Thanks again for reading!! I'm glad I'm not the only one who found it rough.
Silver Dollar CityIt was a nice quick ride to the park and the road through the Ozarks was really cool. The weather was not looking good, so we wanted to move relatively quickly. We got there before the 9:30 opening. As soon as we stepped into the park, I was blown away. The feel of this park is magical. Everywhere you go there are a bunch of little things like glass blowing and pottery. Everywhere there are buildings and architecture that just adds to that old-time southern feel that is not broken anywhere along the paths. The map they give you is cool because it's a newspaper, and it makes it feel authentic, but that becomes a problem when it rains and it starts to crumble under your hands. Sorry for the lack of pictures this time, everything is buried, so I never really thought to look for a good place to take them.
We headed over to Powder Keg first, but they were having problems getting it open. Since we couldn't really ride Outlaw Run yet to make it my sisters 200th, we went to
Wildfire.It was pretty good. Not as good as Kumba by a long shot though. It rode more like every B&M Floorless. The elements were rather forceful, but it didn't whip us around that much though, and it's rather short.
[img]
Next up was my sister's 200th,
Outlaw Run. I didn't tell her that it has inversions, and she never noticed it anywhere around the park, so it was great to see her surprise. When we hit the first inversion, she said "Did we just go upside down,"
and the final two she was WTFing all the way through.
It was pretty great! Really good forces all around. The drop is pretty good, and the first inversion is just ok. The next two airtime hills have some good airtime as well. The next two elements is where people were raving about "sideways airtime." Not sure what they were talking about. They weren't exceptionally forceful in anyway. They did weird things, but they felt like just about any other coaster. The final 2 barrel rolls were quite good though. Not quite the hangtime from Wicked Cyclone, but better than the corkscrew on Storm Chaser. Overall, the coaster is really good. What I did like about this that the other RMCs lacked was that the pace was extremely consistent. Wicked Cyclone felt like multiple sections of fast pace oddly broken up by slow paced turns. However, this really doesn't have the craziest pace. It's good, but not crazy like the other 2 RMCs. It ranks around the level of El Toro and Kentucky Rumbler. It's not a top 10 coaster, and I'm not sure where all the hype comes from, but it's definitely really good!
Powder Keg still wasn't open, so we went to
Fire in the Hole. It was just like the one at Dollywood, but the splash at the end made this a much more enjoyable experience overall, and it was smoother too.
On line for Fire in the Hole, an employee told us that
Powder Keg had opened. We headed there next, but they added a second train while we were waiting, so it took a little while, but we got on no problem. I don't have pictures of the actual ride, but I got the scenery around the station.
Yeah it's the white one in the back.
This ride was also really good! The tophat is cool because as you're getting airtime, you get such a great view. The rest of the ride has tons of airtime and laterals. The Premier section with the wide turn had crazy good laterals. This is a really great ride, but the restraints suck. Since it's an S&S it has the same restraints as their Screamin' Swings, which are great, but when there are laterals it really hurts your hips. Still great though.
There is really cool scenery with the launch at and the transfer table too. Quite good quality.
We headed over to Thunderation, but as we sat down for the ride, and put the restraints over us, they told us to get out because of a thunderstorm. And this thunderstorm lasted a looong time. I'm just saying that this is the third time this had happened on the trip and every time we were waiting for a storm or thunder themed ride. It happened once while we were waiting for Storm Chaser, the next time it was for Thunderbird, and now Thunderation.
We went to the indoor shooter boat ride next that was called the Flooded Mine. It sucked pretty bad to be honest. I'm not sure why they haven't updated it. By that time, the rain had come down. We whipped out our Kings Island ponchos, and started back up.
Then we went to the crooked house walkthrough called Grandfather's mansion, which was ok. After that, there was not much left that was indoor, and the Marvel Cave was closed, so we headed back to the car for a bit.
When the skies started to clear up, we went back to the park and got in the line outside the queue of
Thunderation. After a while, it opened up and we got right to the front car. It was a really cool ride and I loved the way it travelled around the trees. One of the better mine trains, but it still can't beat the intensity of Adventure Express at Kings Island. Sorry no pictures, it was kind of buried.
Now that the credit anxiety was done, we were able to free roam. We went to the log flume first. This was really quite terrible. Literally, all it did was slowly meander through a dark tunnel before it went up a lift and dropped. And it's a drencher. I don't like log flumes that drench, I don't see them as something that should really get you soaked. I obviously expect a splash, but this was a bit much. And then it also get's you wet when you get into the station. It looks cool on the outside, though.
Then we went to the rapids, which was also pretty crap. The queue is long and boring, and it get's you wet with spritzers before the ride. Plus, you have to get a locker and the touch screen for the lockers barely works. You have to really slam you're fingers into it. You think with it being 2016, this wouldn't be a problem.
We also rode the S&S Screamin' Swing, which was good, but not as good as the one at Lake Compounce.
So I have a complaint about this park that keeps it from being my favorite park. In terms of rides, it seems like they only ones they really care about are the coasters. The log flume was crap, and the little effects they had (in the small out door sections) just seemed like a fish or a fisherman pissing on you. I don't know why they haven't invested in a new log flume before they invest in a new coaster.
The rapids has an excessively long queue without any notice of the line length and they have nothing along the way in terms of entertainment in a place that would like to call itself a theme park...
Then there's Flooded Mine and Fire in the Hole, which both have way outdated effects. I'm not sure why they update it because these rides are sparse and the theming is terrible. It's not like Knoebels' Haunted House where it is extremely well done effects that are at every corner and still has a classic feel. These rides are just bad. And honestly, for a park that takes pride in it's theming and overall feel, this is disappointing. They can still have state of the art rides and maintain their authentic old style feel. Honestly, it just feels like the park is run by old people who don't want to move on with technology. But then there's Powder Keg which has great effects, so I don't know what to think...
Honestly, though, I loved this park. I rode Outlaw Run a total of 4 times and we were able to get most everything we wanted to done. We would have liked to spend more time around the park (which we did a little of), but we were tired an wanted to get some sleep.
To compare this to Dollywood, I prefer this in a lot of ways. The overall feel of the park is great and the coasters were relatively even. But this lacks the other rides to make Dollywood so great. I only really liked the roller coasters and that was a problem. I would say that they are about even, but I'm more likely to go back to Dollywood (even if it weren't closer to me).
Great park though, and I would say it's a must do. Next is Worlds of
Crap Fun.
Updated Top 25:
1. Boulder Dash
2. Legend (HW)
3. Ravine Flyer II
4. Beast
5. Phoenix
6. Wicked Cyclone
7. Voyage
8. Storm Chaser
9. Thunderhead
10. Maverick
11. Phantom's Revenge
12. Lightning Run
13. Skyrush
14. Bizarro (Superman the Ride)
15.
Outlaw Run16. Kentucky Rumbler
17. El Toro (GAdv)
18. Manta (SWO)
19. Ride of Steel
20. Intrimidator 305
21. Kumba (BGT)
22. Batman the Ride (GAdv)
23. Batman the Ride (StL)
24. Superman - Ride of Steel
25. Storm Runner
Bold = New
There's a big jump from Outlaw Run to Superman the Ride, so it is below the border of what I would consider to be amazing.
Thanks again for reading!!
1.Boulder Dash | 2.Legend(HW) | 3.Beast | 4.Ravine Flyer II | 5.Intimdator 305 | 6.Phoenix | 7.Twisted Timbers | 8.Wicked Cyclone | 9.Thunderhead | 10.Storm Chaser