Jon's 2012 Coaster Season - WI State Fair

[deathbydinn]

NU is one of those parks I hadn't really heard a lot about, but when I did hear about it I only heard good things. And now after going there, I realize why. I really have a lot of good things to say about the park and even the few bad things weren't really bad, just kinda annoying. This was my first time visiting the park and for sure won't be my last. If your anywhere near the park at anytime, I *highly* suggest you check it out, it really is a great park with a great selection of rides. The park was also hosting a small Halloween event called Blackout. It consisted of some activities for little kids like tattoos and other crafts, a dance floor with a DJ, and then at 8 all the ride lights were turned off and multi-colored lights and fog filled some parts of the park. Here are my reviews.

 

Coasters-

 

Spongebob Rock Bottom Plunge -4- Spongebob was my first euro-fighter and my first beyond vertical drop. The drop was honestly not as good as I was hoping it would be. It was still fun, but didn't provide all of what I was hoping it would. The ride was for the most part, smooth with only light headbanging on the second and third inversions. Surprisingly, I think the part I enjoyed the most was the helix at the end. It had good forces and I think it provided a better sense of speed than the rest of the ride. And even thought it's meant to be the parks big thrill coaster, I saw very young kids and older adults enjoying it. I even got my mom (who doesn't like steep drops) on it somehow, and she loved it and ended up riding three times!

 

SB's operations were odd though. Now since this was my first EF, I have no idea if this is normal for them or not. Basically they would load one car, send it to the lift and then load the other before sending the first around the course. There could be a mechanical reason for this, but other than that I can't really find any good reason to it. I don't see how it could possibly reduce maintenance and if anything, it lowered the capacity. So if anyone knows why they do this, please fill me in as I would love to know.

 

Pepsi Orange Streak -3- Orange Streak was much better than I thought it would be. It did give some nice forces and I loved how it snaked through out the whole park and into the mountain the flume resided in. It ended up being my second favorite coaster there (after SB) which I did not expect at all. The combination of a long train and small hills made the ride strange in the sense that in the front, it gained speed as it went up hill and seemed to lose speed while going down hill.

 

Avatar Air Bender -1- Enjoyable but not worth the neck chopping. Actually having other people on it probably would have helped though.

 

Fairly Odd Coaster -1- A bit shaky but a fun and unique ride to me, since it was my first spinning coaster that wasn't a wild mouse. Not too amazing overall, but it was good enough that I am looking forward to trying some of Gerstlauer's other spinning coasters.

 

Flats/Other rides-

 

Log Chute -3- Holy. Crap. I had heard this flume was great but I was still just blown away by it. Just the flume itself was good but the theming is so much better than what you normally get in full size or major theme parks. It was great to turn a corner just to have a huge blue ox spray water in your face. Sure it may be a bit uncomfortable walking around in damp clothes, but I thought it was worth it and ended up riding three times.

 

Tak Attack -1- TA was just weird. It reminded me of an oversize rollo-plane. Great views of the park from it, but I found going sideways and being pushed onto the restraints to be hurt a bit and be quite uncomfortable.

 

Danny Phantom -1- My first real falling star. It was very fun, but we sat in the middle so it didn't have amazing forces. I'll have to make sure to sit at the end on my next one.

 

Brain Surge -1- BS was a very fun ride, and I love that because you can control it, it can be a nice gentle kids ride, a slightly more thrilling family wall, or an off the wall insane thrill ride. I think the control feature could use some more work as it was a bit of a challenge to finish the rotation a few times.

 

Ghost Blasters -2- The theming was good, but the gun system just did not seem to work as both times we rode we just could not seem to hit the targets and set things off, and by looking at other scores, it wasn't just us who had this problem.

 

Splat-O-Sphere -1- Very fun! As all other Moser drop towers I've been it provided a great amount of air.

 

Jimmy Neutrons Atomic Collider -1- A very unique and rare ride, but I think it looks better than it rides. Really more of a family ride than a thrill ride.

 

Other than those I just did the ferris wheel, which doesn't need a review, so onto the pics!

First ride of the day!

A lot of the rides had fantastic signs

It gets pretty close to the ceiling.

The horseshoe goes right up next to the path and ferris wheel.

As you can see here.

FOC was my first Gerstlauer spinning coaster.

It was fun, but a bit bumpy and didn't spin a lot. (Which I was hoping it would)

It definitely was strange going over a hill sideways.

A bit of a let down..

This "ghost" looks more like a bald guy in a costume

A small pre-show in the queue, but a combination of low volume and sound from other rides made it very hard to hear.

Small practice area right before entering the ride.

POS, on the other hand, greatly exceeded my expectations.

Such an odd, yet fun ride.

Speaking of odd...

Just so screwed up.

For a dinosaur, Reptars pretty damn cute.

We didn't get to try the backwards swing. We were never by it when it was open.

Brainsurge was great fun. I hope to see it installed in more major parks because as I said before, it can be a ride for everyone.

It looks and rides great!

Oh, there was this thing to...that I failed to get any good pictures of

These character wraps were on some of the roof supports

As shown here!

I failed at getting good pictures of the flume, so this shot of the nice queue will have to suffice.

Eh, looks better than it rides.

And now, some pictures of the mini golf and the great views it provided!

The course starts by the ball going up a lift, and then down one of three ramps.

The ferris wheel just peeks over the wall..lets go for a closer look.

Splat-O-Sphere was taller than I expected it to be. Still, in the world of drop towers it's smaller, but packs a nice punch.

the extent of the days breakdowns. One ride for five minutes, and a computer. Pretty good if you ask me!

And for if you're a person who likes baseball, heres this. Thanks for reading!

[Jojo19799]

Jon thanks for sharing the pics! I really enjoyed my time at NU, and I can't wait to go back! Log Ride is one of the best flumes I've been on! Seriously!

[Jerrykoala2112]

As much as you liked the park, I still don't think you liked it as much as I wanted you to! It's rides like the Atomic Collider and Tak Attack that make this park amazing, in my opinion, as you cannot find the rides anywhere else! I still can't imagine Avatar giving neck-choppers, but I guess that depends on height. I also love the fact that you can you can get pictures of the park from anywhere in the mall, on any floor. Any spot you take pictures gets you a whole different perspective of the park!

 

My only problem with the park was, also, the operations on Sponge Bob! Even though I got many, many rides on it (short lines all the time) it still bugged me that I had to wait in the station or the part before the lift for a good 30 seconds to a minute before taking off.

 

Great report and pictures though! Good read, and I know I will revisit Nickelodoen Universe for some more great visits!

[deathbydinn]

This past Monday, June 20, I made the trek down to SFGAm for the afternoon. With just a few things I wanted to do, the day wasn't really meant for running from ride to ride, but I ended up getting a lot of rides in as there were incredibly short lines for anything! Some rides were even allowing re-rides if there were empty rows. Batman and AE were walk ons, and even Superman Ultimate Flight only had a 5 - 10 minutes wait. Even with short lines everything ran multiple trains and for the most part the ride ops were doing a really good job at keeping the lines short. I didn't get into the park until two, but I still managed to ride:

 

Batman: TR - 3 times

Superman: UF - 2 times

Dark Knight: 2 times

Little Dipper: 1 time

V2: 1 time

Viper: 1 time

AE Red & AE Blue: 1 time each

Demon: 1 time

Whizzer: 1 time

Condor: 1 time

Sky Trek Tower: 1 time

Orbit: 1 time

Logger's Run: 1 time

Roaring Rapids: 1 time

Screams & Dreams: 1 time

 

A few notes about the day and things around the park:

 

- The new show, Screams & Dreams, is a great look at the first few years of the park. It says Volume One at the beginning, so I'm really hoping they do have a new version next year, as the current one only goes up to White Water Rampage (Roaring Rapids) being added in 1984. It did seem to bore some of the GP, but at least they advertise it as being good for theme park fans.

 

- I didn't see any changeable wait time signs in front of rides any more, (the Armitron ones are still there), instead there's a big board in the front of the park showing wait times for all the rides. Not sure if that's new this year, or if I've just never noticed it before.

 

- While you no longer have to see the pre-show for Dark Knight anymore, they stopped using the big screen and use a tiny one on the opposite side of the room. Too small and too high to watch anyway. I honestly liked it better the way, as it made the line after the pre-show shorter. As for the ride itself, the billboard after the first drop wasn't lighting up, and instead of using the multi-colored light thing on the brake run, a Batman symbol is projected above you.

 

- The old tipping boats with Looney Tunes characters in them from LTNP's old foam ball pit are now in Roaring Rapids tunnel. As sad I was to see it go, it's nice to see some memory of it in the park. The old LTNP ride vehicles can be seen from Condor.

 

- Winners Circle got a new sign, and Vipers banner is still there. Supposedly the e&r fell off of the old sign, but that's just what I read online, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

I didn't go overboard on pictures, most are from SST, but here's what I did manage to get:

Upon entering we went straight to Yankee Harbor for..

..Batman! It seems to become a tradition that Batman is the first ride of the day.

I think these would be more effective if they were actually by the lockers, but still, neat to see how much stuff is actually lost from rides.

Batman was running great, very smooth.

I don't ride Condor a lot, but it really is a nice ride.

Would be nice to spend more time at the top of the tower though.

First time I've seen Superman's line not reach the switchbacks. (Also, why no cover for the queue??)

Superman did break down in line, and it literally took 10 minutes to get it back up, so props to the park for that.

The sign I mentioned before.

Looks like Superman's did get longer, but thats still not too bad compared to what it can get. And if you look closely between Condor and the bottom of Superman's first drop, you can see some of the old ride cars from LTNP.

I do love Wipeout's color scheme.

Mega Wedgie & Dive Bomber

Even though it's really just one Flowrider, it operates two sides. I suppose that would help with capacity, but you have to pay for to use the left side.

Monsoon Lagoon looks great! Always nice when parks have pools just for lounging around.

Tornado could use some landscaping!

Main slide tower. Gotta love any park with multiple bowl slides!

Best shot I got of the wavepool. Looks nice enough, I'll admit I'm a bit spoiled from Poseidon's Rage

Family rafts, never been on them so I can't really comment beyond that.

Whizzer just wouldn't be same if it wasn't twisting through the trees.

Iron Wolf really could use new paint job to make it pop more.

Definitely can't say the same about Bull...

Even though it's not original, I do love Viper's layout, and it looks fantastic from above.

V2 could also use a paint job. It's once bold colors are no very faded.

Back on the ground now. As you can see it got pretty cloudy, and not the best for pictures, so at this I decided to just be done with pictures. Thanks for reading!

[Jerrykoala2112]

Nice report and pictures! Granted, Six Flags Great America is rarely crowded on weekdays, even in the summer, which usually are the best times to go. One thing that bugged me on my last visit that you mentioned what the roofs for the queues were missing! I had to wait in the blazing heat with no shade because of that, not sure why they would not have put the roofs back for the summer!

 

Thanks for posting.

[Hilltopper39]

Great pictures, I only had one trip to SFGAM back in 2006 and had a great time there. Even though they didnt have any "great" coaster (in my opinion, I' wasn't a huge fan of Raging Bull) they did have a nice collection of really "good" coasters. I especially liked V2, Viper, and Whizzer and Batman is always a classic.

 

That water park looks amazing, especially considering it's only a couple of years old.

[deathbydinn]

October is easily my favorite time of the year, and there's really no better way to start then with a trip to Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America. I'll post short reviews of everything here, if you want to see more detailed reviews, click here.

 

Scare Zones:

Carousel Plaza: Really loved what they did the area this year, graveyard looked great and 3-4 actors just in the small area behind the carousel. 5/5

 

Bayou Du Vaudou: The Curse Of Laveau: Really no difference between Seven Sins and this, which I didn't like either. 2/5

 

The Last Stop: Burn 'Em and Buried Circus: Also not too changed from last year, but it didn't need changing as it was great. 4/5

 

Port Dread: Could maybe use a re-themed attraction, like say..Batman: Foggy Nights, but still a very good zone. 4/5

 

Yukon Territory: Not really sure why this as listed as a scare zone just because it has the entrance to Necropolis but ok. No actors, not much theming, but I guess it's better than leaving it bare. 1/5

 

The Ruins of Fenrir: I'm not going to rate this one as it was the only one I didn't see after 4. It was just cornstalks and dead trees, but I guess with fog and actors it could work. I'll be sure to check it out on my next visit. ?/5

 

Hellmouth: Lacking theming, but actors had cool costumes. 2/5

 

Tinseltown Terror: Nicely themed, but it'd be nice to see some new stuff as it's mostly Area 51 stuff. More and better actors though. 4/5

 

Sector 7: My favorite zone. Great theming throughout, even reaching onto two rides and easily the best scare-actors. 5/5

 

Haunts:

Necropolis: I got a better look at this year, and it's pretty good for being free. There was one actor about 10 feet away from the path trapped in a cage or something, which was weird. Would be nice to see her moved closer as it's in kinda of an empty part of it, but still good overall. 4/5

 

Massacre Medical Center: Only real house I did. Being in the middle of a large group it was fun, but not scary. Good theming with some cool effects and gags throughout. I'll give it a 4, had I been scared it would probably be a 5.

 

Shows:

Love at First Fright: It's Laff, nuff' said. 5/5

 

Onto the pictures.

The park entrance has never been this pretty.

They could really use a pool boy to clean things up a bit..

A skeleton..holding a skull..huh.

He actually appears to be above ground.

I have never seen flimsier skeletons. Someone needs more calcium.

Some tombstones are funny, this is not an example of one of those.

I don't get it.

Witch, please.

If this makes sense to you, please tell me.

That posture cannot be good for him.

If someone replaced my arm with a branch, I'd scream too.

Best zone, hands down.

If barrels=theming, then Sector 7 = tons of theming.

Killed by radiation, I assume.

Theming in BioHazard's (Whizzers) queue.

And some more.

So much theming in its exit!

Power plant stuff.

The movies have never been so "reel."

And here I was under the impression weapons weren't allowed in the park.

Demon wants to be special.

They should really have that snap shut when people try to enter.

Huge satellite and the park still only gets one channel.

UFO in Southwest Territory, and no reference to Cowboys Vs. Aliens. Disappointed.

Annnnd, they're forgiven.

Viper had snakes everywhere.

They must have bought 5 stores out of rubber snakes.

They really covered the station with them.

I saw no signs for Hellmouth, so here is Demons.

And that's the extent of it's theming.

And with that, we awkwardly transition to the ride graveyard. If I could only ride this one more time...

...like these guys.

That it was not.

Someone get George Lucas on the phone.

I really wish we still had this.

Or these.

Or this.

Actually, just bring it all back.

I know a lot of people don't like these rides, but I love them.

Why yes, I did take a picture of every grave.

They did have good artwork..

Because two just wasn't enough.

Odd that they only painted half..

..maybe because a few cars are yet to be killed?

www.savegreatamericaraceway.com

I'd say it's forgotten, as this was the first time I'd ever heard of it.

Must have been to go through 7 years of storms.

I suppose it's a fair trade.

It has a grave, but it's still standing. Heh.

Looks like they spent more on its grave than on its closing day decorations!

The Edge, where the car fell off the ledge.

Iowa?

It lives in death, as it did in life.

Is the Demon what he seems..or just a bad bad dream?

One more, you can make it.

See, it can work if its a ride people actually care about.

Speaking of dead rides..

Dead man walking.

Not super easy to get de-construction shots, but here's this.

And this. Came out decent for having to hold the camera over a fence.

And with that, we journey into Port Dread.

Being a pirates hard work.

Apparently, Pirates love corn.

If you really want to guard your treasure, should have gone with Sharktopus!

Crates. Spooky stuff.

Those are some quality fishing hooks.

Wouldn't want to be stuck with face forever.

Time for another awkward transition into The Last Stop: Burn 'Em and Buried Circus. Having signs up would really help with these.

The clown was lifting 2000. Just sayin'

How he got his big hand stuck in that tiny slot is beyond me.

He could just quit.

Not in this economy! Mwhuahah

The clowns have escaped, its Threat Level: Midnight

Doubt he's having clean thoughts about that alligator..

Doubt she is either.

The queue is under clown control as well.

And so is the ride controls, making for one uncomfortable ride.

Yes, I realize the photo isn't centered well, but at least it's a decent transition.

Not much different from last year.

Since Bayou Du Vaudou was pretty lame, I only took one picture of it, so here's Batman instead.

Much better than some tombs with a few flowers in front.

And this is the pirate that lives in a corn stalk conveniently next to Batman. (Ok, I just forgot to include it earlier.)

...same with this.

R.I.P.

Necropolis time!

The SBNO Wilderness Theater

Not sure what ride this is from, seems too small for Rolling Thunder, so a flat perhaps?

Even the dead gotta exercise.

They spelled Necropolis wrong.

Typical post office service.

Necropolis as fantastic food offerings.

And a gym to die for. So punny.

Eh, we're in Illinois, this is a daily occurrence.

Wait for it...

There we go.

Hey, in one year he moved from the park to his own dumpster, by 2050 he could have a mansion!

And with that, I end this report with something to look forward too. (And a pretty good discount too )

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited December 21, 2011 by deathbydinn

[liftsifter]

Thank's for the report Jon! Awesome to see that the park can have a quick joke at the expense of former rides. hahaa

[Jerrykoala2112]

SF Great America really stepped up this year with Fright Fest. I'm still hoping for the return of Blood River (Roaring Rapids with red water) but still, Terror Twister and Love at First Fright definitely make up for it. The new scare zones are also nicely done! The "retired rides" graveyard is a nice touch as well, something they did not have last year!

[deathbydinn]

Here's a few more pictures from my last two visits including Iron Wolf and X Flight construction pictures.

Massacre Medical Centers Facade

Whizzer from HTFM

Another view of Whizzer I don't often see.

Revolutions Fright Fest overlay sign

Whizzers Fright Fest overlay sign

Thats a bit creepy.

The station seems pretty untouched.

Top of the lift

This is supposed to be a scare zone..I guess.

All the GAR cars are still onsite.

This old building for GAR seems to be staying for X Flight.

Besides those piles of gravel the land is pretty much level.

If you look to the right you can see that construction is going right up to Demon.

Trailblazer's support still stands.

Whizzers final helix with some BioHazard theming

Raging Bull towering over SWT

X Flight track...

...and a little more.

Whoever this was was hypnotized and told to to salute to each trash can for 15 minutes after the show because they'd think it was the president of the moon. Imagine if this was a Cedar Fair park..

And to bring this season's park PTRs to a close, Demons sign at night. Thanks for reading!

[Jerrykoala2112]

Fright Fest was so fun last year, and I had an awesome time on every single one of my visits! And as awesome as Iron Wolf was... (hah) X-Flight was more than a worthwhile addition to the park. I'm just wondering what will takes its place in the near future.

[netdvn]

I love what they did with the 7 Sins Cemetary. I really wish more parks could do that with their boneyard rides. It would be a cool little throwback to the rides of the past.

[TXman308]

The Massacre Medical Center was by far the best house there. Glad to see that you enjoyed it.

[B.A.B]

It is so cool that Six Flags parks show past rides that are now gone. I wish Cedar Fair did that at their parks during Haunt.

[YoshiFan]

Dorney does it at Haunt. They have an old Hercules car out and tombstones for many removed rides. There are some pictures of it here:

http://dorneyonline.com/gallery.php?d=%2FHalloween%2FHaunt%2F2008%2FHeadstone+Hollow

[deathbydinn]

This past weekend I had the opportunity to trek down to Saint Louis with fellow TPR members Nathan (kumba830), Griffin (GriffyTiffy) Jo (Jojo19799) and Cameron (Cameron). While the main point of the trip was Six Flags Saint Louis, downtown Saint Louis also offers one exceptionally awesome attraction, the City Museum, and that's what this post is about. The best way to describe it is pure insanity with some pain mixed in. I don't even want to call it a museum, as it's really more of a giant indoor playground of death. It is not something you want to miss if you're in the area. Since it was my first time to St. Louis and I had time to spare, I also visited the Arch and City Garden, and both are things I would recommend a visit to. Plus, besides parking both can be free to visit!

A few pictures for the artsy-fartsy people

Simply put, City Garden is a garden with a bunch of big sculptures.

Some are even animated

Others were kinda odd.

There was a lot of water in the park for hotter days. In the top left corner you can see a waterfall behind a tree which goes into a small pool kids can play in.

Even Pinocchio made an appearance.

Onward to the icon of St. Louis, the Arch.

The Arch had a pretty cool free museum underground about westward expansion.

And they didn't cover up that we were pretty shady when getting land from the Native Americans!

They had some cool scenes set up as well.

We passed this on the way to City Museum. Frightening.

I failed to get a picture of the entrance, so he's the ticket booth.

We made our way to the "skate" park first.

Yeah, it was insane.

The skate park is also home to the worlds largest pencil.

And this tiny, tiny tunnel.

It reminded me a lot of those crazy looking playgrounds in Europe.

The train went through this space tunnel. Unfortantly we were all too tall for it.

The Rube Goldberg wasn't turned on, but this small section of it was working. Very cool and fun to watch.

Not sure why this came out so dark, but the whale holds one of the entrances to the caves. And the best thing inside the caves...

..this.

Ok, it was actually the ten story shoe slide.

From the top.

Slides play a large role in the museum. This one takes you to the main lobby.

This one, despite it's small size, is probably the best. It's insane.

You can kinda see how crazy steep it is.

A dinosaur flying underwater next to a whale. Why not?

The roof wasn't open, but the other outdoor section was. I hate heights, so this was one of the most terrifying experiences in my life.

It was all a good distance from the ground, and you had to get around climbing in, over and under all sorts of weird things.

There were some nice relaxing spots for those who don't want to reach it's full potential of insanity.

Lots of slides outside as well.

There was even a huge adult sized ball pit.

It was amazing!

And to finish off this section, here's Jo being buried under balls. Thanks for reading, Six Flags St. Louis pics coming soon!

[CoasterKings908]

Sound like you had a blast. Can't wait for more!

[galindoverhere]

Awesome Trip Report! I have to visit St. Louis soon so I can visit this place... I can't wait for the SFStL PTR!

[traincrossin]

City Museum, awesome place, what else can I say. I need to head over there next time i'm in St. Louis! And the place is just insanely cool. They just found a new tunnel today, one they hadn't even known about before. Sweet pics!

[GriffyTiffy]

Great photos!

 

They make me miss the City Museum that much more Hard to believe it has already been a week! Can't wait for your SFSTL report!

 

Griffin

[deathbydinn]

The day after the City Museum, we headed over to Six Flags Saint Louis. Already bruised and sore from the museum, so clearly going to a theme park the next day is the best thing to do. It was my first time to the park and it wasn't exactly what I expected it to be. It wasn't that the park was bad, as it wasn't, I just found parts odd. It is very hilly as well, so spending all day at it definitely gets you a good work out. Operations were fine, park was clean and had a good atmosphere. The rides were all good, however I didn't find any to stick out as particularly amazing. Here's my coaster reviews:

 

Batman: Riding a mirror image of what I'm used to was fun. We rode in the back and it was very smooth and forceful. The only thing I didn't like was it's queue, it went on for ever! At least they made it look nice with the garden, short tunnel, and falling road section.

 

Ninja: I've heard this ride get a lot of crap. Personally, I thought it was great. It was a little jerky for some transitions, but overall I thought it was pretty smooth with an awesome head chopper.

 

Screaming Eagle: Hidden in the woods, this classic coaster provided a good ride. Only the slightest bit of airtime, but it ran smooth and has a great location.

 

River King Mine Train: This was my first Arrow mine train and it was pretty...weird. It was a little short and also mostly hidden from the most of the park, but it's weird track bends and terrain interaction made it enjoyable.

 

Pandemonium: I had ridden it's clone at MOA before and that ran a little rougher than Pandy. It was decent, but we only span for the first part of the ride. It was cool how you could see the whole thing from the queue though.

 

American Thunder: This ride has some of the most comfortable trains I've ever sat in. It packed a good punch in it's small size and was very, very smooth. Really makes me excited to ride more twisty GCIs.

 

Boss: On the contrary, this ride had some of the worst trains I've ever sat in. Besides being butt-ugly, it was hard to find a comfortable position in them. The ride itself was great and just looks massive, but I feel the coaster could perform better. A little more track work and some new trains and I could definitely see myself enjoying it more than I did.

 

Onto the pics!

Wouldn't be a Six Flags park without six flags in front.

The entrance did look quite nice.

Hurricane Harbor's entrance is conveniently placed at the entrance of the park.

Despite having area names, I didn't find the themes too evident. At least they all looked nice.

Batman's station looked great!

Random sewer? Why not!

This falling road roof was pretty cool.

I love when ride queues go directly under the track as Batmans did.

The exit goes close to it as well.

Odd theme for a swinging ship.

Ninja! <3

Seriously, it was great.

One of the gift shops in the area.

River King is a fun ride, but very hard to photograph.

This little stretch by Ninja was pretty much all I could see of it without being on a ride.

Oh god.

Those chains...so tiny..

and the tower isn't exactly short.

In all seriousness, I loved it. I was terrified getting on, but it ended up being a total blast. The program was kind of odd though. It went up to the top of the tower, spun around, went back down..

...and then went up again but only to around this height. I don't know if thats a normal star flyer program or not, but I would have preferred it just stayed at the top longer like Windseekers.

Didn't ride these, no big loss.

This I actually did want to ride.

Unfortantly, when we got in line it decided it didn't want to move, so we left and didn't get back to it later.

Cool facade though.

So Screaming Eagle has this big sign and what looks like the beginning of a queue line..

..but it's entrance is actually up a hill and tucked behind some games. Would be very easy to miss.

Fun ride though. I believe the smaller sign used to be on this hill or the one after it.

I failed to get a picture of its (awesome) sign, so here is an awkward transition to the Excalibur pictures.

The ride started kinda like an enterprise.

But it just kept going.

And going. It was one of the weirdest rides I've ever been on but it was so much fun at the same time.

Pandemonium is situated right next to Excalibur.

The queue gives some great views of the whole layout.

Despite being a clone, I thought they did a good job making it fit the area.

Kinda cool how some of the cars have details on the top.

Very boss indeed.

Peaking over the skyline.

Lift hill and M&M ads on the station.

Once again, this a ride without a whole lot of paths by it.

Lot of crap on it's station roof.

Boo.

The park did have some pretty awesome signs.

Such as this.

I can't help but be reminded of infomercials when I hear it's name. Shazam fits with in there with Shamwow and Shammy.

<3 <3 <3

There's a train in there somewhere.

So twisty.

No idea who they are. Just wanted the front of the train.

Lifthill to heaven.

Boat ride to hell.

Ok not exactly. But there where ghosts, so close enough.

Scooby Scooby Doo, where are you?

Blah. It was mocking us from the line.

At least there was still one vertical drop open in the park.

S:TOP was so much fun. Not knowing when the drop was coming really added to the scare.

It took me a while to figure out that when the train is at the station it goes very close to the path and wasn't waiting for people to stop walking in front of it.

The park might only have one kids area, but it was really good and integrated with the rest of the park well.

Park map..this probably would've made more sense at the beginning.

And to end out the report here's something thats, well, not exactly right. Thanks for reading!

[TJ27]

Great trip report Jon!!! I really need to check out St. Louis it's one of the only big U.S. cities I haven't visited.

[Jerrykoala2112]

Bummer that you didn't get to ride Mr. Freeze, as that is the best ride at the park, even better than American Thunder. And we share the same opinion on River King Mine Train, it's far from good, but the lovely terrain turns it into a nice ride. I love your Ninja photos

[sfgam#1]

Nice Tr jon, I'm glad you enjoyed the park. But I see the guy with the judgment day sign all the time and it freaks me out

[galindoverhere]

Great PTR Jon, I haven't been here since 2010 and I had a fun time, and by the looks of it, you did too! Everything is just as I remembered it even though there are a few changes... anyways cool Trip Report!