ytterbiumanalyst

We were there last Monday and Tuesday, and most of the coasters had about an hour wait. The only exceptions were American Eagle and Spacely's Sprocket Rockets, both of which were station waits, and Goliath, which was 1.5-2 hours both days. Definitely recommend the Flash Pass, even on a weekday. I ended up getting one on Tuesday, and it was well worth it.

I see a few pages back that you recommended getting a Fast Pass on a weekday in July. I suppose it's hit and miss, I'll just gauge line lengths and take it from there. Can you discount Schiltterbahn tickets locally or just WOF? Worlds of Fun really never has lines during the week, even in the summer. It's really a local park, and no one is going to take off work to go on a weekday. Kansas City's not a huge tourist destination either, so weekdays you shouldn't need the Fast Lane. Weekends you definitely will if you plan on hitting all 7 coasters as well as some of the flats too. Detonator is very much worth riding. Sorry, but I'm not aware of any Schlitterbahn discounts.

Wildcat at Azoosment Park

I've finally reached a milestone. Coaster #50 for me was Goliath at Six Flags Great America!

Well, next we go on our big summer vacation! Six Flags St. Louis, Little Amerricka, Six Flags Great America, Navy Pier, and Azoosment Park!

In the US, yes you are responsible if your tree falls on another's car due to negligence, but this is usually settled by insurance companies. The homeowner's liability insurance usually covers any damages. Also, if it occurs during a natural disaster, all liabilities are waived as an "act of God." So if your tree comes down during an ice storm, it's not your fault, as it couldn't have been prevented.

Tuesday and Wednesday shouldn't be any problem. Rarely does a line at SDC go over an hour, even in the summer. The longest lines in the summer are for the water rides, Lost River of the Ozarks (rapids ride) and American Plunge (log flume). The third water ride, Tom and Huck's River Blast (river battle), is much newer and much higher capacity, so it never really has a line. The roller coasters will have lines, but Outlaw Run and Powder Keg shouldn't be over 30 minutes. The other 3 coasters will likely be 15 minutes or less. Can't miss items are the cave and the craftsmen. Really. Go see them. Any theme park will have great rides, but craftsmen are a rarity. It's pretty much a show, and they'll talk to you as well. The glass blowing is especially impressive. The cave is totally unique, and is the park's original attraction and the reason the theme park exists. Especially if you're doing two days as SDC, you can't miss the cave tour.

Lighting Run at KK has plenty of Air Time and it's only 100 ft, can be done. And Powder Keg is an airtime machine at 110 ft. Airtime has nothing to do with the height of the first drop, but the speed and angle at which the train crests the hills. As long as the coaster keeps its speed well, and has well designed airtime hills, there will be airtime even on a relatively short coaster.

Another convert! Civilization is the game I have spent more time on than any other, from the very first one, and including all the spin-offs like Alpha Centauri and Call to Power. Once you get the system and learn to appreciate the very deep strategy possibilities, you'll understand why for many of us this is the best video game there ever has been. Civ 5 is the only one in my opinion ever to top the illustrious Civ 2. The elimination of stacking units and conversion to hex tiles completely changed the way it's played, and definitely for the better. I also love that minor tribes are no longer just goodie huts, but are now real countries with whom diplomacy is possible. It also feels for the first time that there is a real difference between the nations. You actually have a real incentive to play France differently than you play Greece, in order to take advantage of each countries' strengths and minimize weaknesses. It adds so much replay value to a game that already was infinitely replayable. So welcome to the club!

Thank you. There are a huge percentage of employees who are dedicated to the park (including a lot of upper management), and we, more than most probably, see some of the shortcomings of our park. Working 40, 50, 60 hours a week to actually try to help the park, it is a little bit discouraging coming home from a 15 hour day to just seeing complaints. You all have every right to complain, but I think that not feeling any optimism about the park's future is crazy. For the most part, we're doing the best we can do with what we are given, and we'll just have to be patient unfortunately. Well, if it helps, our visit about a month ago was the best I've had in a long time. It was our first time back since near the end of the Premier era (might actually have been 2006, when current management ran the place but hadn't had time to fix it up yet). The focus on family rides has really changed things. I was really surprised by the number of rides we could all ride together, and Tsunami Soaker is absolutely incredible. We basically only went because we're planning to go to Great America this year, so we just got the Gold season passes so we could get free parking and try out St. Louis as well. You guys nailed it. We were there from 15 minutes before opening (great perk) until closing time, and didn't want to leave then. So as one of the (former) complainers--and there were many legitimate gripes--the park is truly making a great effort at improving. Mr Freeze Reverse Blast and Boomerang weren't enough to get me to come back, but Tsunami Soaker and Goliath together did it, and I'm really glad we went. We'll go at least once more this year, maybe twice.

Outlaw Run broke down constantly its first couple months as well. This year is significantly better, and its reliability is better than Powder Keg's now. So I wouldn't worry too much; these rides are finicky, and they'll figure out how theirs runs best in time.

Well, considering that Batman is just to the right of the entrance and American Thunder just to the left, there's not a whole lot of room there for a coaster--and they are absolutely not removing either of those any time soon. Now your arch idea I like a lot. I know SFStL is interested in redoing the entrance and is in the process of removing ticket booths. Having an arch over the whole area would be really cool indeed, and pretty tall as well. Arches are always equal in height to the distance between the two bases. I'd guess the entrance plaza is at least 150 feet across, maybe more than that, so the arch would be pretty tall. Actually, why not make it a ride? The real arch has a gondola inside--this could be a miniature version of that. Capacity might be an issue, but it'd be the coolest observation tower.

Here's an update. All is going well with plans for this year, and we should be able to hit nearly everything on the list. Already Visited: Silver Dollar City Miner Mike's, Osage Beach, Mo. Six Flags St. Louis Route 66 Carousel Park Definitely: Six Flags Great America Santa's Village/Azoosment Park Kiddie Park, Bartlesville, Okla. Bell's Amusement Park Probably Not This Year: Frontier City

Timber Wolf is honestly a good candidate. It was built about the same time as Texas Giant and Rattler, so we know the age of the existing structure won't be a problem. Prowler renders Timber Wolf unnecessary, being a wood coaster about the same height and speed as Timber Wolf but a much better coaster in every way. If they went with inversions, it would help bolster the lineup, as currently Patriot is their only full-circuit coaster with inversions. Plus, it would compete directly with Silver Dollar City--and Worlds of Fun has had a tendency to build the same or very similar attractions to ones already in Six Flags St Louis in recent years (GCI woodie in 2009, trap door slide in 2013, giant chairswing this year). I like how just about everybody on this thread wants the closest Cedar Fair park to them to be the one to get RMC.

Carousel Park in Joplin runs a Father's Day special. Dads ride free when you pay for at least one child. So, with it being so close to us and not having ever been there, we decided this weekend was a good opportunity to check out this small local park. Overall, the park is definitely geared to young children; about half the rides have a height max of 52". There are some really cool old school rides here, though, that give this park the feel of an expanded county fair midway. We had a great time, and took lots of photos. We went first to Go Gator. My youngest, who just barely meets the 36" height requirement, thought it went too fast for her. The other two loved it. Max 52" on this one. Ah, much better. This gentle spinning elephants ride was just the thing. Next came the Tiger Terror coaster. New credit! I think I can safely say this was the first time I'd been in a tiger's butt. This last curve jolts you from right to left. Anyone with a left elbow injury, be warned. Anyone without a left elbow injury, this ride will fix that problem. Decent kiddie coaster overall, though. My older two loved it. This is a Zamperla mini train ride. Everyone loved it. It's one of three rides in the park with no height requirement. The Ferris wheel was not running due to high winds. It's just a normal size wheel, but it's the tallest ride in the park. The wheel boasts views of Route 66, which is right next to the park, but frankly isn't very scenic in this particular spot. The bumper cars next door were only running 4 cars at a time, but that was plenty for the practically non-existent lines at this park. I don't do Tilt-a-Whirls, so I took pictures. Yep, this is a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car Tilt-a-Whirl. Next to that is this dinosaur ride. This was my youngest's favourite. The ride alternates lifting the sauropods high up, then lowers them and raises the triceratops. This is the coolest observation tower I've been on. I've never seen anything like it. You get in these pods, in this case themed to birds, and it slowly spins around the middle column as it rises. You can see everything from up here. This is Tiger Terror, the mini golf course, and the parking lot. This is the fabled Route 66. Really. The salvage yard across the street. I did mention previously this isn't the most scenic part of the Mother Road. The park isn't exactly scenic either. This is looking west down the midway. On the left side is a giant slide. I love those. You ever get a bit of airtime on the final drop. The Mermaid next to it is a spinning teacups ride. We split up for this sort of ride. My wife and my oldest two ride in one car and spin to their heart's content. I ride with my youngest and we do not spin much. I don't do well with spinny things. And now, the titular carousel. I'm very happy about being able to use the word titular. It's a fun word. Off the midway was this fantastic 18-hole mini golf course. Great variety, some easy and some challenging. Plenty of trees over the course, too, so it was much cooler here than in the midway. Next to the go karts is the Jumping Pillow, a big inflatable bag in sand. The little ones jumped while my oldest and I were in line for the go karts. The park's only water ride is the bumper boats. Very welcome in the humid Missouri summer heat. The boats are all equipped with water guns, and they let you stay out there for quite a long time, so you get soaked. On the other side of the parking lot is the go kart track. This was the only ride we had to wait for, and it's a great track. The karts are fast, and there are plenty of curves and even some slight grades. Tiger Terror THROUGH THE TREES!!!

^ Thanks. Do you know for sure that it's coming back in Geyser Gulch? You seem to be in the know on these things, and I wouldn't want it to have been sold off. I know, sounds weird, at least on a place like this where everyone seems to be most interested in the big new thrill rides, but my 2-year-old and 4-year-old really look forward to the Lil' Swings as a highlight of the day. One point of correction though: Half Dollar Holler's actually been there since 2011, so it's had 3 full seasons now--but yeah, very strange to be closing it down now so early in the season.They must have some plan for that area, but I'm not sure what. There's not much space there around the swinging bridge--and they just have to keep that bridge, it's too cool to remove.

Sideways airtime is my favourite part of Outlaw Run, totally unlike anything else at all. I've been watching the construction here and I am very impressed with the results. This should be one fantastic ride, and I cannot wait to be there next month.

So when we were at SDC earlier this week, we noticed that Half Dollar Holler was missing its Lil' Swings. It looks to have been completely removed, as the queue and operator's booth are gone as well. Perhaps it is moving to Geyser Gulch? Anyone know anything about this? The former Lil' Swings site in Half Dollar Holler.

Boss. The retracking made a difference; the helix was quite good, better than it's been in years.

With summer officially arriving for us, we took a trip up to Six Flags Thursday. We only took a couple of pictures and nothing worth sharing, so I'll just describe the day. We arrived at 10, about half an hour early and parked in just about the closest non-preferred spot. We used this to our advantage and took only what we needed, coming back to the van a couple of times to get swimsuits and such. There were quite a few school buses, but with rain in the forecast, it seems everyone else stayed away. As it turned out, it only sprinkled a bit through the morning and then was clear the rest of the day. Season pass processing was easy. We had bought our Gold passes online, and I just showed the parking attendant the printout, and she told us where to go to get them processed. When we got to the entrance, the guy there walked us through the process, which was fairly quick and painless too. All of that out of the way, we headed to DC Comics plaza first. Log flume was down at first, and Mr Freeze was down all day, but we got to do all the other rides in that area. My wife took the oldest two on Shazam! twice. I'm not a fan of scramblers, so it wasn't a big deal to wait with my 2 year old. She got to go on Scooby Doo next and loved it. Brief stop at Batman, then to Tsunami Soaker. It was a great ride! I think I like it better than River Blast. The water guns come at you from all different angles. I'd like to see these at some other parks too. Water rides aren't usually compact, so this would be great for a small park. We hit up Colossus next, then Thunder River, the carousel, and Bugs Bunny National Park before heading to the waterpark for the rest of the afternoon. This was my first chance at Bonzai Pipeline. I think I now know what it's like to be flushed. It was a really great few seconds. Hook's Lagoon is a great place too. We spent a couple of hours climbing ropes and sliding and left when the waterpark closed. With 2 hours left, we went back to the things we had missed. Log flume was open now, and everyone loved it, even my 2 year old. Pandemonium and Boss were up next, then more Bugs Bunny until the park closed. It was a long, full day. No ride was more than a station wait, and nearly all were walk ons. It was an exhausting but very fun day.

That is a great idea. The station is pretty small, so you kind of have to push your way through the crowd if you want the front (and the front has the best ). I'm glad to see they're trying to improve things. As for those who mentioned the assigned seats on Outlaw Run, they only do that on the very busiest days (such as this weekend). Otherwise, even if there's a line, they let you choose your seats. This is in lieu of a single riders' line, which they tried out last year and abandoned after about a month.

Sunday will be better than Saturday or Monday but still busy. I'd go with Trailblazer Pass this weekend. Also, it's not exactly each ride once. It gives you a total of eight line skips, and there are eight rides you can use it on. So obviously it's intended for you to go on each ride once, but you don't have to. For example, you may want to choose to wait in the general line on Fire in the Hole if its line is short so you can skip Powder Keg's line twice. However, the pass can only be used once per day on Outlaw Run. While we were there, Powder Keg was pretty reliable, at least i didn't know it broke down. But whenever it rains, SDC will shut down the ride because I've heard it's sensitive to rain. The crew worked very hard and they ran three trains very smoothly. Not sure how reliable the info was, but I had a conversation with a guy at Wild Adventures who said he used to work at SDC back when Powder Keg was first installed, and he said the reason it can't run in the rain is because the weird sloped transfer track from the station to the launch rides on steel wheels on train rails and they slip when they're wet. Seemed semi-plausible to me. No, it has to do with the lasers that align the transfer track to the launch section; when it rains, the refraction can cause the lasers to be off slightly. Not good at all to be off when you're about to launch a vehicle to 60mph in 2 seconds.

Screamin' Eagle is its signature coaster. I would like to see the park add more flats in the coming years. Tsunami Soaker looks like a lot of fun for everyone, and we're really looking forward to riding it the end of this month. I loved Boss early in its life, though in recent years it's become very rough, to the point at which it detracts from the fun of the ride. I hear that they re-tracked it in the offseason, though, so I'll give it a go again and see whether that's made an improvement. Boss's layout is amazing, and as long as the track is in peak condition, it's one of the best rides in the park. Back in the '90s, it was my favourite Missouri park. Since then, it's fallen, due to improvements at SDC and WoF as well as a lack of meaningful additions to SFStL (Boomerang doesn't do anything for me). Still, it is fun, and has a lot of things for everyone. It doesn't cater to the littlest ones nearly as well as Worlds of Fun, or by any means to Silver Dollar City's level. But, you will have a good time at SFStL unless you're determined not to. It won't wow you, but it won't disappoint either.