Fantasy of Flight owner, said in a news release.
Read more: http://www.aviationpros.com