Shavethewhales

I'm impressed! I had no idea so much was being done to improve the park, kudos to them. Looks like they're really shaping the place up nicely. I'm glad so many small parks are doing so well this season, especially Canobie - they deserve it.

Heh heh, a month of frantic speculation about what could be going wrong, endless rumors, crying fanboys... and then the lift suddenly springs up as planned all along. I hope we learned something.

Soil issues are a real pain. I know a plot of land near me that's been traded between developers for years. Each tries a different solution to fix the soil so something can be built, but each has apparently failed. The park is probably making an honest effort to build this, but it's not like they have a whole lot of options if their one spot is no good.

All of SDC's parking is free except the preferred lot close to the gate which is $15. Unless of course, that's changed this year. I haven't been yet, but no one's said anything about a massive expansion of the paid parking yet. As for the CC question, check back in a couple of years. Nothin' happening for a while. Oh yeah, unless you like chaotic parking lots, stay away from Tanger outlet and just hit up the Grand Village and 101 outlets.

Lol, I love the concept vs. reality. Yeah, if this weren't Dubia I'd be giggling at the audacity of it all, but even now the idea that this project will get completed seems doubtful with Dubia something like 80% empty. Just construction workers and a handful of billionaires left. That oil money won't flow in for that much longer, though I guess it will pick up again for a few more years. I'm just wondering how much steel it would take to build that thing. That roof will/would be a nightmare to maintain.

That's done on every crossover on every GCII, and probably all other modern wooden coasters as well. I don't know what the significance is - I guess it allows for a larger opening.

Ug, now we have to wonder whether this is two mystery coasters or one. I think the only U.S. park that can/will buy a B&M for next year is Carowinds, so I'm going to put my final bets on them.

Mmm, so much to tell you. You'll fall in love with that place. My advice: head to PK first while your parents head to one of the early shows or stays in the main square to catch whatever morning show is going on there. PK is the only ride in the park that actually aggregates much of a queue line, so if you hit it first you can get several rides and have it more or less out of the way. (Though I'm sure you'll probably want to go back to it later). From there on out I can't tell you much, there's just so much to see and do with every step you take through the park. SDC has an excellent brochure called Pathfinder that includes the park map, show times, and a lot of other helpful info to plan your day around. I suggest start the day off by heading down the hill from the Main Square, then circling around the park in a clock-wise direction. (Exit the main square from the left side, looking to the back of the park.) This way you'll escape having to tackle the big incline. Flooded Mine is your typical shoot-em-up dark ride - with boats. There are no drops or thrills, just special effects and guns. The Lost River isn't too wild either, I've been on it with grandparents before. Be sure to hit up the train, and don't forget there's a beautiful cave underneath the park if your parents are OK with long walks and stairs. Oh yeah - both bakeries have excellent cinnamon bread, and there's a famous stand in front of ThuNderaTion's entrance that serves up huge skillets of awesomeness. The Lumber camp is also a good eatery. You might check out the SDCFans Ride Guide for more info.

Anyone else find it weird that the cartoon rabbit has female human legs? I guess at least it's not a cow with boobs. Good photos. Should be a pretty good hit, especially with all the good theming going into it. I never thought I'd see the day SF started theming their rides well. I can't believe the logo uses that stupid bleeding cowboys font. That font really needs to die now, I'm starting to see it on everything that is remotely grungy.

One of the many reasons this site works so well is it provides an environment that no other coaster site provides. I originally came for the PTRs, and when the forums started I stopped going to most of the other sites because of how bland they were compared to this place. Starting a good site is indeed pretty hard. Anyone can put stuff out there these days, but few have anything interesting enough to do so with. Take a look at newsplusnotes for a good example. For the longest time it was just a simple blogger blog, but it's become very popular due to the quality and persistence of the updates. I'm another one of those guys that's guilty of starting up a coaster site without much to back it up. Trust me, unless you're able and willing to invest some time each day or every other day to coming up with good content, it's just a massive waste of time. Even if you have a 'new concept', if you don't have the ability to set up a cool environment or bring good content often enough, it will fail pretty quick. Good luck though.

Why are they selling it? Do they need to build a new one from the ground up, or did I miss the memo that this coaster is closing?

God, I can't believe how much this place has changed since 2003. I remember when the flume was brand new and riding Magnum Force. When did they get the frisbee?

Not bad for government work. I love how the lake buts up roughly against the desert, held back by a small wall.

It's a good idea. Go for it.

That was stellar, thanks. I don't think I've ever seen so much of the rest of Sea World Orlando before, it looks even better than I had imagined.

This is some of the most impressive footage that I've seen. Maybe it's caused in part by the movement of the camera, but you can distinctly tell where the air on this thing will be, and it looks like there's lots of it. I had passed this off as just another standard-issue B&M hyper, but it looks like it could actually be one of the better models they've built yet.

HFEC did try to buy several SF parks a year or two ago, but fell through with the deal because Magic Mountain was being pushed on them, and they didn't want it - or so I heard. Either way, HFEC has positioned themselves for expansion. The acquisition of WA is a sure step to perfecting their model for new properties. HFEC has also been grabbing up a bunch of auxiliary attractions recently, such as aquariums, which have been very profitable. I won't be surprised they pick up another large park soon.

This is really old news. We've talked about this off and on as people start to notice it, but these designs have been around for a few months. Good stuff though, I knew this day would come, when Vekoma finally has to shape itself up to stay alive.

Mack actually used suspension as a huge feature with their 'e-motion' coasters a while back. I don't know if they use suspension on any of their other coasters, but for those they made it to where the car was so loose that it would wiggle and sway as it went around corners. I've always wanted to know what it felt like, I'm sure it's a lot smoother going down drops. Any one been on Tulireki at Linnanmäki? http://rcdb.com/ig2470.htm

I know we've talked about the weird supports on this thing before, but the loop supports take the cake. On the upper right side of those first couple of shots, you can see where they have two bars going into the same area, with suspension cables coming in from 90 degrees. Designing this ride must have been a nightmare.

Whoops, looks like the ferris wheel photo is a 'shop - just some messing around on SDCFans. The ferris wheel is still there. However, everthing else I said still stands. A lot of rides have been taken down and stored for whatever awaits them.

I'm impressed! There's a lot more there than I thought there would be, and Grover's Alpine Express looks better than I had imagined. I honestly think I will appreciate this area more than many of the kids.

Just a little update: rides are starting to disappear from the CC horizon. The ferris wheel came down today. (Edit: no it didn't, see next post) Nothing is publicly known yet of the fate of the property, or even the fate of the rides. Nothing has apparently been sold yet or even removed from Branson, but some rides have apparently been placed in storage, and some minor equipment has been transferred to other properties. The place is being well taken care of. The disappearance of the ferris wheel doesn't actually say much about the future of the park, other than the fact that the ferris wheel won't be a part of it. Rides, including the Ozark Wildcat, may still be a large part of the new concept. I still don't think they'll throw Oz Cat away so quickly (and no, it's not going to be moved to another park, think of the type of land it sits on and the relative costs). A photo of the now ferris-wheel-less park was posted on SDCFans today: http://sdcfans.com/forums/index.php?...sg7184#msg7184 I hope to hear soon about when an announcement on the property will be made. They may have delayed their decisions longer than expected, leading to the dismantlement of these rides for better keeping. I'm still hoping for a SDC-style resort complex on the property, or at least a Victorian Zoo/theme park type concept.

Love it. The quirky, off-the-beaten-path kind of places like this always provide the most enjoyment, to my experience. It looks like a really neat family operation. Can't wait to see them experiment more on the rides front, looks like they're really going at it with the kids rides.

VERY cool. I'm so ecstatic to finally see someone turn their business around from near devastation. I'll be glad to see their tumble bug re-open. I hope Blue Streak is operational soon. I've heard it is very underrated. A good coat of paint on it alone would really help turn the park around.