ytterbiumanalyst

Ooh, just realized you'll be there during Bluegrass & BBQ. Make sure you hit that up in Red Gold Heritage Hall. Check out my trip report from last year: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1792111#p1792111

How have I not seen that before? That is awesome.

Oh nice, night rides are awesome and rare at SDC. Fair warning, Moonlight Madness is probably the busiest time of the year other than Christmas. Usually your preview day will start at 5 rather than 3, since the park is open later. Play it by ear, but on your full day be prepared to get a Trailbazer pass if necessary. Unlike other times when families will start leaving late afternoon, it stays busy after dark since night rides are so rare and the park advertises the late hours as an attraction.

No, that seems dangerous.

Bells

Donald. Glover. As. Lando. All you need to know.

Because is grass is drying is horses is. Why must you acquit if Chewbacca doesn't make sense?

Just YOLOcoaster and SteVen. Other than that, I just call when what the people who own them call them. Have you been north of the Arctic Circle?

So you know what to do once you get in there. Why aren't horse pills shaped like horses?

Awesome! Thomas is always a solid choice. Several generations know the characters and it's still relevant to kids now. My eight-year-old still plays with his Thomas toys and watches the videos.

Spoken like someone who has never been to Knoebels. Don't worry, Kozmo can fix that for you.

Lantern tour requires reservations and is an upcharge. All other tours are free and there's a queue. A sign in front of the hospitality house will tell you when the lantern tour is, as well as how often the regular tours go. On a busy day I would suggest queuing as soon as the previous tour leaves. For example, if they're every 20 minutes and the next one's at 11:40, get there at 11:21. If it's not busy, tours rarely hit capacity, so just pop in whenever.

^^ Best time of year for crowds is the Crafts Festival in Sept/Oct. It's a great time of year to visit, too, since there are lots more craftspeople than usual in the park. Watch the calendar, though, as they're only open 4-5 days a week then. The Branson alpine coasters are the same as the Pigeon Forge ones in policies. If you're not tall enough to ride, must ride with an adult. I believe 54" for solo, iirc. I know my son, who is 51.5", had to ride with me. ^ Yes, SDC passholders get half off Dollywood tickets. And you've got it backwards: Gatlinburg is a bigger Branson. Branson started first, and when Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge started focusing on tourism, they looked to Branson as a model.

My ears are currently ingesting the sweet haze of the auditory weed that is the Beatles' Rubber Soul.

^ Yeah, that is good. Went a couple of months ago, very impressive. The best tank has sardines, which swim in a funnel shape, as well as some small sharks, in the same tank. I call it the Sharknado.

So it is supposed to open with the park? Planning a visit in the third week of March. And yes, I am aware that coaster openings are often delayed and yes, I will still visit the park anyway. Also, I'm wondering if you locals think one day at the park will be enough for a first-timer, or if I should pay a little bit more to get a pass and go more than one day. I've never been to Branson, but I've heard there are a lot of other neat things to do in the area. How many days (within reason) should I plan to spend in Branson, and how much of that time at SDC? Opinions/advice welcome. Cool! So glad you can make it down here. You're going to love SDC. There actually is a lot to do in Branson these days, with 2 alpine coasters (one of them a double), Bigfoot on the Strip, Fritz's Adventure, and the new stuff the Track has been adding. Add to that existing attractions like the Tiger Sanctuary, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Titanic Museum, You could really have a good time for several days. It's not just country music shows anymore. There's almost more to do that doesn't involve music as stuff that does. I would suggest 2 days at SDC if you really want to experience everything it offers. You can do it all in one day, as there really aren't that many rides. They go quality over quantity, and you'll probably want to ride them several times though. Allocate about half an hour for the train and about an hour and a half for the cave. Don't skip either of those, they're great. Since you'll be going during Spring Break, there won't be any special shows. You'll have the two house bands, Homestead Pickers and Cajun Connection, as well as the saloon show (sorry, SDC's dry, so it's a saloon in name only). The saloon show is really hokey, and if you're into corny hillbilly sh*t, then definitely see it. It's the sort of thing that made Branson what it is. SDC has free parking, and if you show up an hour before opening, you should be able to park close to a tram stop. This is Spring Break for a lot of area schools, including Springfield Public Schools, the largest district in Missouri. Get there early. As you enter the park, go through the Hospitality House (where the cave tours start) then straight forward and make a right at the Mine Restaurant (you'll see an ore cart on a track elevated above the restaurant exit). Line up for rope drop near the bridge. At rope drop, book it straight to Time Traveler. It's straight ahead on your right, just past Thunderation. Based upon my experience with Outlaw Run, if you do this right, you should get on quickly; miss it and it'll be 90-120 minutes. A lot of the stuff like the alpine coasters, go karts, and Bigfoot are open late and you can do them after SDC closes. If that's all you want to do, then two days should be plenty. Otherwise, you may want to add on a third day for non-SDC stuff, especially if you haven't been to a Ripley's or a Titanic museum. They're both worthwhile. Oh and eat cinnamon bread.

Yeah, it's a really nice campground, but it is a campground. It's not "glamping" or anything. There will be bugs, there will be dirt. It's what camping is. We love camping, so I had a great time, but if you're not into that, then it's not for you.

I stayed at the campground last summer, but just in the tent area, so I can answer just a couple of those. There are bathrooms and showers, and Knoebels does a decent job of cleaning them, but they are concrete bomb shelter type buildings. There are only a few of them scattered around, so you could be close or not. When you call Knoebels, have the campground map available, and they'll tell you which ones are available and you can choose. So call early. None of the cabins are close to the park. All the close spots are tent sites. They do have a shuttle bus that picks you up right behind the Trading Post (#21 on the park map, top left).

We totally call it SteVen in speech. Same thing with YOLOcoaster. It's more fun that way.

Frederick Douglass Whom have you heard more and more about this year?

Really just need to have Magic Mountain actually call it YOLOcoaster.

Oh, "Rebel Yell" is most definitely a political name. It was a Confederate war tactic designed to intimidate Union troops. I'll spare everyone the history lesson, since you can easily look it up on the Internet. It even has its own Wikipedia article. I don't think it's necessary to learn history from a theme park. They don't do a good job of teaching it, amd most people are just there to ride stuff and have fun. The National Park Service does a great job of explaining our history, and would you look at this! There are 5 sites in the same county as Kings Dominion where they do exactly that!

Congrats on the RMC cherry! TC is a really great coaster, and one of RMC's better ones. They're all good though, and all among the best coasters I've ever ridden. So....when are you traveling to your next RMC?

Wait, when did that become a steel coaster? It was those sneaky bastards at RMC, wasn't it? We all thought it was down for extended maintenance, but no! They've been bringing in their steel track at night while we weren't looking! Damn those coaster gnomes!