TRAVEL: One last chance to visit Flintstones’ Bedrock City near the Grand Canyon

Visit Bedrock City at 101 US-180 in Valle, Arizona

VALLE, Ariz. — Yabba Dabba Do. If you’re a fan of The Flintstones, then you’ll want to stop by Bedrock City. It’s just a short 25-minute drive south of the Grand Canyon in Valle, Ariz.

Bedrock City is a combination theme park and museum–all based on The Flintstones. There are about a dozen life-size buildings and several vehicles from the popular animated television series and movie.

“This is a life-size replication of Flintstones Bedrock City,” said Troy Morris, owner of Bedrock City. “So you’ve got Fred and Barney’s house, the post office, the grocery store, the Brontosaurus slide that Fred worked on. Everything that you saw in the cartoon.”

Have you ever wanted to step inside Fred or Barney’s house? How about the schoolhouse or the grocery store? Well, you can do just that here at Bedrock City!

Morris added: “We just purchased this in February. We’ve been doing a lot of improvements and infrastructure clean-up and preparation for our expansion.”

Many people were wondering… so I asked the question. Is this the actual location where the TV series and movie were filmed?

“No, a lot of people think that, but the movie was not shot here,” the owner explained.

Flintstones fans need to hurry on down to Bedrock City. That’s because Morris and his team are getting ready to embark on a three-year restoration project.

Many of the buildings and memorabilia will be auctioned off to make way for Raptor Ranch, a birds of prey park.

So I wondered… How many of the Flintstones artifacts will remain?

“For sure Fred and Barney’s house are going to stay. The Brontosaurus slide. The characters we have, the wholly mammoth, the saber tooth kitty and all of the vehicles will be centered around a children’s play area.”

During my visit, I spoke with fans from California, Nevada and Arizona. There was also a couple visiting from the country of Belgium. Wow!

Many attendees said they were sad to see Bedrock City go bye-bye. But they are grateful that they had the opportunity to see it with their own eyes first.

“This is actually my first time coming,” said visitor Harold Nimtz. I’ve born and raised in Winslow and lived in the area my whole life. Well, it will always be there, we’ll make it one day. Now, it’s going bye-bye, so we decided to come check it out.”

He added: “The movie theater, they actually used to show the old cartoons in it. We walked through there and it’s closed up. They don’t show movies there anymore. I wish they would keep it open. It’s part of history that’s going away. Little kids like this who watch the cartoon, it’s somewhere neat to come and experience it.”

There’s lots of activities for the kids here at Bedrock City. Among them are a giant dinosaur slide and a swing set. In addition, there are dozens of selfie opportunities. Visitors can sit on the vehicles and go inside all of the buildings.

When Bedrock City eventually becomes Raptor Ranch, how many birds will be here?

“We’ll have probably 200-300 birds,” Morris answered. “We hope to have all of the raptors of North America as well as some exotics. This is Legacy. She’s a four and a half month old Peregrine falcon that we bred. She’ll be doing flight demonstrations here in a few months.

“I’ve got video of them if you go to our website, raptor-ranch.com. You’ll see a shot that I have on a motion camera on the bird and she’s over 2,000 feet. They can fly 10,000 feet, but they can go over 200 mph. It’s the fastest animal on the planet. You can hear them coming long before you can see them.”

While the on-site restaurant is closed for the moment, I’m told it will re-open at a later date with a brand new menu.

Flintstones fans still have a few more weeks to check out Bedrock City. I’d recommend making a visit before the weather turns chilly.

Visit Bedrock City at 101 US-180, Williams, AZ 86046. It is just 25 miles south of the Grand Canyon and is just north of the Valle Airport. Visit their new Raptor Ranch website at: http://raptor-ranch.com/


Video by Jason Rzucidlo / AmericaJR


The former restaurant is now being used as a box office for tickets to the Bedrock City theme park and museum. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)

Visitors are encouraged to sit on the vehicles and go inside the buildings at Bedrock City. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)

The exterior of Fred Flintstone’s house at Bedrock City. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)

Interior of Fred Flintstone’s home at Bedrock City in Arizona. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)

Kids can enjoy the Brontosaurus slide at Bedrock City in Arizona. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR) 

Bedrock City owner Troy Morris (pictured left) shows off his Peregrine falcon to visitors. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)

Last chance to visit Bedrock City! Admission is only $5 per person. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)

Bedrock City is being transformed into Raptor Ranch, a birds of prey park. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)


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