10,000 Tour New Air Terminal : Aviation: Open house at John Wayne Airport for ‘common folk’ features balloons, prizes and entertainment. Many are surprised by the opulence of the facility’s interior.

Unwilling to wait for their first flights out of John Wayne Airport to see the new $310-million facility, more than 10,000 people turned out Saturday for an advance peek at what one dignitary called “this miracle of engineering, electronics and man’s ingenuity.”

With a few words from Board of Supervisors Chairman Don R. Roth and the launching of a few dozen balloons, the new Thomas F. Riley Terminal was officially dedicated at eight minutes past noon in honor of the supervisor credited as the driving force behind the airport.

Saturday’s open house was the first opportunity for the public to see the cavernous facility, which is 12 times the size of its predecessor. The terminal opens for business next Sunday.

At the dedication ceremony, several county leaders made reference to the budget overruns, scheduling delays, legal hurdles, infighting and other “minefields” that have often threatened to scuttle the project. And there were some grumblings about the $14-a-day fee for long-term parking and the county’s decision not to name the new terminal after the late aviation pioneer Eddie Martin.

But such problems seemed largely obscured by the day’s festivities.

“I think it’s just beautiful,” Costa Mesa resident Johnnie Housen said as she finished a tour. “You feel proud to finally have a real airport. The last few years, (the old terminal) has been horrendous, just horrendous. It had become an embarrassment.”

County and airport officials have staged a series of inaugural events, the splashiest being a black-tie affair Friday that was attended by at least 2,000 VIPs who paid $50 a ticket. Saturday, it was the masses’ turn--”us common folk,” as one attendee quipped. And it was all free.

Even absent the tuxedos and designer dresses, there was plenty to do.

For kids, there were magic shows, paper airplane contests, chats with Goofy and a chance to climb up the leg of the John Wayne statue.

“I heard Ronald McDonald was going to be here, and my 6-year-old said we had to go,” said Doug Platt of Irvine. But, he confessed, “I really was curious to see the place myself.”

For the adults, there were raffle drawings for free airline flights, booths galore with information on aviation and travel-related businesses, food galleries with free samples, bands and shows, and the dedication ceremony itself--attended by all five county supervisors, State Sen. John Seymour, county officials and some airline executives.

The ceremony featured a letter of congratulations from the White House and special accolades for Riley, who predicted that the new facility “will rank with the best airports in the world for the next 20 years and take Orange County proudly into the 21st Century.”

The weekend festivities are expected to cost about $350,000, paid for largely by private sponsors who participated in the activities.

At Saturday’s open house, organizers estimated a crowd of more than 10,000 people, exceeding expectations by a few thousand. They ran out of balloons early and had to scramble to find more buses to help out at backed-up shuttle sites.

As crowded as it was sometimes, the terminal received reviews from the public that were generally positive.

Many said that judging from an exterior that is plain by comparison, the terminal’s interior proved to be a surprise. It not only was functional and roomy, but almost opulent with its marble floors, vast window space and flashy electronic message boards.

But some weren’t impressed.

“I don’t like it at all,” Irvine salesman Gary Biehl said as he toured the place with his wife and two young children. “It’s way overdone, just too much. The old terminal was fine, it worked well, and now they’ve gone to the other end of the extreme.

“This is what my tax dollars have paid for?” he asked. “Who needs it?”

* MAIDEN VOYAGE: Spirits were high as 140 VIPs took the first flight from the terminal. B15