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Anybody doing both SFMM and Knotts WCB have any hotel recommendations? Price is not as important an option as safety, convenience, and noise level. TIA,

When I was there a few weeks ago I think I saw an equal number of Nebraska and Oklahoma hats/shirts. I was actually surprised at the number of them.

I visited the park on Thursday 7/24. Basically all the advice ya'll gave me was spot on, thanks. Just a few random thoughts... One train operation on Mamba is painfully slow. Especially with people meandering all over trying to store their stuff on the other side of the train, sheesh. Mamba was down around 1 but came back up around 2 or so. I wanted a front seat ride but it was still one train operation in the afternoon with at least a 5 train wait for the front seat. We lucked out and somebody let us up in line to a one train wait in about the 3rd car. Does this thing ever run two trains? As brought up before, WOF clears out in the afternoon as peeps migrate to OOF. My brother and I were able to get 2 front seat rides on Prowler with virtually no wait (1-3 train wait) around 1:30PM. We did have Fast Lane+ but really didn't even need them the lines were so short. Concession operations was horrible. The large concession stand near Cyclone Sam's had one girl running the entire counter - taking orders and retrieving food. WTF? Open up another freaking register, wow. Anyway, great trip overall. Fast Lane+ was awesome as ever, especially for my 2 kids skipping the water slide lines in the afternoon. P.S. - I went to the Royals game Friday night, what a cooker! 95+ with extreme humidity and heat index of 120+. I grew up in Overland Park but my kids (18 and 21 year olds sons) grew up in Seattle. They said they've never quite experienced anything like that type of heat, especially the walk through the parking lot to the stadium with the heat radiating off the pavement and cars, lol. It sure didn't keep the Royals fans home but I wish they could have at least scored a few runs, oh well....

Yup, nothing to mess with. If you injure it further before it heals entirely you could possibly be looking at surgery. At least that's how the hand doc explained it to us when my son broke a finger playing goalie.

Timber Wolf still has a lot of jostling, especially in the final section of the ride. The parts that they repaved this year are actually fairly smooth and rocks much less than it did before. I always prefer front seat on Prowler myself, and typically do car 3 on Mamba when I'm on it. Thanks, I'll probably skip it. I will get reports from my test riders (18 and 21 year old sons) before I even think about trying it.

Sorry about your injury, hope you're back to riding coasters soon. Here's to hoping you just need rest and PT for your recovery

So, what is the verdict on Timber Wolf? Is it still a rattle trap? Much worse than Prowler? I'll be in the park this week and my back is a tad bit iffy (healed herniated disc). I road everything except Timber Wolf last year and most everything at SFMM (skipped Revolution, Viper and Apocalypse - as well as questioned my sanity on riding X2) last year as well with no issues. Which seats on Prowler, Mamba and Timber Wolf will give the smoother ride? Towards the front i would assume? TIA,

I'll probably be in the park at the end of July. I usually don't eat in the parks since it's so expensive. However, is there any decently healthy food I could tide myself over with if need be. By healthy I mean grilled turkey/chicken sandwich or maybe some fresh fruit. I see a couple places offering grilled chicken sandwiches and a couple of Subways. Any place better than others? Are the Subway prices ridiculous? Any other places with air conditioning besides Coasters? I'm going to skip the crab fries this time, they're great going down but you have to live with that taste the rest of the day . TIA,

Source.Again, having never been to the park, and the main reason we are going is to ride Verruckt. Would it be worth it to make a reservation in advance to at least be guaranteed at least one ride on it?? Or has the hype of the slide kind of died down to where it is not as hard to get a ride in on the day of your visit. 2.) For those of you who have been to the park, or frequent the park what kind of wait times can we expect?? We are trying to make the most of our visit, and want to know if we need to plan to spend the entire day at the park, or if half of a day is enough. 3.) Are water shoes allowed on the slides? I know this sounds silly, but a lot of water parks do not allow people to wear water shoes on the water slides. However, Schlitterbahn sells a ticket plus water shoe combo online. So just curious if they actually allow you to wear the shoes on the slides? Thanks in advance for any advice you all can provide!! Not sure about reserving rides since they didn't to that last year when I visited. If you get there 30-60 minutes prior to opening and walk kinda fast you should be able to get a fairly early ride as i described above. I only did the lazy river rides but my kids did the water slides. The lines were getting pretty dang long after the first few hours (30 minutes+). As I recall they do not allow water shoes on the slides or even the lazy river rides. Just wear them up to the edge or the ride and retrieve them later is what a lot of peeps do. That being said, if money is no object, I would reserve the ride on Verruckt and hit the more popular water slides immediately after opening instead.

Usually rain in the Midwest will only last a few hours as the front moves through. I don't know it that is the type of weather pattern moving through where you are going. One of my funnest theme park trips was a overcast/drizzly morning at WOF in KC back in about 2008. We got to ride Mamba in the drizzle, felt almost like being sand blasted . However, we got to re-ride without exiting since there was nobody else in the ride queue . The weather cleared up a bit for the afternoon and ended up not being too bad, just a bit cool. No lines in the entire park though.

Has anyone heard any sort of guess for when Twisted Colossus will be opening? I only see that it will be open in "Spring 2015". I don't suppose there is any chance of it being open for my 50th birthday at the end of March?

Wow, looks awesome. I'll have to plan another trip to Cali next year. When both my kids are in college next year they won't be starting class until mid-late September. When do crowds drop off during the week for SFMM? I would assume mid-late August when Cali schools go back in session?

Dude, depressing is living in the Northwest and having only Wild Waves to go to. You need to look at the entire park since WOF/OOF is all inclusive with paid admission. Ya'll got some really nice water slides in Shark's Revenge, Constrictor, and Predator's Plunge just last year (2013). I would feel very fortunate to live near KC with WOF/OOF, and Schitterbahn nearby. I do understand what you are saying though, a new coaster would make a very decent park awesome. But Mamba, Prowler, and Patriot beat the crud out of anything within driving distance of Seattle.

I'm surprised that nobody has noticed the obvious...... It will totally be called Yahoo Launch. That way we will have YOLO coaster and YaLa coaster. Boom!

At Disneyland I'll wait 45-50 minutes for an e-ticket ride if I'm in between Fast Passes and need to kill some time, especially since they started enforcing return times. 45-50 minutes would probably be the same time I would wait for a big ticket ride at any other park, but since I go so seldom (living in the Northwest) I almost always pony up for the Fast Lane or whatever pass is available.

That is too funny. I grew up in Overland Park, went to SM West, and KU. Google maps says 3 hours, 14 minutes to Adventureland from OP.

I guess they figured out there isn't much point in having a rule that's literally impossible to enforce. Yup, it makes more sense to just stick with the 54" minimum and 300lb maximum requirements, covers just about everything.

Lol, where those 2 teens pasty white with a farmers (or Seattle) tan? They said they got some pretty odd looks from a lot of people and heard some grumbling about "those Fast Lane people". My brother and I were at the bottom of the slides in non-swim clothes/shorts waiting and watching. I grew up in Overland Park, lived there from 1969-1988 and still have family to visit. When I was your age (about 1978) the park was 5 years old and we still had the pleasure of riding the Zambezi Zinger. You're lucky to have WOF/OOF and Schlitterbahn as local awesome parks, Silver Dollar City a 3-4 hour drive, Adventureland in Iowa 4 hours, and Six Flags St Louis 4 hours. And you have semi-drivable parks like Six Flags Great America in Chicago and Six Flags Over Texas at 8 hours, and more parks in Texas, Ohio and Indiana. And I probably missed several! All we have here in the NW is Wild Waves, which hardly qualifies as a theme Park, and Silverwood - which is a good 5-6 hour drive. Everything else requires flying and advance planning, which is a pain in the arse. Enjoy your parks!

Went to WOF/OOF on Tuesday, July 29th. Arrived right at opening (10AM) and bought some Fast Lane+ passes. We rode: SteelHawk x1 Patriot x2 Prowler x2 Zulu x1 Mamba x2 Fury of the Nile x1 Viking Voyager x1 Cyclone Sams x1 Spinning Dragons x1 Timber Wolf was closed but we'd been on that and Boomerang a few years ago and didn't plan on riding them anyway. Around 3PM my sons (17 and 20) headed over to OOF and got in 7 quick rides on the Predator's Plunge/Sharks Revenge/Constrictor water slides in less than 1.5 hours. The Fast Lane+ passes paid off in gold here as they passed the same people in line like 3 times and kept re-riding, worth every penny. They really liked the tube launch slides where the floor drops out. We left the park around 4:30PM. I definitely loved that first drop on Mamba, lots of fun. Prowler was fun as well but not as buttery smooth as y'all made it out to be. Patriot was fine. Fast Pass paid off big on almost all the rides except Patriot in the afternoon. The 3 big coasters were all running one car in the morning but added a 2nd after a few hours. We, unfortunately, got stuck in line at Prowler for the transition over to the 2nd car (they had to run it empty several times prior to loading it). It cost us a few minutes, but no big deal. I enjoyed Spinning Dragons, kind of a fun/different ride with smooth turns and little jostling. The running joke in our family is that I am the magnet on the water rides and I didn't disappoint this trip. I always warn people jokingly not to sit next to me. On Fury of the Nile shorts got soaked through and my left shoe and sock got drenched all the way through. I had to go into a bathroom and dry my sock and shoe out with a blow dryer for over 15 minutes. So, then after I had dried out, my brother decides to ride Viking Voyager for "old times sake" (we had ridden it together as kids). Of course my shorts were soaked all the way through so badly I was dripping as I walked, lol.... None of the others hardly even got wet. As others have described Viking Voyager is a total knee knocker and beats you up pretty good. I had to cover my knees with my hands to keep from smacking them on the sides as the boat kept careening off the sides of the flume. Anyway, definitely had a good time. Living in the Seattle area I am definitely jealous of all the accessible/drivable theme parks y'all have in the Midwest.

I went and rode Veruckt this past Wed 07/30. The process was much as described here, so thanks! A bit of differences though, not sure if it changed recently: 1) People were lined up outside the door to the gift shop starting at around 8:30AM so when I got there at 9:15AM there were a good 100 people in front of us. 2) The order stayed pretty much the same as people went through the ticketing process at 9:30AM and then re-lined up at the rope blocking the park entrance. 3) Shortly after the early birds had lined up a 2nd line formed to our left and it really pissed off a bunch of peeps who had been there since 8:30AM. It was kind of stupid the way it worked. There was a bit of a shouting match between some irate customers and an employee. 4) At rope drop an employee walks the line to Verruckt. If you pass the employee, run, or trample anybody, you get booted. You can however walk fast, so practice your speed walking technique. We passed a few people and managed not to anger anybody, it was a fairly orderly process. 5) We missed the cutoff for the initial ride group by one spot, so got an 11AM appointment. Keep in mind that there is a GROUP at 11AM, not just your party. We were told to return no later than 10:45AM, so returned right at 10:45AM. If we had showed up a bit earlier we could have ridden sooner. However, my sons (17 and 20) took advantage of that time and got the matt water slides at the back of the park (short lines) knocked out prior to our time slot. I just went back to the car and put our stuff in a locker. 6) We returned right at 10:45AM. The entire process of waiting in queue-lecture about how you could die-stair climb-short wait at the top-ride took until 11:20AM, so not too bad. To be honest, I think it could be said that my opinion of Verruckt is "disappointed". Yes, I liked it, but I was also disappointed because I know how much better the ride could have been if only it weren't chucking rafts. If they had built a larger second hill (hindsight is 20/20) the drop could have most likely remained without the trims, and would have been out-of-control the whole way down. For over a year I watched them build an untrimmed drop into a perfect camelback hill, and what we got was very different. Good, but disappointing. After riding, I agree. It could be a whole lot more fun without the neutering, but is still pretty cool. They basically use the rubber on the sides of the boat as a brake at the top of the hill (or maybe just as guides, but it has to slow the boat a tad as it rubs), and then the bottom of the boat and the speed-bumpy surface at the bottom of the first drop as another brake. It definitely was not as terrifying as I thought it would be. An interesting note I picked up from an employee at the top of Verruckt. When asked how many boats they have, he replied they had 4 but they were constantly being replaced because they keep popping. I am assuming this is from the friction of the boats since, as mentioned about, the boat is basically being used as a brake pad, lol. If you look at the boats there seems to be a thick rubber coating on the sides, and is worn off in areas. I suppose that does make the ride a bit more scary since there is a slight possibility the boat pops on the way down? As far as the rest of the park, the river/rapid things I went on were fun. The water slide selection is cool but the lines get really long, really fast. As mentioned above, it's almost better to get a later Verruckt reserved time and knock out the water slides early. Being a water park noob, I didn't ride the slides, but my kids did and said they liked the Predator slides at WOF much better. (I'll post a WOF/OOF report in that thread later). If anybody has any questions please ask!

I see a few pages back that you recommended getting a Fast Pass on a weekday in July. I suppose it's hit and miss, I'll just gauge line lengths and take it from there. Can you discount Schiltterbahn tickets locally or just WOF? Thanks again,

I'll be visiting WOF next week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday. If somebody could help me out with the following questions it would be much appreciated: 1) I'll be getting Fast Lane passes when I get to the park. The Fast Lane+ is only if I want to ride water rides correct? It adds no additional land rides benefit with FL+? I am mainly interested in Mamba, Prowler, and Patriot. Any other tips for using the Fast Pass lines? 2) I already have my tickets but my family members there don't. Is there any place local that has cheaper prices than at the gate? Maybe Sam's or Costco? Edit - I see WOF tickets at Price Chopper for $31.99 dangit, cheaper than what I paid with my work discount. Oh well.... I would assume that's the best deal? 3) Same question for Schiltterbahn - any local discounts available? TIA,

It looks like the park is open 10:30am - 6pm on August 28th. The local school district starts classes on August 14th so I would assume that crowds will be pretty sparse. It should be a good day for riding. I would show up at opening and hit Full Throttle and X2 first thing (since they are not included with the Flash Pass). Then take a look at the lines and see if you think you need a Flash Pass. Talk the park employees also and see what they think. It will be likely that you won't need one. If you are driving from Anaheim give yourself a good 2 hours to drive the 60 miles through LA traffic. So, leaving at 8AM would be a good idea. There is a restroom outside the gates you can use that is usually open prior to 10:30AM. And I would also suggest buying your ticket online prior to getting there so you don't need to mess with that. Hopefully a few locals will chime in as well. I believe this is the schedule for the biggest local school district: William S. Hart Union High School District

I actually like the stairs, it will keep the lines trimmed down a bit. I was mentioning to my kids that I think they should have the initial start of the line for sign up times at the top of the 17 flights of stairs. I'd love to see the rush up the stairs at rope drop. Only the strong shall survive

We're still talking about stairs, right??? Because it sounds like we're talking about vigorous exercise... NOT... to be confused with stairs. I'm talking about the heat Kansas probably gets during the summer. Lots of unhealthy people (read: "Americans") casually climbing the stairs only to pass-out half-way up not because they ran out of breath, but because their body over-heated (most likely due to lack of hydration). You'd be surprised how many times I've coincidentally seen something like this happen on only a few flights of stairs. And there is no safety elevator I assume. Would hate to have to carry somebody down 17 flights of stairs.