Rivertown Rider

I am happy they are bringing them back. I'm surprised there was nothing announced about Racer or an additional flat, but this is a welcome addition to the park.

I'm curious to see where in the park the Antiques go. Up closer to the Eiffel Tower close to the land in front of Backlot and besides the Carousel would be a good area if it is big enough combining those small pieces of land. Another good area would be behind Racer in part of the old Dinos area or to the left of FOF.

Antique Cars Racer Refurb (re-tracking/lighting package) Coney Mall sign Zodiac-similar flat Year-Round Mac n' Cheese Bar

Or two sets of bumper cars (yes I realize one is pint-sized).

I think they will do some work on Racer but my prediction is bringing our original Flying Eagles back or bringing back the Antiques. If it was both that would be exceptional.

I would think they should have expected season pass sales to decrease with nothing new. It will be interesting to see what we do next year.

^ With Snoopy wagging his finger and shaking his head in disapproval.

^ You do a great job and I was on Vortex tonight when you were driving. As far as the cell phone issue one of the things I have wondered is if you are allowed to ask the guest to show you the pictures or videos on their phone (I figure the answer is no.). It is easy for them to deny it without having to show proof. If they are not guilty then they shouldn't get defensive when you ask.

Still relatively busy for a Sunday evening tonight.

If they can run it reliably with two train operation with a lift chain, I would be good with that.

Perhaps we are getting the missing flat from the Europe trip. It would certainly be great with the Keggers name. It would also be great if we also got our set of Flyers back from Carowinds. The great thing about most of the flats is that they could also stay open for Winterfest.

I too like the attention that has been paid to that area this year. That area between the gardens and the bathrooms in the second pic would be a great spot for a small flat like a Tilt a Whirl or Teacups.

^ It sounds like they weren't having a KI Best Day.

It is very strange looking now without the shop there. I am hopeful they do something with that space other than just leaving arcade games in there.

^ Good luck. Maybe if you're really lucky the park will have the Rivertown Freestyle location open for you.

The path also does not take as long to walk as it looks. I like it better sometimes than waiting on the train, especially when they are only running one of the trains.

I did get to go to Kings Dominion this season and ride Racer '75 which was running very smooth. If they can get our Racer to run that well I think most people will be happy. It does not need RMC'd.

If we get a coaster next year, and I doubt we do then I would love to see a Wild Mouse. It would be something that families could do together. I think it could fit either in Planet Snoopy or Coney Mall.

I think he's talking about Canada's Wonderland not KI.

I just hope nothing bad happened to row 5-1.

I would say if this is a Mack and it is similar to Time Traveler it will be a great addition to the park. The problem Carowinds has it that they have a great top three (Fury, Afterburn, and Intimidator) but after that it falls off dramatically. I look forward to seeing what is coming and I like their teasing so far.

Since it has been awhile since the park added any new flat rides it is probably only a matter of time before we start to see an additional flat added to the park. What flat or flats would you like to see added? Where would you put it in the park? Let the speculation begin...

Great job Brad! I too was intrigued by the "making old things new again" comment. I think there are plenty of things that it could mean but I can't see them RMCing The Racer. If it were up to me there are several things I would do along that route: 1. Turning the old Action Theater into a year round facility. Something like Plants vs. Zombies at Carowinds (with stationary seats) would be something nice to do on hot days plus it could also be used during Winterfest since it would be indoors. You could still use half of the building for Haunt and the other half for a P vs. Z type attraction. 2. Using the old arcade by Zephyr for a flat ride. I would love to see them gut the front part of that building and put a Musik Express / Himalaya there. That ride would totally fit Coney Mall and would be a great addition. 3. Using the Flight Commander pad for something/anything. I'm really hoping next year the park adds some flats. I think an Electro Spin would be great there. I personally probably wouldn't ride it (fear of protein spills) but that area could use a thrilling flat. 4. The other thing I thought of was the Antiques. There are some locations around the park where you could put an Antique Car ride. The area between Chicken Shack and KI Theater is an underutilized spot and would a good area for a family ride (if the area is big enough for it). Grandparents also wouldn't have to walk too far since it is close to the park entrance. 5. Re-doing the Festhaus to make it more like Carowinds' Harmony Hall. Yes this would probably involve adding on to Festhaus but having a more efficient and effective set up along with more food choices would make a ton of sense.

A little delayed trip report but I wanted to give an update on what we ended up doing. We ended up driving part of the way out to Branson on that Wednesday night and stopped just south of Meramec Caverns. On Thursday morning we ended up going back up to Meramec Caverns. I had not been there since I was a little kid nearly 30 years ago so it was interesting to see how my memories held up. It was a great stop and something I would definitely recommend doing. We were there on a calm day so there were only about 7 or so people in our group but I know it can get much busier. After we left Meramec Caverns, we ended up stopping just north of Branson at Lambert's for a late lunch. My wife and I had both had grandparents that stopped there many years ago and it was a good place to eat. The food portions were huge and it was kitschy but a neat place to see. It was also affordable for a tourist trap. After we left there we headed on down to Branson. We stopped by College of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, and Branson Landing as well as drove around Branson a little bit. As it was getting late we headed on the way to our hotel. The ACE event we were attending started on Friday morning so we got to the park early the next morning and headed straight for Time Traveler. It was an exceptional coaster and definitely a different sensation than I have ever felt on a coaster. The spinning was not over-the-top and definitely not like teacups or something along those lines. The only downside to Time Traveler was the low capacity. It had two-to-three hour waits most of the time we were there. Knowing that as part of the ACE event we would have ERT that night I ended up moving around the rest of the park. After riding Time Traveler, I headed right next to the ride beside it, Thunderation. Thunderation, an Arrow mine train, was the surprise of the trip and may be the best mine train I have ever been on. After a couple rides on it I went and did the Flooded Mine which was a fun ride. As far as coasters, the next coaster I did was Wildfire, the park's lone B & M. Wildfire was great and provided the best views of the Ozarks in the park. We stopped and watched the saloon show and by this time it was around lunch time so I ended up getting one of the park's skillets for lunch. Everything was cooked great. After lunch I ended up hitting Outlaw Run. I thought it was a great RMC. With the wildness and inversions it made it a wilder ride than Lightning Rod. The only thing negative I can say about it was that it was a short. I ended up riding it several times and it is definitely one of the best rides in the park. I went to Fire in the Hole next. I probably like the Baldknobbers theme better than the theme that Blazing Fury at Dollywood has. It is a fine dark ride / coaster and it is a nice thing that families can do. Powder Keg went down in the afternoon so I didn't get a chance to ride it that day. I ended up doing Grand Exposition Coaster, the kiddie coaster, which was fine for what it was. That night the park had a great spread with sampling helpings of all of the parks best foods including their skillets, pizza, salads, and dessert. If you ever get the chance to go to Silver Dollar City when they have an event you should do it. They roll out the carpet and do an exceptional job. My wife and I got the chance to briefly speak with Brad Thomas, the park president, who was going around talking to guests. He was super nice and you could really tell that he was someone who loved his job. We ended up seeing some people with Worlds of Fun shirts that evening and went over and talked to them about Worlds of Fun. Like some of you, they agreed that rather than going to Worlds of Fun on this trip that they would recommend just staying and enjoying Silver Dollar City. My wife and I ended up debating it that night and next day and decided to just stick in Silver Dollar City. I ended up getting on Powder Keg the next day along with re-rides on a lot of the other coasters. Silver Dollar City is a great park and well worth making the trip for. As frequent Dollywood attendees, Silver Dollar City had a lot of comparisons. Comparing them, I would say that Dollywood has the better shows and Silver Dollar City had the better food. From a top to bottom coaster lineup I don't know who I would give the edge to as they are both unique in their own way. Ranking the Coasters: 1. Time Traveler- one of the smoothest coasters I've ever been on and you'll never get the same exact ride in a row 2. Outlaw Run- a very close number two and it could easily be number one 3. Wildfire- super smooth and underrated 4. Thunderation- incredibly fun 5. Powder Keg- it has a great launch and gets a little strange once it starts traversing the different track but still a fun ride 6. Fire in the Hole- more dark ride than coaster but still fun 7. Grand Exposition Coaster- make sure to brace for the brakes at the end as it can be a little jerky Thanks for reading.

I got a Zen ride on Blue Racer a couple weeks ago. It was great. I think at KI that and the Carousel have been my only Zen rides. Probably my favorite Zen ride that I have had elsewhere was Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.