SharkTums Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I smiled reading this entire report. It's always hard for me to decide which park is better Silver Dollar City or Dollywood. They're both just so awesome and laid back. Also, I almost forgot how much fun we had on this trip, we seriously just need to do the exact same thing again (perhaps about 25 degrees cooler though)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryancrash Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Great TR Divv! Thanks for sharing. I finally made it to SDC last year and I was really impressed. Wonderful atmosphere. It reminded me somewhat of Dollywood. And though I still like Dollywood just a little bit better, SDC is definitely one of my favourite parks in the U.S. Just wish I’d had more time to spend there - not knowing how awesome SDC was going to be, I gave myself about two hours to credit-whore the place before driving back to St. Louis to catch a flight. Needless to say, that wasn’t enough time - I could have spent three days there. I rode the coasters, but that was about it (didn’t get to do that amazing cave). The coasters all exceeded my expectations. I think Wildfire impressed me the most - built on the side of the mountain, it looks SO much taller than it really is. Oh yeah - and I hit that jerky stand. I tried the kangaroo jerky - delicious! Awesome park - I really need to visit again soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMorgan Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Divv, I love your sense of humor. There were several LOL moments in the last update. Thanks for brightening my day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy524 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Looks like a really nice park. The food looks incredible. Great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Hell, I'd go back to Silver Dollar City just for the succotash skillet. Such a great park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Despite it being miserably humid (notice how we never dry throughout the day) this was an absolutely amazing day. A great park, and a great group to hang out with. I miss you guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 ^I forgot how incredible hot it was! The nice escape from the heat was one of the best parts of the cave. Awesome pictures Divv, especially the food! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 (edited) Thanks everyone! Glad to see I wasn't the only one left with such a lasting good impression from Silver Dollar City! --- DAY FIVE, Part One: GATEWAY ARCH When I tell non-enthusiast friends about these trips they always bring up the point that we just skip by a lot of the places and miss the local culture by visiting the parks. I never buy this argument because I actually think the parks give you a great deal of the local culture and well, I’m just not that into doing day after day of sight seeing. That is, unless there is something cool to see! But at least now when anyone tries to give me any jip for this I can throw Gateway Arch in their face! Gateway Arch is not something you can do anywhere and there’s no better group to do a unique thing like this with than TPR! Culture Credit! Say hello to Gateway Arch in St Louis! Though not just an Arch, there’s some museumy stuff in here too. Mmm, Whiskey! TPTeepee! Nice beaver! It’s a tough job, but TPDave insisted that he do it. KidTums just loves hanging around at Gateway Arch. In order to get to the top of the Arch you get into teams of five and squish yourselves into these little cubicles that lift you to the top! TPDave cannot believe the view he gets from the top of the Arch! Hello Saint Louis! Hey look, it’s the American Cricket stadium! Why does Jon look so excited? Ah, bridge porn! Shadow artsy. That’s me, 630 feet over Saint Louis! It can be nice sometimes to take a quick break on a TPR trip to do a little sight-seeing if it fits in well with the trip schedule like this Archsy! Can I be in the Expendables sequel please? This was a nice stop, it was good to see St Louis from high up. It also gives me something to throw in my mum’s face when she rolls her eyes at me missing non-theme park stuff when I visit all these different places! Next up, City Musuem!!! Edited May 9, 2011 by Divv3k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Can't wait to see City Museum! It was nice to be able to check out the arch, and TPR does it the right way. You go in, go up, and get out. Not much more to see after that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share Posted May 9, 2011 DAY FIVE, Part Two: CITY MUSEUM Well, well, well… What can I say about City Museum? I had heard very little about this place and even when I was told a visit was on the itinerary I decided not to research it in order to go in with an open mind. Well this place was just INSANE!!! I never expected to ever find a place like this in the US! This museum is not your usual assortment of paintings and Jeff Johnson skeletons. It’s an old show factory that was converted into this massive play area with slides, tunnels and loads of other random stuff! The best part was, TPR got this place all to ourselves! Unbelievable. How this night ended without loss of life I’ll never know. I don’t really think words do this place justice and I doubt photos will either, I can but try though! OMG, we’re at City Museum, we’re all gonna die!!! Just look at it. If ever there was a museum that screamed “Please come visit me, TPR!” this is it! The only words I can see are DANGER and RISK! All I need to know! City Museum is actually an old converted shoe factory. True story. And now for the TPTour of City Museum! Please note TPDave cannot play the piano. Nor can he sumo wrestle. But find a place called Toddler Town and TPDave is home! Especially if it means he can have some balls on his face. John McClane, TPDave is not. But he is at one with the world of nature. I want to take this guy home so that he can be my robot skeleton sidekick. On the wall there’s little hint to US amusement park past. Can we just lock the door and leave TPDave here? TPDave, if you can’t drink alcohol here than you most certainly can’t sell it! Please let the lift fall now! What the hell is TPDave doing with his right hand? And next to a guy named Big Boy no less! Slide POV! City Museum had loads of cool slides like this! TPDave decides to take us both to our impending doom over the edge of the museum. Dan seems pretty excited to not be in Derek's predicament. Most exercise Ben’s had since last night! Speaking from experience, swinging from this rope for an extended period requires more upper body strength than you might expect! Is that a Baldknobber?! And this is the last we ever saw of Jon… TPHorrific! All sorts of scary creatures lurk within the tunnels beneath City Museum! This was really cool too, there’s little ferris wheel on the museum’s roof! There was also this massive climbing structure inside the building. Quite tiring to climb around! How this is allowed in the US I’ll never know! TPFail! Your shirts are only going to get more yellow and horrific, TPDave! TPDaring! We finished our visit to City Museum by having Kristen select some lucky participants to join her at the top of this slide for some tandem sliding fun! Somehow I made it through the visit to City Museum without spilling blood. Others weren’t so lucky! This place was incredible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy524 Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 So jealous! I have to go there one day. Great pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisdanger Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Divv, Excellent TR man!..In the immortal words of TPDave, this is quite the "Jolly Jolly" adventure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisdanger Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 ^ Agreed! We demand more pictures of TPRs official "Jolly Englishman"! Upload them Post-Haste!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_roll06 Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 All the fans of the TPCelebrity will be talking about this update for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XII Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Nice Update Divv. The City Museum was great. And like you said, these photos don't come close to justifying the City Museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirouettes907 Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Without a doubt City Museum is the best thing there is to do here in St. Louis, and yes, I have no idea how it is allowed in the U.S., but I'm mighty thankful for it. I was so bummed my work schedule didn't allow me to join you guys that day; looks like it was an afternoon of epic proportions! Always like looking through your reports and looking forward to your take on my home park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPDave Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Wow, I've become quite the feature in this TR. Epic report as always Divv, not the pictures with me in (self effacing and all that...) but apart form that it was AWESOME!! I don't remember there being a rope in the skate ramp room, and I certainly don't remember swinging on it :S Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 DAY FIVE, Part Three: WHITE CASTLE! On 2007’s Midwest Trip I didn’t eat at White Castle. I don’t really know why. I think in the years since I’ve just become a bit more of a fast food junkie (Fat B*stard) than I was in 2007 when I was happy just to eat at Subway. Suffice to say I spent years regretting not partaking in the White Castle experience and highly anticipated the chance to finally get in on the action in 2010! I’d even researched the menu before I left the UK and knew exactly what I’d be ordering. Yes folks, this is White Castle. The real reason I signed up for the Mid-America trip. What better way to top off this amazing day than to FINALLY pop my White Castle cherry! For those that don’t know, White Castle is a chain of fast food restaurants in Middle America famous for their tiny credit-card-sized burgers, called Sliders. TPDave is all set to satisfy that craving! My order? Four sliders, two bacon double cheeseburgers and chicken rings with cheese! White Castle was as awesome as I'd hoped it would be! Russ and Stacey are eating up their White Castle experience! TPQuiet. Not only is White Castle some of the tastiest bad food you’ll ever have, the boxes can be used to make some real interesting towers! White Castle is reason enough for me to return to the Midwest again some day! There were some very interesting smells produced by TPDave this night! White Castle has been conquered! Lets make sure everyone on the bus knows about it tomorrow! White Castle was awesome! Can’t wait to try it again someday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I find it amusing that Jon has this talent of blocking me in most photos That was a great night and a great first time at the Castle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisdanger Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Thats one thing I miss about going to OH, a sack of sliders w/ cheese, two orders of fries and a large coke...Thanks guys for posting!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.TWISTY! Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 wow.... i need to get over there thats so cool! grrrrrrr why didnt i know about this place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoCo Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Those White Castle photos made my stomach weep. (Hate not having them in California!!1!1!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 DAY SIX: SIX FLAGS ST. LOUIS Saint Louis HOT!!! Seriously this day was about as hot as it’s ever been on a TPR trip – it hit about 44 degrees Celsius on this day. I don’t know what that is in Jeff Johnson measurements but I reckon it’s a lot! What better way to fight the soaring temperature than with a behind the scenes tour of Mr Freeze?! This was a great perk, especially so since Mr Freeze is actually quite an interesting coaster with a lot of unique features going on. For the true dorks out there this seemed to be pretty awesome! We also had ERT on the GCI woodie, Evel Knievel which is a clone of Thunderbird at Finland’s Power Park. This one is every bit as good! You can’t beat a bit of GCI ERT! The rest of the park offers an array of standard Six Flags coasters, Batman, an Arrow death trap, a mine train etc. Plenty to keep you occupied whilst you’re braving the heat! I also found a place that sold beer, which went down an absolute treat on this day! Our day at Six Flags Saint Louis started off with a COOL behind the scenes tour of Mr Freeze! The tour was very informative. We learned that it takes a LOT of power to make Mr Freeze do it’s thing! We were then shown the station and the cool double loading bay that lets one train load while the other is blasted up through the course. There’s the man himself! I have to admit, he left me a little cold. Don’t push the button, the button is bad! This is the contraption that helps the ride get all its power to launch. This piece of track is the vital part that can be removed in the event that the ride valleys! And there it is in action! Just ice is served to the TPR contingent. Mr Freeze, it’s certainly a cool ride. Oh yeah, we also had ERT on Evel Knievel this morning! Russ and Rich love themselves some early morning GCI! The ride is a clone of the very good Thunderbird at Power Park in Finland. Two trains were running throughout our session so there never was any line, even for the front and back rows! Evel Knievel was a lot of fun! It’s good that Missouri has an operating GCI! Over at the Scooby Doo dark ride, good spelling is optional. Don’t shoot! TPDeadly. The Six Flags version of a dark ride tends to rely a lot less on animatronics and a lot more on cardboard cut outs! Eat your heart out Universal! OMG, look at all the fluffiness! Fluffy Bunny POV!!! I kind of want to get out of this photo. Did I mention it was hot as arse today?! TPDave is actually doing Hanno a favour here! Some trains will travel a long way to get away from Kentucky! It’s MIRROR BATMAN!!! It may be over 40 degrees but I’m still getting my Batman credit dammit! At Ninja, you don’t want to get caught line jumping! This could be the most welcome beer I’ve ever had! I really wasn’t caring that it was Bud Light or that it was like $12, it was 43 degrees outside! TPDave at this moment started developing a very unhealthy m&m fetish! Here’s our awesome Q-Bot group of four for today! Oh and Jake and Bryan joined us for a photo too! It may have been hotter than a night in a hotel at Disneyland Paris with Southern Steve but Six Flags Saint Louis still delivered a fun day! Holiday World is next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazekiddd Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Hottest Day Ever! Hanging out in the freezing cold bathrooms was amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I can feel that heat just by looking at those pictures. That day was just brutal. Awesome fun, but the heat was draining. dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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