Best Grandpa Ever Builds an Amusement Park in His Backyard

Disneyland may be the happiest place in the world, but select residents of Fullerton, California suggest that Dobbsland is even better.

Steve Dobbs, a retired engineer (naturally) bought a little electric train for his grandchildren to play with. They eventually tired of it, so he built a tunnel for he train to run through. That was interesting for a while, but, eventually, the kids found it boring.

To amuse them and himself, Dobbs built an entire miniature amusement park in his own backyard. It has animatronic characters, a clock tower, a roller coaster, and a toy submarine. Dobbsland even has your favorite characters, including Cinderella and Winnie the Pooh.

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The roller coaster is a special treat. Local engineering students designed it. The Orange County Register reports:

They used engineering principles to design the track’s trajectory, which had to fit the lawn’s 30-by-13-foot imprint.

“My main requirement was that I wanted it to be safe for little kids to ride, but also fun for teens and adults to ride,” Dobbs said.

Built at Cal Poly Pomona in three months, the coaster was dismantled by the student crew and moved to Dobbs’ home. (When disassembled, every Dobbsland attraction can fit in the home’s garage.)

Dynamic Testing Solutions’ chief financial officer rode and certified the coaster, which can support riders up to 185 pounds, goes forward and backward, tops out at 12 mph and is equipped with mechanisms measuring weight and g-force.

-via Gizmodo