Shavethewhales

Is it me, or does that thing crawl through that course. Each turnaround takes forever, especially the outer one. Let's hope this thing gets faster as it's broken in.

I didn't realize how much influence Bob Bell had on all those Wacky Shack's. He had a similar relationship with Joyland and their Wacky Shack. He must have had a side business in creating those cars and parts at some point. Wonderland looks great. For a small park, they've got a fair coaster collection and a modest assortment of rides. Pity they slap upcharges on everything though.

^I actually don't like the look of them at all. They look even larger and more bulkier than the old OSTR style. It looks like it holds you in tighter, while the bars going around on each side serve only to obstruct one's view and make it feel more like a cage. The train and ride looks good though. All the thematic elements really seem to make this ride - it's definitely not about forces. I think Gardaland was receptive to the concept because it gave them a novel excuse to indulge on thematics more than excess height and ride features, but I don't think that most customers will have similar wants. I don't see this set-up serving much more purpose unless they can advance it somehow with rotating seats or some other feature. It seems like another gimmick that will catch on to a few parks, then die off like the stand-up.

When he said "NBA team" all my hopes for this project flew out the window. $750 million!? Yet another vastly inflated ego project.

It's not surprising that HFEC is investing in new market research capabilities. They've always been very progressive in utilizing guest input and surveys to guide the direction of the parks, SDC in particular. I've often noticed changes throughout SDC every year that have been inspired by guest input.

I'm seriously doubting the rumor about the SkyRide issue. There's no way they're getting their elevations wrong on a project of this caliber. This smacks of enthusiasts stirring up trouble from what they see in photos. As far as the water table issue, that's also somewhat doubtful as any project requiring trenches takes account of the water table before the trench is dug. If they are having a problem with drainage I'm sure that won't be too hard to remedy.

Wild Adventures charges $10 Silver Dollar City still has free parking, which is crazy seeing as they've spent millions upon millions in recent years to expand the lots, buy new trolleys and buses, and repave everything. People still like to complain about their entrance prices though.

Excluding gimmicks such as slightly taller and faster versions of TTD/KK, I don't think the next tallest or fastest coaster in the world will be at a theme park, or in the US for that matter. To go taller and faster than what we have now, not only would one be looking at exuberant costs as others have stated, but also logistical difficulties such as safety equipment, high running costs and low capacity. The only people with the will and the ability to look past these challenges are rich arabs and major casino owners. I could see a true record breaker being a stand-alone attraction within a casino resort, but no theme park on this planet is ready to plop down the $50 million it would take for something that truly goes beyond what we already have. We've simply reached the financial limit.

This looks WAY better than what I was expecting. The buildings that have popped up around the course really add to it as well. This will probably be Drayton's best coaster.

HFEC will hold a Halloween event if it thinks it will be successful. DW and SDC don't have events because they simply wouldn't fit the atmosphere of the parks. Celebration City had a harvest festival in the last year or two before it closed. I could see them having a similar harvest festival during the day, with scary stuff in designated areas at night. That would be very much in line with how HFEC typically does things.

Hmm, I though there'd be a bit more too it than that, though the description never really promised more. Will it really be that shallowly sloped? Why SkyTrans Manufacturing and not Hopkins though? Or is this actually a Hopkins that SkyTrans is manufacturing?

How long have they had that drop tower at Lakeside? I wonder if it's the old Mind Melt from Bell's... I know they're getting Bell's old Hymalaya for next year.

Terrible article. The writer is deliberately trying to push a sensational concept with misused facts and selective quotes. I love how she gets 'bowl slides' wrong. This is simply tabloid web vomit designed to get clicks.

Oh boy, more Burke for FC. If it means changes, that's a good thing, I guess. The park is pretty stagnant at this point, although CNL/PARC has done some good work on the place in the last couple of years. At this point they need to just do SOMETHING, anything, to bring something new to the park. The new family inverted was great, but family rides just don't cut it after a couple of years. Any kind of new ride would get me to the park, but at this point I feel like it's not even worth driving a half hour to since I've not only been on everything a few dozen times, but none of the rides are very good or even exclusive to FC. Basically everything in the park is a much lower class version of something you can get in Dallas, which is one of the reasons why the place has a bad rep. with the locals right now. Looks like we'll get the shaft again this year though.

One of the things to remember is that HFEC will not be actually controlling these parks in an overall sense. CNL is still the one calling all the big shots and making the capital investments. So while the parks will certainly run much better than they did under PARC and SF, I doubt we will see them blossom into the parks we've come to expect from HFEC. Really, I see the relationship influencing HFEC a lot more than the parks as this will probably shape their future operations at all their parks. However, HFEC always surprises. Maybe I'm jumping to some conclusions here, and maybe they'll have a larger role in running the parks than I think. Still though, HFEC isn't in control of the parks assets, so don't expect to see the grand additions you see at DW and SDC. CNL has invested a ton of money in DL's water park, but I think the biggest dry ride they've invested in at any of their properties so far is DL's motocoaster. I think they've only added a total of 3 or 4 dry rides to their parks since purchase, unless I'm forgetting about something at Wild Waves. Hopefully HFEC's direction will encourage them to invest in some major rides. Oh yeah, I wonder where Frontier City is in all of this? I was so hoping to get a little HFEC influence there, but it's probably too close to Branson for them to run without issues.

Exactly how I feel. I don't feel like this partnership is going to improve the company at all. I hope this doesn't lead to a trend of increased bureaucracy and corporate feelings in the parks. Already SDC and DW are loosing the little things that make them special bit by bit. In recent years we've seen classic attractions shuttered, in-park advertisements spring up, and carnival games start to take root. These might sound like typical things for an amusement park, but that's just it - SDC and DW used to be so much more than amusement parks to the point that people didn't even really think of or call them amusement parks back in the day. Darien Lake and Elitich Gardens are about as bland and typical as they come. It would be one thing if they were buying the parks and transforming them with the Herschend touch, but just handling the management contracts is something different entirely. Bleh, progress...

They've done a pretty good job running Nashville shores, haven't they? Maybe the small water park biz is what Burke and Co. is made for.

I can't understand your line of thought here. I can understand being disappointed, we all are to some extent, but how do you feel so entitled as to run a boycott against them for attempting something no other park in the world would attempt? They sunk who knows how much money into this thing, all in the name of reviving a piece of amusement park history. As enthusiasts, I can't imagine why any of us would not continue to support that, especially seeing as they continue to add awesome new attractions with historical significance such as the Black Diamond. If I lived 15 minutes away from Knoebels, they'd have to sign a restraining order to keep me away.

PK is definitely among my top favorites as well, though I've only been on about 50 or so coasters to compare it with. The reason it's so great is that the first part of the ride is chock full of crazy airtime, and the open cars/restrains really allow you to enjoy it. The second part dives under a canopy of trees and has a great feeling of speed. Then you get a slow climb up a lift hill right in the middle of the ride which provides some great views of the surrounding scenery and the adjacent Wildfire. The last portion is a little disappointingly short, but surprisingly strong with the drop off the lift being really sharp and you get another pop of air just before heading into an intense helix. It's not a big ride, but for what it is it offers more than a lot of larger coasters. Another huge plus about the restraints is that they allow kids as small as 42" to ride, though that is also what leads to it having a much larger line than any other ride in the park. It's clearly a hit, but the slew of mechanical issues that it still suffers from 5 years into it's life are what has kept them from building more, I'm sure.

From what we can see of the scenes so far, it looks really good! The whole thing looks a lot less like the original than I was expecting, but it also looks like it will be of a higher quality in many ways. It definitely looks much less like a coaster now. As for Flying Turns, I'm getting the vibe that they're putting it on the back burner now more than ever and will only mention it again if they actually think they can open it soon.

Here's the area were the new kid's area will be, plus a few more random photos. Looking down the side of the bridge from the mill side, you could just barely make out some markings from here. Standing on that little abutment you get an overview of the whole area. If you look close you can see the big circle where the carousel will presumably go. One of the circles closest to the mill Closeup of the carousel area That's the old smoking area up by the fence. More tree goodness SDC's somewhat forgotten Disko One of SDC's originals, the Flooded Mine It was just a bit crowded at some points. One more shot of the lights to finish

Alright, so I'm quite a bit late in getting this TR posted, but since it's the off-season and there's not a whole lot else to look at, I'd figured I'd go ahead and put it up. My family makes an annual trip to SDC on the weekend after Thanksgiving. The two things that really stood out this year were the abhorid parking situation and the outstanding food. The parking situation at SDC is a hot mess, plain and simple. However, almost all of it is completely free, and includes free shuttle rides on some fairly nice vehicles all day long. Going in on Saturday, we had to follow a line of cars about a mile and half long that stretched all the way from the turnoff for SDC's parking lots, through the upper lots, down under the overpass, up and over the hill past Deer Run motel, down the highway that goes past SDC, and into an elongated gravel parking lot that hugs a hillside by the highway. All along the way we saw cars mutiny and pull off into the empty lots closer to the gates. People just didn't understand why they were being parked miles away from the park in the boonies. There is, of course, a good reason why SDC does all this - if they fill the inner lots first, the lots become an absolute gridlock and people and trolleys can't get through to the outer lots. I just wish they had a better way of communicating to guests about this, because a lot of first time guests were somewhat upset at first. Once we were in the park though, everything was pretty smooth and wonderful all around. Lots of craftsmen putting on excellent demonstrations, lots of GREAT food at fair prices, and the rides were pretty swell too. SDC and DW are both known for their excellent food offerings, but I have to say it seems like they upped their game this year even more. We had dinner at the mine restaurant, which is an all you can eat buffet off the main square. They had great chicken, sausage, and brisket with traditional sides such as sweet and mashed potatoes, cranberries, ocra, and some other good stuff, plus desert and salad bar. It wasn't terribly expensive either. Later on I stopped by one of the booths by the entrance to TNT and had some baked apple dumplings with ice cream. Holy crap it was good. It was like a lightly cinnamoned cookie shell surrounding a ball of hot baked apples in cinnamon saunce, with a heap of this awesome vanilla/cinnamon ice cream that really set it off. It was a big helping too, and it only cost like $4. The wassail was really good too. As far as rides go, everything was pretty great as usual. The rides were running great, they tried to run multiple trains on everything, and the ride ops did a good job of keeping everything running smoothly. The only sore spot was the fact that PK kept breaking down, and TGS was either closed or running one arm most of the time. At one point I had waited in line for PK for about half an hour and was a car away from riding when something happened and they made everyone leave the queue. Apparently with the way the sensors are set up, the computer locks the trains in positions on the break run, and sometimes they actually have to evacuate riders from there - but they wait until no one is in sight. Everything that S&S wasn't involved in ran beautifully though. I have yet to see Wildfire EVER break down in any way, but I think PK has been closed at least once every time I've visited. And Finally, the craftsmen were all great. As usual, I probably spent a third to a half of my time just wandering around seeing demonstrations and shopping, which I actually enjoy at SDC. I also got a few photos of them marking the area for the new Half Dollar Holler kids area. Construction has actually started on it now that the park is closed. You can find a few photos of that posted by a park employee on SDCFans Anyway, photos: Obligatory entrance wreath shot Trying to cram into the Homestead. There's a great old-timey/bluegrass band that plays in here several times a day, but good luck getting in unless you get there way in advance. SDC's line of butters and jams are amazing. We usually buy a case of the apple butters each year. Once you try it, you can't go back. Fooooooood Obligatory shot of PK launching This is my favorite angle of Wildfire People always underestimate just how big this ride is. The angle of the hillside helps hide how long the drop is. The view isn't what it used to be, but it's still a good one. This is the apple dumpling thing I was talking about before. Awesome. Time for some lights Part of the light parade that runs twice daily during Christmas. SDC really puts an emphasis on the gospel in just about every presentation the park does during OTC. AP got it's lift control booth struck by lightning the weekend before this visit. Luckily the damage wasn't widespread. Just a guy making hay brooms. Making bread Chirstmas store, one of two large one's SDC has during OTC. I'm not sure what was going on here Looks like TGS managed to get both arms going at one point. They actually had River Blast running, but with all the water effects turned off. Not many people were riding though. Two guys making glass stuff. Can you spot the coaster in this picture? Tree goodness

Ugh. It all looks worse than ever. I can't believe they actually sold the Himalaya - that thing leaked all over the place at Bell's and was a maintainence nightmare according to some of the old workers I talked to during the lease fiasco. I guess they got it cheap. It was definately one of my favorites though, and I have so many memories from that ride. I wonder if they still own Pharoah's fury? I wonder if they have any good rides left...

Is that No Limits video accurate? If it is, well, can't Heide park do better? I mean, I'm sure it will be themed nicely, but even so, you'd think a park the size of Heide Park would spend a little more on the ride itself. Personally, I thought Oblivion was a massive waste of time, and this doesn't look like it'll be a whole lot better, even with extensive theming. Meh, I guess we'll see how it turns out though.

The more I look at option #2, the more I like it. It looked too weird at first, but it really grows on you. It looks the most daring and distinguishable of the options. I feel like the others are too conservative for a logo that's stylized to pop out and be fun.