MisterP

I always hear people mention that they dislike chain lifts that lead back into the station, but I was never sure why that bothered people. If you know its there, then what's the big deal? The ride is basically over anyway. Its not any different than sitting on the brake run at the end of a ride waiting for the train in the station in front of you to dispatch. But at least with a lift hill, you're actually moving. And on a ride like Adventure Express, at least they put some amusing theming in the final lift hill tunnel. Yet people complain about the end of that ride. Never really understood why...

IR looks like it will be great, and I may getting down there to ride it in the next year or two. But having already ridden the amazingness of Outlaw Run, I gotta throw my vote there. It just does more crazy $%^& in one minute than probably any ride I've ever been on...

Where? I only saw the main queue and the Trailblazer Pass line. I'm not sure how much they are going to be doing so, but on the second day (Saturday) they were directing single riders first thing in the morning to the Trailblazer Pass line. Only about 8 people or so got in line. I was about to get on the next train when the ride broke down after like the first three trains of the day. So I waited there for about 45 minutes. Amazingly, almost no one else got in the line. Then when the ride opened, I rode it, got in back in the single riders' line and rode again after about a 7-8 minute wait, and then rode it a third time after about a 10 minute wait. It was awesome. But I'm not sure if that was just a temporary way of handling the heavy crowds of opening weekend or whether it will be a semi-permament thing. My guess if that it won't last because the signage for that line seemed to be marked for the Trailblazer line only, and I don't see how the logistics would work using one queue for both Trailblazer Passholders AND single riders...

I went on Opening Day and the next day, and the coaster is indeed amazing. I would post my pictures, but they would pale in comparison to Robb's. It would be like me and my middle-aged white man body bragging about my junk while showering with the Dallas Mavericks. But yeah, Outlaw Run packs a whallop in a smallish package (no pun intended ). .....and oh yeah, and lets hear it for Silver Dollar City, and Outlaw Run & its SINGLE RIDER LINE!!!!!

Um, she can't get pregnant if you do her in the caboose...

I haven't been around as much the last couple of years, and I haven't purchased a TPR DVD in about 7 years. But these videos just get more and more incredible every time I go back to the YouTube channel to check out the new entries. Most of them seem more or less perfectly recorded. This one is just a feast for the eyes. Kudos, Robb (and anyone else who desrves credit). Now if we could only get rid of all that yelling and cursing....

Revenge of the Mummy at USF

Fair enough. I guess the whole food thing is an attraction for lots of folks. I guess I'm just not obsessed with food (not meant as a put-down in any way) to take that into consideration. If I'm taking a week off work, I can't see being trapped on a ship with a bunch of strangers with nothing to do but swim, eat, and drink. I need a little more "bang" for my buck. It would seem that theme park folks would think along those same lines, considering my friends wouldn't take a theme park vacation in a million years, but they will spend 3000 dollars to go to San Francisco and see no sights other than restaurants and bars that they saw on the Food Network and Travel Channel. And now that I have kids, I want to provide them with experiences that I wanted as a kid. Namely, Disney World and Busch Gardens. Not the Titanic. Oh well. As I said, it takes diff'rent strokes to move the world...

Not quite 5000 in this report, more like 2000! But you don't have to read along if you don't enjoy it. I appreciate your good sense of humor. Well done. BTW, you appeared to have some very nice travels there...

I find it amusing that for a bunch of folks who have such intense issues with the "general theme park public" they sure seem to love to be trapped on a boat with dorky strangers for 7 days. I'd rather have my testes strapped to the OTR on a Vekoma SLC for 20 cycles than to sit on a cruise ship and talk to boring morons from Topeka. But different strokes, I guess....

Visitors who visit Six Flags on Opening Weekend in April aren't the typical park visitors. They are either die-hards who will be back many times before the end of the season, or they are local families who want to enjoy bringing the kids during cool weather days. Nary a single person outside of idiots will be upset that the new coaster isn't ready by early April. And if they are upset, they won't be enough of a dent in the complaint department for anyone in the front office to care one bit....

Not nearly enough pointless, uninteresting photos. 5000 is far too few...

For a kid growing up in St Louis in the 70s, it had to have been the car that fell from the SkyWay and killed 3 people in 1978. That freaked out my 9-year old mind. I remember going to the park the following summer with my family and secretly worrying all day long that one of my family members was going to die on one of the rides...

1. DLR 2. DW 3. SDC 4. BGW 5. CP

Its interesting to hear how hot it was inside the ride buildings for Freeze & Batman. I assure you they do have AC in those buildings. During the summer, it seems like Mr. Freeze's building is appropriately freezing cold..

Don't be such a coaster nerd-snob. It doesn't matter what people who RODE them think about them. They're 5 coasters that your average rollercoaster-chicken would just LOOK at and say "F&^% NO! I ain't goin' on THAT!!!" Its an article for the UNinitiated. Not the people who ride 200 roller coasters a year. Sheesh. But feel free to down upon look at the "unenlightened"...

^ Exactly. If you want all the "can't miss" attractions, then you'll be fine. Like if you can do without the time-consuming things like shows or rides like Kilimanjaro Safaris or the Sudio Tour, you'll have plenty of time for other stuff. How I would do it: At AK, I'd try to get 2 rides on Everest and ride Dinosaur. Then get out of AK. At the Studios, one ride on R&RC, possibly 2 rides on TOT, the Great Movie Ride. Then get out. Then you should have plenty of time to go to MK and experience Splash, Space, & Big Thunder Mountains, Mansion, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and a few other rides. That's how I would do it if I had one day in those 3 parks. And other attractions can be experienced on a return trip (which you'll definitely want to make after spending a day there)...

I'm assuming that you're trying to ride all the high-profile rides in the 3 parks in one day. So you should be able to see most of those. Get to AK at 8:30. If you want to ride do the Safari, grab a Fast Pass at Everest (and maybe even grab a ride in Everest while you're there) and head back and ride the safaris before the lines get crazy. Go back and your EE window should be open. Then head over to Dinosaur and ride that. Head out by 11/11:15. Try to get to the Studios by noon. (Those bus rides between parks can take some time; obviously a car is quicker). Then head to TDS. Grab a Fast pass for wither R&R Coaster or TOT and then get in line for the other one. You should be able to ride both big rides in an hour to an hour and a half. Then you'll have time to hit the studio tour, Star Tours, possibly one other thing by 4. Then head to the MK, grab a Fast Pass for Space Mountain or Splash Mountain. Then ride Pirates, Mansion, Jungle Cruise, basically all the classics that won't have ridiculous lines. When your Fast Pass opens up, head to the other mountain to grab a Fast Pass for that., then head to the first mountain & use your FP. Try to ride Big Thunder at night (possibly with Fast Passes). Then prioritize which Fantasyland dark rides you want to hit, and maybe consider the TTA or Buzz. It will be a breakneck day (I think even 2 or 3 days can be too rushed), but if you want the best of the 3 parks, it could be done, as long as the parks aren't choked with people and the Fast Passes run out..

This is my pet peeve. Entitled snotty teengers who have no patience for anyone or anything that doesn't involve them or their iPhones. I'm still waiting for someone to open an adult theme park that has good rides but no insufferable 14 year old suburban kids...

I'm loving this thread. It looks like I'm just other graybeard who's also a dark ride nut. Too bad most of the great ones are nowhere near St Louis. Because getting to ride the ones on Coney Island and at Canobie, Kennywood, and especially the HM at Knoebel's were great, and they left me wanting to ride all other classic ones on the Jersey shore or the west coast or wherever. Of course, I grew up getting to ride some classic darks at SF STL (tilt house and Injun Joe's Cave at then SF-MidAmerica), and Fire in the Hole & Flooded Mine at SDC. So I was into them at an early age. Then after my first trip to WDW at age 9, I became a bit of a dark ride fanboy (and of audio-animatronics as well). I'd love to see parks go back to building them (without laser guns ). I guess they're too cost-prohibitive for most parks, eh? Involve too much upkeep? Low ride capacity? I guess an obvious answer is that parks don't feel they will draw in new guests with a slow-moving scenic ride in 2011 with what would be seen as pretty antiquated (albeit effective) effects and gags. They believe that everyone is mostly looking for thrills. And knowing the target age demographic of most parks, and seeing the ages of the posters on this thread compared to 99% of the other ones, I would say they are correct. But I enjoy a great dark ride almost as much as a great coaster...

As the OP said, R.I.P. goes to City Museum founder and great St. Louisan Bob Cassilly. He died on September 26 inside his bulldozer, as he was in the middle of helping build his newest attraction in north St. Louis, slated to be named "Cementland" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/arts/design/25ceme.html ). Apparently, he received fatal trauma to his body as his bulldozer rolled over down a small hill. Very sad. The City Museum will stand as a monument to his creativity, vision, entrepreneurial spirit, and civic pride.

I applaud Knoebel's for getting a dark ride ready in time for October. I may not be back to that great park for, say, for several years (or another decade), but I really appreciate when awesome parks that I've visited multiple times add a dark ride/coaster hybrid. Cant' wait to experience it! And can't WAIT to visit that awesome park for a 3rd time!

Incorrect. The current River King Mine Train (the north side) was Rail Blazer in 1984, while the old (south side) track remained the Mine Train. Then after '84 season, both sides were re-opened as the RKMT until the 1988 season when the south track was SBNO, before it was moved to Dollywood for the '89 season as Thunder Express. It moved to Magic Springs in 2002.

I guess I'm not the only person who thinks the Space Mountain at DLR is much better than the one(s) at the MK...

Slow year for me. Too much stuff going on. SF STL SF Great America Valleyfair! Nick Universe at MOA one ride on Hellcat or Avalanche or whatever its called on a quick trip through the Dells and that's it the first year in a long time when I didn't make a trek to either SDC or WOF...