Jaykethekid

I will be visiting saturday, May 27th, which is memorial day weekend. I have one full day there. I have a feeling that it is going to be extremely packed and will cause quite an issue trying to fit in all the major rides. I have a few questions on how to take the park in. What is the best order to fit in the major coasters, log flume and rapids ride since i love water rides, and the major flats? Ive been dying to ride a mondial top scan, but last i saw, samurai was not operating. That was a while ago. Is it operating now? Are the restraints on any of the coasters not "large rider friendly"? I fit in RMCs, but im not sure what to expect out of Lagoons collection of coasters. How are ride operations and how long should i expect to wait on a busy saturday? Do they have single rider lines or fast passes? Are there any hidden gems in the park i cant miss? So yeah, a lot of my questions will deal with the crowds. Ill be getting there right at opening so that might be the best time to get the major coasters in. Any help and advice is appreciated, thanks.

[attachment=0]1nqbcm.jpg[/attachment] Why is it changed to 2018 though? That rumor has always been for 2018 if i remember right. Though, i got a feeling 2018 is probably going to be an off year. I think our best luck for a large new addition will be 2019+.

Mustang Runner is great! Possibly the best troika I've ridden. Cars swing up at or past 90 degrees. I also have to say it has a hilarious ride spiel. "Saddle up riders,(usual ride spiel stuff), yeehaw". I'd also like to note how awesome mamba is running. It just flies through the mid course. Train 3 was the fastest, I've never felt anything like it ever. Pretty strong airtime on the return trip. I really hope they run it like that the whole season because that possibly places it back in my top 5!

Well on Friday, the arms were lifting up and down slowly. Was it a full blown test of a normal ride cycle, or just a simple motion to break the ride in?

Although i could not make it out to pass holder preview day, i took advantage of a day off from school and made it out to opening day yesterday. I want to say i had one of the best visits to the park i've ever had. Briefly, id like to describe some of the things that i thought were awesome. The new entrance is great. There is now permanent metal detectors right before you enter the entrance plaza. The new international plaza looks great! Though, it is kind of empty. It would look a bit better if they threw in some benches and maybe a bit more landscaping. Either way, the process to enter the park was quick and painless! Being opening day, there was quite a few rides not operating. Timberwolf was closed and had a train stopped on the lift and the brake run. Viking Voyager was closed all day, and Fury of The Nile opened around 5:00 that evening. Zulu was down all day, but we saw it test a few times. Both the new rides were closed and doing some very minor testing. Mustang Runner looks good to go, but Falcons Flight is far from opening. Even the fencing around the ride was a mess. Not sure if its complete or not, but the painting on it was extremely sloppy. Ride operations for the most part were pretty good! All the coasters were running two trains. Patriot has an interesting procedure where as the ride ops are checking the restraints, the op at the panel says "ready", "ready ready", or 'ready ready ready" depending on where the other train is on the circuit. It really helped speed up the process! But just like on all the other rides, they wait way too long to open the gates. Mamba had a great crew in the later half off the day! There was absolutely no stacking. Even the new ride ops were hustling to check restraints. Prowler, i will say, did not have good operations. All the ops were easily distracted, but they were all new. They were pushing 5 minute dispatches all day. Boomerang ironically had the best operations. They would open the gates right as the restraints unlocked and left them open for about 10 seconds. Then, the ride ops checked restraints quickly and got most trains out in under 1 minute! Also, there was a lot of new wood on prowler. The top layer was replaced on most high force sections excluding the drop. It really helped smooth out the ride and it seemed to give it some more speed! I had one of the best ride ive had on it yesterday while it was raining. It was flying through the ride! I left some space with my lap bar and seatbelt and i was flying all over the place. I was even riding in a middle row. One thing id also like to mention is that every employee we encountered was extremely friendly! Food service was still not the best, but ive experienced worse at Six Flags parks. From ride ops, to gift shop employees and those at the front gate, they were very nice! It honestly made me feel i wasn;t at Worlds of Fun! Overall, i think this is going to be a great year for the park, and i cant wait to see how the new entrance and rides hold up over time!

I'm not sure we'd see a 1950's gas station / mechanic shop theme here at SDC Though, I'm sure the theme will be something unique! The size of this project is very peculiar. It does seem like it will be a large, but compact-ish coaster. Would it be wrong of me to say this could possibly be an American Taron?

I like how they have in a way "themed" these rides. I wouldn't say they are heavily themed at all, but they have a feel to them, an environment, or in simple terms, a vibe. Mustang Runner does have a nice western feel because of the wooden railing, colors, and entrance sign. Falcons Flight looks to have a nice medieval feel because of the stonework on the sign and the patterns on the shade structure behind the logo. Overall, i'm quite pleased with these new additions. I expect that they will really liven up the areas around them!

Overall, Timber Wolf is probably in better shape than when you last rode it. That said, it is only two seasons into a planned four year restoration project. The first drop to just before the upward helix has been rebuilt and is smooth. The helix was to be redone this off season, but the project was put on hold apparently, so nothing else has been done as of now. The helix is definitely in need of work and is currently the roughest part of the ride. Hopefully the restoration work will continue the next off season. I wonder if it was placed on hold due to the Ghostrider renovation. I know GCI is handling the retracking, so I'm curious if WoF is debating whether or not to get the full Ghostrider treatment--full retrack + Millennium Flyers. On that point, could MFs work on the parts already retracked, or if they would need to be retracked as well. Wof is probably considering all of that. On the other hand, I wonder if the retracking budget was instead placed into the two "new" attractions this year + revamped entrance. I remember hearing during a Q&A session a couple years back that the park was considering Millennium Flyers for TimberWolf. That was two years ago though. If I were in charge, that would for sure be my 2018 plan. It really is a great ride layout (I'd argue even stronger than GhostRider). It just really needs some love. It doesn't even need much more work outside of the helix, after that, the ride is at least bareable. I think the addition of Millennium Flyers would be great, and the removal of the god awful double trim brake would be even better!

I know right? When they said new entrance I was super scared they were going to go with one of those modern entrances like at Cedar Point and Carowinds. I hate those entrances, this one looks classic and welcoming. Not only that, but the architecture is very pleasing to the eye. It has a lot more detail than I'd expect from Cedar Fair since they have an unhealthy addiction to plain concrete. My only concern is the lack of trees in that area, especially to the left of the new entrance as your looking at it outside the park. It looks quite empty, but I'm sure the great landscaping team that WOF has will do something about that!

That entrance balloon looks fantastic! Best looking part of the entrance for sure!

I was wondering the same thing. It is probably the part of the ride that needed retracking the most from a rider comfortability standpoint.

I'm aware this thread sometimes doubles as a Branson discussion thread, so I feel it's appropriate to post this here. We were driving down the step and we noticed that a new alpine coaster is being built on the former site of the Chute water slide. This one, unlike the first one to open in the area, is a wiegand model. I wasn't sure if it was announced yet or not, but according to someone on Facebook, it has been. It looks like it will be a very unique experience due to the small space. It looks to have two lifts, one in the middle of the ride and at the end. It's easier to understand when you see the blueprint.

I'll have to check them out today. Are they any longer or are they shorter?

Part of me really hopes they leave it like this. One of the slightly annoying things about Thunderation is the long walk through all of the unnecessary switchbacks. I agree the switchbacks are unnecessary, but I feel like walking through the switchbacks is part of the tradition of riding TNT and I am actually sad that they aren't using them. I mean, the walk down those switchbacks was peaceful, and kinda made it feel that TNT was even more "out in the woods" than it is, but they're not needed now. Besides, it was more so a large ramp for high speed little kids to cut you in line than just switchbacks. But who knows, they could come back once the 2018 project is finished.

From what the area looks like and the rumored cost, it will be much bigger. The park has said its gonna be their biggest investment ever, so its likely to be quite the project!

No one knows for sure, but it's being hinted as their biggest addition ever. ^When a park makes a minor decision to take something as insignificant as a wall down. This is how the coaster community responds, because we all know what's best for the park more than the engineers, designers, management, corporate finance, etc. I wasn't saying that because "I know what's best", because I don't. All I was saying is that it's an unusual change that's gonna make the entrance area look very different. I was just trying to think of a reason why they'd do it. No harm in that Back on topic, does anyone know if most Missouri schools are on spring break this week, or will be next week? I went on my spring break last year and we had about 1 hour waits on everything. From what I've heard from friends in the area, a few were off this week. Also, has anyone checked out the new taco restaurant? Saw a few photos of it online and it looks really good!

Not sure how i feel about the wall being gone behind the logo. It looks nice, but at the same time a little empty. I couldn't tell in the photo, but is the area around the logo any different? I wonder if its to prevent crowd congestion through that old archway. That wild mountain thing is quite interesting. It would be quite odd if they used the ride name in the teaser. Maybe its just to hint at an overall theme? I dont know about you, but that sign on that fence makes me want to look over the fence

Frontier City rarely has a line above 5 minutes on most weekdays and weekends. Even during their Halloween event, the longest line will be 45 minutes on Wildcat since it has a very low capacity. All the other rides are 30 minutes or less because they have really good operations!

Couldn't have said it any better! There is just so much extra you can do here than at most other parks. Even when I visit for a rather long time, I still can't fit everything in! There is just so much good food, shows, and tiny, but awesome attractions like Grandfathers Mansion. They've thought of everything when developing this park. I know there are some people who don't like the direction the park is going because they've removed some classic theming and attractions around the park, but even the worst of SDC is better than 90% of the park's in this country.

The only one ive been on is Gunslinger at Frontier City. Its a very disorienting and violent ride, but not to the point it isnt re-rideable. It has very strong g forces in all directions. They ride the best if you're not balanced. It offers some great laterals, hangtime, and airtime. Also, you can good some good foot choppers here and there with the main arm of the ride!

I really hope they don't go with top dog or anything like it. I feel that the current name rumors have came straight from some 6 year old's Nolimits coaster videos on YouTube. In other words, I just feel the names are just a little basic. I just hope it's something better than what's been rumored so far.

If they cut down a ton more trees for the ride, I'm sure it will be like Outlaw Run's plaza. When it opened, it lacked a lot of shade and greenery, but now, it feels just as wooded as the rest of the park. Each little update for this ride takes any expectations of the ride from previous updates and obliterates them. This is one of the few rides that's been built where I have absolutely no idea what to expect!

All though I don't visit much around then, I'd expect a crowd. Would you be visiting on a weekend? If so, then there could be some decent wait times. If you ask me, I'd do powder keg first since it always gets a hefty line even on slow days. Then go to Outlaw Run, Wildfire, Fire in The Hole, and Thunderation.

Thanks for all the tips! I can't wait to check the park out. It looks like a really enjoyable place! Last question. I'm guessing operations are a little less than stellar, but not awful?

So I will be making my first visit here this summer. How busy will a Monday and Tuesday be during July? I know that closer to holidays would be more busy. I would be visiting for only one day, but I do some photography so I want plenty of time to get lots of photos and a good deal of rides in. I haven't done much research in this park, but it looks quite comparable to Worlds of Fun. I'm guessing the majority of the crowds will be at the water park? Also, is there any hidden gems in the park that you just can't miss?