JamminJ Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Just wanted to say I really enjoyed your Frontier City pics as you don't see too many from there, and I am looking to go there sometime during the Labor Day weekend. My only question about how much time would you say you spent there? Also loved the SDC report, I went there in 2005 and was amazed at the place, particularly all the similarities to Dollywood. How can you not love the cave?! Definitely one of the best parks in the country. Look forward to seeing more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Silver Dollar City (Part 5) This marks the end of our train ride. I was lucky that I still had my wallet. Let us get out of here. Random Rodent! Are the mutton chops working? Uh oh, this does not look good. Random theming. Powder Keg Track! Around the bend we go. Actually he does have something a bit more effective. Are you going to protect us by using your mutton chops? We have started our journey. This is never a good sign. While I liked Dollywood's better, there are a few extra surprises with this one. No SDC visit is complete without a train ride. It really did remind me of some whacked out version of Peter Pan. We finished off this area with this one. I did not want to wait around for riders. Pirate Ship. I find these rides to be quite fun. Through the trees, blah blah. Rules! This would be the park's Disk-O. Here is another shot, just in case you wanted another one. Yeah, pretty pathetic, but it does count. Adults are allowed to ride. Yet again, here are rules. But we all know why I am over in this section of the park. This is where you can find the wave swinger. It is very similiar the the fair area at Dollywood. Let us go check out the newest area in the park. There is a 90 minute show after the park closes. You can see it here. You can take them in this building. Yes, you can take classes at SDC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Just wanted to say I really enjoyed your Frontier City pics as you don't see too many from there, and I am looking to go there sometime during the Labor Day weekend. My only question about how much time would you say you spent there? Also loved the SDC report, I went there in 2005 and was amazed at the place, particularly all the similarities to Dollywood. How can you not love the cave?! Definitely one of the best parks in the country. Look forward to seeing more... I think we spent about 3 1/2 hours in the park. Mind you that the park was quite empty while we were there. Frontier City is not very big, but you will find that there was quite a bit to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christianscoasters Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Glad to see Diamondback got a new coat of paint and another Arrow loop in good condition like Elitch's. I've been on both Diamondback and Sidewinder (The Arrow Shuttle Loops). I find Diamondback to be much more intense. GREAT ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Silver Dollar City (Final Part) And we leave with a final photo of Wildfire. Worlds of Fun, coming soon. We must finish our day with another Powder Keg ride. Boy, Dot will be really mad at us for this. Which one should we choose. Random Waterfall. More random stuff. Ghostbusters 3 anyone? Cameron decided he needed a nap. Maybe Paul would be nice enough to post the photo he just took. Its hard to keep your balance while in the house. Grandfather is upside down. The tilt house is an unguided walk-through attraction. Rules!! Grandfather's Mansion would be a tilt house. Especially this part. While fun, these rides always scare me quite a bit. While big, the one at Cedar Point is quite a bit larger. This would be the first one I have ridden that is themed to a barn. Ok, let us go ride. I am not really sure. Other activities can be found here as well. This is the area where you find the Giant S&S Swing. Rapids Ride for you fans. Construction has already started. Yes, SDC is getting a Splash Battle for next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiSab Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Awesome. SDC looks fantastic. Though I have to saw I would probably get a bit claustrophobic in that cave's small tunnel. I don't do well in tight enclosed spaces. Looking forward to the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Erik, SDC looks awesome, I cannot wait to go in a few weeks. Looks like you hit everything, great report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike541x Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Nice TR so far! SDC looks nice. I hope to visit it some day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
froggypheebs Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Thanks for the trip report from Frontier City. I've never heard too much about that park which is kind of shocking to me since they have a Schwarzkopf! I hope I can get out there some day to ride Silver Bullet. It looks great! Those new Vekoma juniors actually look like the restraints work well and it would be a lot of fun to ride one of those! Do any other parks have these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameron Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Silver Dollar City really is as great as Erik made it look. And I know I might get yelled at for this, but I actually like it significantly more then Dollywood - yes, it's that good! Of course a lot had to do with the company .. Erik, Paul and Andrew are awesome. Cameron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Thanks for the pictures Erik, great stuff! The park looks beautifully landscaped and themed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandaman Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 You guys visited western-themed parks without me? I'm simultaneously hating and loving this TR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRapidsNerd Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Yep, you're right. I like Dollywood and would no doubt love SDC. Terriffic water falls, fountains, etc. Skillet, train and rapids sell it for me. This is a must do in the next few years. Thank you for the rapids photo too. Much appreciated! Fun thread and enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnage Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Maybe Paul would be nice enough to post the photo he just took. I think I can handle that. Though could probably have used the flash ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 ^ Hah, that was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 It's always great to see some SDC love...great photos, Erik! Silver Dollar City is one of my favorite parks, I also like it a bit better than Dollywood, and I missed what seem like some of the best attractions. I couldn't find the cave tour (found out the entrance was in a gift shop after I left), and didn't even know the Grandfather's Mansion walk-through existed until seeing this TR. I really need to get back there, soon! I remember driving past Frontier City while visiting family in Oklahoma City. I would have loved to stop, but my folks weren't up to it; it looks like a really fun park. How was the airtime on Wildcat and Diamondback? Did Silver Bullet offer any? All of them seem like decent coasters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 The next park we visited was Cedar Fair's Worlds of Fun park located right outside of Kansas City, Missouri. While I did like a few of the coasters at the park, there really was not anything very special about the place. While the park itself was nice and clean, they really need to address a real problem with some of its queue lines. Both Spinning Dragons and Mamba simply need a lot more cover for its queues. About 95% of the entire queue is right out in the open with absolutely no shade. This makes a summer visit pretty unpleasant since it gets quite hot in Kansas City. All they need to do is set up some simple tent like structure to at least cover park guests from toasting under the sun. The main draw of the park for us was to ride the brand new GCI wooden coaster, Prowler. While fun, I would have to say that I found the coaster to be the most family friendly GCI coaster I have ridden yet. While the coaster does gain a lot more speed later in the day I still found it to be a little tamer when compared to such coasters as Thunderhead, Kentucky Rumbler, or even Evel Knievel which is found only few hours away. Even with that, we all found it to be a solid new ride for the park. Ok, let us check out some pictures, shall we? This would be a coaster shirt. The ride operator kept commenting on Prowler's triangle wheels. Seriously he did. Not sure why as the ride was very smooth. Some of it is set in the woods, though the back section is in more of a cleared out field. It is a little different than other GCI's in that this one is considered more of a terrain coaster. Since the lift goes over a small creek, they needed to place a special beam to help support the lift hill. We thought it was a fun ride. Though it is a little bit more "family friendly" when compared to other GCI's. Taken from the train. Ok, here are some more Prowler photos. Thumbs up for Prowler. This would be my favorite section of the ride. Up the lift hill they go. Ready for dispatch? This would be a good thing. The rules of the ride. This is the coaster station. Notice all the American pride in the African section of the park. We went to check out the brand new coaster first, Prowler. Ready to head into the park? The box of height qualifications. Park entrance. There was a much of this all around the park. You know it is a Cedar Fair park when you see these. That would be Patriot. Mamba! It looks like we are heading the right way. I see coasters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Water used to shoot out of those spouts toward onlookers when the train would pass by that section of track. I saw it do this in the early 90's. I went back about 5 years ago and it wasn't working. I also remember Wild Cat having a couple of covered sections back in the 90's, but when I went back a few years ago it looked like it does now. Duane C. Little Rock, AR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameron Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 The ride operator kept commenting on Prowler's triangle wheels. Seriously he did. Not sure why as the ride was very smooth. I think the quote was "the only wooden coaster in the world with triangle wheels", which really isn't something to be proud of. Besides that line is far more apt for Timberwolf (a special trip to the chiropractor on Monday finally got rid of the last of the pain that monster caused). Cameron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnage Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Prowler was definetly family friendly. Except for that little girl who had to be taken away by an EMT causing the ride to get shut down for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 ^ Oh yeah, I already forgot about that. Heh heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 Worlds of Fun (Part 2) Worlds of Fun was not crowded at all during our visit. The two newest coasters were virtually a walk-on all day (Prowler and Patriot). We did have to wait about 20 minutes for both Mamba and Spinning Dragons, but everything else had a little to no wait. We did notice that the waterpark looked really packed. It was quite hot the day so I guess that would be why everyone was over there instead of the regular park. Anyways, onto more photos. I assume that building is used for a maze. Haunt rules? In July? Though unlike Tony Hawk, this one does not have that death spin that sometimes occur while your car creeps back into the station. It does have a similiar layout to the later Tony Hawk coasters. I guess it is themed to a water fountain. Rules of the ride. Next was Spinning Dragons. Here it is a Top Spin. It would not be a Cedar Fair park without something in the park named, "Hawk". Our train awaits. The 2nd train was taking a break. At least it is in the shade. While some of the drops were good, you do get shaken up a bit around the turns. This would be a lift hill. I actually thought it was pretty good, though I understand the back car is very brutal. LOL!!!!!! More Random America theming. Timberwolf would be next. No it is not nearly as good as Prowler. Yeah I know, you are laughing at us. We were denied the credit. You need to have a kid with you to ride. This would be only the 2nd credit missed on the trip. Overall, we did very well. This is about as close as we got to the Wacky Worm. Wacky Worm! That would be correct, the ride kind of stops a bit short of reaching the top of the tower. This would be the S&S tower. Notice something a little strange? This would be the strange walkway of nothing I have heard about. We went over to Mamba to find it closed. I think they had some issues with the lift hill until noon that day. For some reason, this area really reminds me of Knott's. Here is another look. Boomerang, doing its thing. While Paul looks ready for the ride, Andrew is wondering why WOF can't build more tents to cover its queue lines. At least they built a tent to cover the station to shield you from the sun. Hooray, another Boomerang. Actually this one was pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Worlds of Fun (Final Part). Does anyone remember what theme park this team used to have a strong connection to back in the 1980's? Now we leave WOF with a simple photo of some random fountain. The back row is where it is at for this one. We did go ride Prowler a few more times later in the day. It does run a lot faster once it warms up. I seem to remember that we did get a little wet on this one. We did ride the log flume. Notice the boats are shaped like Viking boats. This one is not green. Random photo of pigs. WOFRR This would be him at Kennywood in 2007. Cameron is such a good sport. Let us head over to Australia. This is the city where Worlds of Fun is located. Random car ride. This would be the, "Prowler in the Field" section of the ride. The train ride does give you a pretty good tour of the entire park. Wave goodbye! This was our view for the next 20 minutes while waiting in the station. It really was hot and miserible. Would this be the original logo? Let us check out the train of death by waiting. This would be the postcard photo. Random rapids photo. See anyone you know? The first drops and the head chopping helix were fun. The rest really was not anything too special. It really is just a super tall mine train. This would be the final credit we needed to ride in the park. Does Lars know about this one? Yay! It would be Mamba time. Where are we again? The coaster does fly over the station. We ended up riding it 3 or 4 times, since there was no wait. We all thought it was a solid ride, though for some reason the front row was more forceful than the back. Patriot has the smallest B&M coaster station I have ever seen. This one does not have random American theming. This would be the newest B&M invert in the country, Patriot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christianscoasters Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I agree that Patriot is much better in the front Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandaman Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 This would be the S&S tower. Notice something a little strange? I was actually gonna say I've never seen a dual S&S tower; I've only ever seen them with 1, 3 or 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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