When the city announced last week that Long Beach would enter into the “red tier” of coronavirus regulations, permitting more relaxed rules on outdoor and indoor gatherings, there are many who might have glossed over, or skipped entirely, the city’s new regulations on theme and amusement parks.

Except, that is, for Patricio Wolovich, owner of El Dorado Frontier, an American frontier-themed mini amusement park on five acres of El Dorado Regional Park. In lieu of other theme park reopenings north of the 405, notably Disneyland, it might have been easy to forget that Long Beach does, in fact, have its own theme park. After being closed over a year—minus a two-day stint in December 2020—the park announced Wednesday that it would reopen for the public Friday, April 2.

El Dorado Frontier will be allowed to reopen at 15% capacity for both indoor and outdoor operations, with restrictions on group sizes and intermingling. With a normal capacity of about 1,000 guests, this means the theme park is allowed to entertain 125 visitors at a given time, with groups limited to a maximum of 10 people or up to three households for a maximum of 15. In addition, El Dorado Frontier will also be limiting duration stay to one hour.

“We’re very excited,” Wolovich said of reopening. “I miss being there when we’re open. I spent of lot of time there when we were closed.”

Those who return to El Dorado Frontier this year will, in some ways, be visiting a very different theme park. When the park opened in 2018, the main and really only attraction was the 18-gauge vintage train (built in 1946) that guests could ride around the expanse of the park.

Prior to COVID, Wolovich had added a few other amenities, including the “panning for treasure” experience where guests could sift through a manufactured stream and search for gold and other mock treasures. The carousel, which is one-of-a-kind and rebuilt from scratch—very expensive, Wolovich said—was enjoyed by guests for just shy of three months before closures in March.

A year later, Wolovich said he’s invested just south of a million dollars enhancing the space, from landscaping to entertainment, picnicking and photo-op areas and a mini-theater for puppet shows. Wolovich also built the hand car ride attraction, where children can ride miniature cars on a track and interact with hand cranks that play music and emit various animatronic sounds.

“It goes on this mini track and there’s little prompts; they go through a terminal. And it all has original music,” Wolovich said of the ride. “We really tried to make it a very detailed and different experience where it’s not something you can find anywhere else.”

This attraction, along with the train, panning for treasure, carousel and picnic areas will be open for public use on April 2.

Though the space isn’t finished—and likely won’t be for few more years with the full vision Wolovich has in mind for the space—El Dorado Frontier is the most operational that it’s ever been. It’s a relief to say the least, Wolovich said, to reopen after the investments spent the last year. Much of the money—some $6,000 to $10,000 a month—went just to maintaining the park.

For the next few months, El Dorado Frontier will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday with limited hours. Admittance to the park will be limited to an hour-long reservation per 125 guests which, Wolovich said, means for much shorter attraction wait times. A $15 admission ticket includes one train and carousel ride. Other attractions not included with the price of admission will be extra charge.

Guests should expect to have their temperatures taken at the entrance. Masks and social distancing are also required in order to enjoy the park.

El Dorado Frontier is located at 7550 E. Spring St. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to show that the car ride attraction will open April 2 and that Disneyland is north of the 405.