ImmelMatt

Wow! Really well-built and structured and most impressive given (if the time lapse video is to be believed) they built it in five days. Coming to The Great Escape in 2017!

^ They do not, but I don't think they are going to get another inverting ride right after getting Monster.

Tomorrow's the last day for the log ride. It's too early to tell, but even though they are taking out a water ride, I feel that they've been building up Adventure Bay so that they don't have to add another water ride to replace the log flume. I'd love to see them finally get a Larson Flying Scooters next. Can't believe they still don't have one.

Not counting coasters that were simply closed when I went or kiddie coaster credits where I was above the height limit, the only credits I have actively skipped out on was Road Runner Express and Boomerang at SFFT, namely because I had just ridden The Rattler (pre-Iron Horse conversion) and it left me hurting so much I just wanted to leave. If I ever go back, I'll get it them, along with Iron Rattler and B:TR.

I'm skeptical of this list, personally, and everything past #7 has room for error. 1. Outlaw Run 2. Intimidator 305 3. Millennium Force 4. Apollo's Chariot 5. Superman Krypton Coaster 6. Incredible Hulk 7. Griffon 8. Wildfire 9. American Thunder 10. Volcano: The Blast Coaster

CP isn't going to sit on the announcement that long, but they'll need to wait until they're done with the rebranding.

Six Flags St. Louis isn't beyond saving, but as it stands, it's just not worth it. Not for its region, not even for its state. Six Flags needs to realize this and really focus on this park's failings. Giving The Boss the Iron Horse treatment would a great step in the right direction, but revamping or covering several of their queues would also be an improvement at this point. They have the staff, but not the infrastructure. Well, next is planning my wedding to my partner, so the bucket list is kind of on hold at the moment. Honestly, the only new coaster I'm certain I'll be riding next year is Adventureland's long-overdue new one, The Monster. I'll be incredibly lucky if I ride anything else next year.

If they give The Boss the Iron Horse treatment, I would say absolutely do it. Missouri has some incredible coasters.

Okay, time to wrap this up Day 3 (Last Day) – Six Flags St. Louis I wish I could say I saved the best for last, but anyone who has been to Six Flags St. Louis knows that’s not true. This being the last day of the trip and having been sweltering outside all three days, I originally just wanted to get in and out with five of the nine coasters and go home. I figured I could come back some other time and get the rest of the credits then… but it didn’t play out that way, not at all. I knew the moment I got in line for the front gate to open that I was going to ride every coaster here, because buck-all if I EVER go back to this park. Park Thoughts --- Before I get too into this, I have to say the staff was incredibly nice. One food stand even gave my a complimentary water that was less than 80% ice, and I didn’t even ask! I was really shocked that they had such a great staff, but it won’t make me return anytime soon. This is the worst-designed park I’ve ever visited. With endless stretches of unshaded asphalt, needlessly long queues (I would have straight up assaulted someone if I had to wait any longer than 15 minutes to ride The Boss), and an uphill climb the further into the park you go, it feels like the entire area is designed to boil you alive under the Missouri sun. The guests were the stereotypical rude, pushy Six Flags guest audience. Forutnately, most of them migrated to Hurricane Harbor and kept the lines relatively clear. I’ll be damned if I would wait any longer than 30 minutes for anything here (with some exceptions). I was utterly shocked to find, more than Worlds of Fun, more than Silver Dollar Freakin’ City, THIS was the most expensive park I visited of the three. Most expensive tickets, most expensive bottles of water, most expensive parking (regular parking here cost as much as VIP at Worlds of Fun!), and you do NOT get even close to an equal bang for your buck, not even close. Unless they give an Iron Horse conversion to The Boss, or something equally fantastic, I have no intention of returning. Coaster Thoughts --- Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast (#96): Launching backwards is a heck of a sensation. I like flying up the spine going higher and higher then dropping straight down. Having been on the SFOT model when it was going forwards, I’m definitely more of a fan of it going backwards. 8/10. Pandemonium (#97): Second verse, same as the first. 7/10. The Boss (#98): If I had ridden this anywhere but the front, I’m certain I would have needed a chiropractor. What makes this ride so aggravating is how layered with wasted potential its layout is, and unlike Timber Wolf, it Just. Kept. Going. A hypothetical “Iron Boss” could be one of the best coasters ever, but as it stands, this coaster is pathetic. 2.5/10. River King Mine Train (#99): A fun little romp around the east end of the park with some nice little dips and views. Thunderation spoiled me as far as mine trains go, but this was nice. 6/10. At this point, it was time for my hundredth roller coaster, by far the best part of my entire day here, and I knew (and you probably do too) which one I had saved for this moment… American Thunder (#100): This ride is perhaps the only reason to visit Six Flags St. Louis, assuming you’ve never been to PowerPark in Finland. I’m so glad I saved this credit for this milestone, because it’s easily the best coaster in the park, and the best GCI of the ones I’ve ridden. It’s small, compact, but boy is it FUN! After Outlaw Run, this was the most consistent airtime I got from the trip. There were no lulls or pauses in the track, just a rollicking good bouncy track. 9/10. Batman: the Ride (#101): It’s never bothered me that Batman has been cloned so many times, because it’s an incredible intense layout that never gets old. If it wasn’t my fourth clone of it, I would have definitely ridden it more than once. 8.5/10. Ninja (#102): This coaster… this coaster severely headbanged me on the turn right off the lift. It was then that I realized I had made a huge mistake and spent the next minute groaning in pain. There is nothing pleasant about this ride. The Boss at least has potential, albeit wasted. This isn't even salvageable. How dare the station attendant ask me how my ride was when the train pulled back into the station. He knows how my ride was! 1.5/10. The Screamin’ Eagle (#103): I had had it with Six Flags St. Louis by this point, and my patience was tested even further from spiraling into rage as I hunted for the entrance which as all the way on the peak of the park’s incline… jeez, I really know how to pick’em… but I was pleasantly surprised by this John Allen creation. It’s shaky, but not in a painful way, but rather an out-of-control way that makes it that much more exciting as you run through the woods behind the park. If you like your woodies shaky, this one is choice. 7.5/10. I did not ride Boomerang because I got the credit when it was Flashback at SFOT, and honestly, one Vekoma was more than enough for that day. Though I was glad to leave the park and head home, all and all, it was a very good coaster trip. Ride Count: Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast (x1) Pandemonium (x1) The Boss (x1, front row) River King Mine Train (x1) American Thunder (x3 – 1 front row, 2 back row) Batman: The Ride (x1) Ninja (x1, front row) The Screamin’ Eagle (x1) Here’s the last batch of pictures: And here I thought this was the only asphalt desert I had to cross that morning... Hooray! The only reason coming here was worth it! #100, baby! #bucketlist American Thunder doin' it's thing. This double-down is awesome. The Ferris wheel looked incredible, but god it was HOOOOOOOT that day. Maybe if the cabins had AC... Best part of the ride. Looking straight down from 200 feet is a trip. A sterling example of Six Flags' dedication to theming. Standing at the entrance to The Boss, looking for the station... wait... FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU- This queue is the absolute worst queue I've ever seen. If the line starts here, do yourself a favor and go back the way you came. How do the people for whom this is their home park stand this?! Might as well take a picture of the coaster too. River King Mine Train heading out to its first left. Yup, it's a Batman. Are we done now, SFStL? Good. See you never.

The cave was incredible, but I wish I had done it later in the morning or around noon. I did it late in the afternoon and it nearly killed my feet. Good to know that's just the nature of the ride.

Day 2 – Silver Dollar City After a grueling ride down to Branson (made worse by the assault of tourism billboards outside Springfield and then immediately better by the beauty of the Ozark Mountain Highroad), I arrived it the Best Western just north of Silver Dollar City around 6:30 in the evening. Had I not been completely exhausted, I probably would have done the last Moonlight Madness of the year, but I knew I would need all my energy for a full day at the park tomorrow, and I was not wrong. Reading up on the park in my hotel room on my phone and seeing that breakfast was served at 8 AM, I forewent sleeping in and drove over to the free (FREE!) parking lot, and since I was there so early, it was only a short walk to the entrance for one of the best theme park days I’ve ever had, up there with my first trips to Cedar Point and Magic Kingdom-Disney World. Park Thoughts --- I haven’t been to many theme parks compared to most people here, but I can so with no uncertainty that Silver Dollar City is the most beautiful theme park I have ever stepped foot in. A stark contrast to asphalt parks, I immediately fell in love in how much Silver Dollar City was built around its natural landscape, blending and complimenting the beautiful scenery around it rather than fighting it. Every coaster here is better because it is built in this gorgeous mountain terrain. I really wish I had a second day because I didn’t even get to see half the park I was so busy! I can only hope fate brings me back a second time because wow, this park MUST be seen to be believed. Photos and videos don’t do it justice. Everything you’ll see below is not half as amazing as it is in person. Coaster Thoughts --- Outlaw Run (#91): Anything I say about this ride will be a faint echo to the multitudes of well-deserved praise this ride has already got. The hype is absolutely real. Every second of this ride is a wild unforgettable coaster experience. I would be remiss though not to ask… do the wheels also squeal? Because wow did the wheels squeal the day I was there. Sounded like a train running off the tracks, appropriately enough. 10/10 Powder Keg (#92): A great family coaster with surprisingly strong laterals. I loved the launch and everything leading up to it. Would have ridden it more, but it went down in the afternoon. 7.5/10. Fire-in-the-Hole (#93): I had no idea what this was or what to expect, and honestly I’m kind of glad. It’s a fun little oddity that shows a lot of care. That splashdown at the end is quite potent for a coaster and made it so I had no need to stand the long line coming out of American Plunge. 7/10. Wildfire (#94): Hands down, best view on a first drop I’ve ever laid witness. Diving towards the ravine is absolutely breathtaking all its own, but the coaster keeps up an intense pace all the way through its run and no headbanging at all! B&M really shines when they're asked to build something they can't clone. 9/10. Thunderation (#95): This was the best surprise of the trip for me. I knew nothing about this one either, and dropping out of the station, picking up speed faster and faster as the train raced through its course was exhilarating. Unlike Powder Keg, the lift hill doesn’t kill the excitement. Mine trains were made for terrain like this park. 8/10. Ride Count --- Outlaw Run x6 (x2 front row, x1 back row, first train of the morning and last train of the night!) Powder Keg x1 (would have ridden again, but it was down in the afternoon) Fire-in-the-Hole x1 Wildfire x3 (x2 front row) Thunderation x3 The Giant Barn Swing x1 Marvel Care Tour And now, picture time! 1885? I gotta find the Doc! Super delicious breakfast buffet, courtesy of the Mill. Is there no more beautiful sight? I hereby dub Outlaw Run's lift hill the "Stairway to Heaven"... or is it "Railway"? Generally, I liked it. Powder Keg blasting off again. No joke, I saw a kid crying over the "crashed coaster" theming, saying he'll never ride it. Mmmmmm, that's good pun! I VOLUNTEER! So many walk-ons the day I was there. Always go to amusement parks on Mondays! Wildfire being awesome. Doing it's thing, running along the side of a treacherous ravine. Thunderation leaving the station (hey, that rhymed!) Lunch... ... and DESSERT!!! Looking up from the bottom of Marvel Cave's Cathedral Room, 200 feet to the ceiling. "It's dolomite, baby!" Marvel Cave is beautiful. Actually, all of Silver Dollar City is beautiful. No, Silver Dollar City, thank you for having me

I must be crazy. After a roller coaster trip going to Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, and Kings Island fell through for me in the eleventh hour back in June, I was crushed with the thought that I would go another summer without 100 roller coaster credits under my belt. It’s always been my dream to ride at least that many before I die, and while I’m not terminally ill or anything like that, the bucket list demands satisfaction. I turned to the map to see if anything was possible in a short amount of time and there was. Being situated in Cedar Rapids, and thanks to Google Maps, I realized I was in a key position to visit all three Missouri parks – Worlds of Fun, Silver Dollar City, and Six Flags St. Louis, in three days. It would be a test of endurance, but I was up for it. Though I was not as initially thrilled about this route as I was my route back in June (before it dawned on me that this trip would include my first RMC), I scheduled that from August 2nd to August 4th, I would be a man on a mission to ride every roller coaster I could in the state of Missouri, and that one of them would be my 100th credit. --- Day 1- Worlds of Fun I was up and out the door at 5 AM Sunday, August 2nd. It’s a four-and-a-half hour drive to Kansas City from where I am, and I know better than to tempt fate thinking that an amusement park on a weekend in early August won’t be busy. I needed to be in the park when the chain dropped so I could ride everything I needed to and get out before the state’s lasting heat wave reached its full intensity. As I didn’t have air conditioning in my car, it was especially important that I not let my car broil me alive as I had to drive another three-and-a-half hours to Branson immediately following, so travelling to Kansas City under cover of darkness and dawn was by far the most comfortable part of my day. I was really excited as the outline of Mamba became visible from I-35, since the last time I was in Kansas City, this park was not on the itinerary. As such, driving up the parkway and seeing Mamba rushing out from the park limits up to the road, this visit felt long overdue. Wanting to get into the park the fastest I could, I paid for VIP parking and got the Fast Lane wristband and got in line for the chain to drop just as it did. Park Thoughts --- “Adventureland with a bigger budget” is how I described it when I got home to my Iowa friends. Much like my home park, Worlds of Fun has a very quaint atmosphere about it, Coke Freestyle buildings and all. There’s a lot of decent theming around the different areas of the park and even in some of the rides. They have a decent flat selection (though I was in a hurry so I didn’t partake, except for their Rotor, because Rotors) and I love how the log flume winds up to the pathways. Something about that I just always really like. My one gripe is that this park needs signs pointing to where certain rides are. Finding Mamba and Prowler was a pain in the rear, more than it should have been, and a clear sign pointing at a non-descript fork in the path telling me which way to go would have been very appreciative, seeing as most coasters here are at the end of dead ends in the path, rather than along the way to other parts of the park. Also, though I know this isn’t the park’s fault, Mamba being closed that day was a bummer. Fortunately though, it means I have a reason to go back in the next year or so! Coaster Thoughts --- Patriot (#86) – Smooth but rather forceless, as I’ve heard to expect from late-model B&M inverts. Honestly though, I think that works in its favor. I love how it soars through all of its elements, rather than pinning you to your seat through them, especially the hill up over the queue entry. 8/10 Boomerang: Coast to Coaster (#87) – It’s a Vekoma Boomerang all right, but WoF seems to take darn good care of it. No serious headbanging, and the colors of the track and the trains really pop. Did they just paint it? 6/10 Prowler (#88) – How does such a little coaster pack such a big punch!? Riding low to the ground behind the back of the park lets this coaster go all out in speed and makes it so those tiny camelbacks give you big moments of airtime. As it maintained its speed throughout, so did it maintain its roughness, making re-rides difficult. Would have loved to have rode this at night. 8/10. Spinning Dragons (#89) – Another Gerstlauer spinner. Another enjoyable credit. Amazingly, this is the only ride I actually needed my Fast Lane pass for. 7/10 Timber Wolf (#90) – With Mamba being closed, I had to ride this to continue to give myself a comfortable credit buffer in case other coasters would be closed on the trip. I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to, and I rode it front row to keep roughness to a minimum. Despite a nice view of downtown Kansas City at the top, this ride is a dud. It’s not as rough as I braced myself for it to be, but it’s full of hard boring turns, and what little airtime there is turns out to be the most jaw-rattling parts of the ride. I don’t even think it’s worth RMC’s time. 4/10. Ride Count --- Patriot x4 (x2 in front row) Boomerang: Coast to Coaster x1 Prowler x2 (x1 in back row) Spinning Dragons x1 Timber Wolf x1 Finnish Fling x1 Worlds of Fun Railroad x1 All in three hours, no less! Now, on with the pictures! Rawr! I'm hungry for coaster credits! Patriot looking so 'Murica. I see you, Mamba. Yeah, you better hide behind Coasters. You should be ashamed for being closed. It really is a pretty Vekoma Boomerang. Dinosaur looking confused why people would ride a Vekoma. Spinning Dragons, spinning and dragoning. Patriot's entry plaza is beautiful. Hi SteelHawk. I already rode Storm Chaser back in Des Moines, so I'm good. Patriot just loves to have its picture taken. Lunch @ Battle Creek Barbeque. It was meh. "Worlds of Fun is not responsible for your misguided decision to ride a widely reviled roller coaster." "The disalignment of your back is perfectly normal." Look at all those hands in the air! I was seriously considering this at one point. Mamba, why couldn't you have been open? WoF has a really nice train. Prowler hiding out behind the park. These guys tried to "rob" our train. They were pretty amusing.

Screamin' Eagle @SFStL. Last coaster of my Missouri trip.

My first thought is someone at S&S has SERIOUS Sky Rocket II envy, got drunk one night, and woke up with a hangover and a rough design of this. It looks incredible and will hopefully bring some new coaster life to the Jersey shore.

#100! American Thunder at Six Flags St. Louis. Great coaster to boot!

I'm planning the same thing actually, Kentucky Kingdom is on the way between HW and KI, so maybe take a few hours on Thursday to visit and ride Lightning Run. It's only about four hours between the two parks so it wouldn't eat up much of your driving time

I loved The Boxtrolls. Laika is without doubt the Pixar of stop-motion animation.

Iron Wolf at SFGAm. My favorite B&M is Griffon at BGW.

If they are doing train conversions, I'll hedge a bet that they'll do what Thorpe Park did to Swarm, but with floorless trains - the first six rows will face the front, and then the two in the back will face backwards, or maybe since it will be an entirely new experience for the ride they will do four forward and four backward. If they are tearing out, I'm hoping for a Dive Machine. We need more Dive Machines

^^It looks like there are going to be a lot of animated movies next year (Wikipedia counts 11!) but aside from the Pixar movies and Kung Fu Panda 3, I can't say I'm excited for anything coming down the pipeline. Hopefully there will be a surprise or two.

^ Purism isn't necessarily a bad thing when it comes to amusement parks. Gutting theming results in things like parking lot roller coasters or Medusa hiding out in a frontier mine or so on. Without purist ideals, every theme park would be following the Six Flags model by now. That said, Disney is still the gold standard of purism. While doubt is healthy over an announcement like this, putting a fairy tale ride in a theme park area that is decidedly not meant to cater to the fairy tale aspects of Disney, they are actually matching a fairy tale setting to its real life geographical equivalent. It will bring people to a side of Epcot that they wouldn't otherwise go lest for shopping and food, it will sell more tickets to multiple parks since the kids will undoubtedly be all over Frozen... seriously, everything about this announcement is a good thing and does not spell the end of the World Village as we know it to be.

Wasn't "Frozen Summer Fun" a massive hit and garnered tons of crowds to DHS? If a stage show can do that, I think you can imagine an actual Frozen ride is going to bring in even more. This will be an E-Ticket for Epcot for sure.

This is hardly a surprise. Refitting Maelstrom to tell the story of "Frozen" is a a very inexpensive way to capitalize on Disney's biggest film in decades as quickly as possible. My only hope with all this is that the Norway pavilion stays the Norway pavilion. Having a "Frozen" attraction and dedicated meet-and-greets worries me that they are going to turn Norway into Arendelle, and that kind of thing should be saved for the Magic Kingdom.

Don't get me started on Adventureland (IA). They do a great job with park upkeep and get good-sized crowds, but they haven't had a new coaster in 18 years. That's just sad. It seems in America, if you're west of Illinois and north of Missouri, you're in roller coaster enthusiast hell for the most part. That whole wide area of the country hasn't had a decent new roller coaster since 2008. It really makes you wonder why they keep cheaping out Valleyfair, given it pulls in not just Minnesotans, but Iowa and the Dakotas. I really hope the plans to give Valleyfair a lot more attention are not just rumors. It needs love.

No refurbed Sky Whirl?