Iraan, Texas - Alley Oop Land

Dinny the Dinosaur lives on! The park is reasonably clean, but other than climbing on the giant dinosaur for a picture, there isn't much to do. The museum was closed when I was there (on a Monday). The wind turbine prop can be seen next to the park. There are a few memorial plaques scattered throughout the park and a small monument to the Gates family. [Jeff K, 04/23/2009]

Iraan has recently repaired, repainted and generally cleaned up the Alley Oop Museum & Fantasy Land Park and it is once again an enjoyable, clean, fun place. It's just 20 minutes off Interstate 10.

Be sure to visit the museum for some interesting history of West Texas and Iraan, ranging from prehistoric to modern times. Of note are the Native American artifacts, the V.T. Hamlin (Alley Oop's creator) information, and the petroleum industry information. This area of West Texas has recently become host to a very large wind turbine operation (converting wind energy to electricity.) Alley Oop Park exhibits a very large, impressive single blade from one of the local windmills. [Jon Sharp, 05/25/2005]

We stopped by Alley Oop land and spent the night twice (coming and going!) in April of 2004. The Alley Oop part looked a little worn, but it was clean and very cool. The city park behind it was immaculate. We camped at the RV park, which was reasonably priced, clean and quiet. It was among our favorite pit stops. [Heather, 11/22/2004]

Here are some pictures of a park west of Iraan, Texas dedicated to V.T. Hamlin, who originated the Alley Oop comic strip. He lived here when he thought of the idea. I'm guessing he moved somewhere else when he got enough money.. The picture with the gate looks as if they used to charge admission (a bad idea), but it is now free and in disrepair. These pictures are from 1984.

Main Entrance | Dinny the Dinosaur [Steve Grimm, 10/13/1997]

[RA: Statues immortalize Oop, his girl friend Ooola, and his dinosaur Dinny. Dinny is 65 feet long, 16 feet tall, and 80,000 lbs. Oop's 20-foot tall top hat is also a slide.]