Dollywood, SFStL, Branson, PKI

I just returned from a trip to a group of parks. None of them were new to me. The only new park that was planned, Visionland, was removed from our schedule at the last minute thanks to Hurricane Dennis. We'd planned to end our vacation with a quick stop at Visionland so that I could finally ride the Rampage, and then a day at Six Flags Over Georgia. I was also going to stay at the Peachtree Center Plaza hotel - a much better hotel than the ones I'm accustomed to. One of the people traveling with us works for the company that owns it, so he'd gotten incredible rates. Well, the hurricane changed that. We, from Branson, decided to head to Cincinnati rather than Atlanta, and I think it was the right decision. We'd have been at SFOG on Sunday, July 10.

We started at Dollywood with the amazing Thunderhead, one of my top 5 woodies. Tennessee Tornado, with the conversion of the (Arrow) Steel Phantom into (Morgan) Phantom's Revenge, is my favorite Arrow coaster. I love Thunderhead, and we thoroughly enjoyed all that Dollywood has to offer - entertainment, family atmosphere, and great food. I rode the new Dizzy Disk - can't say I liked it a lot. I was hoping for a Frisbee sort of experience. Instead, it was weaker, and the restraint just kept getting tighter. I wondered if I'd be able to breathe by the end.

Then we went to SFStL. We all have different tastes. But I don't care what anyone says about the Boss, or about SFStL's ability to maintain wooden coasters. I love the place. The Boss is absolutely reconfirmed as my #1. What an incredible ride!! Attendance was light, so we rode and rode and rode. I took a spin on Ninja. Don't like it, but my friend had never ridden it. Rode Mr. Freeze. Both trains running, it's far better without the headrests, but I don't consider it fun. Didn't bother with Batman (don't like B&M, and I've done it before), and rode River King Mine Ride. Not bad, but I'd done it before. The Screamin' Eagle remains my favorite John Allen out and back, and I noted a LOT of new track. We also rode the Excalibur, which I'd seen not operating at Great Adventure lots of times, but now I finally rode it. That's enough - never again. It was boring. I think SFStL has 2 of the best woodies in the nation in terms of a combo - a classic out and back with drops hidden in a ravine, and the world's greatest ravine/twister/intense roller coaster. Again, that's my opinion. But I couldn't be happier than when riding the Boss.

We went on to Branson, where we did Celebration City. I'd liked the Ozark Wildcat last year, and it's still fun. Not top ten (too small/short), but it's fun. A good GCII coaster - faster than Lightning Racer. (If LR were that fast.....!). And they added the 2nd train when the line built up, so rerides were easy. I hate the Jack Rabbit. Yikes! Pain. The nightime laser/fireworks show was one of the best I've ever seen. I missed it last year, thinking the Wildcat was the better choice. I'd highly recommend that show! Silver Dollar City is always superb - like Dollywood, it's a family park with wonderful food, great entertainment, a sense of magic, and fun rides. If they only had a wooden coaster on the grounds.... The new Powder Keg is fun. Better than I expected, but definitely a family style ride. They had 3 trains running, and the airtime was suprising. We rode Wildfire twice - short wait. For B&M, I actually "like" it. The supreme thrill for me is Thunderation, my favorite mine train!

Then we went to PKI. I hadn't been there in 5 years - the year SOB opened. I wanted to see how SOB had "improved". Well, it's smoother in ways than in 2000. But it's still, for my taste, a terrible ride. It's too violent, too boring (I know, how can it be both?). It's gorgeous to look at! But it crashes around the turns, and ought to be called Son of Bounce. That's all we did - bounce along. On hard seats in poorly tracking trains. I have no use for the ride. I tried 3 times - always in a middle seat of a car. It was never once fun. The first drop is mundane despite its size. The helices are too horrible, and the fact that the ride is so long and features so few elements is pathetic. It has only 2 trains - and was almost a walk-on on a Sunday. The loop is the best part, and that's unfortunate. I have no use for another loop.... The Beast, despite the extreme braking, was moving! It tries so hard. It's too bad PKI doesn't try as hard. Again, it bounces and I don't think it's as smooth as it ought to be. And the brakes on the first drop, preceeding the ravine drop, and the brake shed were on so hard I moved forward into the lap bar each time. That's sad. Even so, by the end of the long tunnel before the 2nd lift, it was flying. The turn into the ramp after the 2nd lift was really odd in its potholes, but the helix was fabulous. Last time, the skid brakes were on real hard so far down the ramp that the helix was boring. Now the only brake is farther up that ramp, so it has a chance to build a lot of speed. The Racer's outbound trip is ok, but the return trip, thanks to the brake just before the turnaround, is SLOW. We might as well have gotten out and walked. It's moderately bumpy, but tolerable. I hate the fact that they removed the final hill. The Beastie - how sad. Why is a junior woodie braked????? And again, the final hill is gone. Runaway Reptar was ok. I really like Top Gun and Adventure Express. Didn't ride Vortex - it gave me a bad headache last time. The rumor is that a major PKI ride will bite the dust after this year - I figure the contenders are Vortex or Top Gun. I hope it's not Top Gun. Italian Job was fun - kind of like Powder Keg. If it beats PK at all, it's due to the tunnel. While it's themed, the ride on its own without the theming would be ok thanks to the tunnel. My guess is that Paramount will sell the parks, and the ride will have to be rethemed or the theming will be removed, and the ride will still be fine thanks to the tunnel.

[coolbeans326]

thank you for the nice trip report[lol]
+1.

Excellent, thanks for the report!

Hey Bob, Visionland is 90 minutes from me -- next time you are headed this way let me know, eh?

Yeah nice for the report bob. Seems like you enjoyed it, especially your rides on the Boss (im having to hold in my jealousy as i type ) and on thunderhead. Thanks for the report.