MisterP

It looks like the park is pretty much just one decent B&M and one good dark ride. Also, is there ANYWHERE in that park that provides shade?! It looks to be a theme park version of their restaurants - they both have cool little details to look at, but no real reason to come back...and can anyone actually be surprised that the food sucked? I mean, have you ever eaten in the restaurants?! ...Plus seriously, a coaster themed to the EAGLES?! I thought it was HARD Rock Park, not SOFT Rock Park!

Hades for wooden, Loch Ness Monster for steel

GAdv is about 30 times better than DP. El Toro alone is worth the gate price. And GASM is an awful coaster - that's not an opinion, that is an undesputable fact

I thought SFA was a pretty decent park when I visited in '05. It was very slow that day, but the ride ops were very nice - they even allowed us to re-ride S:ROS, Joker's Jinx, and Batwing without getting out of our seats... ...I'm always surprised at how much love Wild One gets and how much hate Roar gets...I thought Roar was quite fun, but didn't enjoy Wild One and its "helix of death"....

As long as they keep adding cool AAs, I don't care if they're being manufactured by Al Qaida...

While it was better than average, I thought Kumba was gonna be way better...although OTSRs on a non-invert are a real turnoff for me...

Most of the great old dark rides seem to be near the coasts. Sometimes it really sucks to be stuck in the middle.....

Living my whole life in STL and actually working for AB for a time, this deal seems surreal. The late August Busch II is rolling in his grave. And I read somewhere too that they weren't going to retain the parks. And as far as the ever-popular "American beer sucks" mantra that many like to claim, here's my take. The micro-brews are great, they make very tasty beer. There are many imports that are tastier. But for regular Americans who drink a LOT of beer, they can get very expensive. So makers like AB and Miller make an affordable product that is lighter, and thus easier to drink more of. This stems partially from the Prohibition era and the fact that beer completed directly with American-made wine, whiskey, bourbon, rum, and gin. Its alcohol - and thus designed to get people intoxicated (whether the beer companies want to admit it or not). Personally, the only AB product I drink is Bud regular. I can't drink 95% of light beers. I need some level of taste. I often stock up on local micros, or Blue Moon, Fat Tire, Sam Adams, etc., but there is always Bud or Miller Hi Life in my fridge at all times. I can't afford to always be buying a case of the "good" stuff, but a 30 pack of Bud is relatively affordable, tasty (IMO), and I can get drunk 3 or 4 times from it. Its beer folks, its for getting drunk. Let's not act like its Dom Perignon.

I love their level of theming. Some of it may be cheesy, but I wish more American parks made that kind of effort!

You may want to check your options once you get there. Starting at either park, you may be able to buy a single-day ticket when you first arrive, then upgrade to the park-hopper or two-day ticket before you leave. That way you can enjoy the day, manage your time (if the need arises) and decide later in the day if you need to upgrade. JJ Not sure what you mean by "starting at either park", considering SDC closes around the time that CC opens...

Just adding my 2 cents more.....I personally would stick to the interstates and avoid those Ozark mountain roads. They're windy, often only one lane which makes its hard to pass, and there is often construction going on in July. 44 and 65 are two of the very best highways in the whole state (and trust me, Ive driven them ALL many times). And adding to Carnage's issues with CC: it is a nice, small park. It just doesnt have a lot of totally original stuff to do. Ozcat is great, and the other rides are fun at night. I would recommend eating some good diner type food at the Last Chance Diner as a nice capper to your day.

Agreed that it is a very tough decision. I like BGE as a park more, but there is more to do at Hershey. I'd go with BGE because it has 5 really good coasters, Hershey has maybe 3 that are in the really good category. And BGE has DarKastle, which I quite like. But I love both parks.

Not sure I understand this thread. "Favorite" as in my favorite to reride? Well "none" would be the answer because I'm too old to reride a coaster that causes me pain. Now if by "favorite" you mean the coaster that I can laugh at and call a death machine, then I'm on board. I've ridden many backbreakers, but my favorite terrible coaster has to be Pirates Hideaway at Casino Pier. Wow, is that one big pile of crap.

Isnt Joplin near Highway 44? If so its an EASY drive. JUst take 44 to Springfield, then take 65 South into Branson. I'm guessing two hours MAX. Super easy. During the week should be the best time to go, although I was there last Sat and Sun and it wasn't very crowded (a few people that I talked to thought the economy was having a real effect in so. Mo area). You can do both parks in one day. Get to SDC at opening, you'll get multiple rides on the coasters, and ride everything else by 4 or 5 easily (don't forget the cave tour!) Then head to CC at opening, get a bunch of Ozcat rides in a row and then take your time enjoying the rest of the park. You can definitely pack a lot of good stuff in one day easily. Have fun!

Is there a Japanese word for "sacrilege"?

I'm close to the biggest music fan in the world....and I seriously would never have thought of listening to an ipod while on a coaster... it reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where George wanted to combine eating food, watching T.V., and having sex Riding coasters isn't quite ho-hum enough for me to need music accompaniment....I reserve my ipod for walking, jogging, laying in a hammock, etc.....

^ Yeah, Garfield's Nightmare is awful. I would retheme the Nemo subs back into a naturalistic setting, but with much better technology, such as larger scale AAs, but much more exciting than the original subs. I think there are many things that I could come up with that could make that a much better ride (plus I'd really try to find a way to make Fastpass work, but I digress...)

Those are fine, but Busch just looked them up in some type of African to English dictionary because they ran out of ideas featuring English words..

The Loch Ness Monster absolutely perfect theme for a coaster

I was being ironic.... But its good to see in these last few photos that you could actually take pictures of like theme parks and stuff..... ...but I'm sure a picture of a toy instead of rides and such is hilarious to a grown man in his 30s.....oh, wait.....

Amen!!! i think that my experience two months ago was the best I've ever seen from a coaster crew....top notch ..... at the time I think I said that they "were kicking #ss and taking names" best Ive ever seen my FAR....

Two of my favorite 7 or 8 things in life are theme parks and the Simpsons. I just wish I could get excited about this ride. I guess the fact that I thought Back To the Future was super-lame contributes to that feeling a bit.

I heard they were bringing Zambezi Zinger back. (And I sincerely wish I wasn't kidding...)

Nice pictures of a toy jellyfish...

Not to be crass, but how depressed do you gotta be to bump yourself off at the "Happiest Place on Earth"?