LiftThrill

After a fantastic day at Silver Dollar City, we took a day off to make the 6 hour drive to Indiana. We considered stopping at SFStL but nothing there really called and I hadn't brought my SF pass, so we plowed on through. Slept at a family friend's house (the first of two in the tri-state area), and the next morning we were up and ready to make the 1 hour drive to Holiday World. I had heard great things about this park and between the free drinks, cheap admission, waterpark, and ride collection, I can agree that this is pretty much the gold standard in terms of bang for your buck. It made paying the upcharge for pizza so much more bearable because you know that you didn't already spend a billion dollars on admission, fastpasses, drinks, lоckers, etc (although we did get lоckers but they felt cheaper because of how little we paid for everything else) Our original plan was to head to The Legend, then hit Voyage and Thunderbird, then do the waterpark and then hit Raven late in the day. However, when we got there, Legend and T-bird were displayed as opening late, so we instead headed to The Voyage first. It was also down, but we waited about 45 minutes to an hour for it to open back up, and finally it did (Legend was still down though I think T-bird opened up while we were waiting. Not sure). First ride we went for the front row. This ride is definitely the best in the park (coaster-wise), but I'll give my opinions a little later. Voyage was fun but a little rough, so to relax we went to Gobbler Getaway. Such a silly shooter ride, similar to Scooby Doo @ SFFT. I did terribly, but at least my final score was 420 so I can say I did it on purpose After Gobbler Getaway we went to Thunderbird only to be greeted with a long line (the first of the trip, mind you). It only took around 30 minutes in the end but hey, that was pretty much the longest we waited all day. Thunderbird was my first wing coaster so I didn't have much comparison but I will say the front row is the only place to sit here. Our first lap we went to the front left wing and it was a ton of fun. Later in the day we went back for more laps and the front right wing is definitely the best place to sit. I'll give my thorough opinion later. At this point we went to The Legend which had a decent line (20-ish minutes). I hadn't ridden the original so I can't compare, but I will say that I wasn't a big fan. It had a good sense of speed, but the laterals were pretty much all left-bound and it ended up being pretty meh. Still a fun coaster but not something we went back for another ride on. I'll give a little more detailed review later. After The Legend we went to go check if The Raven had a line, but it was closed so we went and got swimsuited to go to Splashin Safari. First ride at the waterpark was Mammoth (because it has longer lines). The line was 45 minutes to an hour. This is a great ride, and I'll give my opinion in a bit. The next ride was Wildebeest which is even better than Mammoth imo. So much fun. We waited about 20-25 minutes for this. Again, I'll give my official statement on this in a bit. After that we were trying to get out of the waterpark without scalding our feet (because we're stupid enough to not bring flip flops lol) and decided to give one of the Ottowhatever slides a try. We went for Otto because it had the shortest line. It was really short, but again I'll drop my opinion on it later. The final new ride of the day was The Raven. I'd heard this was up there with the top woodies in the world though in the lower half. Spoiler alert: eehhhh.... After two laps on The Raven (front and back), we went back and did Thunderbird two more times and then got in line for The Voyage again. And then Voyage broke down again so we waited an hour for it to go back up by sitting around talking to the ops and looking through the store. Rode in the back this time. Super fun ride to end the day on. Coaster Reviews: The Voyage - Wow. Very smooth for a woodie this size, so much intensity and ridiculous amounts of strong floater air combined with mild ejector. The bliss lasts forever too. The midcourse does sort of kill the momentum and the triple down would be glorious untrimmed, but that doesn't matter because this ride is amazing either way. Fantastic. Thunderbird - Three laps decided that the front right wing is the place to sit. Super smooth, actually pretty forceful, great launch, great theming, basically just a ton of fun (and the hangtime at the end is hilarious too). I love this ride. Easily the second best in the park. The Legend - We only rode once in the front, but there was no desire to come back. Wasn't really all that rough but the laterals started to get annoying. All this ride is is left, left, left from all those right turns. I prefer The Boss's helix because it's super strong left and then a dose of right before hitting the brakes. This ride is just sort of meh. It was fun, but nothing to write home about in any way. The Raven - The layout of this ride is great. Tons of potential for great airtime, but this ride was ruined for me by one thing: roughness. Holy crap this thing is rough and needs retracking badly. It's about as rough as The Boss and has a better layout as well as better trains, but holy jackhammering Batman, this thing needs some serious work. Still placed decently due to the layout, but if this were smoother it'd easily be a top 5 woodie for me. I actually ended up placing it underneath Boss because I came off with a headache both times whereas The Boss I only came off with my hands hurting from holding on so tight. Since it's equally rough in almost every seat I'd recommend riding in the back non-wheel seat because then you get the airtime with a little less jackhammering. Water Ride Reviews: Mammoth - Great water coaster. Tons of airtime and fun tunnels. Would be about ten times better if they didn't try to blind you with water jets everywhere. Wildebeest - I love this thing. Totally would have ridden again if the line hadn't doubled in size by the time we got off. Amazing waterslide airtime, tons of drops, tunnels, and unlike Mammoth they want you to actually see what's going on here. This is my new favorite water ride. Otowhatever Otto Slide - Fun little slide. it does a helix and then a drop, and that's about it, but the drop really is great and has decent airtime. Scorecard for the day: The Voyage x2 Thunderbird x3 The Legend x1 The Raven x2 (Gobbler Getaway, Wildebeest, Mammoth, and Otto) x1 each Here's where my top ten stood before visiting Holiday World: 1. New Texas Giant (SFOT) 2. Outlaw Run (SDC) 3. Iron Rattler (SFFT) 4. ShockWave (SFOT) 5. Switchback (ZDT's) 6. Powder Keg (SDC) 7. Mr Freeze Reverse Blast (SFOT/SFStL) 8. Wildfire (SDC) 9. Superman: Krypton Coaster (SFFT) 10. American Thunder (SFStL) Here's where it stood after visiting Holiday World: 1. New Texas Giant (SFOT) 2. Outlaw Run (SDC) 3. Iron Rattler (SFFT) 4. The Voyage (HW) 5. ShockWave (SFOT) 6. Switchback (ZDT's) 7. Powder Keg (SDC) 8. Mr Freeze Reverse Blast (SFOT/SFStL) 9. Wildfire (SDC) 10. Thunderbird (HW) Now for some pictures (sorry about no waterpark pictures, my phone is sadly not waterproof so I left it in my lоcker with my pants) Coasters! Good morning Raven! I spy a Voyage waiting to be embarked on! ...but is currently not available to be embarked on. There were some weird issues with the brakes but they got them fixed eventually. Great ride, it's like Switchback's big brother and even looks it. Obligatory blurry PETA grandma shot Did I mention how massive The Voyage looks? It's a Thunderbird! Legend with some sleek new wood. Maybe GCI needs to do some retracking on The Raven instead. Random Legend geek shot Fun but not really rerideable. You've ruffled my feathers one too many times! I'm going to make this ride ten times rougher than it was before! Haaahaaahahahahaha!! It's about as rough as The Boss Unlike The Boss, Raven has airtime. Plus you don't have to wait in line for it. The two ride very similarly though. We left the park to move our swimsuits out of lоckers into the car. Two awesome coasters in one badly photographed picture. Sorry, my phone camera is garbage lol Thunderbird looks nice. I'm a fan of the less saturated colors on roller coasters (i.e Wildfire) Voyage peeking through the trees. Last ride of the day (but only after it broke down again)

I'd agree with you in the front row, but the back row on Gemini was one of the worst experiences I've had on a coaster. It felt like my guts were being put through a trash compactor.

At the time I rode it, it was my #2, between NTaG and IRat. I will say that after the trip was said and done that it stayed in my top ten. Speaking of which I need to start working on the HW part of this TR.

What about a coaster inside of the cave???? In all seriousness, whatever the park adds will pretty much be a guaranteed hit. Everything at the park is awesome.

If Mean Streak was at SFFT I'd ride it all the time. It would be a middle tier ride there, the same way it's a bottom tier ride at CP. It's all by comparison. Although I don't get why people would take reprofiling and trim removal over an RMC conversion. Sure CP is lacking a good (big) wooden coaster but MS's layout is pretty meh in terms of what banking and reprofiling could do, and it probably wouldn't become a top ten woodie or coaster because of that. On the other hand, the structure is near identical to Texas Giant's, and NTaG is an amazing ride. I feel like an RMC would be different enough from Maverick, and with Mean Streak's structure you could easily cook up another top ten steel coaster for the park. As much as I'd love to see a new topper track coaster built over MS's structure (like a wooden I-box conversion) I doubt that'll happen, and I'd take a top ten steel over an average woodie any day. Sure, CF has been working with GCI quite a bit, but MS is a /little/ on the large side of what GCI would want to work on I would think.

I'd rank the mine trains I've been on (that I remember) something like this: Road Runner Express (SFFT) Thunderation (SDC) Adventure Express (KI) ----big gap---- Runaway Mine Train (SFOT) River King Mine Train (SFStL) Cedar Creek Mine Ride (CP) The SFOT mine train has really painful lift hill "chugs" but the layout is great. CCMR and RKMT are both decent but RKMT is more fun and the drop is better. CCMR is pretty boring compared to the others. As for the top mine trains, RRE is my favorite mine train. I love the cliff setting and the power of the airtime when you ride in the back (and the one airtime hill in the front). Thunderation had a better sensation of speed, but it didn't have nearly the out of control feeling that RRE has during airtime moments. Adventure Express is pretty good too, and probably the most dynamic mine train in terms of length, forces, etc, but it did sort of go on a little too long (even though I don't think it's actually that much longer than the others, it felt like it).

The pain was entirely removed in the second row. I think the second row of any car would be equal if that's the case. The front (and apparently the third row) are all stupidly powerful and did hurt a little, but the second row is incredibly smooth and feels like a B&M.

I love the first half of Magnum but by the time the bunny hops come my lap bar is always to tight and it becomes very uncomfortable to be pushed into the lap bar at the top of every hill. Being around 6'3" tall, there are a few rides that most find comfortable and smooth that I don't. Good tip if the airtime on the return trip hurts: the second row of the first car with your seatbelt as tight as you can possibly get it. I found my ride way more comfortable that way although both laps were fun.

Magnum has rough spots, but it has redeeming qualities like EJECTOR AIR!! I mean, if I can say one good thing about MS other than its looks was the short wait The short wait is a good quality. I also liked riding it in the rain. Magnum is another coaster I think is better in certain seats and in certain positions. The ride is very smooth for an Arrow and the bunny hops are hilarious, but without tightening my seatbelt enough it became slightly painful. For me, Mean Streak had no ill effects. I didn't go back for a second ride but I totally would have. It's still one of the more mediocre coasters at CP but a lot of coasters would be.

Boss is a better ride than Mean Streak but it's rough as hell. Mean Streak is actually one of the smoother woodies I've been on, even when I put my back against the seat a few times it wasn't as bad as Raven, Legend, Judge Roy Scream, heck, I'd say Thunderhead is rougher than Mean Streak.

^^Just wondering, what's your opinion of Magnum?

Clearly you didn't ride in the front or lean forward. Seriously, people treat the thing like it's as rough as the Boss and more boring than a kiddie coaster. Mean Streak is fine. Nothing about it is so terrible that it deserves such a bad reputation. Corkscrew is way worse and it's at the same park. Mean Streak may not be a top ten woodie but it's actually really fun. Nothing to write home about but the thing gets ragged on way too much.

^ this is getting waaaay out of hand. Now that the park is being honest about it closing the GP and the media are blowing it way out of proportion. Ugh.

ssshhhh

I was making a GP joke I know coaster trains don't shoot fire out the back when they launch lol

My first mine train was actually BTMR at Magic Kingdom. It might just be that I really got to know RRE since SFFT is my home park but to me the three moments of airtime in the back of RRE really push it up there. Thunderation is a very close 2nd though. In fact, the only coasters I have ranked between the two are Runaway Mountain and Racer at KI (spoiler alert ) Definitely. The stuff was very high quality and similar quality crafts could probably be found for an almost identical (maybe even higher)price outside the park (whereas usually the stuff in the park is way more expensive than the stuff outside). Very cool stuff they do there and just admiring it is fun. More reasons to spend more days there

SDC is awesome. If you completely disregard coasters it was my favorite park of the trip, and all of the coasters they have are awesome. So much fun! I have to convince my buddies from Austin to do a SFOT/SDC trip with me one of these days lol, can't wait to go back!

wait, wooden coasters can have a launch? I thought the fire coming out of the back of the train would burn down the tracks?

I didn't even pay this guy to say that. I promise. I was just about to PM him and ask what kind of blackmail photos you're hiding because nobody in their right mind would say that about Mean Streak! I'll try the riding position and report back on how it goes, including a chiropractor bill if needed. Haha It actually is pretty fun riding in the front row leaning forward. Nothing to write home about but certainly not a bad experience by any means. Very fun.

^Imma just wait for nicman to come and say how much more CW makes than KI and how it deserved Leviathan or whatever I do think KI will get a giga eventually. A GCI sort of fills the ejector airtime void but not really. Thunderhead's airtime is only barely above floater though powerful.

Road Runner Express at SFFT

We finally went out and did a giant coaster trip and it was awesome. So many great coasters, great parks, and great experiences. We had to drive a day to get out of Texas, but on the second day we went to Silver Dollar City. Home to some of the world's best cinnamon bread, skillets, terrain, and roller coasters. As the first park of the trip, SDC really delivered. There's about as much to do non-coasterwise as coasterwise, but both are equally awesome. It was a Saturday so we had budgeted for Trailblazers, and with the Harlem Globetrotter show for Star Spangled summer debuting that day we decided to go for it... which turned out to be sort of worth it considering the price of the passes, but not really worth it because we only used up half of the 8 uses. After hanging around to watch a bit of the morning celebrations, we headed to Outlaw Run. The first coaster of the trip. Iron Rattler's demented wooden fraternal twin brother. After queuing for the front row, it took around 5-10 minutes to get on (station wait and walkons throughout the rest of the train). And what did I think of it? Let's just say it stayed as one of the best new coasters of the trip throughout. I'll go a little more in-depth about it later. After the front row we immediately went around and rode in the back. This ride is seriously amazing. Ridiculous airtime, twisty transitions, and two perfectly-executed barrel rolls in any seat. After that we decided to go for something more mild so we went around to the other side of the park, going in and out of tons of artisan shops. These are really cool; you basically watch these people making handcrafted pottery, glassblowing, woodcarving, you name it. It's really cool and fun to watch. You can also buy a ton of the stuff they've made which is cool. Some of it was ridiculously expensive. After a while we finally made it to Thunderation (at least 3 or 4 stops along the way). Decided to walk on to a random (non-wheel seat) row. This is my second favorite mine train after Road Runner Express @ SFFT. Great speed, laterals, and good pacing. I'll get into this more in my review later. We then decided to go get some cinnamon bread. We actually tried both the cinnamon rolls and the bread throughout the day but I don't remember which we got first. Cinnamon bread is glorious, rolls were great too. The entire park has amazing food and none of it is overpriced or crappy. I kept checking the SDC app to see what the wait times were for Wildfire and Powder Keg, and it turned out that PK had shut down temporarily when we finished the food, so we headed for Wildfire and walked onto the back row. Fantastic looper. The setting makes the ride that much better as well. I'll get into more aspects of this ride later, but we did go back for a reride. Powder Keg had opened back up at this point and the app said that it would be a 25 minute wait. Since we hadn't actually used Trailblazers until this point we decided "screw it let's save the time." Waited a little for the front row. This is my second favorite coaster in the park. Again I'll go into that more later. After that we decided to get some food and went for the skillets which we had noticed earlier. Fantastic food. This stuff is glorious. I think this was the last food we got in the park but it's a little hazy so I'm not totally sure. After that we ended up riding Powder Keg in the back row, Wildfire in the front row, Thunderation in the front row, and Outlaw Run 3 more times. Great solid lineup here. This park rules in pretty much every way. We were going to do the cave but by the time we remembered it was too late and we didn't feel like doing all of the walking down there (this park requires a ton of walking and we were already tired out). Coaster Reviews: Outlaw Run - This is easily the best wooden coaster I've been on, and it was even more exaggerated how much better it was than the other woodies I'd been on at the time I rode it. The first drop is perfect. The crazy banking stuff is hilariously fun. The airtime hills are ridiculously powerful. The sideways bits are awesome. Even the track squeals in laughter when you catch air. The barrel rolls are flawless. The seats are super comfortable. It feels pretty fast, and the terrain usage is awesome. Everything about this ride is amazing. Never too rough (even at its roughest it was smoother than any other woodie I've been on). Thunderation - Fantastic mine train. Not quite as good as Road Runner Express at SFFT imo, but still awesome. It just flies through those trees like nobody's business and has insane laterals through the turns. It builds up so much speed that you forgot that there wasn't a lifthill at the start. The last drop is super fun. This is a great family coaster. Wildfire - This and Powder Keg come really, really close. I ended up preferring Powder Keg but Wildfire is awesome too. The inversions are massive, the ride is buttery smooth, the forcefulness of the ride is very strong (I greyed out a little riding in the back my first time). The terrain interaction and the view from the lifthill are some of the best in the world. Super fun ride. Powder Keg - This ride is incredibly fun. The launch is surprisingly strong, all the hills have powerful airtime, and the sensation of speed is ridiculous. This thing hauls. Insanity. At the time I figured that this was my favorite launch coaster. In retrospect I have to say that this ride feels like Maverick Jr. It doesn't have nearly the intensity of Maverick, but it does everything that Maverick does (except inversions), and it does it all almost as well. Awesome family-esque-but-not-really coaster. Scorecard: Outlaw Run x5 Wildfire x2 Powder Keg x2 Thunderation x2 One of the things I'm going to do with this TR to make it a little more interesting is I'm going to show how my top ten list evolved as this trip went along. Here is where it was at before the trip started: 1. New Texas Giant (SFOT) 2. Iron Rattler (SFFT) 3. ShockWave (SFOT) 4. Switchback (ZDT's) 5. Mr Freeze Reverse Blast (SFOT/SFStL) 6. Superman: Krypton Coaster (SFFT) 7. American Thunder (SFStL) 8. Screamin Eagle (SFStL) 9. The Boss (SFStL) 10. Batman: The Ride (SFOT) After Silver Dollar City, this is what my top ten list looked like: 1. New Texas Giant (SFOT) 2. Outlaw Run (SDC) 3. Iron Rattler (SFFT) 4. ShockWave (SFOT) 5. Switchback (ZDT's) 6. Powder Keg (SDC) 7. Mr Freeze Reverse Blast (SFOT/SFStL) 8. Wildfire (SDC) 9. Superman: Krypton Coaster (SFFT) 10. American Thunder (SFStL) Now for the pictures (and please forgive me for the awful quality of the pictures and for leaving some of them in portrait, my phone is garbage and I took some of these impulsively). These Ozark mountains... So pretty I spy some coasters.... yum We made it! The Harlem Globetrotters were there so here's a picture of their mascot, Globie. Surprisingly the park felt really empty which was nice. I'll make sure not to There she is!!!! Amazing ride Here's a giant cookie that I didn't eat. I did eat a cinnamon roll here, but the cinnamon bread was elsewhere. So much random stuff to see at SDC Lots of artisans doin their thing This is the only part of Thunderation you can actually get a picture of. The rest is hidden in the trees. SKILLETS! The guy working here told me about next year's strata coaster, but I'm not allowed to say anything about it so I'll shut my mouth. This looked really good. Spiraled potato on a stick around a hot dog. I wish I had gotten to try it lol Disk'O party Like many parks, SDC has Dumbo ripoffs So many cool shops fulls of handmade stuff Keep it flowin Maybe they can teach Dollywood a lesson about how to keep their coasters from burning down See, they have the expertise! More laps on Outlaw Run is never a bad thing. What? Healthy food at an amusement park? I call bs! Campfire Skillet Time for some wild fires that are not caused by motors locking up There's a wildfire sticking through the trees, might want to call the firefighters over from Fireman's landing Massive cobra roll. If you want proof look at the random guy in the corner for scale. So smooth and forceful Yes please Just in case Powder Keg rolls back let's throw in a themed back spike. I think some kids got scared off by this though lol No demos here today A talking railroad bucket, because why the hell not Bridging the gap since the 1880s or something idk Hillbilly Build-A-Bear, without the overpricedness More Outlaw Run please Most stagecoaches don't have lap bars. After we left the park we went to Andy's frozen custard. Great stuff.

Awesome! If only I had been able to go a week later, lol

There's no way they actually switch the launch out for a cable. They'll get the kinks worked out eventually but it could take forever with the luck they've been having.

I never said I didn't like the park, I just said I liked it less than the other parks I went to. I've never been to a bad park by any means at least in my opinion.