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^To say that that's unbelievable is an understatement. I've noticed that the DW fanbase is far more eccentric and youthful than at SDC, producing much wilder rumors that stick around for years. The Vekoma Tilt was an epic fail, and the Herschends would never go near it, just in case anyone was wondering.

^I'll make those changes tonight.

Additionally, I'll be whipping out a calendar feature later tonight as well, though it will lack the color-coded feature that displays the guesstimated attendance level of the given day. I'll add that in later. Hopefully I'll get around to adding an RSS feed as well, for the few who actually use them.

I'll also be working on the new attraction review system, which will replace the static pages used now. The park info pages are being left in their crappily formatted state for now due to this.

^Thanks man, I'll probably try one out later on.

It sounds like DW is on the path to another set of massive expansions, though these rumors are very hyped up by the online DW fan community. From the sounds of it, their next new roller coaster will be something entirely new to the industry, or will at least have a surprising gimmick of some sort. I was assuming that after the massive success of PK at SDC, DW would get their own version.

This year is still up for grabs as far as we know, though it sounds like it will be another ride. DW sure is buying them up nowadays; when was the last time they added anything other than a ride? Maybe a Screamin' Swing is in the works.

^I'm actually going to add all that in later today, but the focus of this site will always stay pretty centered around SDC itself. DW could support a thriving site all by itself.

^It's not physically possible for the tree house that I'm talking about to be incorporated that way. What you see in the concept art is a different tree house that is merely theming.

The current tree house can't really be fixed or moved at this point to my understanding, so it'll pretty much have to be torn down, and this would be the year to do it. The question really is whether or not they're planning to rebuild a new tree house type of attraction in it's place.

I wouldn't be starting on anything until I got this site to a really nice point, and I'm not even close to that yet. Once I get this site running smoothly though, I could just copy the code for it to make the DW site. A new template is all it'd need. The help I would need would involve writing news stories and keeping the site updated all around with DW info. Basically, an actual DW fan would have to write a lot of the actual content as I haven't even made it to the park yet.

Does Dollywood have a fansite yet? It seems it has a massive internet following, but no one has gotten around to building a serious fan site for it. I've considered building one, but I just don't have the energy to watch both parks and keep up on all the cool little tidbits and everything in addition to the major news. Maybe if someone wanted to help out...

I hope they move the Balloon Race somewhere else in the park instead of throwing it out entirely.

The balloons will have a new hope, possibly by as early as Christmas. It's just too popular and favorited to get rid of.

As I've said before, I'm hoping they can find a way to re-utilize the ropes area without taking it out completely. I can see them tearing down what is currently there, but I think they should put something up to replace it. I mean, it really made the area.

By the way, if Huck and Tom are taking the park by storm again, what does this mean for the tree house?

The sixth major revision to SDCFans is underway. Right now pretty much everything is functional except for the user controls. I'll be attempting to integrate the main site's user features with the forums, so it may be awhile until you can post comments on the main site.

A lot more stuff broke than I thought, but I got pretty much everything that I needed to stay up for done right now. There's a lot of styling issues to go back and fix.

Anyway, tell me about any browser bugs you encounter. I think I've got it pretty well adjusted for Firefox and IE7, but I haven't had a chance to try IE6 yet - I'm sure it's as bad or worse than the old site there.

The ride attraction pages and some of the other content pages have been totally skrewed. I'll be re-doing them anyway I guess.

I guess this is why they are starting so early. They need to get done what they can before their limited off-season so that they can use that time to work on what can't be closed. Besides, they might be tired of taking chances with weather and construction. 

Yeah, it kinda looks like someone ploped a modern-age house right in the middle of SDC. The siding just doesn't work, I think they could have at least used some old-looking boards or something - just look at how they built the PK/Buzzsaw station, or Wildfire's Station... I guss they cheaped out at the last minute again.

We've got some photos up on the main site, thanks once again to Copper: http://www.sdcfans.com/gallery.php?id=8

I guess this confirms any remaining suspicions that this could be anything else; it's pretty obvious by the water splash on the signage. Good to see Tom making a scene at the park again after a couple of decades of gradual succession into memory though.

Crap, I had no idea that they were going to hype this up with a fence and clues - now I feel bad for posting the concept art on the main site for the GP to see... Oh well, it's only concept art, we still don't really have that good of an idea of what this whole project is about. There really is a lot of unused space there, I remember wondering about that the last time I wandered that trail behind the riverside theatre.

^ couldnt agree more. i will be pretty upset if its not a coaster, but it would be cool if they updated the landing area......just not 2009 please

I have a feeling it's a Splash Battle, which disappoints me.  I was really looking forward to a new coaster (so was Coaster Con) for next year.  But I'm confused.  If it's a done deal, why a ride concept survey now?  Just to hash out details or something?  Is the survey being used mainly to choose the name of the ride?  I guess maybe they're saving the coaster for the 50th anniversary celebration.

That's what I was thinking - the timing of the surveys is way off if this is going down right now. But here's what else is strange: I've head that the board hasn't even voted on this thing! They're actually beginning work without knowing for sure what they are doing it seems... I guess they're positive that they will do something with this area, but the idea is still somewhat fluid at this point. It may just be the theme that they're really debating - if Huck Finn doesn't go over well with the kids I could see them throwing in the beavers again  .

I dunno though, I want to say that there's still a chance that the Splash Battle is coming at a later date just because of how late the decision seems to be, not to mention the fact that a Splash Battle would radically change the Landing. They'd have to level a LOT of stuff, probably everything from the carousel barns to the train tracks. Once this thing is in there, it'll extend the waterfront theme all the way up into the center of the city, which will feel a bit odd, unless this will be more of a pond or bog hidden away in the center of the park... There's so many ways this could swing... It just seems like it would be easier all around to put something else there instead and have the Splash Battle over by the Gulch.

I certainly don't feel cheated at all by it though, at least not at this point. This ride and especially the area around could be the coolest, most attractive and interactive place in the entire park. I mean, think of a bunch of cool make-shift-looking rafts floating around a hidden pond behind some of those old buildings, with a new ropes coarse sprawling around it and new, freshly-themed buildings with new shops and crafts. Not to mention all the random other goodies that SDC always throws in. This will be one area where Andyisms will flourish. All in all, this will probably put River Battle to shame - they're the ones who are being cheated here.

I wonder what will happen to the ropes course through all of this? I was hoping there would still be some form of playground left in the area, it will feel so empty without it.

EDIT: I just noticed that the concept artwork seems to show off the carousel barn as being the entrance to the ride, or at least right next to it. That puts this pond all they way up next to the path. I'm hoping it's pushed back farther in than that, I'm hoping this has more of a backwoods pond feel than a bay in the center of the city, but whatever.

EDIT2: Mmmm, I just remembered those construction markers that were out by the Grand Expo - I guess that tells us where the Balloons are headed. I could fill a magazine with this stuff.