USA 06/23 – Magic Springs
Having headed back into Mississippi the night before, the next state line took us over into Arkansas. It was the worst drive of the entire trip traffic wise, for some reason. Felt like the middle of nowhere and yet everyone was heading on that road to nowhere. Luckily it didn’t matter too much as there’s only one park here. And what a park.
Day 12 – Magic Springs
The car park looked surprisingly busy for what it was however, including several coaches. This was mostly due to the water park thankfully and didn’t impede our progress in the slightest, though it did cause other inconveniences.
First up was the #1 Arkansas Twister, a relocated woodie from Florida. Much like Rampage the previous day, it provided the perfect sensation of ‘I am on a wooden rollercoaster’, bouncing about on a daily basis and not offering much of anything. It managed to have an even more hilarious wobble over bits like that hill in shot, a rhythmic pulsing that sapped any other force out of the track shaping.
All in all we were simply glad it didn’t murder us, those trains look suspiciously like The Boss trains. What it did do for us was get us wet – all the seats were, because everyone was coming from the water park and riding it. Slimy.
Talking of murder, they have one of these. The recent news of Abismo,the extended version of this model, doing its party trick and getting stuck upside down again didn’t do anything to alleviate my fear of #2 X Coaster, but needs must. An amusing dispatch sequence added to concerns, a conversation between staff that went something like “did you push the button?” “what button?”, going into the control box for 30 seconds looking confused before we set off.
I do hate the upside-down-ness of these, it messes me up. The back passes through fastest in theory, and that helped to alleviate some of the discomfort. From there this particular version does more ‘coasting’, with a full forwards, backwards, forwards swing out of the starting drop. Mercifully most installations I’ve done haven’t even bothered with that much, though the OG at Skyline did it twice, catching and pulling through the top again – evil, but I was new to it then.
Mercifully here, this one was less rough than a number of those with shorter cycles, though not ideal. It got the job done, and with dryer seats.
#3 Big Bad John had wet seats, but could be forgiven both for the name and for being the best ride in the park. As a relocated mine train, it’s unusual at best. 3 lift hills worth of romp through the trees at odd elevations, culminating in a wicked final drop into a tunnel, accentuated by back row of course.
#4 Diamond Mine Run was another of these E&F Miler things, but it ain’t no Kozmo’s Kurves.
The SLC was closed for the foreseeable – what a pity, never mind.
Park complete and with no others in sight, we were at a loss as to what to do for the rest of the day, until realising I had planned for us to do another 5-6 hours of driving, so there was that.
There is a big observation tower around the corner and up a hill in the town of Hot Springs however, so we gave that a flying visit.
There’s the town.
Spot the spite.
After just a few minutes a staff member came up and evacuated us from the platform, as there were storms approaching. This resulted in receiving a full refund, so that was kind of a bonus. With that it was off to Oklahoma.