HWFan

I was a bit behind, but I have to say this is probably one of the best TRs I've seen. Great pics! -The Udvar-Hazy Center is a hidden gem imo. I wish more people would take advantage of it even though it's out of the way a little. -SFGAm's entrance is always impressive for me compared to my home park, SFStL. I heard that the metal detectors are up with the turnstiles. Is that true? Being in admissions, it just seems like that would slow things down a lot. -It's a pity more places don't do that tour like BGW. One of the best parts seemed like the pics of Verbolten. It's a beautiful coaster. Thanks again for the pictures!

As bad as it might look now, at the time, people thought it was amazing. My mom was telling me about how everyone wanted to ride it. She was actually in line when the accident happened. Her and her friend who had talked about it for a long time were really disappointed, but looking back at it, I don't think she missed anything special.

I had always wanted to ride Jaws. Thank you TPR for at least putting together some great video and pictures for me to enjoy. Ironically, my aunt's boyfriend who is in charge of the Harry Potter project loved the Jaws ride and hated to be the one to kill it.

Does anyone have an estimate of when Falcon's Fury will be open? I'll be visiting for the first time in the middle of March. I know that once the foundation is done, tower rides go up pretty fast, but I'm sure there'll be tons of testing.

Head on over to the HoliBlog where a couple of great updates were posted showing covered bridge construction on the Holidog Express as well as the plans to renovate Mrs. Klaus' Kitchen: http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog?page=2 http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog?page=3 With the track being so close to one side on the bridge as well as what looks to be a full wall built on one side with the other side open, it looks like we can expect some kind of display inside the covered bridge. It could be wishful thinking, but might we see the original Freedom Train on display inside the new "bridge?" I heard that at least originally they wanted to display it inside the park somewhere.

If I got to choose, I would put in one of the new B&M mini-dive machines with a dave straight down into a tunnel under the train tracks with a loop back over them. But whenever the Ninja is replaced, I would not be surprised to see a space left for a possible second entrance to the water park as it grows.

I was told by Dan that apparently they tried one for a couple of years, but it didn't make any money. Sometimes events don't make money their first year, so they try them again, but nothing they did saved the event.

Just a couple of notes: 1. Bumper Cars - When I said an open air bumper car ride, I simply meant that it wouldn't be surrounded by walls. It would still have a roof(which I think is necessary for the ride to operate). It would just be brighter than the old ride. 2. Dark Ride - When it comes to the dark ride, I can confirm that when it is updated, either they will buy brand new boats AND redo the entire water pump and trough system, or they will turn it into a land based ride. It will most likely be a land based ride. 3. Ninja - The Ninja will only be replaced when they add a completely new coaster to replace it. After branding themselves the coaster capital of Missouri and placing so much focus on that title, Dave said that they will not drop below nine. Even if they replace the Ninja with flat rides, another coaster will have to go in somewhere else. 4. Carousel - Yes, that plaza is on a hill, but there is enough flat space for the ride with minimal earth moving needed if they choose to do that.

^ Correct. After meeting with Dave a lot, here is what I see as a rational addition list for the coming years: -Moon Cars: Dave is extremely disappointed with the Moon Cars layout and will jump at the first chance to relocate. -Carousel: 100th Anniversary relocation to the central garden just south of the train station with a total renovation. -Bumper Cars: There are a few locations, but if brought back, it will be an open air area rather than closed in. -Kiddie Coaster: Taking the place of the Go Karts on that nice hilly area in front of the Boss. -Scooby-Doo: A new dark ride taking that building with the removal of the boats. I liked them, but it is inevitable. -Air Race?: He seems pretty intrigued by the Zamperla Air Race, but didn't mention purchasing one. -Tilt-A-Whirl?: Dave is a HUGE tilt a whirl fan and would like to add one some day. I don't know what exactly is going to happen, but these seem like nice additions to help round out the park. Dave is extremely passionate about his job. Also, this off-season, he mentioned some great off-season work projects, and as soon as I find out if any of them are being funded, I will let you know!

He's leaving us hints as to the location of the next coaster. Juicy= juice What liquids are better than juice?: soda Where do you get soda?: soda machines Woodsy= Woods Soda machines + Woods= The new coaster will be located near a hidden soda machine located in the woods Paula has used food puns before, so this must be correct! For the Mammoth it was something like "Do you know where I can find a good stake around here." I think that juice actually hints at goose, which hints at a turkey themed S&S free fly concept.

Hey everyone! This year at Thanksgiving, I found out that my aunt's long time boyfriend is something like the executive producer for the Universal Parks. He is ultimately in charge of all designs for the parks. He talks to JK Rowling on a weekly basis about how the design and construction process is going. Sometime within the next four months, we are taking a trip down to get kind of an inside look at the parks with him for free, and I wanted to see if anyone had any questions to ask him either about individual projects (at any park) or the design process in general. I promise to write them down to have them ready for whenever we go. My aunt said that he's a HUGE theme park geek like most coaster enthusiasts and that whenever the new train got dropped off, he didn't stop talking about it for days.

What I think is interesting is that the cabanas they added between Kima Bay and Mammoth this year blocks off the huge section of woods between the Voyage and the Mammoth. With water park expansion pushed to the other side of the Voyage, I am wondering if that area is being saved just because trees are great and all, or if they are planning on saving it for an awesome coaster. Driving on the Snowy White Gravel between the Mammoth and the Voyage, you can really get a look at how crazy that topography looks. Either way, with Holiday World, they take their time to get things right.

Great pictures! All of the lights on the attractions are awesome. The scale of the attractions just blows me away compared to the small state and county fairs I went to growing up. As a kid, I would've loved that huge, crazy car ride with the multiple levels.

According to their website, they'll have a water park as well. http://www.lakepointsports.com/the-venue/district2

The problem with your argument is actually the word tourist. Your 2.8 vs. 1.5 argument doesn't make any logical sense because the tourists going to Branson are going there specifically for the attractions. The 2.8 million people in St. Louis are not tourists. The vast majority of them don't even go to Six Flags during the current operating season. And someone mentioned having a hard time hiring could be a problem. I don't think it would be as we make it through Fright Fest with a lot of high school and local college student employees who can only work on weekends. I would think that this would be no different.

There is ERT on Boomerang and SkyScreamer this Saturday from 12:00-12:30am if anyone is looking to get some extra time in the park for this last weekend.

If that's the case, then I'm sorry my disability would be an inconvenience for you. I'll make sure to stay out of your way. I don't really see it being a safety issue either because there are all kinds of rides that are probably hard to evacuate from, but I can still ride. Even at Holiday World, I see the Mammoth/Wildebeest and Voyage being harder than the Flying Turns purely out of speculation.

I just saw on Screamscape that wheelchair-bound guests are only allowed on the Flying Turns if it has one or two train operation. I'm in a wheelchair, and I was hoping to visit in 2014. Am I the only one who feels that this policy on a NEW ride is ridiculous? The only rides I've had trouble with in the past are rides built a long time before the ADA was passed. I was fine with that, but this policy is a slap in the face. It took them so long to build it, I figured they would've figured this out. I guess I'll be going elsewhere.

There's nothing I like hearing more than guests having a great day at our park. It makes those 15 hour days worth it. As I can only speak for admissions and not rides, if you experience bad service, please let either guest relations know or the lead at the front gate. The highlight of my day when TPR visited was getting to stamp KidTums' hand.

I'm curious, what is this? In the beginning of the house you enter a park and there is this mulch path that sinks like quick sand (or like rubber, maybe a trampoline) and each step you take the ground seems to sink lower and lower. They actually took old mattresses and covered them with mulch-like material to cause that effect.

When it comes to the spider arch, speak for yourself. When I was leaving the park at about midnight, my arachnophobia got me to completely turn around and go the other way. Anyway, I wanted to add that in my opinion, Blind Fury is the number one maze. I really enjoyed it compared to Insanity Alley and Total Darkness, which were okay, but not as fun as Blind Fury. I also really enjoyed the clown walkthrough scare zone. My guess is that next weekend, starting the fourth, things will start to fall into place.

I would try to stick to Sundays. Saturdays before 5 are usually pretty good though. Fridays are definite non-no's unless you can catch a cool weather night and the park can be empty. Exactly. If you want to go at night when it's really dark, then just remember, colder is better. If you wear plenty of layers, you should be just fine. And I'm glad it was just a small fire. Fox 2 didn't give any information except it was a building at the front of the park. I was really scared that it was guest relations.

^ SkyScreamer backwards is a ton of fun! Also, does anyone know about the fire in the park last night?

If I remember correctly, I think that they are being saved in case they need to be cannibalized for spare parts for similar rides operating at other parks. Speaking of cannibalization, the Gnawlins haunt is based on cannibals. Also, there is a tree by Shazam! that has its base covered in bloody shoes with dozens of shoes hanging from the branches. I love the attention to creepy detail this year.

After work today, I swung by the back of the parking lot where the paintball wagons are. There are at least five, and I wanted to get a picture for those of you who wanted to know what they looked like. There are two big, yellow CO2 tanks (I believe), with about nine guns anchored to each side of the wagon.