bert425

I mean. .it's a wild mouse. with a line that moves like a snail. I think we've ridden it once over the 5-6 days we spent in the park over the years.

don't miss the trails with the hippos and other animals that runs pretty much from just past Cheetah Hunt, back to over where the Excursions meet up are (close to the train station). there are several animal walk thru areas that are worth your time, if you like that kinda stuff (we do). . in particular the kangaroos/Wallaby walk thru. the times we've been, we hit Cheetah Hunt, then Cobra's Curse. . then we hop on Skyride (shares station with Cheetah Hunt) to go across the park to get to Scorpion & Falcon's Fury, and everything else in that area, then continuing on in the circular pattern starting with Kumba. -- not sure if skyride is operating due to covid tho. . . we've been a couple of times (multi day trips) and Montu never had a line - unless Cobra's Curse breaks down (and then that whole queue goes directly next door to Montu). Otherwise, it was a station wait to ride every time. the Cheetah Run exhibition is really good - they do it once a day, in the mornings usually. . . so make time to do that (tho realize that the crowd stopping to watch that *isn't* lining up in Cobra's Curse queue for us, it's worth it to see the Cheetah Run "show" - it's only ~15 minutes, so we make a point to do that when we go. likely won't be back to BGT until 2022-2023. .but at least Iron Gwazi will be open by then

that looks great! love hearing y'all's opinion on it.. the theming looks better than what they did on Hagrid too - talking about the zooming among the rockwork portion (tho the Raptors in the queue are great)!

I believe it's the exact same model Junior Woodie thats at KD, right? if so, I LOVE that coaster, some great pops of air in the back. . I plan to ride this multiple times when I get to visit KI for the 1st time in July. being totally honest: I fully expect Banshee & Flight of Fear to be 1 & done but will reride this multiple times (along with Beast, Diamondback, Racer & Orion)

ok.. so the comment above implying Dolly isn't really represented in the park isn't an accurate assessment. . as there is both a museum, and a reproduction of her childhood home. never been to the park, it's still on my list.

isn't the Dolly museum there? I thought there's a full walkthru with a section of it as her Childhood home?

^ um. . it's still a Vekoma SLC. . so no thank you. i mean it looks great and all. . but at the end of the day?

a few more pics on Switchback

City Museum did (pre Covid) have Adults only post 7pm -till midnight on Fri/Sat. . so if you get to St. Louis on Sat night, that might be a great option too (lots of places were selling alcohol in the City Museum when we were there). if they are still doing that, it's a great place, and won't be crowded in the late evening (tho the rooftop will be packed with adults) EDIT: they don't note on the website they are doing the adults only evenings. . but keep an eye on it, if restrictions roll back further, they might start offering it again: https://www.citymuseum.org/

advice for SFOG & SFStL SFOG: several of the big coasters (mainly Goliath & Twisted Cyclone) have single rider line - however those queue are not until you get to the station. So you'll have to wait in the main queue until you get to the station, and then can go to the single rider line (towards the front of the train). . it will save you some time. don't skip Acrophobia - its a fantastic drop tower, and among my faves (it does a slight tilt before drop, so not "face first" like Falcon's Fury, but there is a tilt. dont' skip Monster Mansion.. it's a WTF dark ride that's fantastic. the rapids ride WILL get you soaked. .if you're going to ride? prepare ahead and bring a plastic bag for your stuff, and maybe an extra pair of shoes in the car. the Joker's Funhouse kiddie coaster is a LOT of fun, and worth a spin. SFOG has THE nicest Gotham City section of any of the Six Flags parks (and has two great coasters there: a super intense Batman & Mindbender; as well as some really fun flats) Daredevil Dive has absolutely horrible capacity. Like really, really bad. If you want to ride it? get there as early in the day as you can, to avoid the longer lines that will not diminish during the day (same is true of Superman: Ultimate Flight). SFStL: you probably won't NEED Flash Pass, but I'd splurge for it here - for 1 reason: Mr Freeze. trust me, you want to avoid that indoor, disgusting, cramped, queue. Especially if they have 1 train ops. I really enjoyed Colossus (ferris wheel), and the mine train surprised me with how much fun it was. American Thunder is the best woodie in the park, tho Screamin Eagle is really great (in the 1st two cars), and Boss was kinda brutal - even in a non-wheel seat. oh, and if you must ride Ninja? save it until the very end of your day. . it will beat the crap out of you, and you'll want to not ride anything else after.

LOL. . me too! tho for me was just over 2 weeks ago!

that mini-golf is horrifyingly awesome! love it!

so Sunday morning, after an ok (but not great - the AC in the room was so noisy, it woke me up every time it kicked in) night's sleep I headed down to the breakfast area where I grabbed a light snack of pancake sticks and coffee, and reviewed my printed out directions. yes. . printed out directions - I'm OLD. I knew that on paper, the direction said that Seguin / ZDTs was only about 25 minutes away from my hotel in Selma. . but I know I'm not the best with directions when going somewhere for the 1st time, so I gave myself a good 50 minutes to get there for the 9:30 am check in with the TSU group. it was to be my 1st time at ZDT's and I was very curious to check the place out - and get to finally ride Switchback. I only got lost once, but managed to find the place via my directions in ~35 minutes. there were only a couple of other cars in the lot when I arrived just after 9, so I got out to explore the place while it was quiet. I really loved how they repurposed the silos for a climbing wall experience (I did NOT do it. . not a fan of that kind of activity, but it was cool to see) they also have a Parachute themed drop tower, that I did one ride on later it was fun, if not as scary as some of the other shorter ones I've been on - such as AtmosFear at Knoebel's, where you can't see the top of the tower due to the larger canopy and have no idea how close to the drop you are. there were a couple of water slides in the back over here (not yet open for the season), and this building behind the drop tower is a combo of the 2nd arcade (also filled with "classic" games set to free play with your armband), and a banquet hall/meeting room - which is where we had lunch later. Behind the silos on the right is the GoKart track (indoor/outdoor combo) turning around the other direction behind me, here is the main entrance - which has another arcade, a snack bar area, some indoor play stuff, and the exit into the main park/Switchback. Switchback is not quite awake for the day, but I think it's a wonderful sight and makes for some great pictures. It really is just plopped down in the middle of a neighborhood tho.. which is a little weird. very nice of ZDTs to put up a sign for the TSU group, that is promoting the event that I'm attending. we have run of the place from 9:30am-12:30 am, which includes ERT on Switchback for an hour, and ERT on the goKarts for an hour, before they open to the general public. Overview of the park, from where I had parked at the far end of the lot. ok, THIS is right across the street from the main parking lot (and around the base is additional parking). I took this pic from my parking spot, turning around from the prior pic. if it had said anywhere that I looked to "look for the Seguin watertower!" ? I wouldn't have gotten lost at all while trying to find the coaster Oh well.. now I know for next time, just head for the watertower when I hit Sequin ooo.. not quite time to check in yet, but what's this? they are starting test runs on Switchback. whee! I dont' think I've ever seen a park employee, when doing test runs, ride hands up. I thought that was kinda neat to see. Once checked in, we gathered in the main Arcade/building, waiting for official start time, so I wandered a bit in the building to see what else was in here: there's a giant ball pit, what looked like a sorta/kinda ropes course, and then in this room: A trampoline attraction, and indoor rock climb, and a Max Flight simulator. I had intended to come back and play in this later to check it out, but honestly, by the time I remembered I had wanted to? the place had opened to the general public (and very few masks), and I didn't feel comfortable getting into an enclosed attraction thing like this after someone who didn't wear a mask (and all that implies) was in it just before me. so if I go back, I'll give it a shot if I catch them on a slow day. I looked like fun tho, and did all kinds of movements to tie into whatever program you chose to ride to. Kim and Joel had arrived, so I met them by the "Dancing" game that Joel had already started interacting with. I liked the "ZDT" made out of glass bricks in the building wall. . . lots of theming for a small park. an announcement was made, and the group headed out to Switchback, and we lined up by the number on our entry ticket (the earlier your arrival, the higher up on the lift hill you'd get to go -as we were going to climb the Switchback lifthill for a group picture) it doesn't really seem that high until you turn around and look down (and see the spike)! from the lift hill overlooking the parking area. overview of the park itself. . it's a really nice set up, even if in a very small footprint. directly ahead of the spike (unfortunately, you can't see it in this pic) the park also has a small "Toucan" themed frisbee. That i didn't ride, so not sure if it does a full 360 revolution, but it did look like fun. as noted, it really IS in the middle of a neighborhood. . . this home is directly across the street, looking down from the lift hill. it's truly impressive how much coaster they crammed into this small space. it has a lot of airtime in the back row (8 seat trains/4 rows total), and it was a little rough for the backwards portion. . but I really liked it, and would say it's certainly worth a trip to ZDT if you're in the San Antonio area to take a ride. the train designs are quite neat too. what's this I see across the street from Switchback's queue? "Mary's Texan Cafe" - that's the place that Elissa had told me had really good food, and the line of cars seemed to agree. Made a note that I'm getting tacos before heading out, and convinced Kim and Joel to walk over there with me a little later in the morning. but first? we had some ERT on the Electric Go Karts at ZDTs as well: it's not the longest, or most unique track I've been on - but I did enjoy how it makes use of the covered warehouse, and the outdoor ramps for some fun, tight, turns. and those cars can really get some speed on them once they "flip the switch" and allow everyone to go full speed. After Go-Karts, still had a little bit of time to kill before lunch was to be served. (Kim and Joel were heading back to SFFT to try and get a few more coasters in before their flight, but were going to hang around ZDT until lunch). So I convinced them to make the walk over to Mary's with me. Fair warning. . there's no sidewalk! (and the main building at ZDT is basically flush with the street)..and seeing as Mary's is mainly a drive thru? yeah, next time will hop in the car, as the way we went (which seemed the logical way) meant walking in the street and trying not to get run over. I mean, it was for tacos, so it would have been worth it. . but still (the only "safe" way to go without car, would be walking all the way around the other direction, beyond the waterslides). but I made it to Mary's and the guy near the door to the kitchen told us we could order from him and he'd bring it to us (I suspect the picnic table outside isn't for customers, but for kitchen staff breaks.. oops.. but now know for next time. .and again, he was happy to take our order even tho we had walked over) Joel was happy, he got his Mexican Coke while we waited for our order Big ol bag of tacos. I was going to eat the lunch that was included with the event, but wanted to bring home a bunch of tacos for later, and they stayed excellent and tasted just as great. these tacos are LEGIT tho. *absolutely* worth the trip, and if you're just going to ZDT for Switchback? Do yourself a favor and also pick up tacos from Mary's across the street. they are excellent! Bonus is that you can get some beautiful shots of Switchback while waiting for your food at Mary's: after we got back, we all went into the meeting room behind the 2nd Arcade, and the group played "ZDT BINGO" for some prizes (mainly Tshirts, mugs, and day passes to ZDT's I believe). .I dunno, I didn't win but then lunch was served: The hot dogs were so interesting, because they are served in "special" buns. At first I thought they were just pieces of bread, but no, they are bread that have been formed into Hotdog Buns (with square bottoms, so they stand up). . . really good hot dogs. tho the star of the show are those up top: Deep fried Oreos. I've had deep fried Oreos before (at Kennywood), but these were way less greasy than my prior time, and were quite good. I suspect they taste even better if warm (they had cooled while i was eating the hot dogs). the Snack Bar had quite a few offerings that were better than standard snack bar food, and they appeared to be part of the wristband that included food, if one so chose to do that. so although I certainly recommend the tacos across the street? it's good to spend some $$ in ZDT's too.. especially with treats such as these. Kim and Joel headed out to SFFT, and I hung around a bit longer, playing a few games, and riding the drop tower. here's a pic I sent home to my spouse . . what can I say. . I'm so subtle . . LOL (it's the Flaming Finger) and closing with a few pics taken by the Admins of the TSU group that sponsored the get together/event. I had a lot of fun, and even tho ZDT is for sure not a full day park? I had a fun few hours there, and would go back in the future.

^ Season Passes for us are under $54 (and include parking). So it's actually cheaper than the membership (even at lowest tier) my Spouse can't do much in the parks any longer, and myself, I can't "marathon" anything any longer . . 1 and done for most things for me at my age. so when DO go to the park? it's not to ride much, but more to walk around, eat/drink, and enjoy the atmosphere. So the Membership perks really do nothing for us. so yeah, the pass works just fine for us

if Season Passes do not include parking going forwards? this will be the last year we do season pass. will NOT get roped into doing a Membership, since don't need the extra "perks" , so will consider a different park chain pass if that happens. But at the moment, our pass includes parking, so very happy with that.

^ per the Mall's website, it's really only going to be $2 to park ($10 if you valet). *with of course the disclaimer that prices can change without notice. https://www.americandream.com/parking but really.. 1st 2 hours are free, and after that $2 ? that's not bad at all, and can't imagine anyone would complain - which of course means some will. Personally, I think the park is way overcharging for tickets (both for the amusement and waterpark sides). but a $2 parking wouldn't scare me away if I were going to go.

it ABSOLUTELY is a violation of ethics, trust, and just a really shitty thing to do.

you type less than me.. LOL. . so you got your answer in first

Officially it was down waiting for a part from overseas (that was then impacted by Covid restrictions/issues due to Covid shutdowns) I think only Fandom equated the long downtime due to that lawsuit over the perceived safety issue (and I'll fully believe that they did take it down for a little while to do "discovery" for the lawsuit, but certainly that's not why the extended downtime). good news on the water dummies, as that does imply whatever part they were waiting on has arrived.

I love the colors on the merch. .that purple just goes so well. hopefully will get back to Knott's one of the years - only been once back when Perilous Plunge was still there.

no kidding. . I'm really listening to this right now. you know that song "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton? well did you know that it's a cover of a song originally written for Emmylou Harris and recorded 1st by Dave Edmunds ? that's not what I'm listening to tho. . . at around the same time that Juice Newtwon covered it, a German band called "Nickerbocker" *also* covered it, and *also* had a huge hit with it: ^ that title translates as: "Doll (You're A Modern Witch)" BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAA

personally? I'd blow off the Aquarium. . we were *not* impressed (we're aquarium people. . I wasn't impressed by Shedd in Chicago either. . but we love Vancouver Aquarium, Maui Aquarium, and favorite is Georgia Aquarium - if that gives you an idea of our aquarium likes). so I would NOT spend the money. the zoo is free entry/exit. .so I'd totally spend full day at the zoo (it's a large zoo and will take you at least 4-5 hours anyways, without riding the train or carousel, if you buy that ticket that also includes Sea Lion show, and touchtank experineces) - at the back entrance (near the Penguin encounter) is the gate that will lead you out, and just up the hill is the Saint Louis Museum of Art. i *loved* this museum, even tho I only spent an hour there power walking thru it (my spouse was wiped from all the walking in the zoo, so I left him sitting on a sofa at museum entrance and I enjoyed it myself) it's a wonderful museum, and I recommend it: oh. .and Admission is free to all main exhibitions. (only the special traveling exhibition is an upcharge) https://www.slam.org/ also, as noted above, Grant's Farm is a great way to spend a few hours, if you get there at open.

we got there on a Monday right around opening, and had no problem getting in (tho it was PACKED by the time we left ~4 hours later). well worth the effort (I loved the Carousel, of course, even tho it's a tiny one), but the "zoo" atmosphere, and the ability to feed the goats, feed the fish/birds, ride the camels if so choosing was a nice perk for the little ones. the free tram up to the main drop off is really nice, but it IS a lot of walking to get down to the "return" tram, so warning, if you have any mobility issues. added perk too? free beer samples in the festhall/food area, for adults. it's well worth a stop. especially since it was free admission (we paid upcharge for the photo tho, and parking is charged) (oh, and agree COMPLETELY on the train at the zoo. .and those tickets also get you on the Conservation Carousel there, which is lovely).

^ just an assumption. . but every 'event' I've been to - including an event at SFFT, and upcoming Coasterstock at KI - the event covered the "reservation" need. . so was not required. but since Coastermania! is only one day, and you're there multiple days? you should reserve the days around it (that's assuming reservations are still a "thing" by the time of the event)