prozach626

Silver Dollar City looked great last weekend during our short Branson trip to celebrate my daughter's fifth birthday. At the park, we started off with Fire In the Hole. The ride feels like modernized a copy of the old ride, which I consider a good thing. It was received with, "I'm never ever riding that ride again until I die." wtf ok I rode Outlaw Run by myself. It still kicks ass as my favorite RMC. It's borderline getting rough, but not to the level of real discomfort. I also grabbed a ride on Wild Fire near the end of the day, because it was walk-on. I'm always surprised by the airtime on the first drop. It's very smooth for its age. The observation deck was great for the family. When given the choice between "log flume" or "the bumpy kid's coaster" in exchange for a neurotoxin Dip-N-Dots reward, the "bumpy kids coaster" surprisingly won out. Earlier in the day it had the random walk-by rating of "That Holiday World roller coaster is TRASH!" (where does she get this from?) All in all, the Grand Exposition Coaster was much more suited for my daughter now than it was when she was three. At that time it received the rating of "I'm never ever ever riding that ride again." I think she actually had fun, which made me optimistic for the future. It's hard to tell. The Marvel Cave tour was a nice challenge for the kid. Caves make me uncomfortable. In my opinion, the tour guide took way too long incorporating the cave's history with story telling. We weren't the only ones in the crowd who looked bored with the five minute explanation of the original explorers throwing rocks into the deeper part of the cave that led to a bat shit filled pit. Like legit, dude went over the "He threw a rock and heard no response" reenactment about five times. I have a feeling the drawn out stories were to give the growingly restless crowd a break from the 600, but I don't remember the guides taking that long. I wish the extended story lengths would have instead just contained additional history, since the younger kids didn't seem to give a shit about the dramatization, anyway. Thankfully, the tram back to the top worked, because the lady gasping for air and breathing on my neck behind me was about to die. The train was great. The experience near the back half was a lot different with the Fire In the Hole area added. The robbery show was good. I feel like it got longer. Again, at one point I was wondering when it was going to wrap up, but the actors took extra time to interact with every row, which was worth it for all the kids. Staff did a great job of filling the train to make sure almost everyone in line got on. Flooded Mine is a great ride for kids. A lot of the effects weren't working, but the scoring was spot on and it's still a lot of fun. The gun accuracy is better than most considering this ride is old school. There were three animals out in the petting zoo. lol We originally made the mistake of getting in line for the BBQ place near the raft ride. (As I have gotten older, I really don't give two shits about most ride names anymore if you can't tell.) We got out of line when it seriously didn't move for the five minutes we were in it. I didn't understand the mistake of trying to grab lunch during prime time until I had a kid. Avoiding excessive hunger is a big part of preventing a meltdown, so the urgency of getting lunch increases. The quick-serve food stand pretzel nearby was decent and they had a fruit cup, which was nice. We later made it to the BBQ place when it had almost no line. The pulled turkey was ok, and the slaw was surprisingly not loaded with sugar. The pulled pork my wife had didn't taste like typical wanna-be barbeque crockpot meat. It's nice to have a healthy(er) choices for meat and vegetables. I'm not going to elaborate further on the kid and family rides we went on. Our experiences on all of them were great. The park was clean and the staff was friendly. I love how shaded the park is. It's a nice place to take it slow and enjoy the atmosphere. Does anyone know what they're building near the north side of the park? There was a lot of land clearing. It may be just the deconstruction of Fire In the Hole version 1. As far as Branson in general, we did the Runaway Mountain Coaster a few times. Two of the three times I went at a slower pace with my daughter and let her tell me when to slow down and speed up. If your kid is still afraid of roller coasters, this is a nice way to break them in at the pace you choose. I went by myself on one of the rides. There are a lot of small double down airtime hops in the layout and it cooks through the helix sections. Some of the areas seem to jut out at least fifty feet or so from the hill, with the optics of overlooking the valley making it seem much higher than that. For those interested in hiking, there's a nice waterfall hike nearby. Hiking is my daughter's jam, and this one doesn't have a lot of steep climbs. It's good for young kids. It takes a couple 2-3 hours if you stop to explore. If you go without kids, you can probably knock it out in a little over an hour. We chose to stay at a one room suite with a pullout, kitchenette, and porch at Hyatt's Timber Ridge. If you're looking for a well maintained property, I recommend it. There are activities at night for families. The resort has an indoor/outdoor pool that was unfortunately unavailable due to storm damage repair. The fitness center is really nice, but I chose to go the grueling route of steep elevation changing laps around the property, which was well worth it for being scenic and quiet in the early morning. Constants in Branson/SDC are that the gyms and running trails are rarely occupied... (Honorable mention to Holiday World area.) If you're in the area, I HIGHLY recommend Mr. Gilbertis pizza across the dam in Hollister. The cast iron Chicago style pizza seriously rivals Lou Malnati's. Cheers.

I would argue Six Flags Fiesta Texas has this one beat, but at this point, I don't even think you can consider it a true Six Flags park. It's like the unusually smart child in the family, which was secretly made on a business trip instead of at home.

I like your realistic coaster layout. My only advice is to space everything out a little. If you think in terms of most parks outside of carnivals or small 'fun parks,' things aren't as compact and not all entrances are right off the main drag. Some have little plaza's or dead ends. The downside is guests get stuck more easily, so it kills the realism. Check out some of the youtube videos of really thorough park creations to get a better idea of how spaced out everything is. Look at some google earth images of real parks. Or, just do whatever you have the most fun doing. Sometimes the monotonous theming and endless bush placement just feels like work and sucks the fun out of the game.

Additional question: Does the express pass save you enough time to be worth it? I want to ride every coaster once, but take as little time away from my family as possible. If we're still talking 30 minute express pass waits on the last Tuesday in July, I'll skip it for better and more important memories with the three of us. Edit: My question is in reference to Islands of Adventure.

Will all of those treats, maybe someday Hershey will meet their goal of surpassing Holiday World's standing obesity record.

Interesting color scheme. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Interested to know more about the enchanted rum bottle.

Hey! It was a compliment!

Easier target. They know if you hit them you go to jail and have something to lose. If they hit you, they get paperwork, released on scene to a guardian, and court date for 90 day probation. I'm not big, but I'm fit, and a lot bigger than they were. It doesn't matter. They wouldn't do it to someone who looks like they have nothing to lose. It was a pleasant day.

I don't think Six Flags Saint Louis and World's of Fun compete with each other. They're regional parks. I've never talked to anyone in my circle who has heard of World's of Fun. Holiday World gets all of the family travelers' attention in my area, which is just a little less farther and World's of Fun.

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

That looks like a piece of art.

You mean you don't want random juveniles who know you can't do anything to punk you out? You're no fun.

The first post on the last page of this thread is two years old. People loved this park.

Looks like we're finally getting that floorless that users have been asking for.

^I thought the same thing. That's definitely for the better.

The Canadian version of Kings Island.

What are the dates? Edit: Just looked. June 6.

2nd pic looks legit.

Word. I don't care what they think of my values; it's personally not worth the trouble of getting there for one roller coaster. Knowing my luck, it would be closed due to rain...

That sounds like a tremendous headache and not worth it.

It had it's first test run a couple days ago and it looks great. It didn't look like the holding brake was on, which I would assume would be to make sure the train had enough speed to complete the course.

Eh. I always just picture people drinking and pissing without leaving the pool, even more than normal.

All that time in Orlando this summer, yet no time for any of the Universal parks. Bummer.