teacherkim

To echo the others, SV lockers aren't complicated just kind of annoying, you hit lockers first then the metal detector. Do NOT leave the peninsula once you get parked. One of the great perks of staying there is not having to drive back and forth across that damn causeway. In addition to Perkins for a sit down breakfast they also have a take away counter at the front of the restaurant where you can get a few things like muffins and pastries plus there is Starbucks for a light breakfast. Sometimes with FL+ we just grab a muffin/scone/whatever go grab early entry stuff, (now that they've taken anything of interest off of it I would just use early entry to line up for something really good) and then eat an early lunch when a lot of people are running around trying to get as much in the first few hours as they can. You should be able to buy your FL+ at the Breakers check in counter in the lobby. Like Bert said there will be a specific lane when you drive in for people staying at the hotel with a check in toll booth and then another check point right before the parking lot, although that one is not always staffed if you get there very late. Sometimes they do ask for a reservation # so you might want to have that handy. Even if you go right to Gatekeeper for early entry I don't know that walking to the Windseeker gate will be any faster, unless you just prefer the lake view in the morning. Everyone that gets early entry as a pass perk that is not at the hotel will be going in there and the SV people will all go immediately to the right upon entering at the Magnum gate and they usually hold everyone up a bit at a rope drop just past Gemini so the running happens after that.

I hope so, lol, that water coaster has never been open on any of the visits I've ever made to the park. So they might as well use the space for something.

IF it makes you feel any better, not that it necessarily will, it took my son 3 trips to finally get LR. First try was a guy's trip with Grandpa in June of 2018 when he was 15, it taunted him by testing all day but never opening. Second try was an ACE Christmas event in Dec of 2020, masks still in play and a "temporarily lost car key while 500 miles from home" event that has become family legend, no signs of life the entire day. Finally, we went back in May 2021 on his 18th birthday and he got it. We did other things on those trips but still, we logged over 3000 miles on my car going back and forth because it is one of those locations that would take us almost as long to fly as to drive. I mean, it's an awesome coaster and I really love it but it for sure became somewhat of a bogey that we felt compelled to conquer, lol.

While I am fine with it, although I do commiserate with those that still have underage kids that are no problem, I think enforcement will be an issue. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind there will be shenanigans of the "over 21" person coming in with the kids and then leaving half an hour later or just parking themselves on a bench somewhere and having no idea what the kids are doing. Not necessarily all nefarious in nature, I mean think of Grandma coming in and sitting at the water park or in the shade reading while the kids run around and do their thing. The only way I can see this working is if the parks are prepared to unequivocally ban any disruptive teens AND their chaperones if a problem occurs or they are caught violating the policy. They have to be willing to put in the effort to check and be ruthless when people are caught breaking the rule. Plus it only applies after 4 pm, I can hear it now when a bunch of kids are caught at 5 without their chaperone. The Mom on the phone crying that they were on their way, stuck at work, stuck in traffic, Grandma died, etc, etc. Will they still enact a punishment or give a first time warning? What will the "punishment" be? I mean I applaud the parks for making some attempt to get the behaviors under control, and plenty of people will follow the new rules, however I worked in a school for 28 years and I've heard every excuse story in existence and have seen how people back up their kids even when serious rules are broken.

I've always loved the theming of Lost Continent and hope they find a way to keep the unique vibe that it is. Apparently there are some rumors (totally unsubstantiated, I just read a couple online articles) that even after the refurb the plumbing inside the attraction was still an issue. Hopefully they can find a way to put in new attractions that utilize the outside since they just spruced it all up and won't have to bulldoze the buildings and start over. I could see Zelda going in there, I know that has been an on again, off again rumor for a while.

Since they just spent all that time to refurb the façade I wonder if they will use it for whatever the replacement is or if something unexpected happened that caused them to close it earlier than planned.

Actually, no, the country is pretty but after a couple days boring as hell However, it is a shame that the new teen fight club/outrageous behavior to get on social media trend seems to be such an issue everywhere. They are now instituting a chaperone policy for kids under 15 after 4 pm, it's on their web site. Not sure how enforceable this will be but better than doing nothing I guess. To have any chance of working they will have to make some examples if they catch troublesome kids whose over 21's have left them by banning all parties from the park.

Well, thanks. Now I have to go to the one french bakery here and buy Macrons. Tasty tasty love child of a cookie and a piece of cake I'm sure I gained at least a few pounds eating them in Paris when I was there. Glad you enjoyed Paris, it really is a lovely city to explore.

Yes!! A bigger and more permanent home for Tom & Chee, the greatest grilled cheese that ever was or ever will be! I 100% approve. Plus there wasn't a lot of room when a line formed, the old hate chicken spot has a permanent type of line. I was at KI a total of 4 days last year and I don't think the Coney Mall Subway was open on any of them so if they can put it to better use, more power to them.

Still looks like quite a bit of work to go and they have promised it for CoasterCon in late June. Also, the schedule is only showing one ert session for LR, I'm assuming that's a combo of the maintenance team needing extra time each day and hedging their bets in case it goes down. Will be curious to see how it looks by then, I'm guessing operational but still pretty raw.

To everyone that thinks this is a waste of time, as usual we will have to agree to disagree, I have equal conviction doing it slow but well is best. Unless something has changed the artist was hired just for this job so she wouldn't be doing other things at the park anyway. You think no one will care, I know some non theme park people that are interested in it just for the historical/artistic component. A scientific survey has not been conducted so no one knows the true numbers on each side and likely never will. When Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel hardly anyone alive at the time got to go in and see it, and most of the populace at the time probably would have preferred the money be spent on providing food and shelter; but that doesn't make it any less magnificent or worthwhile. Just saying. (And don't everyone jump on me for comparing a carousel to the Sistine chapel......I'm not, just making a point and you all know that)

But by that logic there would never be a reason to update or restore anything. Don't bother painting or cleaning it will just get dinged up and dirty again? Don't pull any weeds in the flower beds because they will just grow back? No need to update bathrooms because a toilet is just a toilet? No reason to repaint coaster track or waterpark slides because the stupid sun will keep shining and just fade them again? No reason to restore historic homes because tourists will just mess them up? Nah, not buying it. The St. Louis Carousel in Faust Park that I mentioned is over a hundred years old, survived a theme park fire, then was restored like 30 years ago and it still looks good, I mean people have wedding photos taken there, although it is inside in a climate controlled building which certainly helps....but still.

Yeah but they are not treating it just as a ride but rather an historic work of art and craftmanship. Which carousel nerds like Bert and history nerds like me really appreciate!

Totally! I was just corroborating your statement that they are lovingly and accurately restoring it. Sorry if that wasn't clear, lol. The local artist that gave us the presentation was so passionate about making the restoration high quality and making each piece truly unique that it was clear they were choosing the longer but better quality path with this. Which I for one am glad they are doing it well rather than fast as possible, although it probably would have been a nice gesture to add a temp cheapo one for practical purposes. However, for locals there are other carousels that can be utilized. Nest time you are in town I do have to take you to Faust Park to see their historic carousel, very close to my house and was originally at the Highlands, an local amusement park that was destroyed by fire in the 60's

Which they are, I already explained the process as it was shown to us so not going to rehash that; but in addition to extensive repair they are making each horse and chariot a completely unique and creative artistic piece.

I wonder if they are going to make an attempt to have the grand opening of the new coaster and the grand re-opening of the carousel on the same day? It would kind of make sense, they are close to each other and geared toward kids/families. Make it a big media event, draw people out for the second half of the summer.

Trying to compare what people spend money on isn't generally helpful. It really has nothing to do with the amount, it's what is a priority to you. Comparing a Cardinals game with a Six Flags day only works if you love both equally, most people will have a preference of one over the other. Same with whether or not you consider the park rundown or not, that is subjective and totally a matter of perspective. I don't know that I want them to spend the money to rip out the parking lot and start over BUT I do agree the flow could be improved fairly easily. For example if they just moved the entrance to the preferred parking to the other side right after you come through the tollbooth that would eliminate the need to go all the way around the lot and basically end up right where you started AND the security guard at the pp entrance could keep an eye on people that say they are just dropping off, pull in free to the drop off and let their kids out and then as they appear to be leaving park in the regular lot without anyone noticing. Yes, I know for a fact this has happened, , I don't think it happens a lot but it has happened; and no it wasn't me. Also, I am pretty certain that there used to be picnic tables in the little green zone between the drive up to the tollbooths and the drive away from the tollbooths. Am I remembering that correctly?

Huh. That's interesting. I've been keeping a bit of an eye on new for this park since we have never been there but it is one of the host parks for CoasterCon in 2024. Ever since they announced that I've been wondering if the two are related. Either choosing to have Con there before it's gone forever OR as way to leverage a way for the park to stay open. Con was announced right before the park closure was announced.

Lol, if you guys think the regular parking lot is bad you should see the employee lot. Looks like the aftermath of a nuclear war, which is sometimes enhanced by broken down ride carcasses living there. Although no guests can really see it, but every little thing to attract workers. Just saying. I'm ok with them just getting rid of the original themed areas at this point because as so many have pointed out, they are pretty much non existent anyway now. I would love it if they took one of the not often used buildings and made a little history museum type thing showing the park history (ala CP's town hall) and original "lands" and rides and how they connected to the history of the STL area, etc. etc. I do realize only history nerds like me and old people looking for air conditioning would probably frequent it but it would still be cool.

Can confirm from an eyewitness that lives in my house; Dragon's Wing AND Excalibur are no more, pictures were not allowed but everyone can see for themselves in 6 days. RIP.

I don't remember that they are restricted to the toddler area but the rest of the museum is probably better once they reach school age in my opinion. There will be lots of "bigger" kids and a toddler will likely get a bit bulldozed by them. I could see it. Cheaper than a big coaster (I assume), relatively small footprint, mollify the people butt hurt over the removal of TW It is a haunt but just the outdoor corn maze that could be constructed in other areas, there is a lot of land back behind that spot where the old haunted hayride used to go, plus the apocalyptic remains of the paint ball field.

FYI - training is going on full force this weekend and next weekend ahead of the April 1 opening. I thought for sure they would have to cancel yesterday's ride op training, or maybe at least put it down to a half day, but they went on as scheduled and only ended an hour early despite not being able to run everything. So much for my knowing anything, lol. Apparently they focused on rides that could operate normally in the cold, think of stuff that used to be open for HITP.

I too think this is a good addition, it fills a both a literal and figurative void in the park. I wonder if there will be any attempt to open it in conjunction with the refurbed carousel later this summer? As far as the exact placement and the future of Dragon's Wing; apparently there has been some chatter about most of the parks removing the various Dragon's Wings and according to the ride op that lives in my house it was barely open last season due to staffing. Which means to me that they were not making enough money from it when it was open to justify the staffing. Frankly if getting rid of that gives them more ride ops for other things to run at full capacity and/or maybe stay open an hour later then it's totally worth it. Training is starting up this month and I will see if he can ferret out any info that I am able to pass along.

Agree with everyone, good riddance on the removal of CFA. Frankly even if you took the politics out of it, I never quite got the love, it's just a chicken sandwich and Farmhouse is a one minute walk away and much much better, too bad about Wild Turnip, was a nice spot to get fresh fruit and I hope they replace it with something similar; but whatever, food is subjective and no point in a preference discussion. I've been wondering how long Forbidden Frontier would hold on. I was kind of surprised it came back post pandemic when workers were scarce and the staff/patron ratio was super high. It was an interesting concept but somehow just never executed well. I tried to patronize it and like it, I really did, but it was always just......awkward. Hopefully, they leave Snake River alone which is enough creative outlet for the staff that can get into the character sort of attraction and find a better use for the resources that were going into FF. I suppose there will now be a secondary (to TTD) line of speculation about what will go into that area. Log flume? Move all the animal encounters there? Both? Will they keep the area open to walk through since there is a playground back there? It was a nice place to take a break with little kids. Also, had some of the least used and cleanest bathrooms in the park.

I am Diamond Elite VIP, etc, etc, and I saw a couple others post on FB as well................not a huge deal just annoying if you miss out on important info.