SDC's 2018 Project(s) and Park Developments

HumphreyHawk · March 19, 2018, 08:06:44 AM

Quote from: Swoosh on March 18, 2018, 08:39:33 PM
Here's a walk through of the changes to Valley Road.
http://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2018/03/valley-road-changes-sdc.html

Here's a walk through of all of the decorations in the Time Traveler queue
http://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2018/03/time-traveler-sdc_17.html

Thanks for the pics....the new Casey's dugout looks awesome. I've got a feeling between myself and my 9yo....they are going to get a fair amount of money out of me.

shavethewhales · March 19, 2018, 10:01:47 AM

They had all kinds of problems yesterday. I didn't end up being able to get any rides in. It was closed in the morning due to being too cold, and when it opened I passed on the two+ hour wait. I think they still had only two trains running at the time. By the afternoon they were having trouble with the launch or something. I think it was down almost the entire afternoon with cars stalled on the launch a couple of times. I ended up doing the cave and leaving before 5, so I don't know if they ever sorted it all out. Nothing totally unexpected for a new coaster with launch segments.

The more I experienced the new area, the more perturbed I got about how Flooded Mine is currently being treated. It's ridiculous for new patrons to find it, if they can even tell that a ride is there at all. It's basically a hidden entrance now with no sign, and the journey from the exit back to the stroller parking is not easy when the food places are in full swing and you aren't familiar with the park. It's a real hassle for families to ride now, and I know they wouldn't set it up like this if they planned to keep FM long term...

The trees are so nice though. The eating area is a big improvement over the old one. At least they kept that tradition going.

HumphreyHawk · March 19, 2018, 01:25:11 PM

Quote from: shavethewhales on March 19, 2018, 10:01:47 AM
They had all kinds of problems yesterday. I didn't end up being able to get any rides in. It was closed in the morning due to being too cold, and when it opened I passed on the two+ hour wait. I think they still had only two trains running at the time. By the afternoon they were having trouble with the launch or something. I think it was down almost the entire afternoon with cars stalled on the launch a couple of times. I ended up doing the cave and leaving before 5, so I don't know if they ever sorted it all out. Nothing totally unexpected for a new coaster with launch segments.

The more I experienced the new area, the more perturbed I got about how Flooded Mine is currently being treated. It's ridiculous for new patrons to find it, if they can even tell that a ride is there at all. It's basically a hidden entrance now with no sign, and the journey from the exit back to the stroller parking is not easy when the food places are in full swing and you aren't familiar with the park. It's a real hassle for families to ride now, and I know they wouldn't set it up like this if they planned to keep FM long term...

The trees are so nice though. The eating area is a big improvement over the old one. At least they kept that tradition going.

FM exit has always been a problem/hassle. I regularly have had to direct people when exiting how to get back to the entrance. It's almost a serious problem since kids can get lost there when they and parents who stay behind don't know the exit isn't there.

Maybe if they put some money in a refurbishment they will redirect the exit to go back toward the entrance.

getoffmytrain · March 19, 2018, 01:26:05 PM

Quote from: Swoosh on March 18, 2018, 02:03:08 PM
Quote from: Okiebenz on March 18, 2018, 01:26:45 PM
Quote from: Runner1960 on March 17, 2018, 12:59:25 PM
Quote from: shavethewhales on March 17, 2018, 11:32:10 AM
So first impressions... Fun ride, not very thrilling, but fun. Everything looks pretty nice, but I'm not totally any of it really "makes sense". Time Traveler is impressively mild given the sum of it's elements. After the drop it feels like Firechaser with a couple of loops thrown in. Listening to everyone watching though it may as well be Top Thrill Dragster. It's the family coaster most kids are too scared to ride.

It works well for me though, I like the softer experience these days. Outlaw Run is still awesome, but I can only do it so much. This is a great blend of fun and whimsy with just enough thrill to give it some flavor.

The area up top is nicely done. A bit plain, and some of the signage looks like it came from worlds of fun, but the effort put in to bring in new mature trees is great. You can't tell where the old path was. I just don't get why it was worth the trouble for them. It is set up a bit better logistically, but there's not really any added room. The parade will be tough through here....

Time Traveler's station is a bit on the plain side. There's a couple spots of interesting theming, but most of it is indeed blank space as I had earlier feared. Overall there's enough cool stuff to look at that it matches the effort from Outlaw Run and looks adequate, but I was hoping for a bit more.

All in all, it's nice and uniquely SDC.

As far as the new setup is concerned. Have they alleviated the problems of the skillet lines backing up into the main thoroughfare ? If that has been accomplished especially during peak days I think it would be a win.

It does not seem to me that is has. Seems worse but that is probably just the increased crowds in that area. Maybe it will calm down eventually. I will say they have just about buried FM behind all that. You can't really see it anymore and would not even know it was there unless you were walking to the train and happened to look over.

Funny thing about FM is that ridership was up this past week.

We were up opening day and had to wait in line for FM for the first time in a long time. Was actually a popular choice! I think FM and TNT are both going to be up this year as people gravitate toward them either waiting for TT riders or simply because they are near by.

sdcfan88 · March 20, 2018, 12:32:50 AM

Here is my compiled footage from opening day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP6ZRT30Vg0

Featured in the video:
0:11 Opening Ceremony at Red Gold Heritage Hall
4:15 Pre-Opening Station Tour and POV
6:33 Ride Queue walk-thru
9:10 Ground level POV of ride layout with first riders on board
13:04 New Valley Road area layout with new food and shop buildings

sanddunerider · March 20, 2018, 07:21:43 AM

@SDCfan88 .. Great Video, you showed us lots of details and infor., thanks~! ^ more days for me..!!

sdcfan88 · March 20, 2018, 07:08:59 PM

Thanks. I had about 2 hours of footage that I trimmed down over the weekend. lol Been really busy at work otherwise I would have had it up sooner.

Bigdog · March 21, 2018, 01:30:16 PM

Quote from: Bigdog on March 18, 2018, 10:18:46 PM
We tried Time Traveler 3 times today but it was down each time. It was up for about 15 minutes early in the afternoon then about 10 minutes later in the day. They finally gave up and shut it down for good just after 5.

Hopefully, they can bring someone in while the park is closed the next 2 days to fix it. We'll try again on Wednesday.

Broke down again today. I'm guessing that it's still under warranty and was hoping that they would bring in someone that knew how to fix it. That doesn't appear to be the case.

shavethewhales · March 21, 2018, 01:41:56 PM

Ugh, that's so annoying. I really hope this is something they can work out instead of having yet another finicky ride that is down all the time. I thought Mack was better about uptime and reliability of their rides.

Granted, this is essentially a new prototype ride, and this is what you get when you want a bunch of world's firsts. I can think of very few rides that pushed the envelope and weren't huge headaches for their respective parks.

Bigdog · March 21, 2018, 02:31:47 PM

It looks like today's solution is to leave the back two rows empty in one of the trains. It's been up for about 30 minutes now.

sanddunerider · March 21, 2018, 03:19:40 PM

They will figure it out.. only been in use for a week off and on.
will take some time....

mg · March 21, 2018, 05:09:01 PM

Hopefully everything goes well for their segment on the Today show tomorrow.

milhouse · March 21, 2018, 05:26:52 PM

The Today show going live from the city tomorrow? For some reason I thought they were there last week.

mg · March 21, 2018, 08:05:39 PM

Quote from: milhouse on March 21, 2018, 05:26:52 PM
The Today show going live from the city tomorrow? For some reason I thought they were there last week.

Looking back at the post, it doesn't say live. Could just be airing tomorrow.

HumphreyHawk · March 21, 2018, 09:44:51 PM

Quote from: mg on March 21, 2018, 08:05:39 PM
Quote from: milhouse on March 21, 2018, 05:26:52 PM
The Today show going live from the city tomorrow? For some reason I thought they were there last week.

Looking back at the post, it doesn’t say live. Could just be airing tomorrow.

I'll be at the park in the morning....I'll report if I see them (or pass them).

Wasn't expecting to visit this soon yet....since I passed on season passes this year....but friends of ours invited us to use their free passes....can't pass that up. (lets see how many times I can say pass)