The Rob and James show. PT.4

Frontier City!!!

I don't know. I've wanted to go here for some time and I'm not really sure why. Nothing really stands out at first glance outside of the parks Looping Star. I always knew I'd end up here someday but always kinda assumed it would be paired up with a Six Flags Over Texas trip or something. The day started with a waayyy too early wake up in Hot Springs... followed by an annoyingly long six hour drive to Oklahoma City... almost all of it on county roads and passing towns along the way until crossing into Oklahoma itself, from Arkansas. It wouldn't have been so bad it not for random stoplights in the middle of NOWHERE and a few rain showers along the way (also kinda bummed we passed an Eli Ferris Wheel in some city square but it was like 7am and clearly not open...)

Anyways, onto the photos... and stuff.

Frontier City, or...

"I used to be a Six Flags park but you would have never guessed..... until you spend a little time walking around"

Frontier City is kinda.. funky, in the sense once you enter the park you have to walk into a gift shop to get to the park itself, you also have to be inside the gift shop to access the parks shuttle loop... poor planning? (But I guess Silver Dollar City is the same way... as far as the shop goes) Its also highly themed still and it's consistent and comprehensible!

Once inside... and feeling a bit crabby from driving still...I headed right over to....

Geronimo Sky Coaster!

At 113 feet its the same height as SFNE's former Sky Coaster... but built with a neat "half arch" design due to lack of space. To date, its the only one that's been built this way 

(true skycoaster at least, Funtime's model looks like this as well) 

Didn't care it was short... I suited up and after a "3,2,1" I flew... and took Rob along with me

He hadn't ridden the one two days before in Branson and last summer we both rode the one at Mt.Olympus but independent of each other. So this was our first tandem ride. yay!

It was getting pretty hot in OKC, so we rode Mystery River Log Flume after our flight. Its pretty ok as far as flumes go and even has a little "dark ride" part at the beginning. We rode it a second time later in the day as well.

Walking around the park there's a few signs of neglect... While this was a Six Flags (Premier) park for nearly 25 years it still seems to have retained its theme / homely feeling... Unlike say the massive transformation that was Riverside into Six Flags New England.

Walking around you'll also find a few rides that are SBNO. This is The Hangman. Based on what I've found online its been sitting closed at least three summers.... And while I love me some drop towers... This being a TERRIBLE Chance model... I wasn't too upset.

There was also a Rotor that's been closed, pretty sure for good... seeing is how its queue has been walled off and turned into a smoking section, i doubt it'll be running again. It used to be called Terrible Twister.

And for some reason... Eruption is still mostly standing, although the car has been removed and tossed to the side (you can see it to the right of the right most tower) this was one of the last two S&S Sky Slings built, both being shorter than the original 4... While I didn't get to ride it here, I did ride Great Adventure's... So again, I knew I wasn't missing anything. (ZzZzz, BORING!)

The parks Chance Trabant, Casino, was also closed and missing a seat... But I believe this was just down temporarily for maintenance.

Ok, I'm done complaining... for now, off to the open rides! And oh yeah, the four coasters we rode...

We had tried to get on Diamondback, the parks Arrow shuttle loop first.. but it was closed for the moment.... 

(oops,  I said I was gonna talk about the open attractions)

Renegade Rapids! It was open.. and ridden twice. yay

Wildcat, the parks star coaster? And the only wood coaster in the state.

Having watched POV's of the ride when it was still new here... vs POV's of what it looks like now... I wasn't expecting much. The ride isn't that bad. Rob and I rode it 6 or 7 times over the day, I just wish I could have ridden it before the numerous reprofilings.

(if you watch these 3 videos taken from 1991, 1995, and 2011 you can kinda see what I mean)

Also, this should never be seen in a park....

Yeah, a dead bunny floating in the parks fountain....

Super classy GUM TREE in the queue for the raft ride...

Bitching and dead animals aside, the park does have rather nice areas and some pretty fun rides... like.........

Silver Bullet! The last remaining Schwarzkopf Looping Star in the states.

And its still kicking ass, at 35.

Mindbender is the parks Chance Inverter... There rides are getting harder and harder to find now but I still managed to ride two "new for me" ones this year! While the restraints on Inverters pretty much...suck.. I still enjoy the ride and I'm glad a few are still around.

We also rode Steel Lasso, the parks family Vekoma invert. It was pretty fun for what it was, although the one at Fun Spot America is better. I was still pretty mad knowing the park removed its Vekoma Air Jumper, Tomahawk... for this. :'(

Walking back to the front of the park to check on Diamondback we checked out the kiddie area, home to Wild Kitty 

Wild Kitty was new for 2013, replacing an identical model removed over the past off-season... We were denied a ride.

So I made nice with this baby goat!!!

(that was for sale, along with the other barnyard animals!)

I enjoyed this bear, also for sale... But had no way of flying him back to Orlando... So he had to stay put.

Diamondback had opened at last, so we made our way into the parks gift shop... to enter the queue.

Most people hate on the Arrow Shuttle Loops because you have to climb some 50 feet of stairs to get to the loading platform... and then you have to climb back down to exit. Frontier City at least replaced most of the steps with a easy to climb ramp. 

(People also hate on them because, well, they arnt so fun)

We still rode it a couple times, finding it much more enjoyable in the front.

This was my third Arrow shuttle loop, and first with six car trains. Blackpool's and Riverside's only had four car trains. yup

Uh, general overview of Frontier City from the parks Ferris wheel.

Oh, and, umm.. Downtown Oklahoma City as well. 

You can see the Capitol-dome to the mid-right and Devon Tower in the center, the tallest building in the whole state.

YOOOOOOOOOOOOL-NO!

Again, this needs to stop.

After doing everything we wanted to do at Frontier City, including like... 20 rides on Silver Bullet... We set off on an adventure to Pops!, something I had wanted to do since the planning of this trip. Originally it was planned for the next day but because we had some free time we made the 20 mile trek to Arcadia, Oklahoma and its famous Pops on Route 66 after leaving the park.

AMERICAN NOSTALGIA

But oddly enough, it was kinda neat to me, to be driving down Route 66.

 Woo! Pops! 

Pops is one of the largest soda-shops in the world... At any given time they have over 600 kinds of soda for sale! .....Anyone who knows me.. knows I don't even drink soda. So uh, why did I wanna come here? I'm not really sure (I've been to both the original World of Coca-Cola and the new one in Atlanta as well??)

Out front they have this giant 66 foot tall soda bottle, covered in LEDs and at night provides a light show, but we left before seeing it turn on. 

(maybe next time?)

Here's a shot of some of the soda's available. For the most part they're stocked by type... So if you wanted a Root-Beer they were all in a line, although with 50 brands to pick from. Same for some of your off flavors like, uh, cake? bacon? and, uh mashed potatoes?

In the end I caved and tried these six flavors (although, to be fair I've had the sweet corn one in the past!) Banana, Black Cherry, Cucumber, Lemon Lime and Bitters (nonalcoholic), Sweet Corn, and Pomegranate. And that's pretty much more soda intake than I had in all of 2012... even worse, I only had about 36 hours to drink it all before flying to St. Louis! (ugh)

Oh yeah, and they also have a restaurant, lined with soda bottles.

 Uh, we ate there. Yup

So after all that, we drove back to OKC and our hotel near the airport and I pretty much passed out. Day four had been the 'longest' yet and had the most driving up to this point... but tomorrow would be worse, uh, better?

Bonus POV of Rodeo Round-Up, the Huss Enterprise at Frontier City
(Possible the worst run enterprise, ever)

Also, if you're flying in/out of OKC... they have a Pops express inside the airport with a large, although more limited, selections of soda (and a mini version of the LED bottle!)

Bonus photo via twitter -
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362238768469639168
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362365823467282432

Bonus random tweets -
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362166264711487490
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362259986618912768
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362289008946057217
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362358801631936512
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/362416656967929856

Up to four now?! I'm amazed I've gotten this far!

The Rob and James show. PT.3

Woo, Magic Springs & Crystal Falls, or.... 

 "now the closest park to me I've yet to visit is Six Flags Over Texas!"

Waking up... way to early in Branson got us on the road early to Hot Springs, Arkansas by way of Little Rock and a lunch stop. The drive itself was pretty long at 4 hours but it wasn't bad. For the most part it was on town roads / county roads / going past small villages with a population less than any given Disney hotel...... But it gave us the chance to see part of America we'd never see otherwise.  Pulling up to the park we were met with some light rain and the idea of running to what rides meant the most to us, just in case of thunder or whatever rain policies the park had... So pretty much... as long as I got on Arkansas Twister, the only woodie in the state.... I'd be happy.

Anyways... onto some photos.

Welcome to Magic Ghetto Springs.

The parks luxurious entrance, Arkansas' only real park. 

 Once inside the main gate the parks waterpark, Crystal Falls is to the front and left of you.

 Walking quickly to get to Twister you have to pass into the waterpark itself 

 The waterpark was fairly large and was clearly where the new investments for Magic Springs were going.

 We has originally planned on spending the second half of our day going on the slides but due to the weather outlook we opted to get as many coasters in as we could... just in case.

On our way to Twister I couldn't help but watch people failing on the Flo-Rider

(I've tried it... twice... elsewhere.... never again!)

The parks layout is pretty poor. We found more than a few paths that have been closed off or blocked with benches. Also, the placement of Arkansas Twister is slightly bizarre. The water park has slowly cut it off from the rest of Magic Springs so it ends up being on the complete opposite side of the park from the rest of the other coasters and dry rides...

 But its a fun little ride, even with its G-Trains its very rerideable and not rough at all. We must have ridden it 10+ times.

((annddd it was relocated from Florida!))

After both front and back seat rides on Twister, Rob and I quickly made our way over to the other side of the park for X Coaster, the only other ride here I *needed* to ride to make this park worth it. (Rob was insistent on riding Big Bad John too, solely for its name!) 

 In passing we saw the parks Miler kiddie coaster, Diamond Mine Run, running.

In the past I had seen the park had no issues with adults riding it but a few reports coming from this year had indicated they were now turning away taller/adult riders... So I was questioning if we'd even be able to get on it.... Not that it would really be a big loss...

Luckily, no problems were had 

(and I'm 6.2 as well)

+1!

 Climbing up the hill to get to X Coaster we passed a sign that said....

 I was informed we must ride it, now.

So we did. Big Bad John, uh... the most oddly named Mine Train I've ridden?

Originally this was located at Six Flags St. Louis and paired up with the remaining side of what is the incredibly boring River King Mine Train. I guess Magic Springs ended up with the "better" side, if you could call it..uh.. better. 

With Rob happy we rode the stupid named mine train.. it was off to the only Sky Loop in the states... woo woo

X Coaster! Maurer Söhne goodness!

This was my first time getting to ride the "standard" SkyLoop

(I've ridden the extended version, Abismo. As well as the bastardized G-Force model... and the terrible non-inverting Rip Ride Rockit)

Based off Maurer's 50/50 record with my experiences and their "X-Car" rides... I was slightly nervous it would beat me up.. but it ended up running fantastically.

Over the day we rode it some 20 times, most of the time we were riding it 2 or 3 times in a row.

While I think Abismo is better, X Coaster was still a lot of fun.

 (rumor says its days in Arkansas are numbered)

Ah... the slow rollover inversion... Some 150 feet off the ground with just a (clunky) lapbar. <3

I'm a big fan of the whole... vertical lift that brings you into the inversion, while still on the lift

Slowly creeping upside down waiting to roll over and over again into the drop...
Each time reminding myself that this happened... :D

After our first few rides on it we decided to pretty much...skip.. Gauntlet, the parks SLC in favor of a few flat rides (see, I guess I'm not a credit whore, a skipped new-for-me coasters to ride some crappy Zamperla flats!

I'm not a fan of the Zamp Hawk... but it was ridden, twice oddly....

I guess its not bad.. I was just spoiled with the Vekoma version at Riverside (SFNE) that's just SOOO much better.

We also rode the Zamp Power Surge, one of the few rides they make that I actually really like.

I think they call it Wild Thing here, its the first park model one I've ridden although I've ridden portable models at 4 other parks. woo?

Next to Wild Thing (CORRECTION! "Wild Thang") is the parks little S&S Double Shot, Dr. Dean's Rocket Machine

I think the sign for the ride is taller than the tower itself... But most double shots are fun so we rode this one, twice.

Walking across the covered bridge to the back side of the park I got distracted by this duck.. uh, DUCKSTRACTED!

quack quack quack

Ugh, lets get this over with.... GAUNTLET!

The biggest baddest coaster in Arkansas... or however the park over-hypes it...

Vekoma SLC goodness (it wasn't so good....)

Gauntlet is kinda... odd... the ride feels like its in time out or something.. its in a semi-abandoned area at the far end of the park. On the right you have a path completely blocking you from access to the rest of the park and to the left is an overgrown field of weeds... battle scars on the ground show where the On-Ride photo booth, was, and there aren't any other rides within a 5 minute walk of it.

When it opened back in 2004 Vekoma made a big deal that this ride was gonna be the first with their new redesigned wheel assembly that would provide a more comfortable ride.

......

it doesn't help.

OH RIGHT, and THIS happened too!

While the sun never really came all the way out for us, it did heat up rather fast. Although neither of us really wanted to do the waterpark at this point we opted for a few rides on the parks Log Flume and Splash Boat.

Old No. 2 Logging Company Log Flume.

The "2" is for how many logs were being used.... A line of maybe 20 people took us a half-hour of queuing but the ride itself was fun and had some rapids and a tunnel but sadly, only a single drop.  

Plummet Summit (not to be confused for Summit Plummet) was also ridden as well as a few cycles while standing on the bridge in the splash zone.

 Not really in the rest of the waterpark is Splash Island, the parks new for 2013 water play area. I believe this is where the parks old Wild Mouse "Twist 'n' Shout" stood until the end of last year.

On our way out of the park we took a ride on the parks Carousel

If I were the park I'd have been embarrassed at how poor the condition of the ride was. It almost made me sad.... but it was kind of the trend of the day. Magic Springs was rather nice overall.. but they need to invest on upkeep and remove the holes where rides once stood, now you just find large empty plots, some with queues still! The park could really be great if the owners put some money into it, but I guess without any real return on their investment they won't do much... sadly. In the end I'm still glad I got to visit the park and Arkansas Twister and X Coaster were both worth the effort. Before I keep rambling and conclude this update..... we had to make a stop at the gift-shop.

WHERE THEY HAD THIS GIANT GUMMY BEAR!!!!

And some of the most random yet park related shirts I've seen so far.

It's a pet peeve of mine when you can't find merchandise for a park at the park. Even if its ugly, I still like to see park branded stuff rather than junky crap you can find at Hot Topic or the Dollar Tree. Magic Springs excelled in park branded items showing off lots of different rides.... oddly enough, none of them were rides found in their own park. Lets take a look.

 Man, this RAPTOR shirt from Cedar Point is bitchin' 

Oh wait, it says Magic Springs on it, not Cedar Point.

 

And I must have missed it when both Silver Bullet and Xcelerator moved from Knott's to Magic Springs as well, or is that for the 2014 season? 

 GAME ON! 

 For the parks nonexistent Schwarzkopf Speed Racer!

(Whizzer, anyone?) 

And... while not showing other parks rides.... 

THIS....

needs to stop.

 YOLO!

 I don't know, I was kind of amused a park that had gone out of business and was closed for five years was selling crap stating "you only live once" YOLT isn't as catchy I guess.

So yeah, Magic Springs.... get here before it goes out of business again!

Bonus photo via twitter -
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/361996651348512768

Bonus random tweets -
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/361710123623784450
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/361909941709193216
https://twitter.com/CanobieFan/status/361923374362001409

3 down, a lot more to go....