ytterbiumanalyst

Yea, but this is made right up the road. Yes, Mother's makes a lot of good varieties, but I do like the Loopty Loop a lot. 3 Blind Mice is another good one from them. Springfield has three breweries. Springfield Brewing Company is the oldest of the three and for the longest time was only a brewpub. They've recently started distributing bottles through the local chain Brown Derby (owned by the same family that owns Bass Pro Shops). They do not distribute it to be on tap anywhere but their own place. Mother's was the first brewery to target regional distribution, and you can find it on tap in a number of bars in Springfield. Branson has virtually no bar scene, and what there is essentially is chain restaurants like Applebee's and Red Lobster. The newest one is White River Brewing Co., named for the river that flows through Branson and forms Table Rock Lake and Lake Taneycomo. Their C Street Pale Ale is one of my favourites, as is Table Rock Red Ale. If you like good eats with craft beer (i.e. you are human), then I recommend Black Sheep. There are two locations, one downtown on Walnut St. in Springfield's theatre district, and the other on the south side in Chesterfield Village, a walkable mixed-use development with a cool vibe of its own. Moral of this story: Silver Dollar City closes early. Head to Springfield after hours.

I'm actually really excited about this! The website mentions an improvement in food quality and over 200 new food items, some seasonal. SDC's food quality is some of the best anywhere, but they have let it slip in recent years. World Fest offered a "dining around the world" pavilion that was always a must for me during that festival, but I stopped participating a couple of years ago when a particularly bad poutine was the last straw. Their skillets are still awesome, and the new Crossroads Pizza is great too, as is their barbecue. But there are some food items I just avoid, hamburgers in particular. They're just not very good, especially for the price (which is admitted much lower than most theme parks, at $9). I'm glad to see them paying attention to the food and shows, which along with the cave have always been this park's bread and butter. The rides are a bonus; this is a park that you can go to and ride nothing and have an awesome time. Looking forward to trying the new items and watching the construction for the 2018 coaster!

When we were there last weekend, we saw a Fastpass booth in the Scandinavia area just inside the entrance selling Fastpasses for $40. It may be more this weekend, but that's what we saw.

Oh, they're great. It doesn't beat some hole-in-the-wall place in Chicago, but for a chain, it's excellent. I especially appreciated that they served 312 beer; that's the City's best microbrewery. Any place that serves Chicago-style beef is a place I must be.

It seems to me they just have to prepare a legal document stating it's not harmful to wildlife and they're good. I don't have any knowledge of Swedish law, though.

LOL. "Get ready for the biiiiiig stop!"

I love Portillo's; it's a must every time I visit Chicago. I was very excited to learn that there was a Portillo's location just down the road from Knott's; that was a must on my visit there. Had to get my Chicago-style beef sandwich.

There's really not too much you can do other than buying tickets/fastlanes online. Unless you live relatively close enough to the park to have season passes, it will probably be pretty expensive for one visit. I visited the park 20 times this season, and I spend around $350 on my season pass (Platinum pass with Dining plan and soda cup) and definitely got my money's worth. Anyways, prices for Haunt weekends are usually around $35 each ticket. Fastlanes are about that same price. Yeah, about the only thing you could have done would be to buy 2017 season passes, and that would give you a free visit this year, which you could use for Haunt if you wanted. But that's not actually cheaper, as tickets online for Saturdays are $40 and Fast Lane is $40, so that'd be $160. Season passes go for $99 a piece, so $278 including Fast Lane. Almost twice as much; you'd just get more for your money. It's a good deal, but it sounds like that's not your goal. If you want to do rides and Haunt both, the only way to do it is to go on a Saturday and pay for Fast Lane. If you only care about rides, go on a Sunday, and there's no lines. It's half price essentially due to Fast Lane not being needed, but no Haunt that day. Really, if you're okay with driving to WoF and back in one day, go for the season pass. It's what, about 2 hours each way? We've had WoF season passes this year, and Six Flags St. Louis season passes the previous two years. We live in the Springfield-Branson area, so each park is about 3 hours from us, and we've still gone enough to make it worth it. We visited WoF 9 times this year all total, so we definitely got our money's worth. Further proof that you have't been to Knotts! Nice TR. Glad you had a great time. I just couldn't get into this park. I have been to Knott's, and I agree that Patriot is the least intense invert I've been on. Silver Bullet at least had the helix over the lake. Patriot's helix is just not very good. It's all about the zero-G roll, and otherwise forgettable. I'm not surprised you didn't really enjoy Worlds of Fun; it doesn't seem your sort of place. Every ride there is good but not great. Prowler is their best coaster, and I enjoy it a lot, but it's not an elite coaster. Comparing Mamba, Patriot, and Prowler to Diamondback, Banshee, and Beast respectively, it's clear that Worlds of Fun could be a lot better. But for us, when we want to go on the sort of rides that Silver Dollar City doesn't have, we'd rather go to Worlds of Fun than Six Flags St. Louis.

Sorry, quoted instead of edited.

I just checked with my daughter, who won't go on any coasters that are too big or too fast, but loves the smaller ones. She thinks it's awesome that they'll have three coasters she would like (Sideshow Spin, Firechaser Express, and Whistle Punk Chaser). Big thumbs up on this addition from her. Having three coasters for her to ride instead of two will make our trip even better, and that makes me happy.

I submit Lucky's Dizzy Dogs as proof that they are totally down for putting the same ride in two different areas of the park and just theming it differently.

Surprised they haven't done more lift construction thus far. They haven't gotten it out of the shed yet.

Is this possibly a SCAD tower?

Great news! They're setting this up for success. The RV park can bring in revenue as they build out the parks. Racing is big in Texas. Not as big as American football, but still big. They start getting some events, get people to camp there, and those people see the construction, it's going to generate aome excitement.

Chaos theory is a great way to describe Magic Springs. But don't worry. Just plan to go when the waterpark is open, and you'll have a good time. It's a very good waterpark. All descriptions of crappiness at this park are appropriate to the ride side only. And make sure you ride Diamond Mine Run, their children's coaster. It's the second best ride in the park.

I did mean fourty I doubt that. There's no such word as "fourty." I know, I was quoting him as a joke. I found it more funny than it really was. I thought that was how you spelled it in the UK? No, it's spelled "forty" everywhere.

It didn't. The best place for the shooting dark ride would be in the old 4D theater spot. I know they have a show there now but the infrastructure is probably close to what would be needed for that type of an attraction. Thanks! Yeah, I can see why they'd remove it then. I remember the old Flooded Mine fondly, but realistically, the interactivity was essential to its longevity. Even now it looks really dated, and I mostly ride it for nostalgia. A really modern dark ride would be fantastic, and with SDC's and Dollywood's core audience would be a perfect fit. I'm interested in this drop tower. It totally fits with HFE's MO to go with "none of the above" to make the new ride. I like their Starflyers; I'm not sure if they've made any other drop towers, but I'm looking forward to it.

What year is it? Seriously it's a good post, but everyone's going to have totally different opinions (I hate X2 with a fiery passion and really like Gatekeeper for example) but it feels like 2001 with the Magic Mountain / Cedar Point discussion. Thanks! Well, in 2001 I hadn't been to either park. I do come from the land of hillbillies; we're a little behind the times.

Sweet! I'm glad to hear that. Tell her congratulations on the new job, and enjoy your travels!

The Flooded Mine at SDC just has you shoot at targets, with guns that look like Colt revolvers. They're family friendly, but they aren't shy about guns. Every park needs a dark ride. I thought it odd when I heard that Dollywood had removed theirs. Hopefully you do get a new one soon.

Did your Flooded Mine ever have the Great Shoot Out overlay?

I'll compare the two, since I just went to Cedar Point and Magic Mountain for the first time this year, and both times for enthusiast events, so I feel I can give a fair comparison. Comparable rides: Raptor v. Batman: Raptor Gatekeeper v. X2: X2 Iron Dragon v. Ninja: Ninja Rougarou v. Scream: Scream Corkscrew v. Viper: Viper Magnum v. Goliath: Magnum Mean Streak v. Apocalypse: Apocalypse Cedar Creek Mine Ride v. Gold Rusher: CCMR Thunder Rapids v. Thunder River: Thunder Rapids Power Tower v. Lex Luthor: Lex Luthor So we're about even so far. Let's check out the unique rides. SFMM has YOLOcoaster, Twisted Colossus, Tatsu, Riddler's Revenge, and Green Lantern for coasters, as well as the only log flume I've been on that totally sucks. Cedar Point has Millennium Force, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster...and I think I can stop there and we have a winner. Food quailty is pretty bad at both places. Food service is better at Cedar Point, but honestly not great in either place. CP just moves food lines faster. Slightly faster. Food locations that are within walking distance of the park: CP wins, and it's not even close. Marie Callender's is good, but that's it, and it's a bit of a hike. I didn't visit either waterpark, so they're both equal, at least in my desire to go there. Operations and cleanliness are the biggest differences to me. Magic Mountain did a pretty good job keeping paths clean, but the number of overflowing trash cans was unacceptable. Cedar Point does not have that problem, due to their policy of having 3 trash cans per guest. Magic Mountain's crews were good on the most popular rides, most notably Twisted Colossus. However, on the less popular rides the bar was much lower. CP ride ops were spectacular across the board. I even rode the Himalaya, and the ride op there was awesome. No noticeable decline in quality when going to the less popular rides there. For me, the most important thing is also the most intangible: Do I want to go back? And for Magic Mountain, the answer right now is no. I had a good time, and I'm glad I went. It's just that after one day, I'm good. I might go back if they build a new ride that interests me, but not otherwise. And maybe not even then. If I'm going to go all the way to LA, I'd just rather go to Knott's or Disneyland, as I feel they deliver more in the limited time I would have. Cedar Point, on the other hand, I would go back to right now. Right this second. They don't need anything new; I'd go back for what they have already. Oh, it's not open today? Yes, I know that's subjective, but that's how a lot of guests judge. Of course, only we nerds are comparing these two parks, but still. I only have so much time and so much money, and I want to spend it in a way that makes me the happiest. That may sound simplistic, but I think that's the fairest way to say it.

I don't think Intamin and HFE have liked Intamin since the Lost River of the Ozarks at SDC, but don't quote me on that I'll quote you on that. See, business decisions aren't made on the basis of liking a company or not. It's all about finding the right product. Intamin make a lot of different kinds of rides, but generally they're high cost, high quality rides. They push limits and make some of the biggest coasters anywhere. That's why enthusiasts love them. Business priorities are not always aligned with that type of thinking, though. High cost, high quality rides mean each guest has to pay more to ride them. That can be accomplished through a variety of factors: tickets, food, hotels, merchandise, etc. The fact is, though, that the higher you price something, the more people will opt out of it entirely. HFE as a company are really, really cheap. A lot of enthusiasts miss this because their parks are so enjoyable, but they're as cheap as Six Flags when purchasing rides. The business model is to keep prices low across the board--tickets, food, merchandise--and to focus on a great guest experience to bring people back year after year. In order to achieve that, HFE will look for the cheapest possible ride that will give the guest experience they're looking for. Sometimes that particular experience isn't cheap, and they spend the money on something like Wildfire or Mystery Mine. Getting it right is what brings people back. But a lot of the time the question "Is there a cheaper ride that will bring in the same number of guests?" can be answered positively. Outlaw Run is a perfect example; $10 million could not have bought a better ride from any other company. So that explains why they haven't gotten an Intamin coaster so far. Dollywood has a hotel now, which increases guest spending while not driving anyone away; those who can't afford the hotel or don't want to spend that much don't have to. This new revenue stream may allow them to do things they haven't done before. HFE are smart, though, and they know which corners can be cut and which ones cannot. I would expect that no matter what their income is, they continue to ask that question of whether the desired experience can be had for less. If Intamin is the only company that can deliver the experience, they'll get an Intamin. If someone can deliver that experience for less, they'll buy from someone else.

Not quite, but it was the tallest ride in the park until 1965. Space Spiral was 330 ft tall. That was the tallest ride in the park from 1965 until Dragster opened in 2003. Ah yes, forgot about Space Spiral. Odd too, I love observation towers, and at any place that has one, they're a must ride. The peninsula from that height would have been quite a sight!

That's awesome.