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[Dewayne]

I heard they were rejecting people from coming down SDC road. They were making them turn around at the light on Saturday because every parking space was full. Even the employee parking was full. Ive never heard of it being so packed. I would expect this on YCW, Memorial day weekend, or Labor day weekend, but not during December. This astonished me. They must have had over 25,000 on Saturday. Maybe over 28,000. I think they do need an upgrade on the parking lot already, after they just had an upgrade about 5 years ago.

If they dont take out the light, then they need to at least build a second turning lane. I feel sorry for all the people that have to wait in the same line just to get to thier house/resort/hotel/motel in Indian Point.

[History Buff]

Did I see people entering through the First Aid station, Friday evening?  It seemed that way as we sat there, eating our glazed funnel cake.  A citizen was directing the people coming from that direction to go up the hill, because the parade was coming down the hill.

Side note:  a cart containing hot chocolate came out of the backstage area there, and upon meeting the traffic (Friday was an ideally-sized crowd), the citizen announced to passersby, "Hot chocolate coming through!  Chocolate has the right of way!"  That's the simple kind of thing that makes roving citizens fun.

[Coaster]

First off, they need their marshals to actually direct the traffic to parking spots to maximize parking.  Next they need to have them help with the outflow at night. I don't understand why that's such a difficult concept to grasp.   

I actually think they did as good a job as possible under the circumstances in directing traffic and maximizing the parking spots. I was simply meaning that there were too many people in such a small area inside the Hospitality House.

[Preachin_Bill]

Did I see people entering through the First Aid station, Friday evening?  It seemed that way as we sat there, eating our glazed funnel cake.  A citizen was directing the people coming from that direction to go up the hill, because the parade was coming down the hill.

Yes they did this Sunday as well.  This was how we entered on Sunday night at 7 when we came back to the park after leaving.  I think it has something to do with exiting traffic.

[History Buff]

Did I see people entering through the First Aid station, Friday evening?  It seemed that way as we sat there, eating our glazed funnel cake.  A citizen was directing the people coming from that direction to go up the hill, because the parade was coming down the hill.

Yes they did this Sunday as well.  This was how we entered on Sunday night at 7 when we came back to the park after leaving.  I think it has something to do with exiting traffic.

That was exactly what I was thinking.

[chittlins]

This could easily go for an idea for an entertainment/lodging district at the CC site but what they put in a specialty popsicle shop in The City.
http://m.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2015/12/09/popsicle-shop-to-open-in-east-memphis.html

[sdcfan88]

Still kinda new here after lurking for a while so I hope it is okay to bump this.

Anyhow, with SDC having a history of re-utilizing defunct rides/attractions to build new ones, I would like to see the old Waterboggen Tower and the ride footprint re-utilized and have a Bobsled Coaster built around it using the tower as either the station or as a theming piece for a lift hill to hide the initial drop. The way a bobsled coaster is designed, it could be made to be compact and family friendly (since SDC likes to have family friendly rides in their parks) yet still have enough intensity to satisfy the thrill seekers. It would help to also bring balance to this side of the park for thrill riders since it only has ThuNderaTion as a major ride/coaster over there now. 
(I am aware Firefall now exists over there and it is the same shot tower recycled from CC however, it is not enough to fill the void left in the absence of the Waterboggen)
Anyways the Bobsled Coaster could be steel like La Vibora at SFOT or wooden like Flying Turns at Knoebels. Plus this would be something new that SDC does not already have that would fit well into the 1880's theme if done properly.

And on another note I would love to see the park rebuild OzCat up there. Yes it probably wont happen even though a lot of people loved that coaster, but I think SDC was always a great fit for a good traditional (non inverting) wood coaster since Dollywood now has a Traditional Wood Coaster and a RMC, but hey I can dream. lol

(see attachments)

In the last attachment the coaster layouts are fit to scale using Google Maps imagery.

[chittlins]

Flying Turns certainly.has the look and feel of an SDC ride but it took a long time to get that thing going plus they have to play around with load weights so capacity issues would likely arise.

I agree there is too much emphasis on inversions and there's still a massive need for a woody without them. Check out the new wood coaster at ZDT. I plan on riding it this June. OzCat was a great layout but it was was on a completely flat footprint. Those do not exist at SDC on that scale and any new non inverting coaster would have to be designed differently. OzCat should have never been allowed to rot and at least kept open is part of a free admission Funplex, which is what CC should have been converted to and just have ditched the costly shows.

I'll say this again, they need more indoor rides due to the booming Holiday season, it can be small, compact steel coasters, there's even wooden concepts out there. They can have spinning cars, I just posted another example of an indoor spinner by gerstlauer on another thread. Mack has several indoor examples. They can included a drop track section. I think that would be a great redo of the FITH track system, turning the bridge into a drop track or tilt track section into a better in the dark ride experience ending.

SDC also needs a more modern Toy Story/Buzz Light type  dark ride

[Swoosh]

Rain is kryptonite to the bobsled coasters - and don't we already have that role covered with PowderKeg?

[shavethewhales]

I love bobsled coasters. La Vibora is actually one of my favorites. Unfortunately they are probably the least efficient coaster type that you can build. La Vibora is a 2 hour wait with a meager crowd, and I only get to ride it because I utilize the little known single riders line.

Flying turns looks amazing, but it took what, 6 years for them to design it from scratch and get reliable enough to open? And it's not much better capacity wise than La Vibora.

SDC is at the point where capacity is a leading component of their design process. Sounds like we've already had a few days this season where even Wildfire has had hour+ waits.

[sdcfan88]

Understandable. It just seemed like good fit due to the space requiring a fairly compact coaster/thrill ride to complement TNT, Firefall and the Expo Coaster and be able to re-use the tower/station area from the former WB ride.

[Swoosh]

Honestly I see a B&M inverted and a dive coaster coming to the park before a bobsled but I'm thinking capacity more than anything

[sdcfan88]

If I had to choose a new coaster on that side of the park I would rather have OzCat back anyways. That was a fantastic compact wood coaster. With Dollywood having two great wood coasters now, why not SDC? It was just $4 million to build right? With the Herschends pretty much abandoning Celebration City as an amusement park while having SDC absorb that parks assets and its concept as a night time family amusement/carnival park, I don't see why they could not just modify the design slightly and rebuild the coaster by the entrance to the Grand Expo and retheme that area around it with the new and improved OzCat as its centerpiece. It seems to be the pattern they are doing already since they basically did that with the shot tower in Fireman's Landing. I am sure it would not cost much more to modify the design from the original blueprints and construction documents to fit SDC's terrain, they could even redo the original coasters station area and do it like they did Wildfire by having it on a pier on the hillside. As for the Expo retheme, they could turn the Expo into an area to celebrate the Ozark's local wildlife since they already have animal themed kiddie rides over there which I felt were way out of place, the frogs and insect rides are okay but they could change the Elephant ride into Hawks or Owls and the Teacups into Snapping Turtles or something. The ship themed rides and the larger carnival rides are somewhat acceptable as they are but I could see some slight modifications being applied to them as well.

EDIT: Just saw the post made when I originally wrote this. I would love to see what kind of new B&M they do install. I Love their coasters. I was just looking over the 2017 thread. $40 million you say?

[sdcfan88]

Just saw this comment posted on a SDC Facebook group I am involved with in response to my construction marker photos:

I received a survey in the last couple of weeks and all the questions were based on which theme I preferred, a mine theme or western theme for a new roller coaster that spins. I had also been told by a SDC citizen that I trust that the Flooded Mine was either being removed or changed drastically. The survey made me wonder if the two were related?

And an employee's response:

All we can say is it is planned for 2018.

What do you think they are gonna replace the Flooded Mine with? It would have to either be a large flat ride or a very compact coaster/water ride, possibly enclosed OR could the station/plaza of the big coaster possibly be in its place and the lift hill will cross over the Valley Road pathway and then go down into the valley past Echo Hollow? Personally, the latter theory I find to be unlikely as I doubt they would do something like that as it would kill the ambience of that area.

[Coaster]

What do you think they are gonna replace the Flooded Mine with? It would have to either be a large flat ride or a very compact coaster/water ride, possibly enclosed OR could the station/plaza of the big coaster possibly be in its place and the lift hill will cross over the Valley Road pathway and then go down into the valley past Echo Hollow? Personally, the latter theory I find to be unlikely as I doubt they would do something like that as it would kill the ambience of that area.

Interesting since last we had all heard was that FM was definitely safe...I'd say take all information with a grain of salt until more concrete evidence shows itself. I really hate the idea of a lift hill going over Valley Road. It would be awesome at a different park but definitely doesn't fit the profile of SDC.

I think a revamp of the entrance has to be in SDC's 2017 plans at this point, with everything going on in Orlando right now (RIP to all the lives lost), and the news that the terrorist may have scouted Disney Springs at WDW before attacking the night club. We have already seen an increase in security with the bag checks but unfortunately a bottleneck of hundreds, maybe thousands of people in a small space just isn't safe anymore. The entrance needs to be re-done to allow for a more fluid entrance and exit for guests, which would also allow for even more safety measures to be put into place to enter the park.

It's so sad that we have to think about these sorts of things now but I think it has to be done. I know that nowhere can be made perfectly safe, but if improvements need to be done then they should.