ytterbiumanalyst

Ooh, sorry to hear that. Hope you recover quickly. Was the park good with first aid? Yeah, with something going that fast, the park's got to be sure there's a lot of water coming down constantly.

I'll second JB's at Great America. It's a full sit down place with air conditioning, that was most welcome even in the relatively cool Chicago summer. The food was good and we fed 5 of us for around $50, which is just dirt cheap for Six Flags.

^ Grandfather's Mansion is an old school crooked house, just off the square behind the ice cream shop. Tom and Huck's River Blast is a lot of fun, and it's super high capacity, so it's always quick to get on. That's my go to if we need to cool off fast. Also, if you have the time, watch the craftsmen. There are glass blowing, blacksmithing, wood carving, and other demonstrations, mostly around the square. The train is worthwhile, as it includes a show (a really cheesy one, but you are going to Branson after all). Flooded Mine and American Plunge are skippable if you're pressed for time, as they're both showing their age. Flooded Mine is a shooting dark ride, and some of the guns are not as functional as they once were. American Plunge has had nearly all of its animatronics removed after they stopped working. In its heyday, it was the best ride in the park and a great flume, but these days it's subpar. Give them a go if you've done everything else and still have time left. Unless you've never been on a Disko or S&S Doubleshot, you won't miss anything by skipping Grand Expo and Fireman's Landing.

Ack. Okay, well, you'll miss the prime time, but SDC's operations are great. You'll wait 30-45 minutes at the most. If you're arriving about 11, unless you hate water rides, I'd say as much as you'll want to go straight to the coasters, restrain yourself and go straight to Lost River of the Ozarks. It's one of the best Intamin rapids rides out there, and it is always the longest line in the park in the afternoon. Do it before noon and you'll wait 10-15 minutes. Then go to Powder Keg, Outlaw Run, and Wildfire, in that order. Do the cave next, to spend an hour of the afternoon in 65 degree air, and then finish up with Thunderation and Fire in the Hole (those last two hardly ever have a wait, and especially toward the end of the day). Grand Expo Coaster allows adults if you really have to have the credit, but do it last if you do it at all. It's a crappy Zamperla coaster.

^ I would say do SF St. Louis, for a couple of reasons. One, you'll be on I-44 in Missouri anyway, and the park is right on the highway. You'd be driving right past it if you didn't stop. Two, you can do the park in half a day easily, if the following are all true: - You are going on a weekday - You do not do the waterpark (trust me, Splashin' Safari is WAY better) - You skip all the coasters that are also at other Six Flags parks So you'll be riding Screamin' Eagle, Boss, American Thunder, and River King Mine Train. You can easily run in for a couple hours and do that. Mr. Freeze and Batman are both mirror images of the ones at SFOT, Ninja is also at SFOG, and Pandemonium and Boomerang are identical to the ones at SFFT. If you're into spinning flats, I've heard Excalibur is good. It makes me queasy just to look at it, so I've never been on it in all my visits there. But it is the only really unique flat at the park. I would leave Branson by 7 AM, drive to SFStL and arrive by 10 AM, spend a couple hours there, head out early afternoon, and continue on to Holiday World (about 3-3.5 hours from SFStL).

Sundays during Moonlight Madness are busy but manageable. Get there right when the gates open at 8:30. Don't pay any attention to the website that says it opens at 9:30. You need to be in there as early as possible. It can take as much as 30 minutes from the time you step out of your car until you enter the front gates. The parking lots are all quite a ways down the road, except of course for valet and handicapped parking, which are right at the entrance. The reason why it is crucial to be in the park and ready to go for rope drop at 9:30 is that this area is pretty religious, and most people will arrive later on a Sunday. If you're there first thing, you'll have walk ons for the first hour, maybe 90 minutes. Later when the crowds show up they'll go to 30-45 minutes for the big coasters and over an hour for Lost River and American Plunge. This is especially true during Moonlight Madness, as a lot of people don't feel rushed to get there right at opening. It'll be crowded Sunday, but if you use your time well first thing, you can knock out all the big rides before the crowds get there and enjoy the rest of the day. Don't forget that the last cave tour is still about 5:30 or so even when the park is open later. Don't miss out on that.

That B&M makes substantially fewer roller coasters than the Swiss version. On the plus side, they make some good beans: http://www.bmbeans.com/products/bm-bostons-best-baked-beans/

It's Wicked Cyclone, and the Cyclone part had been there for years. I'll give you Storm Chaser, but one example does not make a trend. But hey, you can add Wildfire to this list next year; then you'll have 2!

^ Yeah, I have family in Bartlesville, so I went to Kiddie Park with my cousins when I was little, maybe around 1990 or so. I have little kids now, so it'll be fun to get back there with them. From the look of the Youtube videos, it seems a few rides may very well be the same ones that were there then. We're also going to Woolaroc and Tulsa Zoo while we're in the area--the zoo has the dinosaur exhibit this summer. Bell's was originally on this itinerary, but with the lack of anything going on there, we're skipping it. I love the idea of supporting a guy putting his family business back together, but if he's not putting much effort into it, it's not worth my while either.

Gauntlet, Magic Springs

I hear you. Recently rode my first, also--Gauntlet at Magic Springs. Totally deserves the hate.

I'll be at Frontier City next as well, but on Friday 7/31. Hope you enjoy the day tomorrow!

Gauntlet (Magic Springs)

Week 1: Magic Springs This weekend we went camping in Arkansas and used the opportunity to hit up Magic Springs. None of us had ever been there, and probably due to our low expectations, we were rather impressed. The one major drawback is that it was about 236 degrees. I expected heat (we were going to the South in July), but WOW. The waterpark helped with the heat, but it still really got to us and we left in the afternoon. I only have a few photos, since we spent most of our time in the waterpark, and thus my camera spend most of its time in the fluffy bunny. As I’ve done before, I’ll review the park in several categories: theming, food, operations, waterpark, water rides, flats, and coasters. Theming : Nearly nonexistent. The signs for some rides are fancifully done, but overall Six Flags is a well-themed park by comparison. The natural setting of the park is amazing, however. I may be a bit biased, but the Ozarks are just incredible. Magic Springs does very well at their landscaping, and everything looked well-kept. I didn’t see paint peeling anywhere, and there were many bright colours on the buildings and rides. Food: They really need to step it up. We tried to buy a funnel cake at a stand that sells just one thing: funnel cakes. I was told they were out of funnel cakes, and it would be 20 minutes before they would make anymore. What’s worse, I was told this by all three people working at the stand. All of them telling me that no one was making funnel cakes—meanwhile no one was making funnel cakes. We didn’t attempt to buy any other food there. Operations: All the ride operations were atrociously slow. They were only running one train on every coaster, and only two ride ops in each station, except for Diamond Mine Run had only one. No one was in a hurry to dispatch anything, and it seemed like it was several minutes between being seated and actually having someone come around to check the restraints. If it weren’t for the very short lines, the waits would have been horrendous. The guy running Diamond Mine Run was really good though; he got the kids on and off really quick by himself. Waterpark: Had I not been to Splashin’ Safari just a couple of months ago, I’d say this was the best I had been to. It certainly far exceeds anything we have in Missouri. One of the really cool things about it is that there is an area for little kids right next to each slide complex. That made it really easy for me to take my oldest daughter on the big slides while my wife stayed with the younger ones. Crystal Lagoon Jr. is the newest attraction, and it was pretty cool for a kids’ pool. There were waterfalls and even a miniature bowl slide, just like the ones at Seven Falls right behind it. Water rides: We didn’t ride Old No. 2; it seemed like the only ride that was gaining any type of line at all. Plummet Summit was very good, though; I do like that style of flume. Flats: Dr. Dean’s Rocket Machine was fun; can’t really go wrong with an S&S Doubleshot. The other two big flats (yes, only 3) were not for me; much too much spinning involved. The pirate ship was okay, and the carousel was nice. Nothing looked like it was falling apart, at least; there just weren’t a whole lot of rides. Coasters: Let’s take them one by one. Arkansas Twister – Closed for the whole day. They were doing some re-tracking and replacing supports in the final turnaround. I don’t have any pictures, because the only place to see it is from Seven Falls’ tower, and each time I was up there I didn’t have my camera, since I was about to go down a waterslide. Big Bad John – I must say that Six Flags over Mid-America chose to remove the correct side of River King Mine Train. It was fun, but not as good as its estranged sister in St. Louis. Diamond Mine Run – Surprisingly great children’s coaster. We rode it four times (and the only coaster we re-rode). Gauntlet – My first Vekoma SLC. I heard all the terrible things, and I expected it to be awful. I found that as long as I kept my head back, it was okay, but still quite uncomfortable. I liked the intensity, but I can’t say anything else good about it. X-Coaster – This was amazingly fun. It was my first vertical lift that wasn’t on a Chance Toboggan coaster. Awesome level of hangtime at the top, and the impulse-like halfpipe finish--wow. Great coaster! Plummet Summit and Gauntlet. Plummet Summit was down while I was taking this picture, but they had it back up within about 10 minutes. Great hustle! It was hard to get a photo of X-Coaster. It is so much taller than everything else, and somewhat behind things too. Great little plaza here--something for everyone. X-Coaster, Big Bad John, Dr. Dean's Rocket Machine, Wild Thang, and Ozark Mountain Taxis are all right here. Ozark Mountain Taxis was the longest wait, due to only running 2 cars. They had about 8 off the track needing maintenance. Dr. Dean has a fun rocket machine. Make of that statement what you will. Wild Thang turns my stomach just looking at it. Plenty of people seem to like it, though. And THROUGH THE TREES...Crystal Falls. Its sirens beckoned us weary travelers who were tired of sweating in near 100 degree heat.

Well, since it's a dream, a lot of these are ones I've never ridden but would very much like to. Giga: Millennium Force Hyper: Skyrush Hybrid: Iron Rattler Invert: Nemesis Wooden 1: El Toro Wooden 2: Voyage Launched: Thunderbird Anything 1: Outlaw Run Anything 2: Mammoth Anything 3: Expedition GeForce

The Good News is you can go to Kentucky Kingdom and ride there RMC next year! Or go to Six Flags St. Louis and enjoy that RMC track that is on Boss right now.

Timber Wolf's entrance is perfect at the end of the Americana midway. But a new coaster out by the highway with the entrance by Thunderhawk would do quite nicely.

Oh yes. There are only four big coasters, so it's easily doable in one day with the waterpark. Dive is very much worth seeing. I watched it twice when I was there for Holiwood nights. It's that good. Splashin' Safari has two entrances, one by Voyage and the other by Legend. Only the main entrance (near Legend) has fluffy bunnies, though, so if you're needing those, enter there. They open just the fluffy bunny area of the waterpark at opening time for the theme park, so it's easy to go put your stuff away, go ride a few rides, then come back and change into your swim gear. I'd recommend doing Raven and Legend in your first hour, as most of the crowd seems to rush to Thanksgiving at opening. Then go to the waterpark right when it opens and ride Mammoth, Wildebeest, and Zoombabwe. Those are the best three slides. Hit up anything else you like in the waterpark, then into the afternoon come back to the ride side for Voyage and Thunderbird, as the lines will be much shorter in the afternoon.

The only RMC to date that uses steel wheels is Outlaw Run, for some reason SFGAM decided to use nylon and poly wheels on Goliath. RMC won't run steel wheels on steel track for more reasons than one. I went on the Goliath (SFGAm) construction tour, and one of the PR guys said then that the decision to use polyurethane wheels was that they are quieter than steel.

I've ridden 4: 1-3. Batmen (SFStL, SFFT, SFGAm) 4. Patriot All good, solid rides; fun but not amazing.

For me, roughness doesn't really matter, unless it gets to the point of being painful. There are only three coasters I've been on that fall into that category--Ninja (SFStL), Rattler (SFFT), and Mad Mouse (Little Amerricka). Ninja is a headbanging disaster, Rattler's first drop and triple helix of doom were horribly jarring, and Mad Mouse's bunny hills rattled my teeth and left me sore (my daughter still talks about that one as her worst coaster experience).

^ Sounds like a great trip! I'll be at Magic Springs next week.

Justice League : Battle For Metropolis!