SDC's 2013 Project

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

Im sorry to hear that SDCFan#1. We will pray that everything works out for you and you dont loose not on little bit of your quality of life!! God is good and will take care of you.

[sanddunerider]

sorry to hear that #1, But dont give up on the rides yet!  These people and new products work miracles every day.
Hang in there!

[SDC#1fan]

Thanks guys I appreciate the thoughts and prayers this isn't something i figured i would have to deal with at 26

[BackInTime]

#1, hope it all works out for the better. And if it brings you any relief at all, I've had open heart surgery twice and underwent aortic valve replacement at 13. I'm still under 40 and haven't been limited in riding coasters. It's always been a case of knowing my own physical limitations and being respectful of them.

All the best. 

[pintrader]

If the new coaster is behind Wilson's Farm (which looks like it's 100%) how many entrance points do you think there will be?  Will it be like Wildfire one way in and one way out?  I presume one entry would be thru Wilson's Farm, possibly another thru the old Splash Harbor.  One thing is for sure and that is no matter where the new entrance or exit's are, someone will have to figure out if we are going above or below the train tracks. 

[Junior]

If they put the loading station behind the giant swing, you never would cross the railroad tracks on foot. The track for the coaster will probably be well above the RR tracks, crossing into the hollow near the maintenance buildings, and back around to cross the RR track again back to the lift station. My guess is the reason they cleared the trees and knocked down the old robbers shack is to prepare the place for the lift station. I gotta tell ya, When I first saw how they put in the Wilsons Farm area wedged between lost river and FITH, I was surprised. I remember the old days when that area was woods and I never thought it would be utilized for anything other than green space. I never could have imagined back then the park would grow like it has, and that things would be built around the RR tracks like it has developed. Much of the illusion of "going back in time to the 1880s" has disappeared, as the park has grown and outside development around Table Rock and Indian Point has occurred. You can stand in the Wilderness Church and see houses and condos on the lake. This is such a sad thing to me. Grand Exposition is right at the junction of Hwy 76 and Indian Point Rd. The park did "tilt" as Jack Herschend predicted years ago, when the roller coasters started getting built. I like the way Grand Exposition is themed, it is done tastefully, but the rides are nothing more than elaborate CARNIVAL rides, and, well, the basketball booth, shooting galleries, airbrush booth, and so on...typical AMUSEMENT PARK junk that is nothing more than a revenue generator for the company. I understand the need to generate revenue, but...well, you have heard me say it before, "not in Miss Mary's time!" And yes, I understand, it's NOT Miss Mary's time anymore. 

[Joy]

I think a big problem is the fact that SDC is set on the top of a mountain, so finding land that can be used for building is kinda hard to come by. I mean, SDC currently occupies 61 acres on very hilly ground. In comparison, the public areas of Disneyland cover 85 acres of flat land in the middle of Anaheim, with little room to grow after having converted a large part of their parking to build California Adventure; Magic Kingdom is 107 acres of flat land; Hollywood Studios is 135 acres; Epcot is practically two parks in one with 300 acres; and Animal Kingdom, with all its land for the animals, clocks in at over 500 acres.

So it was probably inevitable that the land where Wilson's Farm is was going to be used for further expansion.

I know there are areas where construction can't occur because of the cave, right? Where are these areas? Do we know how much land exactly is available for expanding the park?

This is why I wish they'd realized that to make Celebration City work, they needed to keep it open later. 10pm for a "nighttime" park was just not feasible. If CC had lasted, a lot of their expansion ride-wise could have been done there, leaving more open for SDC.

[Zydeco]

Well, I guess I'm the new kid on the block I've been going to SDC every year literally my entire life!  Try to make it at least twice a year when possible.  Anyway, I love following all the news and discussions on this great site!  As far as the subject of SDC property goes, I may be able to shed a little light on the subject.  I work in real estate in Louisiana and sometimes my job takes me out of state and I have to say the Stone County Assessor's office has one of the best GIS systems in use.  It's completely free and open to the public.  Just go to http://www.stonecomogis.com/stone/  This should pull up a map of Stone county.  From there you can zoom, pan and identify tracts of land within the county with property lines very well defined.

Taney County also has a very intuitive GIS mapping service open to the public.  Go to http://beacon.schneidercorp.com/?site=TaneyCountyMO   Follow the prompts and you're on you way!

[Injun Joe]

Silver Dollar Metroplex anyone?

[Joy]

Thanks, Zydeco!

[sanddunerider]

Yes, thanks!  and Welcome to the site..

[U Smell Smoke]

While looking at the map over SDC, I found it interesting that even though Powderkeg is clearly visible in the picture, they still have the blue outline on the map of the route Buzzsaw Falls took.  That is neat.

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

33 days!!!!

[shavethewhales]

Been thinking about this too much again lately, but it's hard not to think about all the possibilities with this coaster considering the awesome terrain and the daring designers and manufacturer that are a part of this. Just looking at the terrain, this has the potential to be an insanely awesome coaster. Take a look at this angle from google earth that shows a rough estimate of the slope of the hillside: http://i.imgur.com/SjEKa.jpg

Then here's my rough estimate of where things could go: http://i.imgur.com/mOJKj.jpg

It seems clear that the station is going on top of the old robbers shack due to the train track issues, but the rest is up for debate depending on whether or not this will in fact be a more thrill-oriented coaster with the rumored record-setting drop and what they are actually going to spend on it. The "best" scenario, IMO, is that they are spending a full $12 million on a monster woodie with a crazy 200ft 80 degree drop into the valley pictured. Coming out of the drop, the train would do a double up into an overbank off the hillside sort of like Texas Giant does, but more conformative to the terrain in this case.

Even if it's not going to be high-thrill or huge, there's still a lot they can do with a little creativity in this space. Anyone else have any layout ideas?

[Injun Joe]

With that canvas, many things are possible, but I think your depiction seems as likely as any considering the topography.   Nice work.