ytterbiumanalyst

New Intamins this year: El Toro Fahrenheit Kingda Ka Posessed Skull Mountain Skyrush Storm Runner New B&Ms this year: Batman (SFGAdv) Bizarro Great Bear Green Lantern (SFGAdv) Hydra Nitro Superman (SFGAdv) Talon Wild Eagle So....yeah, Intamin wins this year. Nitro and Wild Eagle are great, and Talon's pretty good. But 100% of the Intamins this year are awesome.

Awesome. Phoenix is perfect, and I love that they do stuff like this. Knoebels is such a special place.

Honestly, if you don't already have a season pass to one of those two, then stick to Silver Dollar City. I don't think Six Flags' event is enough to justify a one day ticket, but it's nice if you already have the season pass. Don't have any experience with Winterfest, but I don't plan to go this year. Doesn't seem like enough to justify the cost to me, but nice for passholders.

Oh yeah, we had a ride like that this weekend, high of 46 and 38 degrees by 8pm closing time. They still ran it!

Prowler's open, and that's the only coaster anyone should care about. We won't get a chance to get here this year, but I hope they do well.

It really is. I've been going to Old Time Christmas since it started, and this is the best it's ever been. There were so many people in Midtown, and the lights were truly impressive. They went all out for this.

That's because, as everyone knows, November 1 is the official beginning of the War on Christmas.

I love the idea of a junior wave pool. Kids love those, but the water can be too deep for them. This would allow the kids to play while parents relax, which is not at all possible with a normal wave pool. Plus more of the Safari Sam's Splashland type slides is always welcome. Most enthusiasts are going to pan this, but for those of us with kids who love Splashin' Safari, this is pretty exciting.

Thanks to everybody who posted recent reports. I agree, Bill, on the hot chocolate mug. $9 with free refills the day of and $2 refills any other day is actually a pretty good deal. SDC's mug is $13 with $1.75 each refill, including the day of, so Six Flags actually has the better deal. And I can vouch for it being socially acceptable at work as it has become my new work mug. I like the blue and white colours on yours. Mine is so hilariously Six Flags though.

Oh man, Six Flags giving two sh*ts about operating temperatures....

Most of the lights are actually there year round. The Christmas in Midtown stuff started back in the spring, with the facades that go above some of the shops. The park does close for a week between Cowboy and Harvest Festival and Old Time Christmas to put up the last things like the Christmas tree in the square. There are actually no shows during the last couple of weeks of Cowboy and Hervest Festival in either the Opera House or Red Gold Heritage Hall just to build the sets for It's a Wonderful Life and A Dickens' Christmas Carol. This event is not an afterthought. It's not thrown together, and it's not just there to extend the season and make a couple bucks. They plan this stuff, and in many ways, this is the main event of the year.

That's too bad. I got to meet him back in 2000 when I was working my first job at McDonald's in Springfield on Highway 65. He and his crew dropped in for some ice cream on the way back to Branson. Very nice guy, especially considering I was just some random high school kid working for minimum wage after school.

Yeah, MIA and IB are both pretty good, but could be great with just a few improvements. In MiA's case, they need a few more rides to run consistently. I saw way too many maintenance people running rides. If they had more ride staff, maintenance would be freed up to fix the rest. In IB's case, the biggest need is just cleaning up the place. Love the new signs, and it looks like there's some new paint on some rides too. Not sure if it's actually new, but it does look like it from the photos. Glad you had fun!

Glad I encountered this TR! Berlin photos are great. I was there in 2006, and this brought me back. Thanks! Oh, and the theme park photos were great too.

Yes, Monster at Adventureland. Have you been on a ride that was only open for one year?

You had me at "Guiness-glazed rack of baby back ribs." Great report!

Sriracha. $1.39

I wouldn't assume that. People aren't coming out for this event, but it could be that they just didn't find the event compelling. I'm fairly certain Chicago could still have a successful HITP event. But I doubt they try this beerfest thing again. It just isn't drawing people like they thought.

Excellent report! Had me laughing all the way through. Really glad the group took the time for Neuschwanstein; visiting a European castle or palace is always an unforgettable experience (been to Versailles and Wawel in Krakow myself). Your connection to the King Ludwig story seems to have made it special for you.

Old Time Christmas 2017 starring Christmas in Midtown! I have Fridays off, and no one else in my family does. Usually I have projects or something on my "day off," but this week with nothing too urgent I spent the day at Silver Dollar City. I can never get the family to watch shows--I know, they're weird--so today that's what I wanted to do. The park opened at 1:00, and as we lined up in the square, some of the A Dickens' Christmas Carol cast came out for some caroling. At rope drop I went straight to Wildfire. My oldest daughter doesn't like big coasters, and my son is about an inch too short, so I don't get very many opportunities to ride it. Those of you who are underwhelmed by B&M loopers, come out here and ride this one. It's short, but packs a punch. It actually ramps up the intensity toward the end. The corkscrew and final helix are probably the best part of the ride. 'Twas the hour before rope drop and all through the square Not a stand was stirring They all were quite bare The wassail guy was talking And the tacos were walking In hope that cinnamon bread soon would be there. 'Twas Christmas in Midtown by light of the moon And Christmas Dinner at 3 in the afternoon. 'Tis rope drop, now dash away, dash away all! Time for the first show of the day. I made my way over to Red Gold Heritage Hall for It's a Wonderful Life. It's a wonderful production (sorry, couldn't resist), with some great choreography, stunning visual effects, and two songs stolen from my all-time favourite musical, Spamalot. Sorry, Hamilton, love you too, but you're just a cast recording to me right now. Lower your ticket prices and maybe we could be more. This may seem a bit racially insensitive, but Branson actually requires that white people pretend to be from other continents. Take it up with the city. It's okay, we're all totally in high school. Definitely. Don't worry about why we're here. Mr. Potter shows us a dystopian future where women are forced by their boss to dance for a dime. "I'm all alone, all by myself." "Always look on the bright side of life." Hey, look everybody, it's the results of the current tax bill! See, we all do like George after all. And Clarence gets his wings! Thanks, Clarence! As soon as Clarence got his wings (if that's a spoiler to you, not sorry--you should really have seen the movie years ago), I booked it over to the Opera House for the clumsily named A Dickens' Christmas Carol. I lucked out and even though I was near the end of the line, there was an open seat in the middle just a few rows back. The show was also very good. Loved the Jacob Marley effect and the Ghost of Christmas Past's entrance. Great special effects, great singing and choreography also. Both shows felt like a one act Broadway play (though I will admit to never having seen Broadway on Broadway, just the traveling shows that come to the performing arts centers at Missouri State and occasionally UMKC or Washington University). "You're a mean one, Mr. Scrooge." The ghost of Jacob Marley! The Ghost of Christmas Past is...Hagrid! "I had no idea Tim Cratchet was sick! I swear!" "Ding, dong, the Scrooge is dead!" It was time to head up to the square for wassail, tree lighting, and a parade! Tree lighting! A local high school band led off the parade. And now the main event--Christmas in Midtown! And now, the moment you've been waiting for! And you thought cinnamon bread couldn't look any better. There are a lot of lights in the rest of the park, just...not as many. Outlaw Run is really dark at night. Really, really dark. Short lines for every ride tonight. 10 minutes for Giant Barn Swing. Now, I know there are a few coaster enthusiasts on here who are disappointed this wasn't an update on Time Traveler progress. Well, this event is too awesome to worry about some silly coaster. You'll just have to wait until next time for those photos. All right, fine. One construction photo.

Good to know. I'm officially adding Chessington to my UK itinerary, though we'll see what happens between now and then. That's a trip for when the kids are out of the house, and our youngest is in kindergarten.

Grumpy Cat

Was at Silver Dollar City's Old Time Christmas yesterday, so...yeah, a few. Have you been to a Christmas event at a theme park this year?

Just catching up on this incredible report. Oktoberfest, Europa, and Phantasialand are all bucket list parks for me. The more I see of them, the more I like them. Glad you had a good time there and in the other more obscure parks too. Chessington looks really great! I was surprised that it looks so good. I don't hear much about that place, and what I do hear is largely negative. It looks to be really fun, especially that Vampire ride. Thanks for sharing!

Correct me if I am wrong, but we have yet to see a park with consistently great operations run an RMC. Silver Dollar City has an RMC.