There is no other miniature golf course in Central New York that has received as much recent favorable press as Big Don's Wild River. Here is what the press has been saying......
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Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf featured in 

FUNWORLD Magazine January 2008

FUNWORLD Magazine is the magazine of the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions

In the article, Steady As A Rock, FECs (Family Entertainment Centers) work to keep guests safe on their climbing walls Big Don was quoted on the extensive safety steps used at Big Don's to keep guests safe.  

Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf featured in 

Tourist Attractions & Parks Magazine April/May 2007

Tourist Attractions & Parks Magazine is one of the top  trade magazines specializing in theme parks and family entertainment centers. It is read on multiple continents...

For Don Cullen of Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf in Cicero, NY, installing a giant maze has been a winning move, Cullen said. Cullen said his maze is the attraction's second biggest draw, and has helped turn the miniature golf course into a family entertainment center.

The giant maze rounds out a...list of of activities Big Don's can package together for groups and birthday parties..."For example, we can package golf, the maze and climbing wall. A maze run sells for $4, but if you purchase a package of activities, it's only $3", Cullen said. And adding squirt guns to the maze during the summer gives the location a much needed water activity, when the weather gets hot. 

People especially enjoy receiving prizes for running the maze. "It gives them something tangible to take away,'"Cullen said. Even adults like the packs of gum he buys....." The maze has momentum to it," he said. "People come back and bring their friends.".....

(Web Editor's note: Big Don's Wild River MIni Golf currently has the only Amaze'n Maze (a trademark changeable adventure maze) in New York State.)

Cicero-North Syracuse Star News

Business Of The Week

Where your summer fun just got bigger

June, 2006

By Katelyn Dieffenderfer

Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf earns its slogan: "Where Your Summer Fun Just Got Bigger!" The business is much more than just a mini golf course, and visitors of all ages are sure to be pleased with the spectrum of offered activities.

Big Don's Mini Golf is themed in a historic wilderness setting. The landscaping includes ponds, rivers and waterfalls to contribute to the scenic atmosphere. Owner Don Cullen said, "We try to look outside the area for what we model ourselves after." He and his family have taken vacations to resort areas where mini golf courses are extravagant, and they have brought the feel to Central New York.

The actual golf course includes 18 holes spread out over a large area. The holes are a mix of challenges and fun designed to keep all players engaged. There are water shot holes, multi-level holes, obstacles and hazard and elevation changes to keep the game exciting.

Chelsea Goldthwait, an employee, said, "I think people come here because we have such a unique theme. There's more than one activity - there's something for everybody."

In addition to the impressive mini golf course, Big Don's had other unique attractions including a 25' rock climbing wall. The five paths range from beginner to advanced. The wall is open daily in the summer and weekends during other seasons.

Big Don's also has a 5,000 sq. ft. maze known as Amaze'n Giant Human Adventure Maze. There are less than 25 Amaze'n mazes worldwide, and the one at Big Don's in the only one in New York State. The paths in the maze are changed regularly so visitors never get bored!

Cullen said, "We try to create a bundle of activities that will be fun every year. We want to have something that people will be excited to come back to."

One of Big Don's newest attractions is "Squirt Tube Frenzy". Guests use Stream Machine squirt guns to soak each other inside the giant maze. It's a great way to escape the summer heat with friends.

More activities that set Big Don's apart from the typical mini gold stop are gemstone mining and treasure digs. Younger kids love to dig through minerals, gemstones, fossils and arrowheads to discover treasures to take home. Guests can choose from three different sluice bags: small mineral/gem, large mineral/gem or a fossil bag. On the treasure digs, children use shovels and sifters to search for buried treasure in white sand. Polished stones, seashells, gemstones, sharks' teeth and fossils are hidden. Children get to take home all their finds. 

Since its opening in August, 2004, Big Don's has been a big success. Big Don's is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.  Monday - Thursday, till 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday and from 12:30 to 11 p.m. on Sundays now through Labor Day. The golf course has varying hours for September through early October. Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf is located at 8408 Button Road, Cicero

Cicero-North Syracuse Star News
A mini-resort
Wild River brings resort-level mini-golfing to Cicero
September 1, 2004
By Richard Palmer

Don Cullen had a dream. To bring the resort-level miniature golfing experience to Central New York.

While vacationing in Ocean City and in Florida, Cullen, of East Syracuse, said he was impressed with the quality and popularity of miniature golf courses. With nothing in this area to compare, he went forward with his plan and recently opened Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf on Route 31. Despite inclement weather, mud and other challenges, hard work and skill combined to get the 18-hole course done in record time.

Cullen, a Long Island native, came to Central New York in 1979. His main occupation is the employee benefits business. He said this is the only resort level course in Central New York "...like you see in Myrtle Beach, in Florida or at Ocean City." The course is a product of Castle Golf, recognized for designing and building award winning courses around the US and world. The course includes six waterfalls, three ponds, cascading rivers, a beaver lodge, and a large play through cave, all simulating an 18th century natural setting. There are chainsaw sculptured wild animals throughout the landscaped park, made by Mark Wilson of the Yankee Doodle Shop in Canastota. The park is attractively landscaped with flowers and vegetation. The 18 holes are fun and challenging, Cullen said.

The course includes water shot and multi-level holes, many obstacles, hazards, in the rough, sand traps and abrupt elevation changes. For the younger kids there's the 78 foot Wild River Mining Co. gemstone mining sluice like miners used in the Old West. Kids can pan for minerals, gemstones and fossils.

"We are at least 30% larger than other courses in this area," Cullen said, which can easily accommodate 75 people per hour.

The course will open April through October, from 10 am to 11 pm Sunday through Thursday and 10 am to midnight Friday and Saturday.

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Syracuse Post Standard
Slices of Nature at Mini Golf
Saturday, July 24, 2004
By John Doherty
Staff writer

The long-absent howls of wolves will return to northern Onondaga County next month. But the wild canine, last seen in Cicero in the late 1800s, won't be making a comeback. Instead, the long wails will emanate from an 18-hole miniature golf course now under construction at Route 31 and Button Road.

With a theme of 18th-century New York pioneer life, Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf course will feature six waterfalls, a beaver pond, wildlife figures, including bears, otters, raccoons, fish and wolves, and an 18th hole that will critique a player's final shot. "We're trying to create a resort-level course here - something like you'd find in Ocean City, Md., and Florida," said Don Cullen, the golf course developer and owner.

Other features include 600 plants, chain saw art made by craftsmen based in the Adirondacks, British Columbia and Canastota, an ice cream stand, a pavilion, a sound system that will flood the course with background sounds of wildlife, and a gem mining operation where children can pan for semiprecious stones.

Construction of the course is to be completed by Aug. 6. Cullen declined to reveal the project's cost. "It's a significant investment," he said.

The course is a long way from the simple Depression-era miniature golf course Cullen's grandfather, Charles Ware, operated in the back yard of his Brooklyn home. "He'd charge people a nickel for a round of golf. I never saw it, but it was pretty basic for the time," said Cullen, of East Syracuse.

Miniature golf is rising to levels far above the roadside putt-putt courses of the mid-20th century. "The old flat putt-putt courses just don't compete. Today, the courses are part of the amusement and entertainment business," said Steven Hicks, of the Fort Worth, Texas-based Miniature Golf Association U.S. According to the Appleton, Wis.-based Professional Miniature Golf Association, more than 500 million rounds of miniature golf were played in the nation last year, at an average cost of $5 each. "Today, a lot more people travel and see the top-level (miniature golf) courses. They're exposed to the best. They've been to (Walt) Disney World. They've been to Myrtle Beach. To be successful, you have to have something of that caliber, something that is quality and top-shelf," Cullen said.

Cullen said he decided to build his miniature golf course in Cicero because he spent time in the Cicero area as a youngster and the town is expanding as a residential and commercial area. Cicero and the Route 31 area is the fastest growing area in Onondaga County, Cullen said. Indeed, two other golf complexes along Route 31 recently opened miniature golf courses. The Hickory Hill golf complex, east of the Belgian bridge in Clay, opened its mini course in July 2003. It features two fountains, a waterfall and a 15-foot cave through which golfers putt. The nearby Golfer's Dome Complex on Route 31, west of Route 481, reopened an 18-hole miniature golf course in 2003.

© 2004 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.

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Syracuse Post Standard
Watch for hazards at Big Don's mini golf
Friday, June 11, 2004
BOB NIEDT

RETAIL NOTEBOOK

Say, what's all that rumbling up there in Cicero, on Route 31?

It's the beginnings of Big Don's Wild River Mini Golf, a state-of-the art miniature golf course slated to open in August. "I dare say it will be the nicest in CNY, more like what you see in a resort area like Myrtle Beach, Ocean City or Florida," owner Don Cullen tells us. Plus, miniature golf rocks, especially when it has lots of water features.

Big Don wants to bring a little of the elaborate courses we see in the resort towns down South up to the 'Cuse To that end, you may have seen the big machines beginning work on the project this week to get the hacking going by late summer.

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