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[Junior]

Just got an email from SDC. They open the turnstyles at 8am this Fri and Sat. As usual, the square is open and breakfast served. Rope drop at 9:30am. Best of all, you can get in line early (I assume at 8am) to be among the first to ride Outlaw Run! By the way, go to the KTTS Radio Website and see the video of two of the morning show hosts riding Outlaw Run...you will be hanging on to your chair! It's pretty amazing.

[Zephon]

Oh my lands!!!  All I can say is this ride is awesome.  The first drop nearly straight down 160' is probably the mildest part of the ride.  After that you are twisting and turning, arcing and plunging, right side up and up side down, nonstop until the end.  Not a moment to relax.  I was more than ready to get off.  Nearly lost my glasses so if you wear them, strap them to your head or take them off.  I rode Wildfire three times in a row before it opened...not this one...it was too intense.  But in a good way.  Hope you all enjoy it!   

[chittlins]

Theme parks are like any other big business, they reflect the times they are presently in. In the early '60's, SDC had more of a western theme, because during that time westerns were big...Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rifleman, and so on were all on TV getting huge ratings. In the later '60's, the theme was tweaked to Ozark mountain village. That's the way things continued until about the early to mid '90's. The arts and crafts were huge in the '70's and 80's, but by the mid '80's public interest in arts and crafts and the back to the land trend was fading. The Herschend Brothers retired, and left things to hand picked corporate successors. SDC polls visitors constantly, and will follow suggestions made by their visitors because they want the visitors to return again and again. The SDC of my childhood was different from the SDC I worked at, and SDC today reflects the modern trends and times we live in. No wonder Facebook logos and electronic clocks are popping up on park. These are things that serve the public today. That's want the young folk today respond to. The reason there have been big cutbacks in the Hatfield/McCoy stuff, street entertainment, line entertainment, and SDC employees as "citizens" is because of cost. When I was at the diving bell, it took two full time maintenance men, a lead man, a second lead, and eight to twelve people to play Junior. That is labor intensive. That costs money. Also, technology changed in that time. The company that supplied the computer controls for the diving bell went out of business about a year or two later, causing maintenance to have to search far and wide for replacement parts. There used to be attendants that entertained at the treehouse, Grandfather's Mansion, and line entertainers at each attraction. You don't see much of that anymore because it is a big cost. I remember the music shows of the 1970's in Branson. There were parking lot attendants, ushers, concessions, gift shop and ticket shop support personnel, as well as the stage crew and cast. Go to most shows today and there are few, if any parking lot attendants, few if any ushers, a couple of folks in the concession opposed to the six to eight in the concession during my day, only one guy working a cash register in the gift shop. They have cut back because of cost of operation. A theme park is essentially a shopping mall with rides and shows. The rides and shows pull the public in, the merchandise shops and restaurants and concessions make the money. Hey, at SDC you can pay to park, pay to go to the front of a ride line, pay for many services that didn't exisit or that were free in years past...cause making money is what it is all about. As much as you may hear me gripe about how things have changed from the old days, SDC does what it does in order to turn a profit and to bring in repeat and new business. Even though some of the old character of the park is now part of the romantic history of a bygone time, enough of the flavor of the place still exisits to make it a superior experience to many other theme parks. I am a season pass holder. Five generations of my family have visited SDC and we will go back. My complaints...and they are minor ones really...do not outweigh the fact that SDC is still an outstanding, great experience for families, and I encourage all to visit as much as possible and enjoy your day. Memories worth repeating, for sure! God bless and enjoy the new 2013 season! 

s

I see it like this, a slow evolve into the late 1800's as regions, Outlaw run is a step back torward the West maybe a couple of non coaster rides with that western theme and you have it, the GE is a nod to the start of the World's Fairs and such showing off progress for fun. We have lamented about a ride themed to an Icehouse, I can see that as evolving into a wharf/industrial type themed area. One of my dreams and wishes is that when they move the maintinance area that they build a roundhouse/turntable like structure for train maintinance and that would fit right into the time period as well and serve as a type of demo area and fit the theme well for a working city atmosphere.

We could have a spook house themed to meatpacking.

[sanddunerider]

1 of my friende from the city just posted on FB, she rode it 16 times today!!!!!,  another friend of mine decribed it as "AWESOME"!!!..

[crash]

This ride is truly amazing. I had the chance to ride it 12 times and let me tell you it never gets old. The front seat seat is spectacular but i recommend the back. If you sit in the back seat you get the most air time on the first drop and on the double barrel roll, as the train starts to slow down you hang upside down longer. Again it is such a remarkable ride!!!

[tinmann620]

I see Underdog posted a few of my pics I posted on fb, (you're welcome) I posted several more...and it was AWESOME, all 13x's! 

[Wildfire]

I'm in line for OR.  Gonna go back row with my hands up!

[mammalone]

Just back from the city and man oh man, just confirming what everyone has been saying. Wild, wild ride. A top coaster for me. I only got one ride in and then fled the crowds. Waited a little longer for the front and it was well worth it. The ride is like something wacked you and you barely have time to realize what is happening then it's back to the station. But IMO the nonstop action makes the short ride time a non issue. Lots of airtime and one of my favorite parts was the last roll, you can actually feel yourself hanging there for a couple seconds. The first upside down element is such a weird feeling. Awesome headchopper going through the lift. Can't wait to sit in the back.

The line was all the way back past the saloon early in the morning, then they filled up the overflow by the time I got off and the line was back towards the entrance to Wilson's Farm. Over a two hour wait at that point.

Crossroads Pizza looked really nice. Line was way out the door for that too. That place is going to be really popular. To top it off, picked me up some Outlaw Run Zesty Honey BBQ sauce.

SDC has a winner here. Well done.

[Wildfire]

What a ride!  Back seat is a far wilder ride than front but the front on this one is better than most other coasters.

[Joy]

Surprisingly, the lines got better for OR as the day went on. My first wait for it, at around a quarter to noon, was a little over 90min. Later in the day, at around 4pm, my wait was half that at about 45min, and no using the "corral" queue out front.

Crossroads Pizza was extra busy at lunch time, and it took a while to get my food, but that's 'cause they were having computer troubles. I'm sure over the next few weeks they'll get all the kinks worked out.

Not very happy with the lockers for OR; they remind me of the ones at Six Flags. But they were nice and only charging a straight-up $1 for use no matter how long you used it. But that'll change as the crowds thin and the year goes on and they can start implementing the fee for however much time you use beyond 2hrs. I did see a few people with keys from the older lockers like the ones near Lost River - smart people - much cheaper that way.

However, I understand why they have the lockers. It made things extremely efficient for keeping the ride going without delays for people to put things in cubbies. I kinda wish there was a large central locker location, equidistant from all sides of the park, where you can just rent a locker for the whole day instead of by-the-hour. We rented a locker when we were at Magic Kingdom last year, and it was a lifesaver.

As for the ride... WOW. My first ride, I did the very front, 'cause I'd heard it was amazing. Second time around, I chose the very back. Sat on the right side each time. I think I definitely prefer the front seat, which is interesting, because I've always preferred the back on coasters. I think it's 'cause you can see what's coming and therefore have a few extra seconds to brace yourself properly for whichever kind of element is coming.

The airtime was CRAZY, and I felt like I was gonna fall out the entire time. I'm still pondering on whether or not I like the feel of no shoulder restraints...

Now, for anyone reading this who might have questions about size: I'm 266 (just weight at the doctor this week), with my thighs and behind taking on a major portion of my weight. The lap bar came down fine, but it was definitely slightly uncomfortable on the sides of my thighs with the metal kinda digging in. Also, the cross bar was really strange, and me having short legs, I was unable to follow the rule of "feet flat on the floor of the vehicle" because in order to not feel like I was gonna break a shin, I had to tiptoe. I imagine someone with more average leg length will have the best comfort in that area.

EDIT: They didn't have on-ride photos up and running yet. The cashier said he heard they'd be up in two weeks. I was kinda sad; one of the reasons I rode in the front on my first ride was because I was hoping I'd get a hilarious picture of my face on my first-ever ride of OR.

[oldsdcer]

I'm jealous!

[U Smell Smoke]

Just read a post on Facebook that Outlaw Run is not running right now.  Wonder how often they are going to have issues with the coaster?

[sanddunerider]

I would imagine they lost lots of sales since the on ride photos were inop... 

People that normally would not buy, would have bought because it was day 1, new ride, and they were there!

[chittlins]

I would imagine they lost lots of sales since the on ride photos were inop... 

People that normally would not buy, would have bought because it was day 1, new ride, and they were there!

I hear they are making it up with $1 locker rentals via the Six Flags way. I also hear that folks are just now figuring out their mugs from last year isn't valid this year.

[ttroyer210]

What about the mugs? So will people that use old mugs not get discounted refills?