Shavethewhales

Don't be so snobbish, it's no disney, but it shouldn't need to be. Mind you, it isn't in its best state right now, but once the grass grows back, the trees mature, and they get in a couple more good thrillers, it'll be great. I can see the place really taking off soon.

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Amazing speculation there. 'Something's coming in 2009' indeed. I'll bet everyone* here $100 that "something" will come in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and so on as well. I'm betting a good lot of those somethings will be trash cans. *(please don't hold me to that...)

So, what Micheal's lawyer is saying is that this is a no-win situation, and that the best possible outcome is that he'll only have to pay a $100 dollar fine? That's total crap, I thought for sure he would get something...

^Huh? I remember standing in line just last weekend for Wildfire at SDC and having to watch as not just one, or a few, but a group of people cut in line in front of me, saying they were meeting their group. Not only did they cut in front of everyone, but they held everyone up as they made sure they all got on the same train. Usually SDC attendants are very alert to this type of thing and are very apt at throwing people out, but these kids picked just the right time to slip in. I think the best thing to do though, is to not necessarily go to the line cutters themselves, but to talk to the management of the given ride. If you say anything to the cutters themselves, what's most likely going to happen? Probably a childish fight that ruins everyones experience, like Rastuso got into. It might feel more satisfying to handle it yourself, but most of the time it falls into playground tactics.

^Where is this from?

Once again, a reader of my site was kind enough to send in some photos of Bell's progress. The lift is going down fast, it might even be down by this evening or early tomorrow. The only other things left are half of the third hill and half of the turnaround. I'm really glad Bell's got that extra boost in funds; I don't believe in corporate welfare, but Bell's has a huge debt owned to them from the fair, and they really needed the funds. Without Zingo, the entire relocation project probably would have crashed. I'm thinking that announcement will come right about the time the last pieces of Zingo reach safety. Here's the photos: This'll be all that's left once they finish the lift. If they keep moving at this pace, it'll be down by early next week at the latest. Here you can see all of what is left. It might seem like a lot, but there's really not that much there. I'm going to miss driving by this... Both cranes are working the lift. From what I was told they were going at a very hasty pace.

Oh yeah, here's another little point I forgot to mention. During my first few rides on Wildfire, one of the large condominium structures down near the lake burst into a towering inferno in minutes. The whole place burned to the ground in less than an hour. What do they make those things out of? Scores of firetrucks and emergency personnel were on site, so nothing else was badly hurt, although a few other buildings apparently caught on fire as well.

^It's the same flume, this photo should give you a better idea of how it's laid out:

"Geyser Gulch: 0/10 BORING! " Dude, you can't put a price on totally pwning some loser in the face with a water cannon, or pegging some obnoxious little brats with foam balls from a cannon... good times. As for the price, a season pass is definitely worth it if you can make it to the park more than twice. For less than $80, you get free-reign to the park for an entire year, from spring to Christmas.

Here's some from Celebration City: I'll leave you with this. CC is a great park, I just think it's still in the very early developement stages and hasn't yet found it's own taste. I'm sure we'll see great things from it soon. Tiny cars + huge drops + shaky erector set supports = genius ride. What's odd is that the Hershends bought this thing new when the park opened. You would have thought they would have sprang for something... different. Once again, I don't care what anyone says - I love this ride to death. Never got the chance to go up in this thing, it goes very slow. Here's what's replaced Chaos - Tent: The Ride, far superior to Bench: The Ride. Gotta love the flyers; for a family ride they scare the crap out of me. Cheap, but fun. I wonder when CC will get a real water ride. Somewhere in there are two of the most insane air-inducing bunny hops. Why don't more rides have these? Signature shot, just a hair too early. Ohhhh yeah... As nice as this park is, it'd be lost without this thing. The sea lion show was pretty good, and it drew a huge crowd. I wonder if they'll book it again for next year. I don't care what anyone says about this being a carnival coaster, it still kicks ass. That dive you see the train going down is absolutely insane. Still, you've gotta give some credit to the Hershends. This ride arrived rusted top-to-bottom, and now it looks better than new. Meh. Nice signage, mediocre ride. Still a very classy park, albeit needing some more growth till it can 'find itself'.

Here's some more pics: Anyone know what this is? It looks like it used to be part of the American Plunge. I'll miss you, tree house. I've yet to see a coaster make better use of the terrain than this one. ThuNderaTion continues to haul ass around its circuit. No SDC photo TR is complete without some of this. The conductor said that this train was made in germany and used in WWII. Weeee. The mist effects are still working. Doesn't look like this'll be open for awhile. It's not like a park can't have 2 giant play forts... Closed. sigh.... You've gotta walk across this at least once during every SDC trip - it's the law. Who's ready for some good ole' schoolin'? This ride always gets quite popular in the rain. Mmmm, free peanut brittle. The petting zoo is back! Ok, it was back before, but it's taken it awhile to come back after the foot and mouth disease epidemic. If the Giant Swing is closed, you can always get the ice cream guy to play checkers with you.

Silver Dollar City continues to truly be one of the best, if not the best, theme parks in the country. The park was extremely clean; all the rides ran on prime operations, even if there weren't hardly any people in line; the staff were insanely friendly; and the atmosphere still, after all these years and massive growth, holds that special, magical feeling that makes you really feel at home. I suggest this park to anyone who's looking for a great vacation, you can't go wrong with it. Anyone in the family, from infants to grandparents, can have the time of their lives here. I won't bore you with all the details, but here's a few things of note: The Deer Run Hotel remains the best choice by far for SDC patrons; I was able to walk from the hotel to the park gates (a mere two miles without taking the tram) every morning during my trip, and was there hours before the big crowds showed up. After the gates were opened, I was first in front of the opening crowds, so I got down to Powderkeg for a few walk-on rides before too many people got there. Powderkeg is still hauling some serious ass by the way, and a new set of lights were added to tell riders when exactly they would be blasted off. The only negative aspect of the ride are the few idiotic ride-ops who like to absolutely crush riders with the restraints, causing not only a painful ride, but destroying all the bountiful air-time the ride has to offer. Still, it's become the most popular ride in the park by far. After Powderkeg, I headed down to what I was really excited for: SDC's new S&S Screamin Swing, aptly named 'The Giant Swing'. TGS was fun, but not as extreme as I was hoping. It's a good ride, no doubt, but it didn't feel as crazy as I thought it would. The new area looks incredible though. I thought they outdid themselves with The Grand Expo, but this was really nicely done; the whole place looked like it had always been a part of SDC. One of the things to note is that TGS is already seeing quite a bit of vandalism in its queue line area. There was a family in front of me in line with a teenage boy that decided he needed to write his name all over the wall. The ride op. saw him and promptly told him that he and his family must leave the ride immediately and be escorted out by security. The older members of the group (the father and mother, I assume) immediately started arguing and causing a rucuss with the ride op. saying that they couldn't be told to leave 'because there wasn't a sign telling them that graffiti was not allowed'. It took all of ten minutes for that to be sorted out, and the family remained rooted in their position that signs dictate what's right and wrong all the while. The only other things to note are the extreme friendliness and professionalism of the SDC workers and the closed Huck Finn area. As I said before, it seems Huck Finn's tree house has been closed for good, being too dilapidated to safely open. Attempts at fixing the favorited attraction have seemingly failed, and for some reason the adjacent Huck Finn's River Fort has been closed as well. It seems this area is over-due for a massive re-make. About the employees though, when it rides were closed, several employees were stationed at the entrances to tell guests everything they knew about when the ride would open again. I had several good talks with a couple of them, which really made my day, even if the rides were closed for part of the time. Also, when the bag I was carrying a shirt I had bought got wet and started coming apart, a shop keeper called me over and gave me a new one, along with her poncho bag to keep my camera safe from getting wet. You don't get that kind of friendliness anywhere else. Later on I hit up CC, which is still trying to find it's identity, yet still very worthwhile. Everything was going great there, with the only thing of note being the new Stinger ride. I'm no fan of Wisdom Tornadoes, and this one was no different. It seemed to be a big hit with everyone else, but it just made me dizzy. The ride experience is hard to explain: there are no real forces, just sickening two-dimensional turning. Oh well, I'm putting my bets on the park finally getting something worthwhile next year. Here's some of my photos, I have more posted here -> http://www.superstevessupersite.com/park_galleries/SDC/sdcgal.html and here -> http://www.superstevessupersite.com/park_galleries/Celebration_City/celebrationcitygal.html The revamped Waterboggin had me soaked from head to toe. Anyone ever figure this out? When a ride closes down, SDC doesn't just put up a sign, they station at least one attendant to tell guests everything they know about when the ride will re-open again. Future expansion? New effects which spray guests with water have been added to The American Plunge. I kept finding ways to hit the guys across the building. It's best if you get the balls all wet. I hope that's water... Just like everyone says, looking down at the river is really sweet. Giant Swing: through the trees! (Aren't I original?) Here's what everyone wants to see however. This new area fits in so well, you really have to see it to believe it. Gotta love this place, I could spend hours here spraying strangers in the face with water cannons. Overused shot, but still... Some new lights have been added to Powderkeg's launch to warn riders of when they'll be launched. I want one. Most people will never see this, but I think it's cool. This is part of the replica Ozarkan village just off Main Square. This cabin is a fine remake of what the pioneersmen used to live in. This is what Powderkeg's lines look like 5 minutes after the gates open. It's great getting those first morning rides in with only a handful of people. This is what you see when you get in the park 30 minutes before opening. It's well worth it. Just in case you forgot where this TR takes place at.

In case any of you haven't heard, the park has been given $200,000 from the fair board for the hiring of a private firm to come in and take the rest of the Zingo down, so that it can be gone by the June 15 deadline. Bell's had simply asked that the fair delay at least partially its all-important parking lot plans for all of two weeks so that they could finish the job themselves, but the fair came to the conclusion that the parking lot just couldn't wait a whole two weeks, so they decided to waste even more tax-payer dollars. This better be one nice parking lot. How much does a 10 acre parking lot cost? It seems like at $200,000, they're doubling the expense of the project. Anyway, at least Bell's has some more money and Zingo is safer than ever. At this point the park should begin to feel pretty secure as almost all of their rides are safe and ready to be put up again, so I'm thinking we'll be hearing that announcement soon. It looks like the only things that will be lost in all of this are the Chili Pepper water slides, which were fun and will be missed, but aren't worth crying over. Here's a few recent pics, courtesy of one of my site's readers: Here's the Chili Peppers. Sadly, it looks like these won't be making it to the new park; the parking lot just can't wait. Here's some of the old track bed, which is being chopped up and thrown out. The new Zingo will have all new track, maybe from GCII? It's hard to see through the trees, but about half of the turnaround is still there. This is what's left of the third hill, the same hill that dives under the Joker tunnel. Only the lift hill and first turnaround of the Zingo remain on the south end of the park.

What about Big Bad John and the Arkansas Twister? Did you have any goes on them? I always thought the Arkansas Twister was huge for a park that size, at least as it was before X-car and the Gauntlet.

I'll take a clone of Thunderbird anyday. From what I can tell, it looks to be the best GCII out there. Who cares if it's 'unoriginal' the only other ride like it is all the way across the sea and half of Europe, I doubt many will ever know there's two of them, it's not like Batman the Ride. If they get a Thunderbird clone in, I'll definately be up there in a jiffy.

A 200ft drop tower is just what this place needs to start filling in that major thrill ride void. The park has, what, two major thrillers? (Implying the frisbee and Diablo) Yeah, I still don't see why everyone has to complain about this place. It's this simple - the park is cheap. Not all parks need to cost $50 to get in and have enough major rides to spend a week in. True, it definitely needs much more work till it becomes a very good park, but it'll come. In the mean time, it doesn't exactly suck. Live shows, a main street full of shops, and at least a few, good, permanent rides beat any carnival I've seen. I'm guessing that by 2009, it'll be worth it for me to make the 2+ hour drive up there to check it out myself.

That last line from the Screamscape quote pretty much sums it all up. It really is getting hard to see much of a future for the park, but I still wish it could be saved. I wonder what the partners will do if they win their cases? I can see them turning Joyland into a paved paradise chock-full lower-end stores and pawn shops, but maybe they'll pursue the theme park industry again - maybe in a new city... It's doubtful, but they were obviously interested in running a theme park.

Yup, the free-market can be a bitch, but at least in the end we kinda-sorta get the best product. Even around me water-parks are going out, overcome by over-crowded cesspools over an hour away... I don't get why everyone would rather go so far for a crappy park with a 'toilet bowl' rather than relax at a local, peaceful water-playground where it's calmer and cleaner.

Wow, that's the same image Bell's used to advertise their Larson tower. I've heard they rival any other lower-end towers out there; only Intamin can do better. There's just something about the way they release, or maybe the cars are just really heavy and fall faster, but in any case, they give extreme air-time.

^It sure added looks at the very least. I'm sure it would have been better with a facade, but I can understand them not wanting to go through the trouble of building one. It did look so awesome before, maybe someday...

Eh, it doesn't look great, and I don't think I'll even think about making that trip up there this year, but I wouldn't say the place looks aweful and it's certainly not 'ghetto'. Just give it some time to fully open, and then it might be worth your money, assuming you ride all the rides a few times. It's not fancy, but you shouldn't have to go to a Disney-style park to have fun.

This will inevitably come down to B&M vs. Intamin, but it should be noted that S&S's Powderkeg at SDC was probably the smoothest coaster that I've ever ridden - and I've been on a few B&M's and Intamin's. I'm sure that if they can pick up a few more launched coaster bids, their reputation will skyrocket.

Dude, the Chance Pharoah's Fury pwns all other pirate ship models. Bell's used to have one - It always raised our asses out of our seats.

^That really is a possibility, but the best we can do is hope they come through with that $40 million dollar revitalization/expansion package. I don't really think they want to turn the entire place into a strip mall though, based on the fact that they spent so much money and effort already on restoring the park. I dunno, if it re-opened in it's current state, or even with some more refurbishment, it might indeed be doomed to close again (or maybe not), but if they pull through with this lawsuit, and get the City and Nelsons off their backs, I can easily see that $40 million expansion coming within the next few years. With that kind of investment, I think most of their problems would be solved. So, eh - I say there's still a good amount of hope all around, even if the situation is sketchy.

Dude, Flying Islands are so awesome! I wonder if they're still made anymore? You'd think more parks would digg thesel you've gotta admit - they look like impressive feats of engineering.