bigboy

Can't speak for him, but with scattered light rain all day, the park was probably dead.

The article doesn't say this, but I strongly suspect that this proposal has the same problem that the Earthquest project had: a lack of money. Call me cynical, but when these developers start their laundry list of excuses for delays and regularly update their plans for the media without any real visible progress, the real issue almost always leads back to a lack of funding. I hope at least part of it comes together, but I'm not holding my breath.

We took a quick trip out to the park this afternoon because the kid's soccer game was cancelled on account of last night's rain. I was hoping that the forecasts all week calling for a full day of rain (that didn't materialize, it stopped raining before sun up) would keep the crowds down, but the nice weather and the rescheduled bring-a-friend free weekend made for a pretty large crowd. We kept the ride selection kid-friendly for this trip and, other than one incredibly slow worker on the kiddie swings, the operations were top notch. The crowd was rougher than normal too: lots of wild ass kids and adults pushing their way through lines ahead of people, we saw 2 adults get into an argument while trying to board the train. When we tried to get a pic of our daughter at one of the Looney Tunes character photo ops, a family sent their kids in with the characters to crash our kid's pic. Not the end of the world, but kind of irritated that we have a good pic of our kid with someone we don't know in the pic as well. I did notice that they've painted over the ugly sheet metal facade on the Justice League building. It's a sort of grayish-purple color.

I would probably err on the side of hitting Mr. Freeze and B:TR first and then follow up with Runaway Mountain. Outside of that, the rest of the lines are likely to be manageable or at least more manageable than those 3 will be later in the day. Someone would probably make an argument that hitting up La Vibora early is smart, but you can get around that with the single rider line. Even though schools are still in, you're highly likely to be faced dealing with a lot of school field trip groups, especially on a Friday. For the most part, they'll start bailing out late in the afternoon. The park is open from 10 to 10 that day, so getting through everything without a flash pass should work out for you.

That's the 2nd full week after school is out for most of the area, so I wouldn't expect overwhelming crowds in the middle of the week. That's also the last 2 weekdays during June where the park closes at 9:00pm. Even still, as long as you start early and move with purpose, you shouldn't have any problem getting to everything. I like going counter-clockwise hitting the B:TR/Mr. Freeze/Skyscreamer end of the park first and finishing on the end with Titan and NTAG. You just have to remember to jog back into the center of the park at some point for Runaway Mountain. La Vibora tends to have a long wait regardless of the overall crowd, so I recommend using the single rider line.

The park is closed on Friday according to their site. Do you have passes to some type of private event?

They may not be slammed, but I wouldn't count on it being slow by any means. Fort Worth and Dallas are in school, but Arlington and a whole handful of other suburban districts are still out.

I'm almost certain I remember seeing a separate Discover card line when I was there on Monday. It was to the left side of the turnstiles right in front of the restrooms.

I took advantage of the extended spring break schedule and the gorgeous weather today and took my 4 year old out to the park for a few hours. I was surprised (not sure why since the weather was so nice) to find that we were only a dozen or so spaces away from having to park in the overflow lot. They were running trams and there was almost no wait at the turnstiles. Even for a day when they looked to be short of staff, they had nearly every turnstile open. We hit up a handful of kid-friendly rides: Convoy, the kiddie swings, the splash battle knockoff, Gold River, the antique cars, a full lap on the train, and Boot Scootin. The employees were friendly and incredibly efficient. Everything was a 1 cycle wait or better except for Gold River and the antique cars (both around 10 minute waits). It was pretty obvious they were a little short-handed due to most area schools being back in session today - a few rides were closed (the acme rockets in the kids area, El Sombrero, Flume 1, Shockwave looked to be 1 train only) and a few were staffed by supervisors. Just a couple of random observations: I've said for the last few years that Gold River never looked to be in as bad condition as its reputation suggests, but I noticed a marked deterioration from our visit in December. There were a few animations and lighted scenes that were not working at all and the "old faithful" scene had no running water at all and the fiberglass around the "geysers" was cracked and broken in several places. All of that was a little surprising a week into a new season. We also had a unique experience on the train. The train laid down and couldn't make the hill between the front gate tunnel and La Vibora. I'm pretty sure there was a stuck brake caliper on the coach we were on because it was making a pretty awful noise from the depot to that point. The engineers spent some time draining air lines and whatnot and they eventually backed up and made a successful reattempt at making the hill. All in all, a very nice first visit to the park for the year. I think we'll make another trip Friday or Saturday evening if the weather cooperates.

I can't recall any specific years, but I believe the park has opened in February in any season where the 28th or 29th has fallen on a Saturday. The first day of the season the first year I worked at the park was on February 29th. It's not incredibly common, but it's happened before. They also attempted to open earlier in February the year the NBA All Star Game was at AT&T Stadium and the weather ended up being terrible. I wouldn't count on the park being open on Sunday either. Forecast high of 50 with rain.

I'm not sure how "new hat" Mike Apple's replacement really is. He's been at the park for nearly 25 years. That being said, he's a smart guy and is quite capable of improving things if he's given the right support from above.

Opening weekend is usually not terribly busy. Of course, warmer weather may mean bigger crowds, but it's unlikely that you'll need a flash pass.

Someone in the local print media researched undeveloped land parcels available in the county on the scale that they're talking about and found that there are none. A company that didn't exist a week ago, barely exists today, and is probably the work of someone within the company to give it a hint of financial legitimacy. Stranger things have happened, but I don't think all of the good intentions in the world can will this project into existence.

The most important thing is what they won't say: There's little, if any, money behind this. They're still just trolling for investors.

The park is usually open for a week or two of regular hours before Memorial Day weekend. It's usually not incredibly busy on the weekdays. There may be school field trips, but it's not like a spring or fall weekend or a holiday. I don't remember the last time a new ride didn't open sometime after spring break or before Memorial Day. If it isn't open by the time you're planning on going, I would assume something has gone pretty wrong.

Why would you think that? The structure of NTAG is wood and still requires a similar daily inspection to what it required before the conversion. Judge still has to be inspected and maintained on a daily basis and there are a number of other rides with wood structures that need regular attention (MIne Train, Mini Mine, the flume ride). Not to mention the dozens of buildings in the park that require repair from time to time. I can't remember a year in recent memory that Judge didn't see some type of replacement of structure or track in the off season. Unfortunately, corporate doesn't give them much to work with in the way of money for Judge, but the park knows how to make it count. Did anyone hear about the fire at the park on Saturday? The small utility building at the train crossing next to Daffy Duck Blasters caught on fire and burned to the ground on Saturday morning. Luckily, there were plenty of off-season staff on site and it was caught quickly and extinguished before spreading. The building had likely been there for nearly 40 years and had once held pumps for the fountains and ponds that ran under Big Bend. The ponds were all filled in last year, so it was only housing a generator and some electrical panels for the kiddie rides.

The one from Georgia had the same space shuttle theming. I forgot about Crazy Legs. I also remember hearing that the Scrambler from AW was supposed to go to OT, but was damaged in transport. The one that went in near Titan was the one that had previously been on the Air Racer/S:TOP pad.

Take it with a grain of salt, but I had always heard that none of the rides added in 2006 came from Astroworld. I remember being told that SFOT's looping starship came from SFOG. I'm pretty sure theirs (like AW's) was removed after the 2005 season, so it's certainly possible that one ended up in Arlington.

On my last 2 trips this season (early August and early December), the operations never seemed as bad as a lot of reports suggested. Sure there were issues here and there, but it was positive overall. I also hope the trend continues. There are good people running things at the park. They are just hamstrung sometimes by tight corporate micromanagement and a highly competitive employment market in the D/FW area. I can tell you from personal experience: it's tough finding good part-time (and even low end full-time) help right now.

I was also there Friday night, mainly just to process our season passes and give our daughter a chance to run off some energy after a busy week. The lines at the turnstiles were probably 10 deep or more, likely because of people coming in with the cheap season passes, but it moved quickly. We mostly hit up rides we could do as a family: the carousel, a few rides in LT Boomtown, Cloud Bouncer, the train, antique cars, and Gold River. I took a quick lap on Sky Screamer. I waited 2 cycles, probably a little over 10 minutes. I hadn't been on it at night and not at all since its opening year. I wouldn't say the ride scares me, but I definitely get an uneasy feeling. There's just something about twisting around in a tiny seat suspended by chains that high in the air that's unsettling. The park had steady business but it was far from busy, especially given the warm weather. I heard it was an absolute nightmare yesterday. No surprise since it was 70 in the afternoon, still in the 60s at closing, and the rain chance is high today. The employees on the rides we were on were pretty good. Most were friendly and seemed to be working with a purpose. This is our first time to buy passes in a few years, so I'm looking forward to hitting the park every few weeks. We'll probably go at least one more time before the end of the season.

3 minutes is better than what I've seen and heard about over the last year and a half.

You're making a pretty big assumption that it was closed off because of the accident. Stuff happens. It could have been closed off for any number of unrelated reasons. I agree that the employee shouldn't say it isn't working, but I don't think it's anyone else's place to hassle employees who are just doing their job.

That's awesome. I'm glad you were able to get some satisfaction out of putting the minimum wage earning teenager who is just doing his job in his place. Well done.

I'm a big guy (5-9, hover between 245 and 260) and I've never had trouble with Titan, NTAG, or Mr. Freeze. Getting on B:TR or S:TOP with their OTSR is a tight squeeze for me, but my broad shoulders and chest are as much a problem as my gut.

You're pretty safe from horrendous crowds going on a Friday night a full week before schools get out in the area. I've never known the weather to have a huge impact on the HIP crowds unless it is exceptionally cold (in the 30's) all day and into the night or if there's rain. There may be longer lines for the more popular rides that normally get long lines, but many will be near walk on most of the time. I typically avoid the week before Christmas and the days between Christmas and New Years since that tends to be the busiest time. We went on a week day after the HIP event ended last year and the lines were almost non-existent. I think I waited 20 minutes for NTAG in the middle of the day.