My wife and I made the short trip to SDC for opening day on Friday and cruised around the park for about three hours.
We wanted to catch the two early sessions with the Pickers but they were holed up in the cabin with whatever people could squeeze into the place, so we abandoned that immediately, oh well. It appears that if the temps aren't over 70 degrees those guys will just cram themselves and others into that little space to keep a few people cozy. We may not get to see them much this year.
The park was very quiet early on, not very many visitors for the first few hours, so we just walked around for awhile. It was kind of strange being in the city so early in the season with no leaves on the trees and most of the shops and things closed. We rarely visit during the Christmas festival, and when we do it's always been at night, so this was different seeing the place void of greenery and flowers, plants and such. Usually mid-April for the World Fest is our first trip for every year, so this was quite a change. The strong smell of fresh mulch was the dominating presence for me on Friday.
I had read during the off season that SDC is doing a Celebrate America theme this year, but for some reason I wasn't thinking about or noticing that when I was walking around, until my wife commented on the presence of good ole red, white, and blue around the park. She didn't know about the Celebrate America theme beforehand and noticed the addition early on.
We rode a few rides while the park was fairly quiet. Lots of new faces among the ride attendants, so things were a little sluggish and disorganized with all the live training going on, but we really didn't care much as we weren't in the park intent on doing anything specific. The Giant Swing was doing swell, with both arms a-swinging. From past experiences we had no hope for a launch on The Powder Keg, and we we're correct with our assumption. The only time we saw it operating was from the lift hill of WF and the Powerless Keg trains were void of humans. WF was running smoothly, as usual, and people could ride it over and over if they wished, two trains. The veteran ride operators on WF were sometimes getting the in station train moving out just as the inbound train was arriving, we rode twice, front and back. I almost wish SDC would have just used the prototype of the WF setup/track/system for all of the coasters in the park and just used different variations of layout and theme. Old reliable, FITH, was cranking along nicely as well.
Everyone is going to have to be really patient this year if you wish to ride Outlaw Run. We didn't make it down for OTC at the end of last year, so the changes may already have been made back then, but we were unaware of the changes to the trains until we rode the ride on Friday. Last year it always took some time to unload and load the riders on OR and I think we all got used to all that goes into operating that ride. But while waiting in the short line early on Friday we noticed quite a substantial increase in loading time for the trains, from what we experienced last year. We found out the change when we were next to load and seen the lap "belts" (seat belts) on the seats of the trains. Completely new to us, we had no idea the extra safety addition of clicking lap belts had been made to couple with the usual padded lap bar. Two things around the riders lap now. The ride attendants and the riders were struggling quite a bit with the new (to us anyhow) restraints. The struggles with the belts included my wife and I. As I was seated and ready to strap in, I couldn't get the belt to lengthen enough to fasten it around my waist (a child had been in the seat before me), and the attendant had to pull on the belt from above, then allow me to fasten it, and then confirm the belt was secure. After the ride, my wife struggled unfastening the belt, and I needed to help her unclick. So, I think we'll ride OR very early in our visits this year and forget about that one when the park gets busy. The padded bar which secures against the riders lower leg area was different as well, and to us was a GREAT improvement over the leg bar from last year. The padded bar now contours around the lower legs, instead of a straight bar, and is much more comfortable and roomy, along with being quite secure. I used to really feel that lower bar when riding OR, but Friday it was very comfortable. I've rode my fair share of coasters and, to me personally, the OR is still the wildest ride I've ridden. I always get the sensation that the train is going to leave the track and go airborne during a few of those tight turns, kinda makes me a little nervous sometimes, great thrill ride.
We made a point of catching the bluegrass group Fly By Night at 11:30 and really enjoyed the show. Evidently this band has been around for quite some time, but we had never see them before. They did a great job and I recommend them to anyone who likes bluegrass/country music. I thought they were very lively and entertaining with their show and I hope to catch them again sometime. I like a lot of bluegrass music, and some groups will nearly put me to sleep occasionally, but I enjoyed this group.
The park was getting very busy with visitors after the noon hour. We walked around a bit more, caught a few songs from the gospel trio up at the Gazebo, noticed that even more people were streaming into the area around the Gazebo from the entrance of the park, and we decided to call it a day at SDC and enjoy the warm afternoon in our quiet backyard.
We agreed that our next trips would be World Fest a few times and then Bluegrass/BBQ several times. Looking forward to the entertainment and the music.
See ya'll on Sundays in April and May.
