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There's no way there will ever be a 1000ft tall roller coaster. At the speeds needed to achieve that, you'd have to enclose the car, use special wheels, and so on - and in the end it would feel stupid and not like a roller coaster anyway. Not to mention the extreme costs. It's already too expensive to even build another 400ft coaster.

I don't see SDC going taller anytime soon. We've already got a couple "big" coasters in Wildfire and Outlaw Run. Hopefully they'll focus on quality and theming and get more rides that compete with what Disney and Universal are doing rather than focusing on height and inversions.

Screamscape reports that they've heard rumors of this being a Thunderation replacement, with Mack being the manufacturer. Anything is possible I guess. TNT is still very popular though, and I was under the impression that it was both one of the easier rides to keep operating and one of the least expensive to maintain? Could be way off on that though, or perhaps that is no longer the case. They have had to rebuild sections several times due to ground shifts, and I feel that got worse when Time Traveler was built. Plus the mysterious loss of the second train does say something...

I don't think they've updated FB in a year either. That means they've let all their lower level people go. Never heard about any resolution to the lawsuits, but surely that has been wrapped up by now? They probably bankrupted the AH business to reduce their legal exposure/losses for the lawsuits. The contractors/designers they stiffed can only recover the money that AH had on hand.

I can't believe they couldn't even get the RV park going...

Not a lot of great options outside of Dollywood within reasonable driving range. I guess you could do the Iowa parks - Adventureland and Lost Island. The latter is supposed to be decently themed, but it's brand new and is still finding its feet. I'm thinking of taking a road trip up there myself within the next couple of months.

They re-did the ones near the entrance (behind taffy shop) this year. They redid the ones near Mystic a few years ago when that opened.

The one near TNT/TT are too small though and should have been rebuilt larger back when they were redoing that area. That's the only one I can think of that is kinda bad though. The one near Fireman's whatever is probably too small now too. They should probably add one near the new plaza area eventually.

Hmmm, if Mack does end up being the manufacturer, it's hard to see which product makes the most sense in that location. If it's like Wiener Looping, then wouldn't that be odd next to Wildfire? If it's like Stardust Racers, then doesn't that look odd next to Powderkeg? Perhaps we're getting a water coaster again. 

I see it now. So they did add some siding treatment, it's just hard to notice behind the food stands. I guess that's better than nothing, but it's just short of what they needed to do to add some real ambiance to the area. In the good old days they would have extended the facades up to hide the HVAC units and probably broken it up into false store fronts with lots of cheeky signage, props, etc. What they did just makes it look a little bit more like a barn...

I'm sure they'll work on it a bit over time. I know they wanted to leave it open to allow for large crowds since there aren't many other places for people to congregate in the park, but a few more trees would have a large impact.

Dynamic pricing is just another way for them to squeeze more out of you. All the days you want to go will now cost more, in exchange for the days you can't go being cheaper. I really hate how HFEC follows these greedy industry trends now. As if trailblazer wasn't bad enough.

They were still adding fill to that area behind Powderkeg on Saturday. Not sure why they need such a big flat space back there in such a remote location. Makes me wonder if it is just going to be a new backstage area, or if it's part of the new ride. Would love it if we did actually end up with a coaster with indoor/outdoor sections. The clearing is very odd. really makes you wonder what they are doing that necessitated extending AP's tunnel. For just a path extension, they could have just cut out the old Jim Owen's channels and extend the loop from Wildfire to Powderkeg. Perhaps it's better to have more of a straight shot by going over the tunnel area, but it sure is a lot of effort. Must be more than just a path, obviously.

Finally made it out for my first visit of the season on Saturday. Was pretty busy, but not unbearable. Surprisingly, Wildfire had a longer wait than PK. Time Traveler and FITH kept a pretty steady 45+ min wait all day. Didn't even try for Mystic River, but I understand it still commands an hour long wait or more during the summer. Say what you want about SDC's seemingly odd choices for rides, but the crowds love them. Thunderation also had a decently long line at times. During the morning I saw it stretch all the way through the tunnel! One train operations will do that though... the second train is long gone and it doesn't look like they plan to replace it? It looked like they had cannibalized the "good" cars from both trains to make a single frankenstein train. No more "beat up #7 and shiny new #13" trains.

Saw some good bluegrass, as well as the Homestead Pickers as always. The BBQ in Red Gold was severely lacking. $16 for a dry pre-cooked pulled pork sandwich. The poor guy in front of me got the $18 brisket sandwich, and I saw the worker give him a single (albeit thick) slice. Should have gone around to the Plaza first - they had some interesting looking options back there such as a BBQ grilled cheese and BBQ nachos. Only problem is the servings looked small for the same $16-$20 price range.

The "Plaza" is a joke. I know it's just a gap area to make room for festivals and crowd management, but come on. A few more tree planters would have gone a LONG way. It is seriously a backlot that feels like you are hanging out behind a warehouse. Not sure what they were thinking with this. They didn't even try to dress up the backside of FITH or Red Gold or anything. They made a whole announcement about it like it was a real addition that they were investing in. I honestly feel that they need more flak for this. This isn't the SDC standard that set the park apart from the competition and made them successful. I guess they are big enough now that it doesn't matter...

^They mention it over the speakers pretty often when they say to leave things in the cubbies. I occasionally get told to leave my glasses behind, though they are usually OK on the SDC coasters. Usually I remember my strap as well.

^Sorry, I forgot to respond to that. Since the park explicitly forbids photos taken on rides, we try not to encourage that, even if they are technically taken in a "safe" manner. Theoretically you aren't supposed to wear glasses on rides either, although that is somewhat nebulous and isn't usually enforced.

I'm headed there on the 17th so I can finally see for myself. I've heard the area past Powderkeg is pretty substantial. I know the post about "Fire in the Ozarks" were a joke, but one has to wonder how accurate that will end up being. It seems like they are preparing quite a bit of area. I don't think there will be a new land, but I can see a coaster going off into that area pretty easily. Their land on that side of the park goes on till the lake pretty much.

I have a feeling the tunnel is going to be just as basic as before, with a few lamps along it so it isn't pitch black all the way through. I think they'll add back a bit of theming when the area is done, but I'm not expecting much. Probably some signage. If we're really lucky they'll bring back an animatronic, but I'm not holding my breath.

lol, it would have been odd for sure, but they did hype this announcement up with a video of two characters on a roller coaster after all. With the construction already being so visible, it seemed plausible for a moment. Of course if you think about it, it's hard to imagine why they would cannibalize the current season by getting people excited about the next one until most people have bought tickets/passes for this year. It was a pretty well written joke for the situation - I'm guessing he had a little AI help