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One big difference between Outlaw Run and others like Texas Giant is Outlaw runs on steel wheels. my understanding is steel wheels allow for extra speed compared to poly.

Wildfire's "wildfire" applicators over the trains are operational again.

It's extremely smooth, with about the same length. The bridge drop is a lot smoother for sure. The collapsing  bridge effect is definitely bigger than the old one or Blazing Fury's. With the ride building being taller, it takes advantage of the extra vertical space in pretty cool ways (  no more spoilers from me ) I got 7 rides on it Saturday and walked away quite impressed. It's a great blend of the old and new with a lot of little details that take multiple rides to catch. I think there will be a few that will miss the charm that comes only with age, but the current one hits the right notes in filling the old one's shoes.

The new version of the song sounds great.

Consider, social media and instant communication are fairly recent inventions compared to the history of theme parks.
Agent K's remarks trying to recruit Agent J sitting on the park bench in Men in Black come to mind when the flag of transparency is raised and illuminated 24/7 365.

Is a new FITH for certain? Like, are there only rumors or has there been confirmation? Even from park insiders? Where would the new FITH be?

If you get there quick, say in the next few days or weeks, before they close the hole the rest of the way up, you can clearly see FITO style track on a slow grade, in multiple levels. Track wise, they have painted themselves out of the corner and may soon be ready to seal that side of the building up completely. Photos thru those windows are not too great but in person, it's clear as day what the ride is meant to be, especially when you compare it with construction methods of FITH on the park's own tribute site to the original.

It gets referred to alot as 2.0, but personally, having been on both when they both in their prime, I consider Blazing Fury to be the true FITH 2.0, as BF does have some nice iterations: 18 passenger train, tire drive station,  auto lap bars, it's just seems to be missing FITH's superior moisture remediation for some reason (speculation: FITH may have better ground floor air flow). There are more differences of course, as BF was built from the ground up with it's current layout, where as FITH was later modified to match BF's layout, omitting the second lap around the third floor. I personally prefer FITH, still has the lake, great opening scene room, the barrel of laughs, but BF does have some cool features.

I'm thankful that FITH is being allowed to go with its boots on, as I don't know how i would feel if I grew up going to SDC Tennesse and trying to wrap my head around "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!" with no splash. I honest prefer the route that has been chosen here.

Are you sure that wasn't for ones NOT left in the cubbies?

Sounds about right, TNT was running good and the mid-course was slowing trains like it was the mid-1990's last week. I could defiantly see a couple phones calling for help on their own. Back in the day when they tried to cheat and put wireless cameras on the lift, they delayed operations a few times because they thought they were getting Bluetooth interference. That little experiment didn't last too long.

I actually feel like the spinning and especially the abruptness of the stop at the bottom of the slide have significantly improved since opening. It really isn't that bad anymore.

I strongly second that. And in truth, much like Time Traveler, it's reliability and capacity the past two years is much, much better as well. Machines these days just take time to get to know, as has been causally pointed out to me on park.

P.S. If you try to use station number two these days, fire directly into the wave, otherwise you will miss the boat completely. If you try to use station number 1, well, you might consider buying a poncho first

As I recall, Missouri theme park code as it is written now isn't really that old, maybe within the last 20 years or so, and even then, it still isn't as strict as state codes on the coast.

It does seem to smack as they were finding flaws and then added them to a list and started throwing darts at them so that they could fulfill their statutory obligations. When your vehicle goes all day making mostly right-hand turns, it goes without saying that the bearings are not going to wear at the same rate. Likewise, you could tighten the bolts every morning with a cheater bar and then come back at the end of the day and find more loose bolts due to the heating of the day. I would take a list of possible causes like that a little more seriously if they were coming from the likes of the NTSB.

I tend to agree, we did get some heavy rain. Anybody who has lived here awhile knows that when we get a lot of rain, a road somewhere is going to try to move. Sometimes it happens overnight, sometimes it takes weeks to show up. It makes a lot of sense that the road in this case may have been a railroad bed.

This is the first time that I had noticed that they removed the extended queue area for Mystic River Falls and added more tables and chairs.

Yesterday was also the first time that I had heard them make announcements on PowerKeg about not taking phones at all on the ride due to newer phones having crash detection. First ride of the day, no mention of it. Second ride, that is all they talked about. Third ride, no mention of it. Seems to very inconstant on if it is an actual rule or not. It was one ride op that was harping on it.

They have been mentioning the phone thing on and off, especially on Powder Keg, ever since the iPhone 14 came out. As you say, not every op marches to the same drum. I have heard similar announcements on a few other coasters around the park, but those concerns seemed to have quieted down. The extended que on Mystic River has been filled with tables and chairs for quite some time now, thankfully.

The more I walk by and look at it, the more I am thinking the ride will be receiving an overlay system like The Dark Knight and Verbolten, and less like a fixed wall system such as the Fire In The Hole Twins and Justice League Rides. Work has been taking place inside, as every once in a while, even thru the dirty windows, you can get a glimpse of workers on the lifts. Noticed from the highway pulling onto Indian Point that the HVAC has been installed on the roof.

For that matter, Fire In The Hole does not seem like a ride that has a foot in the grave. I got hosed for the first time in a few years by the water cannon last week and theming elements that break are still getting repaired.

KY3 reports that the OSHA investigation is underway, which was to be expected. With TNT, there are a couple of spots maintenance could reasonably be found next to the tract during inspection, such as the lift hill and mid-course brake. As a side note, the mid-course brake does seem to trim a bit lighter these days than it did in its earlier years. The safety standards seem to be in place as they are required to announce when a train is in motion when testing, so it follows there would be "minimum distance guidelines" in place as well when on a maintenance catwalk. Of course, safety is every employee's responsibility, but it hard not to imagine getting dizzy or an epic sneeze or even a careless step at the worst possible time.

Yeah, memberships are the only way to go now. Season passes are being phased out.

It's annoying though. You have to check in at your "home park" each year to activate your membership card before you go anywhere else.

This is either a change in policy, or a misunderstanding on how the membership program works. When you buy a membership, you keep the same card year to year. The only time I have had to check in and get a new card at SFStL and add it to the SF app is when I changed membership levels, or have a food season pass added to the membership, which in case of the food pass, I believe they had me keep my current card. This is what has allowed me to visit SFOT on opening weekend in February in the past.

I have a been a member for years and haven't had any major grief with the program. Keeping in mind that the payment is handled thru the member portal, and not the passholder site, also helps.