Messages

1

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2018 Trip Reports

« on: April 14, 2018, 11:41:29 PM »

I'm pretty sure the flag raising ceremony changes based on who is working, how many people are there, and the time of year. I think they usually do the "full" ceremony later in the year when the park is more in the swing of operations. Or at least that's what I seem to remember us discussing before...

The full ceremony is a little corny, but it is a part of the old character and authenticity of SDC. If it goes away entirely I feel like it's yet another piece of the SDC heritage that someone at corporate in Atlanta decided wasn't part of the new "image". So many suits have been on park this year... Too many of them seem to want to replicate Carowinds and Worlds of Fun too.

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Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

« on: April 14, 2018, 11:27:49 PM »

Hopefully once the weather finally heats up, that will reduce a lot of the downtime. Could be the temp changes making it more screwy than it would be otherwise. Still sounds like there are some foundational problems with the tech, but that's what you get with 'World's First's'.

Still to early to know if it will truly have on-going issues like PK. I expect there will always be bugs, but I am holding out hope that it is still under warranty and some of this stuff will be fixed and made more reliable.

At the very least though, it is remaining an incredibly popular ride. The line is consistently all the way to the sign when it is open and the park is full.

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Other Parks / Re: Frontier City Developments

« on: April 06, 2018, 06:10:40 PM »

It sounds like they are getting one of the zip line contraptions that one of Stan Checkett's companies makes. Similar to the one at Kemah. It is listed on the new maps as an upcharge.

Wasn't expecting anything, so its kinda neat. Not thrilled about upcharge attractions, but if it makes them some extra dough to go towards something really worthwhile, that's a good thing.

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General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2018 Trip Reports

« on: March 27, 2018, 08:37:45 AM »

The back porch was open all during opening weekend. I think sometimes the gate gets closed and no one realizes. They also might be closing it whenever TT gets shut down so people aren't sending out panicky FB live videos about riders being "trapped".

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Other Parks / Re: Former Schlitterbahn KC exec charged with manslaughter

« on: March 24, 2018, 07:09:22 PM »

I haven't read the report myself yet, but my understanding from the discussion of it is that they never had a licensed set of engineers sign off on it? I don't know what to think here. On one hand, it seems like a freak accident and all slides can be dangerous. On the other hand, it seems like the process they went through to build this thing cut a lot of corners that they didn't even think of because they didn't seek proper experts to analyze the risk and operating parameters.

6

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

« on: March 21, 2018, 01:41:56 PM »

Ugh, that's so annoying. I really hope this is something they can work out instead of having yet another finicky ride that is down all the time. I thought Mack was better about uptime and reliability of their rides.

Granted, this is essentially a new prototype ride, and this is what you get when you want a bunch of world's firsts. I can think of very few rides that pushed the envelope and weren't huge headaches for their respective parks.

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General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: SDC V Dollywood

« on: March 21, 2018, 08:38:43 AM »

It's not that much bigger and has a number of similarities to SDC. I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be when I went a couple years ago. It was probably because I went in expecting a bigger SDC though. It is certainly it's own park, and it has a much less cohesive and thematic feel than SDC.

The old SDC Tennesee sections are really nice, and I enjoy the Dolly Parton museum and some of her areas of the park near the front, but the newer back areas leave a lot to be desired. Wild Eagle has no theming and a very uninspired layout. The whole wilderness pass area had a SF feel with very light, slightly cartoonish theme. Timber canyon or whatever it's called with Thunderhead and Mystery Mine looks a lot better, but it's packed with rides and not much else. Mystery Mine is the big exception to everything that I have always been jealous of. That is possibly the most thematic ride outside of a Disney park, and it was my hope at the time that it would kick off a new generation of highly themed HFE rides... but then they built Wild Eagle.

But overall though, the rides are nice and there are a few interesting shows and non-ride things to do. The old section of the park is actually really nice and has a great SDC feeling to it with several shops and craftsmen. I haven't done Lightning Rod yet, but hope to get out there next year. That ride is supposed to be even better than Outlaw Run. 

8

Branson Talk / Re: America's Fun Park in Branson

« on: March 19, 2018, 08:01:23 PM »

Just added the photos to the FB page. It looks like an even smaller lot in real life than it does on google maps. Hard to say how much of the surrounding land they own. It'll be interesting to see this come together. They obviously have something up their sleeves because this is real construction, not just throwing stuff in a parking lot like I had thought might be the case.

9

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: 2018 Trip Reports

« on: March 19, 2018, 10:33:32 AM »

For a major ride opening, it really wasn't that bad. I honestly expected the line to go up to the square. It did wrap around past the gift shop going the other way immediately after opening Saturday, and it did consistently back up past the ride sign in front all day. I also witnessed a lot more Trailblazers than I've ever seen, but for "Spring Ride Days" I guess that's to be expected. Wildfire had a 30+ minute wait, PK's line often stretched past it's archway, and both Thunderation and FITH were filling their queue lines. OR even filled a few switchbacks under the tent.

We will be back to normal operations before long. Once there's some more stuff going on and the newness of TT wears off a tad, the park will be more fun again. It's kind of depressing with so few of the shops open and not a lot going on besides people waiting in lines. Like I said earlier, April will be a GREAT time to visit this year. Summer will probably be pretty busy, and I don't even want to think about Christmas right now.

10

General Silver Dollar City Talk / Re: New engine(s) status

« on: March 19, 2018, 10:23:08 AM »

I'm not familiar enough with them to really recognize one from the other, but I believe the new one is going into service soon. There's another one on display across from the station.

They were using some of the old passenger cars yesterday, which I thought was strange.

11

Branson Talk / Re: America's Fun Park in Branson

« on: March 19, 2018, 10:06:10 AM »

There's a lot of serious work out there right now. I'll upload some photos later. They are indeed building permanent structures and putting in proper storm/sewer/water/etc. lines.

Seeing it in person makes me question the location. It seems much smaller in person, and they are putting in so many rides + at least 2 big coasters? They are going to need a TON of parking, and even if everything is scrunched together they will only have space for a small fraction of their potential customers. Perhaps they have a trick up their sleeves involving satellite parking?

12

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

« on: March 19, 2018, 10:01:47 AM »

They had all kinds of problems yesterday. I didn't end up being able to get any rides in. It was closed in the morning due to being too cold, and when it opened I passed on the two+ hour wait. I think they still had only two trains running at the time. By the afternoon they were having trouble with the launch or something. I think it was down almost the entire afternoon with cars stalled on the launch a couple of times. I ended up doing the cave and leaving before 5, so I don't know if they ever sorted it all out. Nothing totally unexpected for a new coaster with launch segments.

The more I experienced the new area, the more perturbed I got about how Flooded Mine is currently being treated. It's ridiculous for new patrons to find it, if they can even tell that a ride is there at all. It's basically a hidden entrance now with no sign, and the journey from the exit back to the stroller parking is not easy when the food places are in full swing and you aren't familiar with the park. It's a real hassle for families to ride now, and I know they wouldn't set it up like this if they planned to keep FM long term...

The trees are so nice though. The eating area is a big improvement over the old one. At least they kept that tradition going.

13

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

« on: March 18, 2018, 02:15:36 PM »

So many people are having trouble finding FM now, but there are enough old times who are used to the hidden entrance that they are staying busy. Crazy that they don't have a proper sign, especially now.

The guy this morning was apparently wrong about the temperature to open TT. Still seems pretty finicky though. Hopefully just opening week jitters.

14

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

« on: March 18, 2018, 10:24:43 AM »

Warmed up quicker than I thought. As of 10:20 it is running and the line is back up to 2 hours.

15

Construction/Rumors / Re: SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

« on: March 18, 2018, 09:57:07 AM »

Sure, it's better than SF or CF parks, but that's not any bar to aspire to. They usually do nothing, and when they do something it's usually a couple small props and a cool sign. We were always hoping they would head towards being the Disney of the Ozarks. To be fair, I think they are getting there in various ways. We will always gripe about the theming because of the impossible bar that was set by Mary.

In other news, apparently the new temperature cutoff for TT is 43 degrees. (Edit: nope, turns out the guy this morning was wrong about the temp to open) It's closed all morning I guess. Not going to be good for Christmas time. The 40 cutoff for some rides is already rough. Between that and the restraint issues, it's not quite as perfect as rollout as I expected from Mack. Hopefully both things will be improved before long.