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when you load 1/3 of the train, it becomes possible for SFMM ride ops and guests to get out in time. same thing happens at West Coast Bash, you either have a full train of people who aren't dummies getting on, or only half the train is loaded during ERT making it easy to duel.

Construction fences are up around the old Waterboggan Tower area. Looks like the pandemic hasn't put their expansion projects on hold after all.

From the parks Instagram...

You'll love St. Louis then. Looks like you'll have a bit there on Saturday night maybe? If so, 4 Hands and Urban Chestnut are great breweries in St. Louis, and both are open late Saturdays. You won't make it on Sunday if you stay at Six Flags until close. Melvin's open late every day, just do that one on Sunday.

I guess it's easier said than done, but even if Dolly wants to step down it would be nice if they were able to continue using her name like they do at Bobbejaanland.

Hmm, interesting. Seconded on the museum though, that was absolutely great, as was the show with all of Dolly's family performing. It wouldn't be the same, but an SDC Tennessee wouldn't be bad either. Dolly's smart; if she does get out, she'll have a damn good reason for doing so.

Hello everyone. It's that time of year again, and after a limited 2020, it's time to hit the road and tackle some more parks! Some quick introductory notes: 1. I already have a CF Platinum Pass with All-Season, All-Park Fast Lane+, a Six Flags season pass, and will likely be picking up a Parques Reunidos Platinum Pass as well. 2. My work schedule allows me every other weekend as a 3-day weekend, thus how a lot of this trips are scheduled. 3. My preference on trips is obviously coasters I do also enjoy water rides, drop rides, and spinning rides where you're facing in line with the rotation (like a Musik Express), but things like frisbees mess me up. 4. I do not mind driving long distances at all (12-hours straight is about my limit). 5. I've been to all of the CF Parks listed several times. 6. "Home" for me is Newark, DE about 45 minutes south of Philadelphia and about an hour north of Baltimore. Below, please see an outline of the trips I have planned this summer and my requests for advice, though any feedback is welcome. (Asterisks indicate parks that I've never been to) 2021 Pre-Season Jaunt -Friday, 5/6 through Sunday, 5/9 - A brief weekend trip to Wildwood, mostly for the Spring Car Show, but also to finally check out Sea Serpent with the new vest restraints. No advice needed here. Ohio Kickoff Weekend -Friday 5/14 through Sunday, 5/16 - A blitz trip out to Kings Island, swinging by Kings Dominion for their passholder-preview day on the way back. No advice needed here either. Ohio - The Real Trip! -Friday, 5/28 - Drive out to Sandusky, hit CP after hotel check in. -Saturday, 5/29 - Full day at Cedar Point -Sunday, 5/30 - Half day at Cedar Point Shores, then headed to Erie for Waldameer* -Monday, 5/31 - Full day at Cedar Point/Shores -Tuesday, 6/1 - Full day at Kings Island/Soak City -Wednesday, 6/2 - Drive home. My advice request here is for Waldameer...aside from the Big 2 (Comet, Ravine Flyer II) and the log flume, is anything else here a can't-miss? I'm also presuming the $25 Wally Card will be my most financial safe bet. The Big 2021 Amusement Park Tour CANCELLED! -Tuesday, 6/22 - Drive down to Atlanta, stopping by Carowinds on the way to break up the trip and get some rides on Fury and Copperhead Strike. (yeah, I know this is a long long driving day, but it's really the only way I can make this trip work). -Wednesday 6/23 - Full day at SF over Georgia* -Thursday 6/24 - 2 hours at SF over Georgia, then driving to Pigeon Forge, stopping by Lake Winne* on the way. -Friday, 6/25 - Full day at Dollywood* -Saturday, 6/26 - Driving to Eureka, MO, stopping by Beech Bend* on the way. -Sunday, 6/27 - Full day at SF St. Louis* -Monday, 6/28 - Driving to Louisville, KY, stopping at Holiday World for a full day. -Tuesday 6/29 - Full day at Kentucky Kingdom. -Wednesday, 6/30 - Drive home, stopping by Camden Park* on the way. EDIT: The full day at KI was removed, adding a full day at Holiday World. Any advice pertaining to the new parks to me (SFoG, Dollywood, Beech Bend, SFStL, Holiday World, KK, Camden Park) would be greatly appreciated. Mid-Western Pennsylvania Blitz CANCELLED! -Friday, 7/9 - Drive to Pittsburgh, stopping by Adventure Park USA*, Lakemont Park*, and Idlewild* on the way. -Saturday, 7/10 - Full day at Kennywood. -Sunday, 7/11 - Drive home. stopping by Dorney Park/Wildwater Kingdom on the way. I think I'm pretty set here. Hoping Steel Curtain will be open; if not I might put this trip off to next year. Though I will still be doing a day trip to Lakemont Park on 7/10. Northeastern Super-Blitz -Friday, 8/6 - Drive to Queensbury, NY and hit Great Escape* after arrival. -Saturday, 8/7 - Drive to Agawam, MA, hitting the following parks along the way: Story Land (NH)*, Funtown Splashtown*, Canobie Lake Park* -Sunday, 8/8 - Drive home, stopping by SF New England for some rides on Superman, Wicked Cyclone, and Thunderbolt and Lake Compounce (for some rides on Boulder Dash and maybe try to get on Wildcat) on the way. Any advice pertaining to the new parks to me (Great Escape, Story Land, Funtown Splashtown, Canobie) would be appreciated. Maybe-not-happening Indiana Trip -Thursday, 8/12 - Drive to Sandusky, hit CP after check in. -Friday, 8/13 - Full day at CP -Saturday, 8/14 - Drive to Indianapolis, spending 5 hours or so at Indiana Beach* -Sunday, 8/15 - Thursday, 8/19 - Work Conference in Indianapolis -Friday, 8/20 - Drive home. My main question here: is 5 hours enough time at Indiana Beach to hit all of the major coasters at least once? Thanks again for looking this over...please feel free to provide any advice or feedback, positive or negative, you may have.

Why do I get the feeling this is a hint. Is the Batmobile returning? Because oh my god...

a few more pics on Switchback

I wonder why the logos offset...

You know this is a Six Flags, right?

If Dolly Parton is in fact selling her stake or whatever, there can still be licensing agreements in place to keep the museum going, bring her and others in for shows, etc... I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons that she's stuck around for so long is because she and Herschend's brand mesh together so well. Silver Dollar City and Dollywood are IMO the best theme parks in the US not named Disney or Universal, I don't see that changing a whole lot. Maybe a little less butterflies though.

Ah, ok, yeah nobody this year has a normal schedule. Waldameer is worth backtracking for if you have to. Didn't realize you were ao close to Knoebels; I forget how close those eastern states are to each other. Out here, Adventureland, Frontier City, and Magic Springs are all in the next state over, and they're all 5-6 hours away. I get using the Six Flags pass while you have it. Are you going to be in the city at all? If so, check out the Hill (I-44 exit #286 Hampton Road). Great Italian, and unique since St. Louis uses a special cheese called Provel, which is similar to Provalone but a little tangier. If you're going to stay out in Eureka, get Lion's Choice. It's a local roast beef chain (think if Arby's made things that were good), and it's just down 5th St. (that's the I-44 access road, turn left out of Six Flags' parking lot). Not sure if you drink, but if you do, then Melvin is a great little brewpub with awesome food a little farther down 5th.

I believe Steel Curtain has been testing all preseason, so it should (knock on wood) be open this year. 5 hours should be fine at Indiana Beach, although to be fair I've never visited on a weekend. I would prioritize hitting Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain as soon as possible, since it has very poor capacity and slower dispatches (but on the plus side, it's uniqueness is truly something to behold)

Yeah, but I also didn't see a global pandemic shutting parks down for over a year and yet here we are! Nothing surprises me anymore.

Are they finally tearing down that old tower? That thing's been SBNO almost as long as Hannibarrels.

Besides the obvious folly of planning so many trips to so many parks when absolutely no one is going to have a normal schedule this year, there are several other things that don't make sense to me. 1. Why Kings Island on three separate trips? It's a great park, sure, but if you want three days there, why not just go there for three days? 2. You're combining Georgia and Missouri on one trip? You seem to be going in several different directions on this trip, and you're still including places you already will have been to. And if you're coming to Missouri, why are you going to Six Flags and then leaving? Silver Dollar City is the only park in Missouri actually worth driving halfway across the country for. 3. You're visiting some kind of out of the way places (What even is Adventure Park USA???) but no Silver Dollar City, no Holiday World, no Knoebels, even when you're super close, or in the case of Holiday World, you'll literally drive right past it on I-64 between St. Louis and Louisville. This seems to be a quantity over quality trip. 4. I don't get why you're driving out to Cedar Point then backtracking to Erie. Why not go to Erie first on Friday then on to Sandusky after Waldameer closes? Easy to do, I've done just that a couple years ago. Waldameer is a really great park that you should spend some time in and get to know. Comet and Ravine Flyer are awesome of course, but their drop tower has an incredible view of Lake Erie and they run great programs on their Disko and Musik Express. The mini railway is fun. It's just a classic feel that is great and relaxing. Whatever you do, do not miss the Whacky Shack or the Pirates Cove. They're weird and awesome.

advice for SFOG & SFStL SFOG: several of the big coasters (mainly Goliath & Twisted Cyclone) have single rider line - however those queue are not until you get to the station. So you'll have to wait in the main queue until you get to the station, and then can go to the single rider line (towards the front of the train). . it will save you some time. don't skip Acrophobia - its a fantastic drop tower, and among my faves (it does a slight tilt before drop, so not "face first" like Falcon's Fury, but there is a tilt. dont' skip Monster Mansion.. it's a WTF dark ride that's fantastic. the rapids ride WILL get you soaked. .if you're going to ride? prepare ahead and bring a plastic bag for your stuff, and maybe an extra pair of shoes in the car. the Joker's Funhouse kiddie coaster is a LOT of fun, and worth a spin. SFOG has THE nicest Gotham City section of any of the Six Flags parks (and has two great coasters there: a super intense Batman & Mindbender; as well as some really fun flats) Daredevil Dive has absolutely horrible capacity. Like really, really bad. If you want to ride it? get there as early in the day as you can, to avoid the longer lines that will not diminish during the day (same is true of Superman: Ultimate Flight). SFStL: you probably won't NEED Flash Pass, but I'd splurge for it here - for 1 reason: Mr Freeze. trust me, you want to avoid that indoor, disgusting, cramped, queue. Especially if they have 1 train ops. I really enjoyed Colossus (ferris wheel), and the mine train surprised me with how much fun it was. American Thunder is the best woodie in the park, tho Screamin Eagle is really great (in the 1st two cars), and Boss was kinda brutal - even in a non-wheel seat. oh, and if you must ride Ninja? save it until the very end of your day. . it will beat the crap out of you, and you'll want to not ride anything else after.

^^ Damn, that's a lot of planning! I hope it all works out for you. For myself, I'm just hoping Playland(PNE) will open this season, eventually!

Got something against Holiday World and their top tier coasters and water park?

I give it MULTIPLE thumbs down, if true!

Bumping this thread from the dead! Earlier today on Facebook, Casino Pier announced that they are adding a new coaster this season. It's a custom SBF Visa Big Air spinner & hamster-wheel combo model they're calling "Xolo Loca". Here's the promo video they put up with the announcement: According to comment they responded to on Facebook, this will be located between Pirate's Hideaway and Moby Dick; they have retired their Air Race to make room for it.

Erik & Smisty's Evergreen Oddventures Table of Contents Seattle Center Granger, Washington: "Where Dinosaurs Roam" Miners Landing at Pier 57 Luna Park Cafe Riverfront Park (Spokane) Mike 'N' Terry's Outdoor Fun Park (The Putting Zoo)

Oh man, I have a LOT of questions, but I also think I will have more after I sleep tonight and have nightmares about this place so I will wait.

Mike 'N' Terry's Outdoor Fun Park We like mini golf. A lot. You may already know that. We like big corporate mini golf, and we like "guy built this in his backyard out of whatever he had lying around" mini golf. This is that second one. And it's amazing. Mike 'N' Terry's also has a go-kart track and some batting cages, which seem normal enough. (I guess?) But we're here for The Putting Zoo, two truly deranged mini golf courses that I'm still not sure I didn't just imagine. But be warned: "For visiting Mike 'N' Terry's, we would like to make you aware that by entering our facility you acknowledge that you are doing so at your own risk, that we assume no responsibility whatsoever for any and all kinds of injuries you may sustain while on our premises. Please exercise caution." It's cash only (of course). $8.50 per adult, with the second round being half price. Although, if you're reading this in the future, the price may be higher. Or the place may be closed. Or we might all be dead. (Although, if we're all dead and you're reading this...um.... I dunno. Now I'm thinking about what kind of currency ghosts might use.) Ah, the Water Course. Featuring just as much water and the exact same number of obstacles as the Obstacle Course. The thing is, though, even though it's cracky, it's also pretty good (even if a lot of the fairways are rather uneven). Aren't homemade horrors better than paying for some existing IP? Yes, yes they are. How ambitious is this mini golf course? This isn't hole 18 or something, this is like, hole 5. I can't see my ball. Guess it must've been a hole-in-one. You're probably not going to hit it into that hole. But don't worry: as long as you can make it over the rolled-up end bit, the river will carry your ball down to the green. Nothing here is ADA accessible. Cryptocurrency! That's what ghosts use. I just figure it out. Is this course great? Yes. Is the other one better? Let's find out! Hole #19 for both courses. Hit it into the cartoon rabbit's facial wound for a free round! We are both masters of mini golf. Those are the batting cages on the right. Sorry, don't care. They were more popular than the mini golf while we were there, though, so I'm glad they're keeping the place in business. The front side is exactly as steep. We called this "the hit yourself in the face with your own ball" hole. Speaking of holes, there's a hole at the top center of that ramp, beneath the rock. And, if you hit it in there, you get to take 5 strokes off your total score for the course. I'm reasonable sure it's impossible, though. Just keeping it up and over the ramp without braining yourself was hard enough. Yes, the horseshoes move up and down. (I mean, obviously. It's plugged in.) It's worth mentioning--worth emphasizing even--that everything worked on these courses--even the things that look like they probably break down twice a day. Mike takes pride in his insanity. Speaking of which...that circle of green turns. 40 Mini Golf Spin.mp4 Look, I don't normally post videos. But for this update, I'm posting two. Because y'all need to understand. I know, everything looks disappointing after that. But stick around. It gets better. There are koi fish in that boat. And let me tell you, they are living their best life. Nothing here is ADA accessible. But at least it's LGBT-friendly. It's just...I love this place so much. Wait, what? 50 Maxi Golf Spin.mp4 This can't be real. Also, before you ask, there's no posted weight limit. And also, screw you for asking. Oh, right, there's a go-kart track. I probably should've taken a photo of that for completion's sake. Well, actually, I did. But this sign was more interesting, so that's what you got. Mike 'N' Terry's can be found in a random residential neighborhood in Puyallup, Washington. It is highly Erik & Smisty approved.

Nah, personally I wouldn't feel sorry for them. Thinking that a line skipping pass is necessary on a Wednesday in April (not during spring break) is fairly poor judgement at almost any theme park IMO. Sounds like most people have been having pretty positive experiences at Dollywood so far this year, which is good to hear.

My son and I checked out Coaster Power Hours this past Friday night. I'm not sure why more people aren't talking about this! Yes, it's an upcharge ticket, but if you're already a season passholder or member, it's literally $5 per person for basically five hours worth of non-stop uninterrupted coaster rides. Weather was cooperative this week and it was a beautiful spring evening in the high 60's, so all twelve of their coasters were open at one point or another. Aside from Kingda Ka and Bizarro, both of which had their own issues, we never ended up more than a station wait for a train, and the majority of the time we walked right on with a good chunk of those being front-row rides. Another nice factor was that for the first hour of the event, they were doing automatic re-rides; so if you were already on and you wanted to go again, you didn't even have to get out of your seat. Of course, thanks to the turnout, this basically was in effect all night long if you so desired because very rarely would you end up with a full train anywhere. Other than the coasters, no other rides were open. Only a handful of restaurants and snack booths were open, primarily around the Main Street area (also notably the Skybar next to SkyScreamer). Most of these locations had special items for sale that you can't usually get, like the pulled pork topped hot dog and chicken alfredo pizza. Other than a water refill though we skipped out on food while we were there in order to maximize our rides. They also had some of the carnival games in the Boardwalk section open, but other than that, it was really a barebones crew. In the span of the first four hours of the event, we managed to ride all 12 of the coasters, and that's even with doing two or sometimes three rides in a row. The last hour of the night we just spent backtracking our way to our favorites and getting extra rides in. All told, the final count ended up being: Superman x2 Green Lantern x2 Kingda Ka x1 (due to it dispatching three trains then going down, then coming back up ten minutes later, dispatching another three, and going down again) El Toro x4 (and yes, the locker rule is still in effect even at this low capacity event) Bizarro x1 (due to the one-two punch of someone horking on the front seat before our ride then getting triple stacked after our ride) Runaway Mine Train x1 Joker x1 Harley Quinn x1 Skull Mountain Remix x3 (the "remix" consists of a couple of colored disco lights strategically placed throughout the building to turn it into a rave-in-a-box, plus switching out the usual soundtrack to some electro house and dubstep. Volume was way too low to notice that anywhere but the brake run, though.) The Dark Knight x1 (no preshow) Batman: The Ride x1 Nitro x2 Seriously, I can't remember the last time I was at Great Adventure and got that many coaster rides in on a single day, even with a Flash Pass, short of maybe Holiday in the Park several seasons back before it blew up in popularity. The amount of people that showed up was way below your average Saturday and Sunday crowds. For the most part, the park well and truly felt deserted. It really felt like something special and to be honest I'm not sure how they're making money on this event, but as long as they're going to be offering it, I highly recommend that you try to sneak away to Jackson for a few hours on Thursday or Friday nights to take advantage of this. It was easily the best $10 we have ever spent at the park.

Tells someone to keep politics out of it. Procedes to add politics. Typical As for SFMM, they're going to follow what is required by the state... At least on paper. So your shove it comment is misplaced.

Well, that escalated quickly. All caps, huh? That's...a choice.

Funny story. I once bought a book called "Just enough Scandinavian" which was basically a travel language book for Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The intro to the book stated "Most people in these countries speak really good English so don't worry about the rest of the book!"

A little? Bro, its Sunday.