chadster

^^I totally agree. They are really showing their committment to the community and park. Really, the only thing they need to address at this park now is the parking lot. It's been striped and re-striped so many times that many people were just parking in random ways. If they were to seal it and stripe it right, that would add icing to the cake on their totally awesome revamp. All of the rides were operating really well, I can't stress that enough.

Again, had a great time, hope you've enjoyed the pics.

Final round of pics. how about some X Coaster? Ding Ding, going up. OMFG!! Fly Baby, Fly! I think someone just pooed themselves. Seriously, this ride is really fun, really short, and really not scarey. Back of trains, they have restraints similar to that on the S&S Screamin Swings and Fly Swatter, they lock down tight on the way up the hill, just watch the breack on the lift hill when you swing up the second time, you might bump your head and say a few new words as a result. Magic Springs Exercise Progam, I lost 3 pounds today. No really, I lost three pounds today. Wildlife. Water park, included in admission, can't beat that. New Boggie Blast Lazy Lazy The twister. Lift hill. Nice out and back ride. Noted. I liked these trains for some reason, roomy and comfortable. The train did act like it was in a "think I can think I can" mode over the last hill before the bunny hops. Don't know if it was trims or what, I wasn't paying much attention to that, just thought it was funny. Empty. The ride ops again were friendly, even offered to hold my camera for me with out me having to walk over to the storage area, how cool was that? Anyway, ride in the back car, you will feel like it's about to come off the track.

Next round of pics. Next we head over to this little gem. The ride op was friendly. She didn't mind seeing two very sad and pathetic people coming to ride. We were told for a kiddie ride, it was intense. I thought she was fibbing. Lift hill. She was not lying, for a kiddie coaster, it was actually, well, fun and slighlty intense. This has to be the shortest S&S tower I've ever seen, even shorter than the two at WoF Wild Thang. I couldn't get the ol' man to get on this, and as a result, I couldn't get on it either. They don't allow single riders, guess they want to balance the ride or something, affraid it will break down. Off to the twist and shout. Cool little cars. Typical wild ride. Zero people waiting. They make you sit on the outside of the ride. The Ride op's were cool as could be and bored out of their minds. They were happy someone walked by to ride. Random riders. After we showed up, others did too. They don't run the lift motors at all on any of their coasters when a train isn't on the lift. Big Bad Johnson Mine Train. Lift hill. Empty station. Big John was not bad, but the ops were having fun with it. They had a second train in here took apart, looked like for parts. X Coaster, coming up next.

Today (7/5/10) I took a 250 mile one way drive to Magic Springs (Hot Springs, AR) on a semi hot day. I was banking on no one being around after the July 4 holiday and I was right. The ol' man and I had a really good time taking in the rides and the water park. The park was sparkling clean and very well landscaped. All of the rides were operating when the park opened, another big plus vs other reports I have read on previous years. I found the staff to be friendly and many ride ops almost begging people to come over and give them something to do. Re-rides were offered when no one else was in your row or if there was an empty seat on a flat ride. I will say the park is lacking two things. A major roller coaster (X-Coaster was a really good ride, but in all honesty I don't see it as a big draw) and more flat thrill rides. I think with all of the improvements they have done to get the park up to snuff, they will now be able to concentrate on bringing additional rides into the park such as with the new boogie blast in the water park. All in all the park has wonderful potential and is in great physical shape, PARC has done a nice job revamping the park and I can see them having success in the future. First off a culture credit. Our drive down 270E brought us into the Ouachita National Forest. 1.8 million miles of forest and 700 miles of trails. It was a definite welcome site vs the interstate. And they had a rest area on the side of a 2 lane highway. And it was CLEAN! There are several logging companies and mills along this road. I felt like I was on a discovery channel show Long line to get in at 11 when the park opened. My only beef is that they only had two ticket takers. Thanks to my ClubTPR membership, we got to buy our discount tickets at home and bypass the long ticket line to the left. Just inside the park you are greated with this, to the left a bag check, to the right, no bag check, walk right in. See? Clean, and not that busy. Nice landscaping Grab a bite to eat. Asking about prices? Large drink = 2.70 +tax, meals 7.75-9.00+tax Wave pool with X Coaster in the background. X Coaster running. Arkansas twister in the rear The Swings were up and running, I love the 2 wide versions. And they had this scarey looking ride. They have games, but nothing over whelming like a six flags or cedar fair park, and no one yelling at you wanting you to play. The BBQ at this place smelt really good. Nice view. The park's carousel. where you can ride a cock. Wet Ride, yeah, on a hot day! This thing will soak you. They only had one boat. Seriously only one boat. Period. Not even a second boat off to the side. Oh, yeah, and it will soak you. Then again, there were no lines. One of my fav shots of the Plummet Summit Ahh, a Verkoma. Never know what you are going to get. But that's part of the thrill, this one looks harmless. The restraints were quite comfortable. Your ears weren't beat all to @#%@ The was a nice ride overall. Smooth for Verkoma and again, the seats were great. They have two trains, but only one on the tracks, the other one was partially disassembled on the maintenance track. As we leave the Gauntlet with a shot of the station (walk on!) we have our first credit out of the way. More pics very soon.

And just when you think accidents can't get any stranger, wham, you get smacked by a gate that some fool was probably playing on. What a shame.

Well after managing to delete what I was going to write, I will try this again...The orange markings are typical of telecommunications locating, such as fiber optics, telephone, cable, etc. I would highly doubt they would put in a cell tower for extra money, plus, it's an eye sore. If they were hard up for money, they could simply lease out the roof of the hotel. The rent my former building recieved for cell equipment mounted on our roof was only 200.00. A cell tower takes up around 25x25 feet and would imagine the rent would likewise be small. The only real reason for a tower is to increase capacity and that could be placed around breakers express and still have the desired effect, or lease out the roof of breakers, which in all reality, really isn't tall enough. Believe it or not, you won't get near as good a signal standing beside or underneath a tower as you do standing 1/4 mile away as the signal needs room to stretch. I took a look at some pictures from the BGT coaster project I had and sure enough, pink markings are everywhere they plan on doing digging work with orange marking surrounding those. I think we can all now probably agree that this is probably the general area they are looking at for their new project and are trying to get a good grasp on where all of their undergound utilities are so that they can either make a final determination for footers or move items if footers can't be built around the underground maze. Then again, they might just be due for new sewer and water lines.

The last I read, they were finalizing plans for Phase II and that was just a month ago...

When I took the tour at BGW I talked to a mechanic on the loch ness about spare parts as they had pointed out that they had disassembled a train from a former coaster for parts, and asked if that's what they were resorting to. I was told that parts for the old arrow coasters were plentiful and that they were still making parts for the older coasters. At 1k+ a pop for a new wheel, I would imagine it's still a very profitable side of the business, and as many of us know, coasters eat wheels and various other parts for dinner all summer long.

I have to say this is the first time I've paid much attention to this park (outside of TV specials) and I have to say it very much impresses me. I agree with you, White Cyclone is a picture perfect coaster and looks like a hellofa ride. I think all Steve Okamoto coasters (Steel Dragon 2k) look like giant mine coasters and could use a different train, but they sure are fun! Thanks for the photos. doubt I'll eve get to make a trip to Japan, so I will ride vicariously through your post(s) on the park!

That's funny in many, many ways, and classic all at the same time. But I'm glad they finally got it opened (and I bet they are too)and hope they get all the bugs worked out.

^^Thanks for the pics! I guess the sign says it all about the weight, 1750lbs, that's less than the elevator at my workplace. Your pics also explain the sorting of bigger to lighter weight persons via the signage as well as the people on the boats did look like they had been sorted. Is it dead or weather iffy there today? Or just no one wanting to ride it? I would've thought the line for the ride to be out the door considering park "officials" aka management, expected 8k people to ride today. I just hope they don't break out the scales! Thanks again for the pics!

Wow, I hope they don't have to put in scales like they did out at Knotts for Pacific Spin. That has to be an uncomfortable feeling for the heavier folk, step on the scale, if your color is red, you sit in the back, if its yellow, sit in the middle, and if it's green sit in the front. I could see that becoming an issue if say a husband and wife had a significant weight difference and then are told as they are boarding they can't ride together because hoss is too big and must sit in the back with the other big people. I'd hope that is has somthing to do with the state letting the ride open, or an Intamin mandated trial period where they are being extra cautious right now, I'd hate to have to see maintenance push a boat out such as in the trip report from India, that was classic.

^^keep in mind i said for a while, not forever

with the park opening (or trying to open) two new intamin rides this year and both needing more than minor adjustments, you would think CF would be done with them for a while.

I have not rode on Gwazi or Kumba post refurbs so I would hope they would be smoother than before, Montu is not bad, sit in the back, you get the most G's in the batwing going into the tunnel, love it. I do agree with others Shiekra is butter, ultra smoth. So on the smoothness scale: 1. Shiekra 2. Montu 3. Kumba 4. Scorpion 5. Cheetah Chase 6. Gwazi

Fantastic report!! I love the culture tour you've taken us on, and the parks, wow, compared to US parks, seem really really relaxed. Obviously the rides were somewhat safe as you're still around. I have to say tho, the shot of the water coaster having to be pushed out of the trough was classic. How would you rate the overall upkeep of the two parks? And here I thought India was just a place I called to get our HP equipment replaced. Thanks, and again, great report, I've enjoyed the learning experience, travel safe!

As I've only been to SFA 3 times, I can't really say if it's normal for several rides to be down or not, but each time at least three rides have been down, and each time the chute was down. the SFA thread might provide more insight to ride up time.

with the scream machine looking like its going to meet its maker on or around july 1 (screamscape), you might want to hop over to SFGAdv and grab hold of a gold flash pass if the crowds are heavy. just my 2 cents.

^^ Thanks! As I was flying back home and looking at all of my photos, I thought, hey it might be cool to list my experiences and realted ratings for others to compare their experiences to or judge what they might expect at a particular park(s). I hope to venture out on at least one more multi-park trip to CA and possibly two (Texas) by the end of season. If that indeed happens, I'll be sure to make up another comparrison sheet!

No, it's pretty tame with some surprising air time, no shoulder rash or head banging if that's what you are referring to wow! that is random, honestly I don't quite remember for certain as I usually don't pay much attention, but I believe the answer is yes at the top of the cabin, but not on the inside or along the doors, although I could be wrong. It's been a staple in the park for quite sometime, been there as long as I can remember.

I was thinking the loch ness double loop as well, seriously check out the dive coasters at busch gardens, I have some hi res shots I can e-mail. If you want something that stands out, that everyone recognizes, you may want to consider a common element of a ride such as with B&M on Montu or Hulk known as a "batwing" Since Tattoo's are personal in nature, if you really like Magnum (I assume Magnum XL and not the one from England), I think the pretzel at the rear of the ride would be recognizable.

**edit, to honor Danny, I have deleted part of my original post **edit, I answered my own question, and he wonders why no one will loan him any money, any bank worth a hoot will do their research and after finding what he posts and retracts online, I sure wouldn't make the loan

now that's dedication are you looking for the entire coaster, or a specific aspect of a coaster such as a lift/drop, or loop, or helix? If it's a full coaster you're after will a coaster the size of Magnum fit? Another question is if you will have the train on the tat or not. Being on the thigh, you may want to look at a dive coaster.

^I agree, the park does look good, but have no comparrison other than 10 years ago and it was showing it's age then. I also agree they are in desperate need of a new main attraction. (maybe if Freestylee goes to auction they could show up and grab something at a decent price) Back in the day the silver bullet was all the rave, and it's still just as fun today. Wildcat rode very nice, and even though steel laso is classified as a family coaster, I was impressed. One issue they have is space, although they could tear out a few things out by the old go carts and put in a nice screaming swing, or spinning coaster, or maybe even a hyper if they got ride of diamond back. A huss frisbee would also fit in nicely since they got rid of the swings for the laso. After seeing a PTR on Elitch Garden, I can tell PARC is pumping money into their parks, it's just going to take time to get them back up to standards and get some fresh rides in place. Although it was hot and it was father's day, I just can't get over how few people were in the park, I hope that's not normal.