swfan1988

Hey Everyone! My home park's discussion thread has been pretty quiet now for awhile...I've been meaning to post updates over the last couple years however my busy schedule has not permitted it. However, while not a whole lot has changed inside the park since Stunt Pilot in 2021 a lot is changing for Boulder Beach in 2024! Today the park announced a whole new area coming next year, Emerald Forest! https://www.facebook.com/silverwoodthemepark/videos/693032702687348/ https://www.silverwoodthemepark.com/rides/emerald-forest.php?fbclid=IwAR34KQY3V1htwDTyoetsN9xptMm7kR1UM00O0nORP-jPufQ6IRLIof3YWRQ They have been working on construction behind the water park since the end of last season, and it's cool to see it finally being confirmed! The $15 million expansion consists of: - Eagle Hunt, the PNW's only water coaster, the first duelling water coaster in the west, and the longest water coaster in the US at 925 feet! (No, I don't consider it a new credit! ) -Salmon Run, a new kids area with 8 different slides -Rapids Grill, a massive new food pavilion for the waterpark, as well as an additional restroom facility - A new series of individual private cabanas, as well as some new larger cabanas for bigger groups. These cabanas will offer similar service to those on Cabana Island by the wave pools. While I am really excited for Eagle Hunt adding some unique modern thrills to Boulder Beach, and I appreciate the expanded food capacity of Rapids Grill I'm most excited for what I think this announcement means for the parks future. This expansion is the biggest single expansion to the park since I started visiting over 10 years ago, and the fact that they are willing and able to commit to such an expansion of this scale financially and ambitiously makes me super thrilled for the future of the park. It says to me that they are committed to growth, and brining new more modern attractions and experiences to the park rather than just relying on the success of the past. I'm really looking forward to 2024 at Silverwood!

I'm excited for this! It seems a little short, but I love the whack layout for a dive coaster! I really enjoyed Dr. Diabolical at Fiesta Texas, so I hope B&M is on a role with small dive coasters. Would love to see more!

Hey Everyone! I picked the absolute worst day ever to visit Knott's. I decided to go on a Thursday in September thinking "It'll be great! They'll be hardly anyone one there! I can ride all the rides with basically no wait!" Well let's start with all the things at Knott's I did NOT ride... - Montezooma's Revenge: In pieces and closed till who knows when. - Xcelerator: In pieces and closed till who knows when. - Ghostrider: Closed for seasonal refurbishment... - Calico Mine Ride: Closed for addition of candy for Scary Farm...used Hangtime's "Ride Closed" sign... - Hangtime: Technical issues all day, lacked a ride closed sign for most of the day so they used a trash can... - Butterfield Stagecoach: The only ride that actually had a line all day... Oh and there was basically nobody there so they had nothing going on for entertainment. It essentially felt like an authentic ghost town! (Wait a minute...wasn't that Walter Knott's goal? uh oh...) Ok, ok so I might be a bit down on this one, but please don't get me wrong. I really wanted to enjoy Knott's and appreciate all the history and cool stuff that is there. But when so many marquee attractions are down for the day (not to mention how Timber Mountain almost missed half a day while I was there...) and has no vide, it's hard to look past it and have fun. I did really enjoy the sky tower (the operator on there was awesome, and you could tell he had a passion for the ride! Love it when that happens!), and the train ride was cool albeit a bit awkward with the entertainment. Plus, Timber Mountain was cool to ride! Definitely a bucket list for theme park history buffs and log flume lovers like me, and I thought Garner Holt's additions were done well for the most park. Not sure about the whole "Haunted Hootenanny" thing, but the rest was good! My remaining ride thoughts were as follows: - Pony Express: Just kinda "meh", too short, not all that exciting, ruins the sightlines in Boot Hill...WHO AM I KIDDING PONY EXPRESS IS THE BEST COASTER EVERY OMG!!! (Somebody here will appreciated that...) - Sierra Sidewinder: Not as spiny or fun as I would like, just kind of an "ok" family coaster. - Coast Rider: Just a POS wild mouse. - Jaguar!: "eh" Nice views of a dismantled Zoom. - Silver Bullet: Considering I forgot to list it with the other inverts I've ridden in the KI trip report...yeah...not that memberable, though definitely a nice people eater for the park. - Berry Tales: Probably the best Triotech thing I've ridden so far, would rather have had way less screens though. Appreciated the nods to the parks history and the original ride though. I also made the necessary trip to Mrs. Knott's, and the trek out to Independence Hall. Mrs. Knott's I though was just ok, it felt like everything was just pulled from a warmer when I was there for lunch. Would like to go again for dinner and see if it's different. I like the setting, and the Boysenberry Punch was great! Independence Hall was a neat slice of Knott's history, and I like it's simplistic albeit effective approach to telling the history of the real independence hall (which I have visited). It was also cool to know that scenes from National Treasure were filmed there, since it's one of my favorite adventure movies. Also loved this sign in Fiesta Village (which was of course an absolute mess when I was there). I hope it survived the remodel, despite it's questionable appropriateness in today's culture... And that's all I got for Knott's really. I actually kinda felt sad for the place. It has so much history and cool stories, but it just seems to not be the best operationally. I don't know if that's a Cedar Fair caused problem or just "the way things are", but I also noticed that some smaller areas just seemed to be lacking in maintenance. I hope CF isn't taking a "well if it's broken we won't fix it, just 'remodel' it later" approach long term as I think that will inevitably destroy the unique charm that the park has (or what it still has...). Personally rather than seeing a giga or hyper come (which would be great), I would prefer a greater focus on operational excellence and a restoration/expansion of the details that made the place special to begin with. Maybe that's just me though. Someday I would like to return Knott's and get all the credits I need, just not sure when that is. Right now I don't feel very motivated to return but we'll see if their future additions change that! And we did! I got all caught up (except for that 2022 update for my homepark...but we won't talk about that...)! I'm kicking off my 2023 travel season next week with Texas so here's to that and a great summer season for everyone! See you all next time!

Hey Everyone! When it came fall time I wanted to go to CGA and the Bay Area. However, when looking at flights with the time off I had from work Orange County was the cheapest option and I was like "Well, I guess were going to Disneyland!". I last visited Disney in 2011, so it had been a while and I had always wanted to go to Knott's, plus I have WDW and Orlando on my radar for next year, so I figured why not! I did two days at Disney with a park hopper, and one day at Knott's (more on that fiasco later though...)! While I'm glad I go the park hopper option, and it was nice to have, I did find that overall Disneyland is the FAR stronger park than California Adventure. You just can't compete with Big Thunder, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Indy, (formerly) Splash Mountain, Rise of the Resistance...and the list goes on and on. First, though I saw this shirt in the airport on my way and it was awesome... Alright, back to Disney. I eat at the quick service pizza place attached to Naples, and that was great! Pretty good pizza with a pretty good (for Disney) price and portion size. Can't remember the name (and too lazy to look it up), but I'd recommend it. Disneyland was fun. Rerideing so many of the rides that I remember riding as a kid, and seeing the ones I'd seen being built in the meantime was absolutely amazing. None of the coasters are my favorite or Top 10 by any stretch, but the dark ride lineup is so strong! I think I prefer Haunted Mansion to Pirates, though I'd like to ride the non-Nightmare Before Christmas version to know for sure. Quick thoughts on Splash Mountain: It was good but not great. I thought the pacing was too fast, and the story to difficult to follow. Also when I rode I thought the ride was in rough shape by the standards I expect Disney rides to be maintained at. Multiple scenes had all their lights not working or effects turned off. I was kinda disappointed in the end. I understand why it's being replaced, and part of me is happy that it's being put out of it's misery (If that has been the long term state of the attraction). But part of me feels like a better approach would have been to refurb it, make new culturally appropriate shorts featuring the characters rather than shoe-horning Princess and the Frog into the space, which I think deserves it's own brand-new/ground-up attraction. I think my biggest worry with the replacement is if we go from the classic animatronics of Splash Mountain to a screen heavy Bayou Adventure. That to me would be a bigger disappointment than loosing Splash Mountain. Alright, enough of that! I really want to praise the renovated rivers of america. When this was first announced I was worried, fearing that much of the charm and uniqueness of both the river and the railroad would be lost. But boy did the imagineers do good on this one. It doesn't feel out of place, and it's cool the details and interactions they did between the train and the river. The Mark Twain was down while I was there, so I got to ride the Columbia which was really cool! Definitely felt like an older Disneyland but in the best ways possible, if you get the chance I would highly recommend it! As far as coasters go: - Matterhorn: Closed for refurb - Big Thunder: Fun but not as wild as I remember. It felt toned down, which I personally feel is a result of the retracking they did a few years ago but maybe it was not that wild to begin with. - Space Mountain: Aka "Left Turn: The Ride". Not a fan. - Incredicoaster: Now THIS is how you do onboard audio AND tell a story with a coaster. Everyone of those "storytelling coasters" needs to take notes from this guy. Big fan of the upgrade from California Screamin' Speaking of rethemes and new Disney rides... Mission Breakout was great! I don't know squat about the Guardians (or really any Marvel thing really), but I caught on to the story and characters instantly, and I think this story works so well with the simplified version of the Tower that California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios got. Based on what I know about the Florida version I don't think it would work so well there, but here it was awesome! Very happy with this one! Rise of the Resistance was also fun. I was curious more than anything to ride what has been widely held up as one of the best things in the industry at the moment. While I did think it was fun, I felt it faltered in the main area where it is praised. It wasn't ambitious enough. Yes, Disney seems to have gone out of their way to great a unique ride experience, with the multiple pre-shows and ride vehicle uses. Yet, it feels like a more advanced version of a trackless darkride, and it felt like it didn't want to push the envelope tooo far. This was disappointing as while I thought it was creative, it wasn't that imaginative with its theming, story, or ride system. Another problem I had with it, and with Galaxy's Edge as a whole is that it doesn't feature any of the Star Wars characters and locations that people actually WANT. It's not set on Hoth, Tatooine, Yoda's planet, or even features the death star. Han Solo, Leah, and Dark Vader are abscent. Heck, even Luke Skywalker himself is nowhere to be seen! People like to compare it to the Wizarding World, and I say (having never even visited the Wizarding World) that that is probably better simply because it features people and places that fans want to go to or meet! I think that's the big lesson Disney has missed from the Wizarding World, they have to build stuff that takes us to places or let's us meet characters or do things we actually want too! I think that's the biggest problem with Galaxy's Edge, Pandora, Avenger's Campus, etc... One land that avoids this however is right across the esplanade...Cars Land! Not only did they build basically the entire town of Radiator Springs and every location around it, plus let us experience an adventure with every major Cars character (that people care about...), they also included a full model with basically every piece of the dye cast Cars toy line I grew up collecting! Ok, way sidetrack/nerd alert, but still THAT'S SO COOL! My only problem with the land is that Lizzy's Curio Shop was closed and seems to have been for awhile...does anyone know why Disney isn't using this relatively prime retail space? The rest of California Adventure I though was just a weak mix of poorly executed rethemes (Pixar Pier), old lands that should have been updated/replaced a long time ago (Hollywoodland, Golden Valley Winery), cheap new additions (Avenger's Campus), and actually pretty solid little areas that get lost in the mix (Grizzly Peak, Pacific Warf, and Buena Vista Street). And...that basically covers California Adventure, I don't think World of Color was running while I was there so I didn't see it, and the park closed early one night for Oogie Boogie's Wallet and Capacity Bashy Thingy. Overall, it's just ok and if I went back to Disneyland I'd probably skip it and just stick with the main park unless they offered some sort of really nice package deal (which we of course all know they won't...) Overall I enjoyed my trip to Disneyland, look forward to FL potentially next year, and have little desire to return for another decade. It was just so expensive, and doesn't offer anything that would make me want to return super soon. I'm not even that excited for this "Disneyland Forward" thing they are talking about. I will say it was absolutley hilarious seeing all these families rush everywhere with Genie Plus and all these things they planned out too the minute 6 months ago, and here's me (who decided to go like 2 weeks before) being like "I'm gonna go do this now!" with zero stress or cares at all. That's a wrap for Disneyland, let's see if I can get one more done today to get caught up! See you guys next time!

Hey Everyone! I've been meaning to post this report for a while...lol... I visited KI last summer, and went to Knott's and Disney in the fall with every intent of doing full TR's for them. However...due to some work and life stuff...I never got around to it. So, with my impending trip to texas next week I decided I might as well play catchup and try and get these things done before I forget again! It's not gonna be as long as normal but we'll see what I can whip up! Kings Island was...great. I think that's the best summation of this park...great. Not perfect, not good, not "the best", but great. It felt like a park where no matter what you could come and have a guaranteed great time, and that was something I really enjoyed. It might be a little controversial, but Orion just stole the show for me. It was huge, fast, and fun, albeit a bit short but not offensively short. I do feel like some more length (and not a hilariously debatable height status...) would have benefited the ride, but hey it's a B&M Giga/Hyper. I could think of plenty of parks that would beg to have Orion if KI fans really don't want it... Not my favorite coaster but definitely a top 10 Earlier on the trip I was able to ride Prowler at WoF, which instantly took the crown of my favorite wooden coaster. Knowing the relative similarities between Prowler and Mystic Timbers, I was excited to experience a more modern, refined (and arguably better maintained) version of my new favorite. And while Mystic did edge out Prowler as my favorite, it did so barely. It was mostly the theming and reality of being in the legendary shed that did it though I think. I thought Prowler was more aggressive, and had the stronger layout so if KI's wooden coaster crews could just take a field trip to WoF please that be great! The Beast was, well the Beast. It was fun to say I've ridden the world's longest wooden coaster, but I thought it was kinda rough and not all that interesting of a ride. We were in line for a night ride when they announced that the ride would have to close for the 50th Anniversary drone show (Side note: The show was great! More regional parks need something like that!), so we choose to watch the drone show and go back to the hotel after a long day of fun instead. Something for next time I guess! Speaking of things for next time, I missed the Backlot Stunt Coaster, Woodstock Express, and Invertigo credits so as soon as KI replaces Vortex I got a good reason to go back! Banshee and Diamondback are really a nice pair for this park. I wasn't a huge fan of banshee, not liking the vest restraints all that much, and finding the layout after the first drop and loop being a little "meh" but enjoyed it nonetheless. Favorite for invert for sure...though with my invert count (Banshee, Aftershock, and Patriot) that's not saying much... Diamondback was fun though! A nice solid B&M hyper, love the splashdown! We eat at the Coney BBQ which we all agreed was just ok. We had had awesome BBQ in Kansas City a few days earlier though, so that probably didn't help KI's cause. Wrapping things up as far as coasters go: - The Bat: Fun and interesting but short. Loved the not quite removed Top Gun/Flight Deck theming and the view of Son of Beast's station. I wish someone would make a modern version of this swinging suspended coaster model. - Racer: Only road the blue side (I think, can't remember now). Weak first half and just a rough return. I think the red side opened later but I wasn't too inclined to try again... - Adventure Express: Easily my favorite mine train so far! Pretty smooth, funny theming, I hope they don't ruin it too much with the renovations this year. - KI&MV RR: Nice little train ride! Like how it serves as a transport option to the waterpark. Overall, I really enjoyed KI and like I said I do have reasons to go back. That being said, I don't think I'll race back unless I pair it with Cedar Point, or they have something cool for the Vortex plot. Just don't have a burning desire to return...not yet at least! Whew, one down, two to go! See you all next time!

I would curb your excitement a little... I've seen the pictures and it looks like the 208 ReTrak they have been putting on Timber Terror and Tremors. However, each time they have added it they have reprofiled the ride slightly. It doesn't change the layout but it does reduce the "amplitude" (for lack of a better term) of the element. I don't know if that's just a park specific thing that Silverwood is doing or if it's just how the product works.

I haven't been to KD or CW but have been to BGW, and in addition to what @AmyUD06 said I'd add: - I didn't use Quick Queue on my trip, although I went on a Tuesday in August. The longest line I remember waiting in was for Le Scoot. I don't see a downside to waiting to buy Quick Queue, especially if you don't end up needing it. - BGW opens in phases in the morning, so if you want to rope drop it just be aware of that. I thought the order was England before the stated opening time, Scotland, Ireland, and France at the posted opening time, and then the rest of the park 30 minutes after the opening time. I could be wrong though on this though, can someone clarify? - Full day would be great at BGW, adding the half day would also be cool, but would only do it if you want re-rides or want to do everything in the park. - Don't sleep on Le Scoot, the train, skyride, or Escape from Pompeii (you don't get as nearly wet as on other shoot the chutes). All of them are fantastic gems at BGW. - If you like history I would 100% recommend Colonial Williamsburg. It's not all that far away, and it's easily the best "living history" museum that I've been too. You can pay to go inside the buildings or go on a tour, or you can go to the visitor center and walk around the streets for free. You could use your half day here if you wanted.

Well, we all knew this was probably gonna happen and now here we are. While I am disappointed, I'm excited for FITH 2.0. I'm hopeful they reuse or kinda mimic stuff from the original ride and don't just do a screen based "tribute". That would be a huge disappointment. I agree with teacherkim though, they should have announced or at least teased the replacement so we get less of the "They are removing all the charm!" and "Save my childhood!". Knowing theat the ride will continue at least in spirit would go along way I think. I'm also curious to see what they do with FITH's location. I'm not necessarily buying the new train station theory, as I feel like if that what they wanted then getting rid of Flooded Mine would have been the better option. Speaking of Flooded Mine, I hope that when they are done redoing FITH that they either do a real big rufurb for FM or just put that poor ride out of its misery.

Its been closed for how long now? 5 years? It's about time they did something with it... I wouldn't bet on a replacement, BGT seems to have a nasty habit of taking forever to replace closed attractions...

fify

Statement from the park on the train derailment: https://www.silverdollarcity.com/media-update?fbclid=IwAR2B5Jr92KSmtL8Ueh7Zyqp15OfgwnDaE5PHD7aXnTk4L-a9zTMB_zRhzHE Media Update Oct. 27, 2022 As of 12:45pm, October 27, Silver Dollar City confirms the following information regarding the accident that occurred yesterday evening involving the Frisco Silver Dollar City Line Steam Train. Shortly after 6:00 p.m. CT., three of the four train cars on the Frisco Silver Dollar Line Steam Train derailed. There were approximately 160 guests on the train at the time of the accident. The train has a maximum capacity of 250 passengers. Silver Dollar City’s on-park EMS, operations, and safety personnel responded immediately. Train passengers were triaged at the scene and then transported by bus to a parking lot, where they were evaluated by Stone County first responders before either being released, treated on location, or transported to nearby medical facilities. Employees from Silver Dollar City’s CARE Team were deployed to the hospital last night to offer support to guests and family members. It is our understanding that five of the six guests transported to a medical facility have been released, along with the Silver Dollar City employee. It is a blessing that no-life threatening injuries have been reported. At Silver Dollar City, the safety and well-being of our guests and team members are paramount – which is why we have detailed emergency protocols and conduct regular drills in partnership with area emergency personnel. We are grateful for the quick, thoughtful action and teamwork of all involved in the response. At this time, our guest services team is in the process of following up with guests involved to offer additional support. We are also continuing to support the Missouri State Fire Marshall’s office, which is conducting an investigation. Further updates will be provided as they become available.

Big derailment on the Frisco Silver Dollar Line... Don't know anything other than this video (Screamscape shared it via Twitter). Hard to tell but it does look like the cars fully on their side were removed from the wheelsets at some point AFTER the derailment, I'm guessing either during the evacuation or in order to stabilize them after everyone got out. Hope no one was hurt! Update (10/26/2022 6:14pm PST): Sounds like several people were injured. From the local new station: "KOLR10 anchor Bailey Strohl has been in contact with a passenger on the train Wednesday. This passenger was in the second car from the back of the train. The passenger said right before the train tipped, her husband noticed the wheels on their car were silver instead of black rubber, and then they heard the train dragging. She said their car and the ones in front of them were completely on their sides and passengers had to smash the windows to climb out." More info here: https://www.ozarksfirst.com/local-news/local-news-local-news/heavy-emergency-responder-presence-at-silver-dollar-city/

I'm just waiting for the name jokes to start...

Hi Everyone! Wow...uhhh...sorry but I got way distracted with some work stuff, and my whole plan of putting out all my trip reports from this year's "Coaster Desert Escape" totally went out the window. So let's just pickup where we left off at...Holiday World! Now, I'll be honest. Holiday World was a park that I had heard a lot of people talk about, but it wasn't high on my list of park to visit. I don't know I just never felt a huge urge to visit it. But when during the trip planning process we decided to go from St. Louis (where we watched a baseball game which was AWESOME!) to Kings Island...I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit another park. Especially when that park has Voyage...I mean no matter your opinion of the thing, every coaster enthusiast has to do it at lease once right? So after enjoying the free parking (yay!), and having a rather strange opening experience where they forgot to have someone come and drop the rope at opening time (Is that normal?), we headed to the far back of the park for Thunderbird! Now while enjoyed Thunderbird (best steel coaster in the park you know...) and I thought the launch was fun, I was actually a little underwhelmed. I thought the layout and inversions would do for me, but it just...didn't. I actually prefer Wild Eagle at Dollywood, because outside of the T-Bird's launch (which is better than WE's lift hill in my opinion) Eagle's layout was much more intense and unique than Thunderbird's. So after that interesting start, we headed to the star of the show at Holiday World which is of course... ...Voyage! Now, having heard a LOT of different things about the ride, mostly praise but some criticism, I was curious to see what I thought. And first off I want to say, yes voyage is ROUGH. I don't care if its a "good season" or a "bad season" for the ride, I thought it was rougher than it should have been. Yes, I get it, it's a big old honken ride, in a park with two other wooden coasters. And no, it wasn't grossly rough (like cough cough Timber Wolf cough cough), but definitely unpleasantly rough. I do have a high roughness tolerance, so it didn't bother me too much, but I was disappointed by it. Maybe I was under the false impression that HW was on parr with Knoebels when it came to wooden coaster maintenance, I don't know I guess I expected it to be smoother all around. The roughness also made it definitely a front row ride, as not only could I then enjoy a smoother ride, I could also form an appropriate opinion about it's famous layout. And that is: the first two ills are all right, but not all that great, the spaghetti bowl didn't do anything for me, and only when we get the the last third or so did I really see why people rate this ride so highly. Someone is probably gonna now say "But trim-less night rides at HolliWood Nights!", and to that I say (A) I didn't think the trims dampened it all that much, and (B) having the trims off wouldn't solve any of the problems with the first half of the ride. All in all, I thought the Voyage WAS the best in the park, but definitely not my favorite wooden coaster, with it currently sitting at number 4 just beating out Legend. Speaking of Legend... ...that was our next stop! I had originally thought I would actually like this more than Voyage, which I know is a bit of a a strange notion. But you see, I have always been fascinated with this coasters layout. On multiple occasions I have heard Tremors at my homepark be called "An improved version of Legend", and to that I say NO! Legend does pretty much everything that Tremors does, except the tunnels, better. Better first drop, better laterals, better speed, about the same on airtime and theming. However, I will say that despite all of the things going for it, there are a couple things holding the ride back. First is it's rough, definitely rougher than Voyage. Again, not grossly rough, but rough enough to take away from the ride experience. Secondly, the elements just don't seem to "pop" as much as they should. Hill that you'd think would have lots of airtime, have are mild, and turns you'd think would slam you around fall flat. I know a lot of people want to see Legend RMC'ed, but I personally would really want it to get the "Ghostrider treatment" from GCI. I know GCI has already done some work on the ride, but if they took the whole "let's retrack and reprofile most of the ride to make it more intense and ride smoother, plus through on some sweet Millennium Flyer's" than I think the ride would really benefit, and that's also what I most want looking to the future of Holiday World. After riding one of the world's most pointless log flumes (and I thought my home park's was bad), we rounded out the coaster collection with the original reason people went to Holiday World, Raven. I don't think there's a whole lot that needs to be said about Raven at this point, short but sweet, a little rough, and the fifth drop is great but the rest of the ride is showing it's age. I do really like the queue for the ride in the old house, but other than that I walked away from Raven exactly as I expected too, it was good but also just kinda "there". Aside from the coasters (and Frightful Falls, "can't forget that one..."), didn't ride a whole lot at Holiday World as we had to drive to Cincinnati that night and we didn't want to do it late at night. We did manage to ride Gobbler's Getaway, which I thought was a nice shooting dark ride although a lot of the effects seemed to be broken which was disappointing. We didn't do Splahin' Safari due to lack of time and interest, but from what I could see it definitely looked like one of the best outdoor water parks that I have seen. Definitey on the list for next time I get to Holiday World. Some other thoughts on Holiday World: - While the park was clean (as advertised), it was really only super clean in the parts that most people are, but if you look in some areas...it's not clean. Looking at all those Pepsi cups under Legend's station as an example. - Loved the free soda and thought it was a cool idea. More parks should do that. - The park as a whole was nice looking, but it kinda looked like they scrubbed all the detials off everything. Aside fromt the Christmas entrance area, pretty much all of the other buildings in the park just felt kinda "plain". Not that that's a bad thing I just thought it was an interesting phenomena. To finish out my thoughts on Holiday World I want to do something kinda different. Over the years I have heard a lot of comparisons between my homepark (Silverwood) and Holiday World. You don't hear it a much anymore, especially since Voyage and Aftershock opened, but there are still a lot of similarities and some interesting differences. So since I've been visiting SW for a very long time, let's compare the too! - The first one is pretty easy, and that is Holiday World definitely has the better water park, no contest. There's just no way Boulder Beach can compete with Splashin' Safari's 3 water coasters and all it's tube slides. There's just no way. - I think Silverwood has the more rounded coaster collection (2 woodies and 3 steel, vs. 3 woodies and 1 steel), while Holiday World has stronger rides overall. I like Voyage and Legend better than Timber Terror and Tremors, with Aftershock and Tremors coming ahead of Raven and Thunderbird, and of course Stunt Pilot beats them all in my book. - Both parks have nice landscaping, but Silverwood is for sure the prettier of the the two. SW not only has the cleanliness of Holiday World, but also a huge chunk more of landscaping and detail. Overall, I think I prefer my homepark a bit better (although I'm probably REALLY biased...), but Holiday World is still a good park, and a fun place to visit. I'd be curious to see where the Koch family goes from here, as they seem more willing than most independent park's to swing big when it comes to additions. Thank you to @jarmor and @mikeykaise for the help and advice on visiting, I really appreciated it! Whew! Finally got this one done! Hopefully should be able to get the last one done from this trip, plus the ones from a last minute trip I did in September, and an update from my homepark done real soon! See you then!

Lol! Yeah I went yesterday... definitely rough when all of their headliners were down...