bigboy

That last photo looks like someone cleaning the splash pools and trough for operation, not scavenging the ride prior to removal. His "upper management" friends probably aren't upper management if they're sharing detailed information like that. Just someone speculating the same way we all are.

I'm gonna need to know whether or not he's Diamond Elite before I decide if I should believe that.

Screamscape is getting some bad information, especially on the train. The last big flood that hit the park and damaged Gold River was back in October and the train ran through Holiday in the Park in November, December, and early January. The portion of the track that is adjacent to the creek that floods and the area of the park that flooded so severely in October is highly elevated and not impacted by flooding. The part of the train track that is below grade is near the front of the park away from areas that flood. If the tracks are heavily damaged by flood water, it's high enough that the park has bigger problems than a few rides being damaged. A train engineer runs one of the park history groups on Facebook and he's reported multiple times since the season started that the train is closed because of construction for El Diablo. The area near the roundhouse is being used for construction equipment and vehicle access. The train should reopen when construction wraps up. The flooding of the park isn't a new thing. It's been going on since it opened and happens a few times a year. There was an increase in the frequency of the flooding after construction of the Rangers stadium in the early 90s changed the flow of the creek and added more parking lot runoff tot he creek, but there were a number of severe floods prior to that. The flood that recently hit Gold River was so severe because of the amount of rain the area received in such a short time. I think there was something in the neighborhood of 40 inches of rain in 10 weeks. It was the rainiest period of time in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since weather records had been kept. And a couple of notes on Aquaman: the trough rails have always been rusted like that and they were when I worked at the ride 25+ years ago. You just don't normally see it because they're covered in water. And there was a photo on Facebook yesterday of mechanics working on a pump on the ride.

Or the surveying could have been for any of the hundreds of other things for which it is used. It sounds like there's a good chance the ride is on its way out, but the surveying isn't even close to confirmation. Especially when you consider that all of the surveying photos online show the crew on the pathway in front of the ride and not on the ride site itself.

From that pic and others I've seen, it looks like it's going on the space between La Vibora and one of the log flumes where the old employee entrance walkway was located. Strange spot, but I heard 3 other rumored locations at some point: the area you mentioned, the old gunfight square where the Rodeo flat ride is located, and the spot where Caddo Lake Barge (rockin' tug) sat.

This TR is a great reminder of how much fun I've had adulating at WDW. I love hitting the parks with the kid, but my wife and I had a blast on an adults only trip 2 years ago even if we did have a little guilt at first about leaving our daughter behind. Your thoughts on Magic Kingdom versus Disneyland are right on. Both are great on their own, but Disneyland just has something else to it. I have people that know I've been to both ask me which one I prefer and it's such a tough question to answer and articulate. Can't wait to see the rest of your recap!

I hung outside of the Christmas shop while the rest of my group shopped last June and watched the Muppets history show. It's great street entertainment and fits the area perfectly. Nice report. Disney seems to be in a nice groove of offering up these subtle changes that enhance the experience.

The crowds should certainly be far from unbearable. My experience with that week in August is that it's busier earlier in the day and what crowd there is will then out as the day goes on. Saturday might be a little busier. It will likely be pretty hot at that time, so be prepared.

I'm surprised that the park is open this week with schools being in through at least Thursday and most in through Friday. Any night this week would be a great time to go, especially with the fairly nice weather we're having right now.

Using Uber from downtown Dallas shouldn't be a problem. Probably a $20-25 trip. The driver can get to the drop off area by staying in the left lane when entering the parking toll plaza area. The drop off lane breaks off just before you get to the toll plaza. The drawback is that you can get stuck sitting in traffic to get to the drop off if the park is busy and that's not unusual during HITP.

I can’t see how the boats would be beyond repair. They’re fiberglass and already sit in the water all of the time and sit out in the parking lot in the off-season. Even if they floated out of the trough I can’t see what kind of irreparable damage would happen. The ride was in pretty bad shape when I rode 2 years ago. Holes in set pieces, animatronics not working or making loud noises when they moved, animatronics greatly deteriorated - one had its nose worn off and a Bugs was holding a carrot that was falling apart. If the flooding did further damage, it might be a convenient excuse to forgo a major renovation and start over from scratch.

Nice report. You can cover a lot of ground in the park on an early Sunday morning when it's not a bring a friend day. I love looking at the old traditional maps. That one looks to be 1965 from the presence of El Sombrero and the lack of Mine Train.

Great trip report. We accidentally went on a make-up bring a friend day a few years ago and the crowd was off the chain - both in quantity and behavior. The only part of Gunslinger that came from Astroworld is the big handguns on the center of the ride and the name. The ride has been at SFOT since the '80's and was known as Texas Tornado prior to 2007 or so.

I couldn't find a topic on the park (lots of trip reports where people tacked it on to an SFOT visit), but Sandy Lake Amusement Park north of Dallas announced on Facebook yesterday that they are closing down and the property has been sold. Sandy Lake was a quaint, family-owned picnic park with a couple of kiddie coasters, some pretty cool nostalgic flat rides and kiddie rides, a dark ride, and a swimming pool. The park was noteworthy around here because anyone that was in a school band or choir in this area in junior high likely visited for their annual competition festival. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/business/2018/10/18/after-48-years-entertaining-families-carrolltons-sandy-lake-closes-gates

I had completely forgotten that Sportsdude360 is a diamond elite member. It's been at least 2 or 3 hours since he mentioned that and all of the privileges and inside information he enjoys as a result.

I haven't been as much this year, but I've heard it's much easier to get beer these days. They've added it at more locations and, at least last year, they were allowing you to take it with you and not forcing you to stay on an adjacent patio.

Anyone else laugh out loud at the forum word filter replacing the park president's name in Robb's post?

While it doesn't have the greatest capacity, it also gets long lines because it is a popular family attraction with a 42" height requirement. A somewhat thrilling attraction that parents and kids can ride together. But, hey, I'm sure the park will consult with the Texas Thrillseekers to get their opinion on the well being of the park.

Great report! Hands down, my favorite activity on any of my trips to Disney parks. I could listen to the Boo to You soundtrack all day long.

Yeah, sure, it really is too bad they were vague. Especially since they said they were going to be vague in the original post to Twitter.

I would guess it would be busy, but not necessarily insane. The park is open until 10:00 on Saturday so you have that advantage. I don't know that Fast Pass (or whatever it's called) is absolutely necessary unless there's something you can't live without riding.

That’s generally around the time they start shortening their hours before school goes back and weekend only operation resumes. I’ve never heard of the park doing fireworks outside of the days around July 4th and that’s only something they resumed in the last few years.

They had plans for the space. A small food service stand, I believe.

I've heard a rumor that the reason the ride assembly was delayed for so long was a huge mix up between the bolt patterns on the foundation and the bolt holes on the base of the ride. The bases had to be modified locally and that process was pretty time consuming. Take this with the grain of salt with which it was issued.