Owner provides fresh details on Excalibur center
Steve Privitor, owner of Excalibur Family Entertainment, the new family-oriented activities venue coming to El Dorado this fall, provided additional details about the new fun center in an email exchange with the News-Times.
The El Dorado Excalibur Family Entertainment Center will be home to children’s activities ranging from virtual reality games to laser tag to an indoor climbing playground. Privitor said the company is still making some final design decisions, but that the general groundwork for the venue is laid out.
“We love to see families and kids have fun,” he said. “A smile goes a long way and we hope to bring more smiles to El Dorado.”
Privitor provided descriptions of the various attractions that will be included in the local facility. One large space’s use has yet to be determined; right now, he said, the space is being considered for use as a party room for families.
“For now, we are considering a large conference room with TVs so it can be used for large parties, meetings, get-togethers, or to be used for school field trips,” Privitor said. “At Excalibur in West Monroe, we get a lot of field trips from El Dorado and surrounding areas. We hope some of the surrounding schools will give our new location a try too.” Virtual reality
Privitor said the virtual reality suite offered by Excalibur will give those who visit hundreds of different experiences to choose from, ranging from roller coaster rides to aerial dogfights to dinosaur and zombie encounters.
“One of our VR rides will spin and flip the customer while viewing through VR Goggles — this ride might not be for the faint of heart,” he said. “We also have a VR Gatlin gun, a wild virtual reality shooting game with many different game-play scenarios to choose from.” Laser tag
The Excalibur facility will also have a blacklit laser tag arena; players will have a backtrack with music playing throughout the space, Privitor said.
“In addition to the freefor-all play, we plan to offer other game modes as well,” he added.
Main floor and Kidz Zone
The main floor of the venue will have areas for younger children, including a soft foam climbing gym and an arcade.
“[The climbing gym] will have plenty of tunnels, slides and there are four ball blasters that will shoot Nerf balls in the pit area,” Privitor said. “Next to it will be a Kidz Zone with several games for the young kids, such as a carousel, Snoopy ride, train, kids’ basketball and many more.” Arcade and concessions
The main floor will also have some well-known arcade games for all ages spread throughout, Privitor said, including competitive games like air hockey and basketball and four hydraulic games. Players will be able to earn tickets to exchange for prizes at many of the games.
“These driving games utilize hydraulics to move the car up, down, back and forth to simulate a true ride,” Privitor said.
Concessions will also be available at Excalibur, including homemade pizza, nachos, hot dogs and pretzels.
Privitor said he’s long-considered adding a location in El Dorado; his son, Nick, who will manage the local venue, even wrote a business plan for an expansion into El Dorado for a college course on entrepreneurship, he said.
So far, the process of expanding into El Dorado has been a pleasant one for the Excalibur team; local contractors, property owners and City officials have all been welcoming and helpful as the company make its move into the former Walgreens in the Northwest Village Shopping Center at 1900 N. West Avenue, Privitor said.
“There is no doubt that El Dorado is business-friendly,” he said. “The decision to expand into El Dorado was the right decision.”