City Update (SDC)

 

Coming in 2024, Flanders Dry Goods is taking over the store front across from Boatworks Theater and the Pottery store

World Famous Pretzel Dogs will be taking the place of Tastes of the City in 2024

A lot of progress is being made on the new Heartland Home Furnishings

Detail work is being installed now

More detail work here on the south side of the building

A look from the exit of American Plunge at the south side of the building

The garage area on the west side of the building

PSA: The Cave is currently flooded and is only doing 30 minute tours.  That means you have to climb back up the stairs in the Cathedral Room

It appears that the employee dorm is either finished or really close to being finished

It looks really nice from the outside

I hope this helps the park out with staffing

Flying Viking & Draken Falls - NOW OPEN (Adventureland)

 

New for 2023 is Flying Viking (rollercoaster) and Draken Falls (flume ride)

Draken Falls fills a void that the park has had since the beloved log ride was removed for the construction of the Monster.  The new "log ride" takes up to 6 riders in larger boats up two lifts and down two drops.  This is the shorter first lift and drop

The second lift and drop is much taller

The final splash down is pretty impressive looking and soaks all of the riders

Intertwined with Draken Falls is the new family coaster Flying Viking

While not overly thrilling, this coaster fills an important void that the park had - a need for a family coaster that the younger guests could experience.

While not too fast, the coaster does go up pretty high above the midway and does move along at a pretty good pace

The seeping turn over the first drop of Draken Falls and over the marquee entrance for the rides

The coaster has two helix sections, this is the second one on the course

Coming into the final brake section before the station

The new complex is a great addition to the park

Adventureland

 

Come on over to Adventureland - you're going to have a fun-filled day

We haven't been to the park since 2019 so we were interested to see what changes Palace has done since they took over the park

Let's start by stating that it is extremely busy for a Friday as the State Fair started yesterday

Time to walk down Main Street

Love the Giant Wheel commanding the view at the end of the Boulevard

First coaster of the day is Phoenix.  This is a great spinning wild mouse and a lot of fun

The park has a really cute train

Next up was the New for 2023 attractions - Draken Falls (yes you get wet)

and Flying VIking (this was Credit #872 for our head editor)

Our first disappointment of the day was The Underground.  Apparently they are doing work on the ride this year and it will be down the entire season

So we headed to Monster instead.  We love this ride

The hangtime in most of the elements is next level and is a big reason we love this ride

Next up was Tornado which was demanding a healthy long line due to one train operations

We were lucky to catch a middle seat as it appeared that the wheel seats gave extremely rough rides.  So our suggestion is try to get a middle seat if you plan to ride this wooden coaster

Now for our pick as the best ride in the park - Dragon Slayer

This is hands down the best installation of this style of coaster.  The carts spin way more than all of the other installations (probably combined).  There is actually a quad spin that happens almost routinely here in this bend above the station.  It is insane.

Last year, the park added several new family rides.  This is one of them near the bridge to what used to be Dragon Island

Speaking of the former Dragon Island, they have really cleaned it up.  They moved all of the games to the former Dragon facade building and have opened up the area to add smaller family rides

Heading back to Outlaw Gulch, we were happy to see Sidewinder operating

That happiness was short lived because Outlaw is down and would not operate today

Also down was the rare SawMill Splash ride.  I guess we might as well head back up to the front of the park

So we hopped on the Scrambler and picked up some mini donuts after before heading onward

Storm Chaser is still down if you were wondering.  I guess it has yet to operate this season

Like we've mentioned in the past, we have a Swings enthusiast in our group so she made us ride the Swings at the end of Main Street.  Not going to lie, they were fun

We also rode Space Shot, which is sporting new colors this year - and is naked with no top for some reason

Couldn't forget G-Force so we went and rode it next.

We decided to get one more lap on Monster before heading out as the crowds just seemed to keep getting bigger as the day progressed.  We had fun, but need to remember to not visit during the Fair.  Hope that they have more rides operational the next time we visit