SDC's 2020 Project (Thread #2)

Okiebenz · July 10, 2020, 04:32:10 PM

A simple indoor coaster of some sort like the one they used to have at Frontier City would be great.

SDCisHome · July 10, 2020, 10:51:23 PM

Was able to ride MRF today. I was in the second group of 50 as part of the soft opening. Overall, the ride is great! The Jazz music in the queue was very clever. The ride itself is more intense than Lost River, however, I didn't feel as I got as wet. I got more wet on AP afterwards. The speed of the boats in the channel is pretty fast which causes rather hard collisions with the walls on turns, this is where I feel the ride is more intense than Lost River. The boats do spin quite a bit too. The elevator lift was neat and you can see quite a ways.
It is definitely taller than you think. The drop was a lot of fun! Not as intense as it looks, which I think is great for families! The load/unload process is smooth and the continuous motion is really nice for capacity sake.
As I was about to board, one boat did get stuck coming in to the station. It was slipping on the lift conveyor and couldn't reach the station conveyor. Was becoming disappointed that they would close the ride, but maintenance came quickly and simply and literally jumped on the rubber raft part of the boat to advance it forward. They did not shut down.
Overall, I highly recommend it. I feel it'll be a fun ride for families. And for those who don't want to ride, I recommend getting some BBQ and sit overlooking the ride. It's a great view!

Duelist · July 11, 2020, 10:47:08 AM

^ Great review! We didn't get to ride MRF on Thursday but did sit and watch the ride from the Smokehouse. I got the 1 meat platter with brisket and they gave me a lot of it so I was pretty full with just 1 meat and 2 sides. Also I noticed throughout a lot of the park they had "Rockin' the Grass" tunes playing, i.e. rock songs played with bluegrass instruments. I heard bluegrass versions of "Jack and Dianne" by John Mellencamp, "Rambling Man" by the Allman Brothers Band and "Crossfire" by Stevie Ray Vaughn among others. Not bad and if they are going to play rock songs for the summer that is definitely the way to do it.

tomservo6 · July 11, 2020, 06:38:37 PM

So what's the secret to getting to test ride during the soft open? Certain time? Day? Completely random? Know who to talk to?

I'm tired of waiting for the official opening but don't necessarily want to come all the way down from Springfield if there's not much chance of riding.

Duelist · July 11, 2020, 10:08:41 PM

^ I never heard them make the announcement that MRF was open. My advice is to walk by the ride every once in a while to see if a line has formed and they are taking riders. Thursday had on and off lightning in the area so MRF didn't open until later that afternoon-about 3pm I think. I did hear they are doing final testing so it should be open all day soon.

SDCisHome · July 12, 2020, 12:03:57 AM

Quote from: Duelist on July 11, 2020, 10:08:41 PM
^ I never heard them make the announcement that MRF was open. My advice is to walk by the ride every once in a while to see if a line has formed and they are taking riders. Thursday had on and off lightning in the area so MRF didn't open until later that afternoon-about 3pm I think. I did hear they are doing final testing so it should be open all day soon.

On Friday, testing began around 11-11:30 and boats were going nonstop with no issues. A small line began to form, but the first group wasn't able to go in until approx. 12:30 and then the group I was in went in around 1. The subtle hint when we knew they were going to let people on was when we heard the music begin to play and two street crew characters began working the line and sending people in. I know that doesn't provide a lot of detail, but hope it helps.

woodgrain · July 12, 2020, 08:49:04 PM

Rode MRF today. Line wasn't very long but it took a while due to them not mixing parties in boats. They basically sat one family/party to a boat, even if you were by yourself. I really liked the theming and didn't think the colors looked too harsh at all. The track system for moving the boats is pretty cool. There's an area toward the end of the station that appears to be a track on a sliding rail (think Powderkeg, in a way) to allow for loading a boat for trailblazer pass holders and then putting the boat back on the course without interrupting the flow of boats coming from the normal line. I'm totally guessing at that but that's where it appears the trailblazer line led to. The water is super clean and was bordering on lukewarm, today. As others have said, the boat moves at a faster pace than LR. The hairpin turn is fast and the boat spun for a while around the turn. When you hit the sidewall, you definitely notice it. It's quite a jolt and it really throws you around. I made the mistake of trying to look around at everything instead of keeping my head firmly against the seat back. Turns out that's pretty important. Talked to the family in front of me after the ride and they thought the same but they still enjoyed it. The lift was great. Brings you up above the fireman's landing tower and about level with the top of the Swing. Nice view. I enjoyed the water slide around to the drop and the drop itself. Fun but not enough of a drop to make your stomach flutter or anything. Kid/family friendly for sure. Didn't get super wet but I was by myself so not a lot of weight in the boat. Overall I had a good time. It's a great looking ride with some nice innovation and new technology. Love how it is integrated with the smokehouse.

mg · July 12, 2020, 11:10:57 PM

We rode MRF again today and it really is a fun ride. As other reports have said, it is much rougher than Lost River, but my family all agreed that we like it. The first time I rode it with my son I got a little wet and he hardly got a drop. Today, he got under the trough and I got drenched from water coming in the entrance/exit opening in the raft on a few rapids. We also wen't down the drop sideways and got wet with it coming in the opening there too. When my wife and son rode it again they got a little wet, but not soaked. All around a fun ride, but I look forward to riding it with a full raft.

If you have little ones, they do offer parent/child swap. The way it worked today;
All 4 of us waited in line together and then when it was our turn we let the ride attendant know that we wanted to swap.
They had my wife and little one cross through the raft to the exit and my son and I rode the ride.
Then, when we returned back to the station, my son and I exited the raft and a different family got in and rode the ride.
When that same raft got back to the station again, my wife and son got in from the exit side and rode the ride.

Swoosh · July 20, 2020, 06:09:57 PM

Media day is tomorrow

Duelist · July 20, 2020, 06:43:51 PM

I just saw a commercial stating "Mystic River Falls- Now Open!"

sdcfan88 · July 20, 2020, 11:30:41 PM

I went to the soft opening for Mystic River Falls. Here are a few pictures below...
Sorry for the quality on a few of these as I didn't have my DSLR with me for this trip.

Overall the landscaping is very well thought out and beautiful. The combination of the real rocks and concrete work was very nicely done. The water features and shrubbery really top it off. Once it all grows in here in a few years this should recreate the "in the woods" experience the old Lost River ride had. (which I know people were fond of) There is a sort of half exposed mine shaft that leads to the tower drop and the only real negative in the design is they didn't recreate the cave finale that the old ride had. Other than that as for getting wet the water itself was lukewarm like pool water and the boats do move a lot quicker and toss you around more than the old ride. The lift is very interesting as it lifts and rotates you around to the slide drop. You are about the same height as the Barn Swing or the old Waterboggan ride. The drop itself is very gentile for those wondering. Overall very nicely done.

A couple action shots of the slide area:

Loading Station with a "constant load" conveyor belt for increased ride capacity.

Some of the Queue:

Random pics of the ride course from the BBQ place, note you are literally right next to the ride as the boats go by, I'm surprised they didn't bring back the old water cannons:

And the entrance and what i assume will be the location for the Ride Signage/Marquee, this is right across where the old White River Mercantile used to be and where you now get cinnamon bread:

Fergy328 · July 21, 2020, 07:52:38 AM

Offical statement on Twitter by Silver Dollar City saying Mystic River Falls is now open!!!

legoerosion · July 21, 2020, 11:43:33 AM

I've always had a weird fear about the storage water area that they use to put the extra rafts in (especially SFStL's Thunder River area), but man I really love this ride.

Citydweller84 · July 21, 2020, 01:38:32 PM

Quote from: legoerosion on July 21, 2020, 11:43:33 AM
I've always had a weird fear about the storage water area that they use to put the extra rafts in (especially SFStL's Thunder River area), but man I really love this ride.

I can't wait to finally get down there and ride it for myself. But I don't do well in the heat so it'll probably be a bit before I do.

A few times on Thunder River at SFStL I've seen full boats end up in the storage area. They had to send row boats to get the people out. But they didn't have the divide in place to make sure that didn't happen like SDC did for LROTO.

Swoosh · August 06, 2020, 04:58:08 PM

Since there has been little to no coverage of the details of Mystic River Falls, we decided to do a full walking tour of the ride queue area and then photos of the ride itself. For those who have not had the pleasure of riding MRF yet, this will at least give you some idea of what you can look forward to experiencing in the future.

https://www.midwestinfoguide.com/2020/08/mystic-river-falls-now-open-sdc.html