Jaykethekid

Worlds of Fun has just shared this morning that the opening of Zambezi Zinger has been delayed to an unknown date to allow for more testing and prep work.

I personally feel they've done better than most parks in the area when it comes to staffing. When I visited last summer, every food stall and most shops were open, including the coke stand in Europa that never seems to be open. They even had 6 operators checking restraints on Mamba and 3 to 5 on the other coasters. This was also a mid-week visit. So they seemed to be doing alright. Though I heard that the staffing issues became more noticeable during haunt, which is to be expected with a lot of their employees going back to school around then. Whether that is the reason for the removal of some of those attractions is beyond me.

Monsoon was also removed from the map as well as 3 or 4 different rides in Planet Snoopy. I can understand why they'd remove Falcon's Flight considering how much of a maintenance headache it seems to be. I mean, I can count the days it operated last season on a single hand. Monsoon was a bit surprising, but it has rapidly deteriorated in the last few years. I don't spend much time around OOF, but I've heard from others that it spent most of last year running a single boat and suffering constant lift issues. The real head scratcher are the few rides removed from Planet Snoopy.

I visited several times this season and never encountered any major issues. I had an incredible experience no matter when I visited. Sure, there were a few shops and food stalls occasionally closed, but that's to be expected. Every coaster that needs 2+ train ops were running multiple trains, so wait times were never an issue. There weren't any noticeable maintenance issues either besides one visit where Powder Keg opened late with just one train running. Either I have been extremely lucky, or Shavethewhales has been extremely unlucky.

You did see a tunnel entrance by Boomerang. Though, it isn't being incorporated into the new Zambezi Zinger. That's the old tunnel from the original Zambezi Zinger. The entrance of the tunnel was buried when Boomerang was built. The exit portion was completely removed as it would've been roughly where Boomerang's unused photo booth is now. The park has shared a couple photos on social media of them starting work on removing the last bits of the tunnel. In typical Cedar Fair fashion, the park proposed the idea of selling chunks of the old tunnel over on their Twitter.

Looks like a fun ride! Obviously, it's not something that's gonna be mind-blowing, but it still looks like a super enjoyable ride. I think it's a great way to pay homage to the original Zambezi Zinger. I'm also really interested to see how those Infinity Flyer trains perform.

Wildfire had a single rider queue, though I've only seen it in use once. It was located towards the entrance of the main queue, roughly to the right of the big water tank theming piece. If I remember right, the signage was still there for it when I visited last October. Though, I think it's only used when they have enough staff to have a dedicated grouper loading trains.

From what I've seen shared on other platforms, the building looks pretty much the same inside the park. It is also VERY visible from most of Fireman's landing. I'm hoping that they do something to dress up that side whether it be draping vines down the building like on the current FITH or a painting / mural.

That pool has always been an overcrowded mess, even on what would be considered slow days for Oceans of Fun. Obviously, we don't know exactly what happened, but I could see how a small child could go unnoticed by lifeguards when the pool is crowded. Absolutely tragic that this happened.

Are you trying to pull it up on your phone? The mobile version of the site is incredibly bare bones and doesn't seem to function correctly. The link the grsupercity shared pulls up everything we've mentioned so far. However, I'm on my desktop. That link may not pull up the same thing on the mobile version of the site.

If you pull up Plan Number: CRBC-2022-40151, go to the reviews tab (may only be viewable on a desktop). If you click on the second CPPU-Building Plan QCR, continue by clicking on the red text and it will bring up all the corrections. It lists things mentioning wood coaster foundations in one of the corrections.

It's certainly an odd choice to build a new wooden coaster just a few hundred feet away from the park's last new coaster, which is also a wooden coaster. Though, that's assuming that this project is related to the ongoing clearing adjacent to Boomerang. The permit lists that this foundation system has a total valuation of $785,000, so I don't imagine they'd spend that much on concrete just to add additional bracing to either of the park's other wooden coasters. That leads me to believe it's something completely new. It just feels weird that they'd build another wooden coaster. The only thing that could separate itself enough from Prowler is a Gravity Group with some sort of gimmick element to it, whether it be a shuttle coaster or something that inverts.

They did shut off that dang mid course. That's part of the system upgrades for Mamba. I visited last Tuesday and the mid course brakes didn't engage at all. To tell you how fast it's running now, you get solid airtime dropping off the mid course even in the front row. There were some rides I had on it just a year or two ago where the back didn't even get airtime on that drop. I've always liked the ride even when the midcourse made it feel like it would valley on the return run. But now, it's an excellent ride outside of that whole "physically cannot run more than one train" bit.

Seeing that you're going on a weekday in the summer, you will not need Fast Lane to ride the coasters. However, If you're wanting to do every single major attraction at Oceans of Fun in the short time you will be in that park, then you will need Fast Lane. The only reason to buy Fast Lane during a summer weekday is for Oceans of Fun. You will be able to get all of Worlds of Fun's major coasters done in just a couple hours. Doing all of Oceans of Fun attractions with typical crowd levels would take a good amount of time. It just depends on where your priorities are. If you only plan on doing a few things at OOF, forget about Fastlane. If you want to experience most of what OOF offers and still have plenty of time at WOF, then you will need Fast Lane. It's also worth mentioning that if Oceans of Fun is still doing reservations, then the slide wait times will be rather short. I didn't go last season, so I wouldn't personally know. But I've seen many people mention that the crowds were actually manageable for once. Though, the website makes no mention of reservations, so it looks like it will be back to the usual crowd levels. It's probably best to judge whether you will need Fast Lane once you get there. There's no need to buy ahead of time since they never seem to sell out of Fast Lane each day.

The son of the owner mentioned on a reddit post regarding the ride (or it was on instagram, my memory is failing me at the moment) that the reasoning behind the paint job not being finished is due to the cold, as paint sometimes doesn't apply very well when its absurdly cold out. They plan on fully painting the ride once it has been assembled.

Made a quick visit this evening to snag a few night rides. I didn’t originally plan on visiting, but the app listed every ride including Mystic River Falls as a zero minute wait. Considering I haven’t experienced that ride yet, I couldn’t pass up such a short wait. In short, it did not disappoint. It’s a gorgeous ride and is incredibly fun if you enjoy water rides. If you don’t… well, you better avoid the thing. I’ve never gotten more drenched on a water ride before. The rapids did a good job at soaking my lower half and the splashdown at the end sent a massive wall of water over the seat backs that ensured I didn’t have a single dry spot left on me. Head to toe, I was completely soaked. It also seemed to be operating very well today. Lots of boats on the circuit and it didn’t appear to shut down the whole time I was there. The fact that few people were riding probably helped. Everything else went well too. I was able to get all coasters + MRF within 45 minutes of being in the park. Yes, all coasters were running one train, but they were often waiting for people to ride, so there is absolutely no need for multi train ops. A little note, it would appear that Powder Keg only has one train now. I noticed from the brake run when going by the maintenance shed that there were no other trains in there. Though, I know that they often do maintenance work to prepare for the Christmas season, so the other train (or trains) may be off getting worked on. I imagine the situation is similar at other coasters.

Christmas season still seems to be fine when it comes to operations. It's pretty much one of the few times of the year that you'll have a good chance at seeing rides running at high capacity.

I can't really fault the park on the operations situation. From what I understand from a few conversations with some employees there, they legitimately do not have the staff to run more than one train. And this was a problem before the pandemic too. I don't know if it's a Missouri law or just park policy, but they have to have a high number of ride ops stationed at each ride to run multiple trains. That's a common policy at parks, but SDC seems to struggle with it more than other parks in the region. It also seems that the park is prioritizing having more rides open at low capacity instead of closing some rides and having those ops help run select rides at a higher capacity. With the employment situation for SDC having no signs of improvement, it's just become an expectation to see rides routinely running just one train. At least the ride ops themselves are incredibly fast and get trains sent out pretty quickly, keeping the lines moving at slightly higher than a snails pace. .

I'm looking forward to whatever comes of this project! As much as I enjoy FITH, I'd rather they replace it with something new and high quality than just keep it running in its dilapidated, worn out state just for the sake of nostalgia. As long as the new version or replacement has immersive theming and a fun storyline, then I feel it's a worthy replacement. I don't understand the "SDC is turning into six flags" cries because of the removal of old attractions. Sure it's sad to see them go, however SDC puts a lot of thought into whatever replaces them so it doesn't feel like the park has lost anything, rather they gain something. Take Mystic River Falls for example. Much like FITH, Lost River was in a terrible state. I imagine they'd have to spend almost as much as a new attraction to get it back into a good state. But they chose to replace it and improve the experience that it provided. Aside from reliability, Mystic River Falls improves upon Lost River in almost all categories. Better theming, more creative storyline, more exciting ride experience etc. I imagine the same will be for whatever replaces FITH. It'll stick to the principles the parks has had for attractions since the beginning. The park still cares about making an immersive experience for guests. It's far from becoming Six Flags over Branson like some are saying. I'm yet to see SDC just slap a generic flat ride on a pad of concrete and call it a day. Change is hard for some, but I have faith in SDC to create an attraction that provides memories for future visitors just like FITH has for all who have visited by now.

Shame that you found prowler to be so rough. Surprising to hear that since I found the ride to be running the best it has been since it opened the last two seasons. It has ran incredibly fast and the track work in the helix, drop, and a few other spots really helped the ride become more re-ridable. I never found the ride to be rough, but it certainly had days where it had this annoying vibration. But it's been many season's since I've had that experience. I agree on Timberwolf though. It's gone from one of the most uncomfortable wooden coasters in the region to one of the smoothest in the span of just a few years. Yes, the trims are annoying. Yes, I do miss the super aggressive airtime it used to have (at least it still has that one hill after the "new" turn). But, it's been turned into something more people can actually enjoy. If it weren't for the height requirement, it would easily fulfil the family-thrill coaster gap in the park's coaster collection.

While I'm not completely a fan of removing 3 thrill rides in favor of mostly children's rides, considering how much open land they have within the park, I can't say that it's completely a bad move. They really didn't have a ton of children's rides. And the few they do have seem to be down for maintenance more than actually running. I'm mostly sad to lose Falling Star as that was a surprisingly fun ride and one of the last remaining. Though, I'm quite a fan of the placement of the new Rockin' Rainbow ride. Having a wave swinger right at the end of their main street area will look incredible. It's no giant castle or anything, but it's certainly better than the giant plot of nothingness that sits there now.

I last visited in 2017, and I remember the park closing ride queues a good bit of time before the park actually closes. I will be visiting this coming weekend and was curious if they still did that. I can't really remember what time they would close the queues either... Is there a general rule of thumb to go by to help make sure I make it into the queue before it closes?

It looks like an excellent dive coaster and a great fit for the park! Rather unique layout too. Should really set itself apart from the other dive coasters, considering how similar they all feel. I'm also loving the textured paint on the supports, kind of making them look like copper / iron pipe. Helps fit the steampunk theme.

Frontier City - July 21, 2021 It had been roughly a year since my last visit to any park. Up until now, my most recent park visits were Adventureland and Mt. Olympus (which I might make trip report reflecting back on my experiences there if I can gather enough pics to make a decent TR). That trip was at the very end of July into early august of 2020. I would've had more park trips in the Fall and Winter of 2020 as well as some in Spring of 2021, but luck was absolutely NOT on my side as it seemed freak ice storms, floods, and other complications seemed to arise right before my trips. But thankfully, I was able to pull this visit off without any problems! Even though Frontier City is my home park (still a 2.5 hr drive from me, though), it was still very exciting to be back in the park after such a long time away from any park, despite having visited here way too many times to count. Frontier City has an interesting history as it has been passed around by different owner and operators like a game of hot potato. The park has gone from being an independent park, to being owned and by quite a few different companies, large and small, as well as being acquired by Six Flags, sold, then reacquired by Six Flags once again. Unfortunately, after Six Flags dropped the park the first time, it saw many operational complications and the quality of the park tanked. Thankfully, after some changes in management in the early 2010s the quality of the park improved greatly through different refurbishment projects around the park, steps to improve guest experience, and greatly improved ride operations. In 2018, we saw six flags purchase the operating rights to the park. Many locals, including myself were concerned that the park may return to the dreadful state it was in the first time Six Flags got their hands on the park. Luckily, the exact opposite has happened. Six Flags has poured so much time, energy, and resources into improving the park. From investing in park infrastructure, adding more food options, and even adding theming, it has done so much to increase the quality of the park. However, it is by no means a perfectly operated park. They still have things that need adressed, but nothing that will drastically impact your experience in the park. Enough with the general information about the park, lets get into my visit!. I arrived roughly an hour after the park opened. No wait to get into the parking lot this time. That was a good sight to see after hearing from some friends that the line to get into the parking lot has been absurd this season. Guests arriving into the park are greeted by a view of one of the park's best investments of all time. No, not Diamondback. The shade structure that was recently added to Diamondback's station. No more roasting in the scorching Oklahoma sun while waiting to ride! However, we were also greeted by very broken Diamondback. Not an uncommon sight the last few seasons. If it says anything about its reliability, despite Frontier City being my home park, it has been over 3 years since I have been able to ride Diamondback. It's either completely closed all day, or it will open for a short span of time either in the morning or evening, and proceed to close for the day after just a few cycles. The thing makes Lightning Rod seem reliable. I'm not too pressed about missing out on it again. I just can't enjoy Arrows like this in the way other enthusiasts do. I'd much rather spend my time riding the incredible and smooth Schwarzkopf looper on the other side of the park. Though, if you've traveled to the park specifically to get this credit, I can totally understand the frustration of missing out on it. Alright, let's head into the park! First stop, like in many parks, is security. It's worth noting that they're still using the walkthrough bag scanning / metal detector machines they installed last year for covid. But any large bags will still get checked by hand. Right off the bat, you will start to notice surprisingly high quality landscaping and attention to detail. This right here is one of the park's strengths. What they may lack in ride and coasters, they make up for with presentation. And boy are they good at it. Well, for the most part... There are some parts of the park that look pretty drab, but they're few and far between. If you need to purchase tickets, you'll head to the small building in the front. If not, you'll head towards the large entrance building which also doubles as the park's main giftshop. Inside this building is also the entrance to Diamondback. Thanks to the terrain of the park and the positioning of the coaster, you'll only have to walk up some ramps and two flights of stairs as opposed to the long climb up other Arrow Shuttle Loops. After exiting the giftshop, you'll enter the park's beautifully themed and landscaped Mainstreet area. If you head straight, you'll see the entrance to Fort Frontier. This is home to two restaurants, some smaller shops, an arcade, one of the park's stages, and access to the main theatre of the park. I didn't see any shows this visit, but Frontier City's shows are very high quality with some cool set designs and impressive talent. My personal favorite show is the Gunfighter show the park runs regularly throughout the day. I'll speak more on that in a bit. Looking back towards the main entrance If you head to the right, you'll find the park's Sally dark ride, Quickdraw, Mystery River Log Flume, and the park's zipline attraction which uniquely runs directly over Mainstreet. It was the last addition to the park before Six Flags came in. It used to cost only a few bucks to ride, but I'm certain the price has likely increased. Quickdraw may have an impressive facade, but the immersion and detail does not continue inside the ride. Though, it was one of the earlier Sally designs, so I can understand why it may be of lesser quality. Some new theming adjacent to Quickdraw, likely covering some maintenance / infrastructure stuff. Mystery River Log Flume is one of my personal favorite flumes. It's also sporting a refurbished and redesigned dark ride section for this season. Capacity is really poor on this ride as they only seem to be loading 4 logs. Though, I personally feel it's worth the wait for the theming alone. This flume features two drops and some interesting pseudo-rapids sections. Another angle of the final and largest drop. If you head the left in Mainstreet, you'll come across Timber Town, the first attraction Six Flags has added. It features some cute theming, and some awesome play structures for children. If I was still kid, I'd likely love this area with all the things you can explore and climb. This area is also home to the park's newest coaster, Frankie's Mine Train. It is a standard Zamperla kiddie coaster. And yes... adults can ride. It wouldn't be a Six Flags without a Super Loop... At least its sorta themed. Adjacent to Brain Drain is the park's Member Lounge. This is also where you pick up your member skip-the-line passes. Steel Lasso is the park's Vekoma suspended family coaster. It was added in 2008 and remains the park's only major coaster that wasn't relocated here. It used to be the only original coaster here until Frankie's Mine Train opened, replacing Wild Kitty which came from Elitch Gardens. It's a fun and enjoyable ride. It serves its purpose of being a great family coaster. Though, it did have the longest line in the park due to some pretty slow operations. It would usually go 5-10 minutes between dispatches. Even though there weren't more than a few thousand people in the park, that was still enough to create a pretty lengthy wait. I will say, it is a very well presented ride! The real star of the show here is Silver Bullet. Aside from being an excellent ride, it has some pretty interesting history to it. It debuted in Germany as the very first transportable looping coaster made by Schwarzkopf. This is evident from the sharper transitions and differences in profiling compared to other Looping Star layouts. It was also the only Schwarzkopf transportable looper to run the 1st generation Looping Speedracer trains. It's the last remaining operating Looping Speedracer train now that Revolution at SFMM and Sooperdooperlooper at Hershey Park have had their trains replaced. Little bit of history for ya. Silver Bullet was running incredible this visit. It was butter smooth (I mean, its a Schwarzkopf, so that's expected) and running faster than I've ever experienced it running. I don't believe it ever closed for maintenance issues this visit either. It's good to see that as it's had some struggles the last few seasons. It still remains one of my all time favorite looping coasters. Though, aesthetically, the ride is not doing well. You can see patches of practically every color scheme the ride has had since day 1 of being on the German fair circuit. The trains are in poor condition as most of the lap bars are completely wrapped in duct tape, some of the headrests are completely broken, a lot of the grab bars are bent, and there are a lot of cracks in the fiberglass. It would be sad to see these historic trains go, but I personally would like to see Six Flags add their custom Schwarzkopf trains to this ride. That would also add the second train this ride so desperately needs for busier days. But even in its current state, it still remains a super photogenic ride. Wildcat is the park's wooden coaster and seems to be the crowd favorite coaster. A little bit about the history of the ride... Wildcat has undergone a major refurbishment for this season. This has brought the ability to now run two trains. This is the new red train in action. Despite the higher crowd level, Wildcat was still running just one train. Here's the old blue train, sitting in the maintenance bay all sad and lonely, wanting to be a part of the fun. Though, going by appearances, you wouldn't be able to tell there was a major investment made to the ride as a lot of the ride looks pretty dilapidated. But the ride runs a lot better than it looks. There may be no airtime or exciting drops on the ride, it still is a fun ride. Though, the turnaround section offers some pretty violent laterals. I don't know how those 6 seater PTC cars handle that element so well. Also, the ride's very forested setting makes for an excellent night ride. Though, the park isn't open after dark very often. Oh and they show you all the wooden coasters you'd much rather be riding while you're waiting in the station. Working our way from Wildcat to Renegade Rapids. The buildings straight ahead and slightly to the right are on the backside of the Gunfighter Show. This is one of the park's most iconic and popular attractions. It runs regularly throughout the day and has a different script in the evening closer to closing. It features lots of guest interaction, some SDC like comedy, impressive stunts, fire, explosions, and a splashy finale that will soak any audience members not underneath the roof of the seating area. More new theming. Continuing from Wildcat, you'll come to Renegade Rapids, their Hopkins rapids ride. Aside from the concrete trough and theming, it has essentially been completely rebuilt over the last few years. It features some rather well themed sections and a small drop towards the end of the ride that will likely drench one unlucky rider in each boat. There are some water features added this season after said drop that will ensure the ones spared by the drop will still get plenty wet. They used to have gravestones in here throwing shade at all of the park's previous owners and making fun of their failures. Not surprisingly, Six Flags quickly removed them. One of the prettiest parts of the park. Best ride sign for some bumper cars? This building used to house a Pinfari coaster, but now it's often used for fright fest. Two closed flat rides. Not entirely sure if its staffing or mechanical. Gunslinger is a Zamperla Power Surge after all, so it's likely down due to mechanical issues. I'm not used to seeing sidewinder closed, however. Well that concludes my trip report of my recent visit to Frontier City. Overall, I do enjoy this park a lot. It sets itself apart from the other Six Flags parks which is something I can greatly appreciate. I was afraid it would lose its identity after Six Flags reacquired the park. But that's not the case. Its a gorgeous park, extremely clean, and the employees are some of the most friendly and efficient out of the Six Flags parks I've been too. I wouldn't go out of my way to visit it if it weren't my home park, but if you find yourself near the park sometime, I'd encourage you to check it out. You can experience most of the park in just a few hours given it's not absurdly busy.

*EDIT*: Mystic River Falls has reopened today. For anyone visiting the park soon and were hoping to ride Mystic River Falls, you may be out of luck. According to some posts in a Facebook SDC Passholder Group (I’d share screenshots of the posts, but I’m not sure if that’s against forum rules), the ride experienced an incident yesterday involving a raft nearly overturning on or at the bottom of the first drop. But the exact details involving the incident aren’t clear. That may be exaggerated, but there’s no way of knowing. Though, something definitely happened as their app shows MRF as closed for the day and work walls are going up around the ride. So I imagine it’s going to be a while before it’s back in operation. This is not my photo, by the way. It was shared in the Silver Dollar City Season Ticket Holders (Not official) Facebook group.