Free tickets to ride -- one last time

BALBOA FUN ZONE — There is such a thing as a free ride, at least this weekend in Newport Beach.

The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum on Saturday opens a preview center to hint at how the planned new museum will look. Visitors can get free tickets for rides on the fun zone bumper cars and the Scary Dark ride, which close forever after the weekend.

The museum was founded in 1986 and for the last 10 years has occupied a riverboat near East Coast Highway and Bayside Drive. Officials in 2005 announced plans to build a new museum in the fun zone, gradually taking over spaces now occupied by some rides, shops and attractions.

With the land included, the new facility will cost about $20 million and will be built in phases over five years, ultimately displacing the bumper cars, the Scary Dark ride and the Drummer Boy ride, as well as some businesses.

Workers on Thursday were still hammering and painting to get the preview center ready for the public, but some displays were up, including model ships from the old museum.

Visitors entering the preview center will see a large rendering of the new museum, executive director David Muller said. They’ll be guided past a model of a Naval battleship in a glass case lighted from above, as well as other ship-related displays.

The exhibits are designed to surprise and excite museum patrons, Muller said, adding, “In this phase it’s about drama and theater.”

A passageway winds around the outside of the room, past antique outboard motors, and in the center is an octagonal theater where nautical programs will be shown.

A second room will be dedicated to Newport nautical history, featuring a floor-to-ceiling map of the city, a model of the Balboa ferry, and a display of a Snowbird, a type of small sailboat that was built in Newport Beach in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

A deep-sea-fishing simulator is already in place, and Muller is working on getting a virtual sailing game.

“As we continue the transition into the fun zone, our interactivity is going to increase,” he said. “Fun is staying in the fun zone. It’ll take on a different point of view.”

Later this month, the museum will celebrate a visit from Carlos Gianelli, Uruguay’s ambassador to the United States. Gianelli will tour the museum Sept. 20 after a lunch at Chapman University with museum advisory board member David C. Henley, who is honorary consul of Uruguay.

Muller said the riverboat will probably close to visitors after Thanksgiving, and the museum will have completely moved off the boat by Dec. 31. The boat is offered for sale at $295,000, and Muller said there is interest but no deal has been finished.