Holtskee

I'm glad they took the themeing in this direction instead of the way Dollywood's is. Looks like it will be a good ride for the park, plus it brings back the Tom Sawyer storyline they use to have in that section. I read that since this ride is opening, they are going to close/remove Splash Harbor, so it will be pretty interesting to see what happens in that area of the park over the next few years.

This sounds like the Carolina Crossroads entertainment center that failed in North Carolina. They were suppose to set up the Zippin' Pippin' there from Libertyland, but they ended up sending it back to Memphis. I hope this takes off better than that did.

Thanks for posting these pics. When I was a kid we use to go to the Christmas Place just to look at all the model trains they had running around. Haven't been in there in years. I remember they use to have a BIG indoor model train layout set up in the main building (it went through tunnels in the walls to other rooms and everything), but then around '95 or so when they expanded the train store was moved out to the small shop and the big layout was removed.

That looks like one of those Chance C.P. Huntington trains...how fast can those things go? Hope everyone there will be alright.

I really don't see the need for yet another park at WDW. Four is enough.

Those Silver Dollar City pics are beautiful, some of the best I've seen!

I don't feel Sizzlers are superior to Scramblers...I always thought they sucked/were weak. Plus, they use tires to drive the rotating arms with the seats. If the tires are worn out, the seats won't accelerate good. I've been on a Sizzler where one of the "arms" wasn't even spinning because the tire was worn out. EDIT: ooops, somebody already got to it

A while back someone here (or elsewhere) posted a horror story of nearly being arrested at Carowinds for shooting an off-ride video of Thunder Road. The park's Head of Security confiscated their video camera and told them to never set foot on the property again, despite the fact that no rules where being broken or violated. I haven't taken a video camera to Carowinds since I read that 2 or 3 years ago, though to my knowledge they have no written notice anywhere that specifically forbids use of such cameras at the park.

I don't think the Mine Train will be scrapped. It's a nice little ride that some forlorn park no one ever talks about would surely want. Well of course HRP Blog has already gone into overtime.

Actually, they do. That pic was probably taken in August or September when they've already started putting them back up. If you visit Dollywood in the spring or summer all the lights are down, unless they've forgot some somewhere.

It looks like a ripoff of Tweetsie Railroad and Ghost Town in the Sky....so now there are three Wild West themed amusement parks in NC. (Four if Frontierland was still around)

But then how does a major theme park like Dollywood work in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, which is basically just Myrtle Beach with mountains instead of the ocean? In fact, the Smokies see around 9 million peeps per year - that's a lot less than Myrtle Beach, yet Dollywood still thrives. There are no major population centers around, they have to suck in the tourists and vacationers that are visiting the area. I feel that it was ultimately HRP's fault itself that it failed, not the MB area.

The smaller parks need time off for maintenance and upkeep...they don't have the 24-7 workforce of Disney or Universal. Plus a lot of parks couldn't stay open year-round due to cold weather. Dollywood lacks about two months from being open year round now, but as a result the rides have started having more downtime during the operating season since there's not enough time to work on them when the park is closed. This year like 5 of the major rides weren't ready to go on opening day, plus the park hadn't had a chance to landscape the areas around the new walkway.

70s for me. Wooden coasters came back, plus you also had Arrow and Schwarzkopf introducing steel coasters with inversions and other new designs. Then also the modern regional theme park boom in general.

^There's a chance some of the CC rides will remain in place as part of the "new development" HFE is looking at.

Not really much of a surprise. The park never did as well as they hoped it would.

I love this old Knott's stuff. In a way it seems like the park use to be the west coast equivalent of Silver Dollar City.

I've heard some stories that back in the day at Carowinds, the employees use to do this on Thunder Road (when it had the Riverview Jetstream trains). They had competitions to see who could get from the back of the train to the front the fastest, while racing the two tracks.

I think Silver Dollar City has the better theming/overall experience...they still have a lot of the little atmospheric things that Dollywood has lost over the years, plus put simply the overall presentation of the park is just better. SDC still does the whole 1800s-town setup with street characters and the park's "citizens" (employees), whereas Dollywood has went the route of a more typical theme park.

I don't believe Great America (Cedar Fair) has much of a future either. The park is locked up space wise, plus it is facing similar parking and access issues to what AstroWorld experienced near the end with the surrounding city wanting to borrow the lots for stadium use. I was actually surprised to read that the park was planning a large wooden coaster...not so surprised when it was cancelled/"put on hold" or whatever though.

There's no chance in hell of Fiesta Texas being sold/closed. It's one of the most profitable parks in the chain. Shapiro himself commented on this a while back.

That was actually what it was named to begin with in 1986. At some point the park started calling it the Smoky Mountain River Rampage on the guide maps. (I guess to clearly define it as being a water ride or something) I don't think the sign out in front of the ride has ever had the word "River" on it though. Just a geek factoid for ya.

Dollywood None of the other ones really matter. The actual 5 mile run of the Dollywood Express isn't really that interesting compared to how it use to be. The only reason I still bother to ride the train is because of the locomotives. (In fact, I try to ride on the locomotives most of the time...on many days the engineer will allow a few GPers to ride in the cab on the front of the tender)

Originally the Disney's America park was going to be built in Haymarket, Virginia. After the locals booted Disney out, the company supposedly considered buying Knott's Berry Farm and converting it to the planned park instead. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_America

Mystery Mine feels like its going to eject you out of the car...your shoulders hit the OTSR's. Its very cool.