Camp Pendleton’s Paintball Park is constructing a new and improved location for paintballers to revisit their childhood fantasies of conquering their favorite characters and super villains.

The nearly $2 million modernized park is making use of the old rodeo grounds, across from Stepp Stables, which have been vacant for the last eight years.

The new Mainside location will consist of 13 different themed areas for recreational paintball, and four tournament-style areas for advanced players.

“I’m really excited for the turnout of this park,” said Shawn Walker, president of Invent Management Solutions, and owner of the park. “It’s way more in-depth than our last location and it has so many more obstacles and themes for paintballers to enjoy.”

The previous location had just one main area for paintballers to play—the new park will have areas with themes such as; a convoy field, a 5,500 square foot castle area, Wild West, Iwo Jima simulations and many others.

Plans for the revamped layout have been underway for the past four years. Since the park’s contract ended at their old location, they had to begin construction sooner than anticipated.

“Our initial intent was to keep our 22 Area paintball park open while we do construction,” said Walker, who is also the owner of both 29 Palms and Miramar’s paintball parks. “But since the contract was awarded to the water company, we just had to improvise.”

To open the new park as efficiently as possible, the contractors have been working tirelessly to make sure the Paintball Park is up-and-running for avid participants.

“Even though we are still under construction, we still want to be able to operate,” said Walker. “This park is like a dream come true for me, because I’ve been preparing this layout since I can remember. I can’t wait for it to be complete because I’ll bet anyone they haven’t tried something like this before.”

Even though the park is still adding more areas, some of the areas will be open for operation, beginning Jan. 22. The hours of operation are Friday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., and Monday-Thursday by reservation only.

The registration fee for all-day play is $35 for military and their families, and $50 for civilians. For more information or to schedule a private party, call the paintball park at 866-985-4932, or visit their website at www.thepaintballpark.com, and click on Camp Pendleton.