May 30, 2018

Bernie's Barnyard (Adventureland)


Shakin' Bacon has arrived at the park.
Photo courtesy of Dee Lipscomb

May 29, 2018

Park Update (SFSTL)

It's finally "summer" which means that Tidal Wave has finally opened for the season.

Thunder River is also open.  It has operated sporadically this Spring.

Mr. Freeze has received new baskets to store your stuff while you ride.  The former white baskets were looking pretty rough.

Some blue lines have appeared all over the park.

We're not sure what they could be for other than maybe the upcoming Mardi Gras parades.

No visible progress at Xcalibur.

Same with Shazaam.

Finally, Superman appears to be having some gremlins.  It's having some major problems so far this season.

Typhoon Twister (HHSTL)


Construction is still on going for the new Typhoon Twister water slide.

Here is an elevated view of the new complex.

Forms for the queue line to the stairs have been created.

This is where the run out for the body slides used to be.

They were in the process of cutting holes in the pavement for those wooden poles.  I would imagine that they will probably be used to mark the entrance and exit pathways.

Here is a closer look at the complex.

The hole at the top of the platform is where the entry slide parts will be placed.

Here is the wave turn.  You can see where the water sprayers will be located at towards the tip of the wave turn.

This is the catch pool for the slide.  It looks like you will get to carry your raft up to the top for this slide much like over at Tornado.

They were working on the tube portion that connects the end of the wave turn to the catch pool today.  I believe there are a total of 3 sections that need be placed still for this part of the slide.

This gives a better size comparison to just how big this slide is

They still need to place some more lip parts on the wave turn area and obviously they have several sections at the top that still need to be placed.

Thankfully the parts in the parking lot are getting fewer.  The big section here is the section that will connect to the catch pool at the end of the slide.

Here you can see the entry point for the slide and then the other section will lead you to the bowl section of the slide.  I would imagine we still have at least two weeks minimum before the slide will be ready to debut for the season.

May 28, 2018

America's Fun Park

The park is getting closer to being ready to open.  Here you can see the large parking lot just past the park.  From left to right you have the Wave Swinger, Midway, Tornado, Carousel and Super Slide

Way in the back you have Wacky Worm, Bumper Cars, Groovy Train, and then the dark ride (the building in the lower right corner).  There are also several kiddie rides sprinkled there in the middle of the photo.

And yes, these still frames were taken from a video that was shot at the top of Windstorm.

Floral Clock (WOF)

The floral clock has been updated again and this time it features lettering.  The top reads WORLDS OF FUN and the bottom reads EST. 1973.  

Bernie's Barnyard (Adventureland)


Photos in this update are courtesy of Allen Huffman.  Construction continues on the new Bernie's Barnyard addition.

It looks like most of the construction is being focused on the large play structure.

A new Bernie statue has arrived.

I would imagine that this will be a popular photo op this summer.

May 26, 2018

Opening Day (HHSTL)

It's OPENING DAY at Hurricane Harbor St. Louis for the 2018 Season.

How can you tell the park is extremely understaffed? When the marquee attractions do not open with the park.  Bonzai Pipeline did eventually open later in the day.

Over at Hurricane Bay you can tell they were short handed too.

Any time the rope is out at the 6ft mark it means they can cut 2-3 lifeguards.

Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly at Hook's Lagoon.

Wahoo Racer was very popular today.  I don't think I have ever seen a line for it before like I did today.

Tornado is still my favorite slide (for now) at the park.

I really wish we didn't have to carry the rafts up to the top, but that's really my only gripe about the slide.

My particular raft really went high up on the walls today.  Lots of fun.

They were shorthanded on the lazy river today too.  Thanks to that, they cut the position that helps to make sure people only go around once.  Several people were taking advantage of that despite the long line of people waiting to get on.

It is a great river though and worth the wait.

The last attraction open today (the tube slide tower is under repair) was Big Kahuna.  I don't think I have ever seen it this understaffed.  Guests had to actually push their raft over to the lift and there was no one to hold the raft to help you get out.